My Ideal Passive Domain Sales Platform

I don’t particularly like having buy it now prices on my domain names, especially the names I consider premium. The market for domain names is dynamic, and I would rather price them at the time of an inquiry than before. That said, having some pre-priced domain names is wise, and I want to share my thoughts on an “ideal” passive domain sales platform.

Listed below are some attributes of the ideal platform as well as the landing page that will be seen by visitors.

Platform:

  • Easy to add and delete new domain names and change prices
  • Can check the IP addresses of visitors to the domain names
  • Can see if a sale form was partially filled out and what info was left
  • Completely integrated with Escrow.com for easy sale closings
  • Ability to modify parts of the sales agreement (ie state or country specific sections)
  • Minimal commission percentage

Landing Page:

  • Graphic that shows the domain name is for sale along with the price
  • No pay per click links – full focus will be on selling the domain name
  • Graphics with recent industry sales, infographic about sales, and links to pages with domain market information
  • Buy it now button with purchase form
  • Sales agreement included with digital signature necessary to proceed
  • Once form is filled out, buyer will be taken to the automatically created Escrow.com sale page (buyer and seller split fee)
  • Provider will constantly test graphic colors and placements, sharing results

Aftermarket websites and domain brokerages like Sedo, Afternic, Aftermarket.com, and others already offer many of the features that are integral in my ideal platform. However, the platform I envision would have less frills and be completely focused on selling domain names. Since the platform isn’t really driving sales but is only facilitating the sale process, the commission rate would be very small, perhaps only earning a percentage of the Escrow.com fee.

I have no idea if the economics would work out since the earnings per sale would be far less with this than with traditional aftermarket websites. However, I would think that once the platform is built and optimized, the overhead and ongoing maintenance would be fairly inexpensive.

What else would you like to see in your ideal domain sales platform?

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

25 COMMENTS

  1. Hello Elliot,
    I would also like a customer service / broker 1-800 # number whom a potential buyer can call 24×7 and they can help them through with the buying process and notify us once the sale is completed.

    Best regards,
    Jagan

  2. I could see Escrow.com pull this off themselves.

    They can look at it like they are getting their name plastered on however many domains are listed on the platform.

    It should help increase their rev.

    Negative…

    There will be some serious cust service issues. You will still rely on the owner to push or transfer.

  3. We have been implementing and testing with a new sales lander for the last year that contains many of the items you have discussed.

    Here is an example for a buy now domain: PotKing.com

    Here is an example for a lease now domain: LynnwoodHomes.com

    The important thing for us was to allow scalability for price changes, buy now, lease now, or make offer, etc. as well as give the user some info on domains and pricing expectations as well. So far it is going really well but we definitely have some more things we want to implement and are still in testing mode for now…

    • That’s a great lander Ian. DomainApps (formerly WhyPark) has a pretty stellar platform, IMHO.

      I would be interested in doing some testing for you, will be in Bellevue all summer šŸ˜‰

    • Thanks Jay I appreciate the comment. I agree about DomainApps. They have been great for our tests. We have been developing this for our own use as we haven’t been able to find anything that fit our needs. We have a lot of things in the works (like everyone I guess…) including something similar that will be scalable for real estate lead gen.

      Just as Elliot discussed, our wish list was pretty extensive and some things have worked out better than others during implementation. But we are close to a setup that we should be happy with for a little while.

      I’d be happy to hear any ideas. Feel free to email me at: ian at listings.com to discuss further.

  4. Thank you for sharing this, Elliot, hopefully marketplaces will pay attention.

    Some time ago I asked a couple of marketplaces about the point ‘Graphic that shows the domain name is for sale along with the price”. They’re unable to do so yet.

    A link to articles and videos to help educate buyers maybe helpful. Many potential buyers are not familiar about buying a domain. Such content could help both buyers and sellers.

  5. Elliot, you are a mind reader!
    I just had a meeting with my team this morning regarding developing a similar offering. I would love to hear more feedback from users-I’ll be checking back to see the response. Would be great to hear from aftermarket and brokarage sites on this offering.

  6. Hello Elliot,

    Thanks for your posting, and I must say we appreciate your postings everyday. The marketplace you envision is DomainNameSales. I am proud to say we offer almost all of these options ranging from low cost (free for self brokerage) 12.5% with our team of in house brokers, integration with Escrow.com, for sale landing pages, full transparency of buyers, with their ip, email, customizable contracts (available when using a broker) sales hotline open 8AM-8PM CST and even links to the buyers Facebook and Linkedin pages. As well as automated follow up, reminder settings, reporting, multi language support, 800/intl broker number, and much more.

    Building this marketplace was not a small undertaking and it takes a team of many developers working harder than any group I have ever seen to maintain and continue to innovate on this platform.

    We are adding new features regularly and I am excited to say we have some that will truly be revolutionary coming in the near future.

    DNS would do quick a training on all of these features to anyone who has the time or is interested, including you Elliot. Perhaps you can see what our platform can do for you.

    Please contact me Jeff@DomainNameSales.com.

  7. Landing pages don’t seem to be changing much so I’m going to go ahead and assume that they’re not being tested and optimized like you are suggesting.

    The marketplaces themselves are also severely in need of better tools and search capabilities. . . . horrible horrible search capabilities.

    • Please, do not pretend not to understand.
      They give results that have nothing to do with the domain name parked.
      This simply means destroying the value of your domains!

      They help you? :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
      Google is helping you?!? :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

      It is google’s fault if you do not sell premium domains, if people does not use them, if people does not make type in.

      Wake up all, please!

  8. If there is a big enough demand I would be happy to build something with these specs. My first thought wouldn’t be to take a commission of any kind, but rather just offer subscription packages based on the number of names. Do you think there is a demand for something like that?

    An example of the subscription model would be something like 1000 or less names – $19 a month, 5000 or less $29, etc…

    Another though would be to offer a long list of landing page templates to choose from. The user could just assign whatever template they like best to the domain they want. I would think from a conversion point of view, that a landing page relevant to the theme of the domain would convert better. That would need some testing.

  9. Pesel,

    Sorry if I somehow missed you, but I checked my email again and I have never received an email from a person named Pesel. Please send again. Thank you.

    • Pesel’s my Hebrew name, Patti’s my nickname. But Jeff, please don’t check through your emails again on my account.

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