When I am looking to purchase a domain name in the aftermarket, one thing I try to research is whether the domain name was on the market before, and if so, the price listed on other websites. When I want to flip a name for $25,000, there’s nothing worse than a potential buyer telling me he saw it listed for sale for $15,000 on another website – even though it may have been a very old listing.
One piece of advice I have to Fabulous / Dark Blue Sea – as well as other domain investors who may do the same thing – is to NOT list the asking price in the Whois information. When a company like DomainTools archives Whois lookups, it archives this information forever, and I can see what Fabulous or Protopixel (a DBS subsidiary) had it listed for at one point when I am doing my due diligence on previous ownership.
Although many buyers don’t really care about a previous sales price when they want a particular domain name, it can never help in a negotiation (unless of course you got a significantly better price). When selling to other domain investors, this can be used as a negotiation point for a lower sales price.
Dnjournal and namebio.com should take down their info too ! 😉
@ Adam
A buyer has some control over that and the reporting 🙂
Setting the right price is key too. I once settled on a $300 Craig’s List listing, and then the buyer went over to Sedo to buy the domain for $100. Be sure to have accurate prices on all platforms.
“When I want to flip a name for $25,000, there’s nothing worse than a potential buyer telling me he saw it listed for sale for $15,000 on another website – even though it may have been a very old listing.”
And why is this bad….? Are you saying that they buyer doesn’t feel the price you are asking is justified because at some time in the past the price was lower?
Sounds like an opportunity to provide some education, not to be intimidated. Well, first of all, I think it’s going to depend on how much you paid for the domain you want to flip for $25k? Did you pay $15k, $20k, or only $10? That is the first consideration. It’s easy for a buyer to think a domain you paid $15k for and now want $25k is overpriced, but wait, don’t you have some jusitification for your price? Maybe revenue or that it was underpriced when you bought it. If not, maybe turn down the greed and lower your price. But it’s pretty subjective without facts and figures to back up your thinking.
But if you turn it around, those old, lower prices just demonstrate what a great investment your domain is! If a buyer can’t recognize that, then they will lose out.
Hi Elliot,
Just sent you an email about this.
Cheers,
Mike
Fabulous.com