Seeking Advice on BumperProtectors.com

I would like to get your advice on how I should proceed with the development of BumperProtectors.com. I received a couple of decent offers for the domain name when I emailed companies that sell bumper protectors as well as domain investors, but nothing was significant enough to warrant selling the domain name.

One person/company inquired about the domain name last week, and after I informed him about the previous high offer, we discussed the options to build it, as the offer was higher than he would pay. We discussed creating a line of bumper protectors in China or Hong Kong and then selling them on the website. There is no real market leader that I could see, so this would be a good opportunity. Producing a $50 product for a few dollars each would yield a strong ROI after a couple of years.

The big downside with producing lines of bumper protectors is the liability issue. For whatever reason, Americans tend to be more litigious than elsewhere, and I wouldn’t want to have the liability in the event one of my $50 bumper protectors fails to protect someone’s bumper. Further, I could foresee someone forgetting to put their bumper protector away after leaving a parking spot, and in the event it flies off of the car and damages another vehicle, I could see further liability as the producer. While the liability might seem far fetched, it’s not worth the risk for such a small revenue stream in my business.

That being said, I am thinking about building a website with an Amazon store being the revenue generator. I know Amazon notoriously pays little, but if I can get the site to rank #1 as a result of unique content I have written combined with the store, it could be a nice little passive money maker.

I’ve heard about Epik and WannaDevelop but haven’t heard much in the way of results (how much people are earning from their websites). With an exact match product .com domain name, what can be expected in the way of earnings? Ā  I am not interested in spending a few hundred to build a website that makes no money!

Please let me know your thoughts on developing BumperProtectors.com.

**** 7/13 Update ***

After a very good face to face conference with Rob Monster, I’ve decided to award the project to Epik and will post updates once the site launches. This is the first time I am working with Epik and I am excited about it.

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

63 COMMENTS

  1. Elliot,

    I know this questions is off topic but I didn’t want to bother you via email šŸ˜‰

    Would you ever consider buying or investing in a .net domain name such as xxxxxxxsupplies.net or xxxxhelmets.net etc.?

    Thanks!

  2. Your ad here šŸ™‚

    Seriously, put up a paragraph of content for the search engines then just a big 600×600 graphic from one of those companies you contacted.

    Maybe even have a little auction and sell the space to the highest bidder, three month minimum then no obligation.

  3. Elliot –

    I have loved the name since you first brought it up. [Bumper Protectors] has 1,000 local exact; [Bumper Protector] has 4,400 exact – not sure how much you are trying to make, but it seems likely you would need some type of drop ship agreement or outsourcing to make it work. The demand doesn’t appear to be excessive & it looks like bumper guard/ss is the preferred term. Bumperpad.com has a nice spot for your terms too.

    I am with Epik & don’t have your quality of domains – but do know Kenny/icecreammaker.com, etc do well.

  4. Elliot —

    I like the idea of a drop ship arrangement. Much easier for you and much less liability exposure.

    If you wanted to get into the bumper protector business full time, I’d suggest manufacturing your own products (or arrange for the manafucturing). But since that’s not the case, develop a site, set up an ordering mechanism, and allow someone in the bumper protector business to fill the orders.

    Good luck!

  5. forgot to mention, most small and medium and large companies even, understand advertising but not domain purchases.

    Get to the sales department and tell them you have an advertising opportunity for them.

    I’ve been put through to the legal department when I pitched a domain for sale.

    (Elliot, I know you know this, just some words for newbies.)

  6. @ Rob

    Great info! That’s what I am currently trying to do with one of my law domains. Since the domain name is pretty long I don’t think I’ll be able to sell it but it should be easy to rank high in search engines and sell some ad space.

  7. Elliot,

    one thing we all know that business owners do understand is that the 1st position in the organic results on Google is worth “more than gold”.

    A possible strategy would be to develop, having as main goal to achieve that position, and only then look for buyers for the domain (read: business) and the position it holds.

    Few business owners understand domains but they all know what #1 on google means for business.

    Any sales attempts before that is based pure speculation and manufacturing your own products, as you mention, could be a risky liability venture.

    I’m on the design and development area and would be happy to partner with you to get this site of the ground and running.

  8. I would build a store and have http://www.bumperdefender.com/ dropship or buy it wholesale from them.

    I see little liability issues since they would install them on their car. If someone bangs into their car or the car owner bangs into another car, the liability is caused by the offending driver.

  9. I was curious so I looked…

    Dozens of types of protectors, model specifis etc.

    Wh not just affiliate with an aftermarket parts store with direct links to protectors?

  10. shoot me an email to discuss. I’m traveling in Europe (got to see the WC final in Holland..) and I’ll get back to you with more details on costs once a strategy and a business goal is outlined. If you are looking for a “one solution fits all” kind of development I’m sure you know where to go.

    I’ve been following Epik’s work too and been successful with datafeedr websites that I’ve design and developed, mostly because of a custom conversion-focused Ui, which I think is what is missing on some of the mass-dev services out there.

    Thank you for considering.

  11. Elliot,

    Personaly I would take the money depending on the offer value. Based on search volume and demand for such a product it does not justify any major development input, just my opinion.

  12. @ Chris

    While I certainly appreciate your opinion, it sort of doesn’t make sense. The offer value is the key element of every domain negotiation, and it’s like saying “sell the name if you get a good enough offer,” which holds true for everything šŸ™‚

    I would sell everything depending on the offer value!

  13. Unless you have an interest in the topic IMO it is better to either sell to an end user or outsource any development. I believe you commented regarding TropicalBirds that one challenge you faced was a lack of interest in the topic. Regarding development, I have had fairly good results ranking .Net sites so I see no reason to avoid .Net for development. Yes, they are harder to resell but your acquisition cost is going to be much lower. While perhaps just a coincidence but I have now made four .Net sales (two in process) in the last few weeks – no .COM sales over that same period.

  14. @ Leonard

    The challenge with TropicalBirds.com was the RPC was much lower than this name, and i needed to created 75+ pages of content about different birds. BumperProtectors.com will be much more straightforward and require less work, especially if I use an automated store solution.

    With TB, I would get a lot of $.05-.10 clicks, and with BP, the clicks are yielding anywhere from 5-10x the value.

  15. Elliot,

    That’s why I said “depending on the offer value” as you never disclosed this info but I did assume it would be in the $xxxx range. Epik does look like a logical option although I dont see much in the way of feedback from users of this service, I get the feeling you don’t realy need any advice with this matter other than raising the profile of BumperProtectors.com. Best of luck which ever road you take.

    • @ Chris

      “I get the feeling you donā€™t realy need any advice with this matter other than raising the profile of BumperProtectors.com”

      Your instincts are wrong. I’ve never built an e-commerce site before and want to see what others have to say about it.

  16. Elliot,
    After my full blown venture in to ecommerce (inventory and everything), I’ve converted to a drop ship model and I still have lots of time consuming customer service issues to deal with – returns, questions, etc. Now I’m looking for an existing (e)retailer in the space that wants to take over my store and pay me a percent of sales. A basic landlord-tenant arrangement. They get the benefit of a super premium domain, #1 in natural search results for this product and a functioning ecommerce store front. I’m after 10-12% of sales as ‘rent’, this is roughly the same as what eBay is charging for their stores. This is the same model Mike has done with LuxuryBedding.com.

    With all of your other projects, I don’t think you will find that building an end-to-end business around this domain will be worth the time, energy or money. Find a partner, collect the rent and repeat on another domain.

  17. Elliot,

    I’ll cut to the chase on Epik, if I may. šŸ™‚

    Rob’s system works. It is, however, a new strategy that needs some honest-to-God time to play out all the moving parts. It’s to early to give fair analysis on results as his product portal is fairly new. Kenny, mentioned in most of Epik’s “success” stories has been in the system the longest as far as ‘customers’. On a personal level, Rob has enough of a history to show his domain IQ & honesty.

    The key issue is if I am not #1, #2, or #3 – I don’t make money. This link indicates if you aren’t in the top 2-3 slots on Google – might as well go back to bead as there isn’t any money to be made: http://chitika.com/research/2010/the-value-of-google-result-positioning/

    So the key is to improve in the search results. The key as mentioned by far smarter folks on this thread: drop shipping is needed to max potential vs. taking a % of sales. Amazon products don’t show up on Google Caffeine: Rob can testify to that effect due to duplicate content. A contract with 3rd party distributors who can provide products at wholesale + prices will improve the domainer’s ROI. Rob is quite aware of this issue as are his partners (eg Max at Wishpot.com; Luke at Devrich; and ad nauseum).

    Some example of mine:

    I own diningchairs.net (page 1); manpurse.net (#2 on google); psylliumhusk.com (page 1); etc. You can check out the earnings by adding “/stats” after the .net or .com.

    Epik keeps 50% of the earnings – so I haven’t made much money but it’s still early in the game & the sites, as the Chitika results show, need time to progress.

    I’ve got 50+ Epik-sites. Send an email if you want to check the names I own & the earnings I made this past week – if you want. It’s not a get rich quick system.

    Best, Todd

  18. elliot,

    with all the things your doing, geo .com stuff, domain flipping i would say this.

    the domain is not as great it may seem. small exact search term. either flip the domain and take the cash, or find a company in this area.

    a blind drop ship agreement would be best imo, more margin and private agreement. no inventory for you and find who makes these things.

    imo this is more of a distraction and you dont seem as if you know the market too well. dont take that the wrong way. you seen value in buying the domain name, you see them on cars while there parked.

    focus on the geo, dogwalker, blog and flipping imo.

    just my 2 cents

  19. Elliot,

    Just sell it.

    Search numbers are not there. I have only seen the bumpers in the five boroughs. Not worth it.

    Ask yourself, “how many of my fr….. have a BP…”

    Geoff

  20. I agree with Mark P. Either sell it or rent it to the company interested, let them manage all customer stuffs including legal liability etc. On top of that you could even charge them development or consultancy time plus a % of sales.

    • Guys,

      I still don’t know how anyone can advise me to sell it when I haven’t mentioned the offers I received and nobody really knows the price I paid. Would you really sell a an exact match .com product name if you got a $20 offer? That’s not the number here, but why would I sell an asset I think has value, when I can use the money less than I can use the domain name? Nevertheless, I’ve already turned down the offers, so that ship has sailed.

      I want to build something that isn’t too expensive and will rank in G/Y/B with unique content. Right now I am debating between an Amazon Associate-o-matic store with my own added content or Epik. I have a call with Rob this afternoon.

      I appreciate all the development advice you have given. The issue I see with dropshipping is that it will take more time to set up than I am willing to spend on this project, and at this point, it’s not worth it. Perhaps once the site is ranked in G/Y/B and I can justify spending more time on set up, I could drop ship. It would then also be a more valuable bargaining chip to sell it if I can show significant traffic and a top ranking for the keyword.

  21. There’s lots of advice here to get a drop shipper. How exactly do you/did you find one? Please don’t answer if you haven’t done it yourself with some success.

    I tried Googling “drop shipping”+companies/wholesalers/businesses. A lot of what gets returned look really scammy. Like, “buy a membership” for $300.

    Does anybody here have a recommendation on how to find a legitimate, reliable drop-shipper based on their own successful experience with drop-shipping some product(s)?

  22. Pat,

    In my ecommerce/drop ship business I have direct relationships with the manufacturers. This is not always easy to do as many of them prefer to have retailers carry inventory and you have to go through the headaches of setting up an account with each manufacturer. In my business a couple of the key manf’s won’t open me as an account because I’m web only and drop ship.

    As I said in my earlier post, drop shipping isn’t an easy thing. You’re still running an ecommerce business, you’ve only eliminated the inventory and shipping. I’d much prefer to find a partner who already has the manufacturer relationships, can handle customer service, credit cards, shipping, etc. Just pay me rent.

  23. @Elliot,

    Depending on how popular bumper protectors are on Amazon, you could make around 15% per sale. You would have to create some great content on the value of bumper protector.

    I don’t see it as a market in NYC. Good luck.

  24. @ Jason

    “I donā€™t see it as a market in NYC.”

    Are you kidding me? There are at least 5-10 on my block in Manhattan every single day of the week. In what other city would people use bumper protectors, aside from NYC where street parking is cheap compared to the garages that cost more than cars!

  25. @Elliot

    I meant that you would have to refer people to your website. How many NYC residents are going to visit the site to click on the affiliate ads to them place an order somewhere else. People are too lazy to put in the work.

    I provide a direct coupon link to a free coupon account, which will earn people 8% on Go Daddy purchases. I write articles on the coupons that are offered there.

    How many people have I referred? None. 0. While bumper protectors are popular in NYC, you still have to promote the website to generate traffic. I would have taken offer or continue to shop it around.

    Since you have so many projects going on, are you really that passionate about investing time into writing and answering questions about bumper protectors.

    Your Executive Headshots buyer finished their website. That proves you know what is popular. You can dispute the popularity of bumper protectors in NYC all day long. You still need to promote the website to attract the buyers.

    Again, people are lazy and seem to ignore the value of savings. I wouldn’t invest my time into writing about bumper protectors
    because I don’t know enough about them. Maybe you have some ideas that will generate interest. What techniques will you have to attract people to go through your website first, before maybe considering just to visit Amazon.

    Amazon affiliates has been a disaster for me. I received a few dozen clicks, and none produced any sales. The same with CJ. I would have more concrete results than to depend on these companies to make revenue. Deal directly with a bumper protector manufacturers and sellers.

    Maybe you can strike a deal with them. Amazon and CJ haven’t faired well for me. But, I’m sure you have a million times more experience than I do.

    Good luck!

  26. Ice cream maker produces great stats. It is universally popular, even in stores such as WalMart, Target Amazon, and Ebay. I’m sure you have a good idea. Epik has a good reputation with building great websites.

    Buyers will click on links if the website looks credible. You have more experience in that arena. Depending on what paid for the domain, and what others are offering, do you think it’s worth investing time into developing the domain? What’s the difference between what you want for the domain versus to the highest offer?

    You seemed to be fixed on a certain amount. Were these offers very little to even consider negotiating? I would to read a future post about the website’s success. Will you be writing the content, or will EPIK supply the content?

    In short, I don’t know enough about buying and selling bumper protectors. I don’t see too many cars with them. However, I don’t live in NYC. It seems there more Yellow Cabs drive there than private vehicles.

    Good luck. I hope it all works out for you.

  27. The IceCreamMaker.com stats are extremely good. The site must be good to lock 25% of the visitors. The visitor to ad click ratio is 4/1. The 1-week earnings are high. What is your goal in monthly traffic and weekly earnings?

    It will be interesting to view the stats on your website. How were you able to create TropicalBirds.com on WhyPark? They seem to restrict access to functions. Maybe they cater more to paying members than to the non-paying ones. You don’t get RSS feeds unless you pay the $25 monthly fee.

    I hope you get the results you’re look for on the website. It would definitely be worthwhile.

  28. only heard good things on rob and what a true player he is

    he answers all the emails and takes the time to answer all your questions. big domainers and small domainers

    great person and the real deal. no bs, no attacks, he stays on course

  29. The store makes perfect sense, especially since it’s just $250!

    Going all the way in with producing your own product, like you said is very risky, and not worth the risk.

  30. Elliot,

    Im glad to hear that you went with Rob on this one. I’m no pro at domaining, but I have done TONS and TONS of reading and research and he is the optimal choice for this project, trust me…

    I’m a small time domainer and can 100% attest to Jeffs comment
    “only heard good things on rob and what a true player he is
    he answers all the emails and takes the time to answer all your questions. big domainers and small domainers
    great person and the real deal. no bs, no attacks, he stays on course”

    This is all 100% true! HE deals with big players and huge projects and yet answers my emails and questions everytime with integrity, honestry and factual and informed information.

    I just started two sites with him and look forward to doing ALOT more once funds permit, if they ever do!

    Best of luck with the site, its in good hands, Ill tell you that much!

    -MH

  31. Elliot,

    Have you really seen results with exact match domains with less than 10,000 queries?

    Didn’t a Morgan talk about this concept last week saying it isnt’ worth regging anything less than 5000 exact unless the cpc is a few dollars?

  32. why not find some chinese company to make ’em for you. Put a big BumperProtectors.com logo on each of ’em and let the buyers do your marketing for you.

  33. Adam cause there are liability issues.. Maybe the bumper would be made out of cheap parts and not be of high calibre. As Elliot mentioned if the bumper falls off they will come after your pocketbook.

    On the forums a few months ago someone was selling “diet chews” . He had gotten a company in china to manufacture them… If he is not going to China to check on them with a multi person operation how do you know what is going into them?

  34. Come on . . . I guess maybe we should all hide in our basements because we might do something that someone won’t like . .. better yet we shouldn’t make anything either because we obviously wouldn’t do any due diligence or check anything like that out. sheesh.

    There’s plenty of safe ways to do things and protect ones bumper/ass šŸ™‚ I guess sitting on it is the safest šŸ™‚

    • @ Adam

      I don’t have the time to research what it would take to get it done, and the beauty of what I am doing is that if it works out, I can still do what you said down the road.

  35. @Elliot

    What strategies are there to flip a domains acquiring one from an auction? It seems that many domains are way overpriced in a majority of the auctions. If one pays a high amount, what guarantees them that they’ll flip the domain again for a profit?

    I see investing in more expensive names as being risky. Unless you have a buyer in mind, or you know that the cost to acquire low enough to give you enough flexibility with pricing, there’s a huge risk in spending thousands on a domain name.

    Domain investors that have money to invest can take their time, even sitting on a domain until they find the right buyer. Whereas, others need to generate a sale or risk losing money.

    I’ve seen some mediocre hand registered names generate huge sales. New domainers can make money with hand registered domains. They just have to buy the right names that have marketing potential.

    The high priced domains offer a huge upside, but they are also a risk. If you don’t know the right buyer, then it will be hard to make a sale to make a ROI.

  36. Last post contained some errors.

    @Elliot

    What strategies are there to flip a domain after acquiring one from an auction? It seems that many domains are way overpriced. Most domains sell for prices far more than their market value. If one pays a high amount, what guarantees them that theyā€™ll flip the domain again for a profit?

    I see investing in more expensive names as being risky. Unless you have a buyer in mind, or you know that the cost to acquire a domain is low enough to give you enough flexibility with the pricing, then thereā€™s a huge risk in spending thousands on a domain name.

    Domain investors that have money to invest can take their time, even sitting on a domain until they find the right buyer, while others need to generate a sale or risk losing money.

    Iā€™ve seen some mediocre hand registered names generate huge sales. New domainers can make money with hand registered domains. They just have to buy the right names which have marketing potential.

    The high priced domains offer a huge upside, but they are also a risk. If you donā€™t know the right buyer, then it will be hard to make a sale to make a ROI.

  37. @ Jason

    I think thatā€™s another good question to ask on DNForum.com or Namepros.com. Youā€™ll get more answers from a wider swath of people.

  38. @Elliot,

    Thanks. I’ll check out the forum. I want to acquire some premium domains. I don’t think I’ll be ready to do that until I have more money to invest.

    You previously wrote an article on your success with hand registered names. The Executive Headshots domain was a nice sale. In past article, you mentioned something about hand registering a domain name, and then making a sale at least once a week.

    I still hand register domains. This time, I research the names to determine whether they’ll generate any interest.

    I agree with you that premium names are much easier to sell than a hand registered name. What if you can purchase a few names, sit on them for a few months, and then make decent profit? While it may take more work to make a sale, it is worth the time.

    My downfall is properly pricing my domains. When I ask for the wrong price, I never hear back from the person. There’s nothing I can do once I lose an opportunity to make a sale.

    Because I crafted better e-mails, I have been receiving replies more frequently. I think giving the prospective buyer the option to make an offer is better than asking for a specific amount.

  39. @ Jason

    I don’t think it’s the prices. Good names tend to sell themselves, and if you have a good enough name, interested parties will be happy to negotiate unless you have a ridiculous price.

  40. @Elliot,

    What if the buyer returns a message stating interest in purchasing your domains? You send a reply with a decent price, but then you never hear from them again. You try to contact a few times, even asking them to make a reasonable offer. Every time you send an e-mail, you are professional and courteous. They never respond.

    For the most part, it’s too late because the buyer is now insulted due to the price. Maybe they had another price in mind, but responding to the initial reply to them asking for a price ruined the deal.

    The same thing happened when another lady asked me to submit a list. She was interested in buying some of my mortgage domains. When I priced them and sent the e-mail, I never heard from her again. I used to always talk to her when I sold textbooks, but now she avoids me. I set the prices low. It is possible that she had another price in mind.

    Because of those experiences, I changed my strategy to only ask for offers. Since then, I sold 2 domains, got another offer, and a company requested me to send my portfolio.

    I see good names sitting around in auctions with no bids. There are many premium names that are entered into auctions over and over again. These are names that failed to make the reserve or ones that never received any bids.

    I don’t believe that all people are willing to work with you on a good name. If the buyer fails to strike a good deal, they’ll eventually disappear.

    I spent a week closing a deal. If I wasn’t persistent, then I would have lost the deal. They wanted the domains, but they were also busy with running their business. I had to stay on top of the deal.

    I always hear that good names sell themselves. There has to be some criteria to what determines a good name. I’m buying better domain names now because another domain investor looked over my list and gave me some pointers to what I should buy.

    I fee that pricing always matter. If something is priced too high, then there’s less demand for it. When the price is low, there will be more demand. Essentially, pricing is the rule of economics. Domain names are much more valuable than most goods and services, but domain investors and companies will set limits.

    I understand what factors make a domain name good. However, it makes sense to find hand registered gems to make a small profit. Buying a name for a few dollars, and then selling it for over $300 is worth the risk. Paying the cost of registration, and then making 25 times more is also worth the time. Most domains sell between $100-$3000.

    There are too many bidders that drive the prices up for domains that are not worth the risk. Before an auctions starts, you may have a price set in your mind. Once the price surpasses that amount, you will abandon the auction unless the domain is priceless to you.

    You once made a offer for a domain at Sedo. The owner responded with a ridiculous offer. You ended the negotiation. The name had to be good for you to make an offer on it. Thanks.

  41. @Elliot,

    You can remove the long posts. I don’t want to take up too much room. I just wanted to make a point on pricing. I found that it is better to ask for offers. Thanks.

  42. Customers have the option to get a 3rd party bumper and not just the “Apple” one.

    Companies make it a pain in the ass many times to get the “free” one, so I think many will simply go out and get their own. Some will send in for a refund, many will not.

    3 Million phones sold so far.. that is a lot of bumper protectors šŸ˜‰ and that is just ONE PHONE!

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