I’ve been asked about listing domain names for sale with Buy It Now prices on multiple venues. For nearly all of my inventory quality domain names, I list them on Afternic / GoDaddy and on Dan.com with buy it now prices. I know many other investors also use marketplaces like Sedo, Epik, Efty, and a few other venues as well.
A concern I have had is that a domain name will sell to different buyers on different platforms. While this may seem unlikely, it is easy to imagine a scenario where this happens. For instance, a phrase might become a social media hashtag, and before a domain owner can update pricing or remove sales listings to reflect the growing popularity of the phrase, buyers utilize the buy it now option on multiple platforms.
When this happens, it puts the seller in a pickle. The seller will need to choose on which marketplace they will honor the deal and which marketplace(s) will have to notify the buyer that the buyer will not be able to perform. In the case of an Afternic Fast Transfer network sale, the decision is made for the person since the domain name is automatically removed from the seller’s registrar account.
When I receive an offer for a domain name, either via email, Embrace.com offer form, or via Dan.com, it is important that I remove the BIN listing from other venues as soon as possible. With an offer, I have the time to remove BIN listings before agreeing to a deal so I do not end up in the pickle that is multiple deals on the same domain name.
Once I see I have an active negotiation, I login to my Afternic account and “hide” my domain name. When a domain name is in “hidden” status, it is not available to purchase on Afternic or its network. If the domain name is later sold, I can delete it from my Afternic account. If I can not work out a deal to sell the domain name, it is unhidden. By hiding a domain name, I don’t have to go through the sometimes manual process of re-listing it for sale on the Afternic network.
I presume other domain name sales marketplaces and venues have similar functionality, and I recommend utilizing it. A prospective buyer may do research on a domain name after submitting an offer, and if they see it listed for sale with a BIN price, they may just purchase the domain name. While it’s nice to have a sale, I might end up paying more in commission on Afternic, for example, than on a deal where the buyer negotiated directly with me. Some people might even take the opportunity to re-evaluate the BIN pricing when a buyer submits an offer and doesn’t see the BIN price on other platforms.
The “hidden” option at Afternic is a nice way to quickly take down a sale listing. Sellers should know that the sale price may be archived in other places, so raising the price could be upsetting to a prospective buyer.
I actually had different experience this spring. I negotiated the 5 figure deal this April, where my highest price (buy it now) was on afternic, and they reached out to me on Dan and Epik. And negotiation started, back and forth for about a week, and than one day i woke up to full priced sale on afternic. While in negotiation we were talking about 20% less sale. Turns out there was another party in the mix that wanted a name, and they made sure to get it. So as long as afternic is highest price, i dont think you need to hide it. (i am talking here about mid 5 figure and under, maybe different for larger sales)
Yes, it is a convenient feature.
No, other than Sedo, most other platforms don’t seem to have anything similar.
So what I end up doing is changing from BIN to Make Offer on the other platforms until the domain in question is sold or deal falls through.