Got a Bunch of Endusers. How do I go about selling a domain to them?

[Skinny]

Hey guys,

Alright so I have a domain that hopefully will appeal to end users.

Now how do I go about selling the domain to them.

I'm worried about the trust factor thanks to scammers so I'm wondering how to put the potential buyers at ease.

I do not yet own an AwesomeDomains.com type name or have a separate business set up for domaining.

Do I invite them to participate at an auction at SEDO?

Do I invite them to submit offers to me via email?

Would really appreciate any advice on selling domains to an end user.

Thanks for your help.

Skinny

 

[DomainMagnate]

Good questions, I think you'll get some different opinions, but a few general tips to help establish more trust: get their names, or names of their companies and use them to make the emails more personal; include your own full name, address, phone number.

 

[cbk]

Out of those bunch of end users I can assure you maybe two might show interest and remember that since you are contacting them you would more than likely have to sell it cheaper than you wanted. The "Where have you been all my life" response from the end user you may have expected won’t be there.

If you do decide to contact the potential end user via email and they are a private individual put in the subject line "Joe" not "blahblah.com for sale" or "domain name for sale" the reason is simple to most a .com or for sale in a subject line is spam or scam and will be deleted without even reading, if their name is the subject they may think they know this person and read it. Another downside to emails is you never know if they read it or not or it went to their bulk or spam folder. If you get no response and you have a phone number, give them a follow up call. I rarely send emails and usually contact directly.

For a business contact the marketing and advertising rep or the owner directly but do expect "Not interested".

In the body of the message just let them know it is for sale and a price and that it is negotiable with your name and contact information. You do not have to explain how good it is for their business the domain name should speak for itself and if it relates to their business it should be a no brainer.

Have stats on the domain name, some end users will ask you how many hits does it get and you better know. If the domain name has a high estibot appraisal and traffic the end user will be impressed, domainers are not but end users usually are and you can send them to that link.

The splash page should match the body of the message with the price and your contact information not some goofy cash parking with irrelevant links to nothing.

Another important thing selling to end users at least for me is have the domain name registered at Godaddy. The reason is simple a lot of people have heard of Godaddy and already have an existing account and pushing is simple. If the domain name is under 60 days old and trying to have them create a enom account or dynadot or namecheap account to transfer to them you will get blank stares or telling them that they need to initiate a transfer pay the year renewal then you send them authorization codes and then accept.... Blank stares again. The whole goal is to make a quick and easy sale.

 

[katherine]

If the domain name has a high estibot appraisal and traffic the end user will be impressed, domainers are not but end users usually are and you can send them to that link.

You can't be serious ?
You want end users to gauge the value of your domain based on an automated tool ? At the very least it shows you have no credibility imho. I'm mentioning this since we are talking about the trust factor. Do not blow your credibility like that.

If you send E-mail, the first thing is to make sure it will not look like spam.
So take the time to personalize it, identify yourself, leave a telephone number where you can be reached and feel free to mention you are handling transactions through secure channels like escrow.com.
You also do phone calls if you're a good salesman, personally I like snail mail because soliciting through E-mail is often perceived to be intrusive.
Perhaps if you are incorporated, you will instill more trust too.

 

[DigiNames]

Keep it simple and professional. This is who I am, I am contacting you because a domain I am currently selling would benefit your business. Please let me know if you are interested.

If they see the value to them they will contact you.

 

[Skinny]

Thanks for the advice guys. Very useful.

For those end users who are interested do you let them submit an offer and work up (if it's low) or do you set your price (and work down)?

Skinny

 

[DigiNames]

Ideally they would submit an offer so you could see where they are at, but more times then not they will ignore any request for one and their first question will be "what do you want for it?"

Determining end-user prices is tricky, but you have to do this based on what you know of their business, how much money they make, and how important the name is (or could be) for them. Go high and expect some negotiation. I like to say something like "let me know if this price sounds fair to you." which imo sounds like you are trying to work with them to determine a fair price and leaves the door open for a little negotiation. If you do go high and don't hear back for 1-2 weeks you can email them again with a lower price, or invite them to make an offer of what they think is a fair price.

I think that cbk is right when he said that you might have to sell names for a little less when contacting "them", then when "they" come to you. However, I have had some good success selling names this way. Good luck.

 

[grcorp]

Thanks for the advice guys. Very useful.

For those end users who are interested do you let them submit an offer and work up (if it's low) or do you set your price (and work down)?

Skinny

Always quote a price.

If you're emailing the right person, they get emails all day long about domain names. Every business owner does. And as I'm sure you know, there's some crazy domainers out there with some very weird ideas as to value. You don't want to blend in with them by being secretive about your price.

Also, as for making it clear that you're legitimate/the real deal/etc., the best you can do as an individual seller is to provide a phone number. Anybody can create a gmail account and start firing off emails, but somehow, for some reason, people are more comfortable having a contact phone number, not knowing that there is a plethora of means to obtain phone numbers anonymously, in an untraceable manner, so that the very fraud they are attempting to protect themselves from, can take place.

That said, picking up the phone and calling them is definitely the best way. However, if you have truly a bunch of end users, you may not have time to do this. I'm not sure what your idea of a lot is, but I've done as many as 631 cold calls in a given day. You get mostly voicemails as it is... the battle is in finding the right person, never mind pitching to them.

 

[Biggie]

why give advice on how to spam end-users, when we don't even know if the domain has any value?

it could be a totally useless domain, not only to the end-user, but in general as well.


there are already plenty of threads here on "how to send spam an end-user"


one should know if the domain is applicable to that specific industry/entity, before advising either way.


imo...

 

[Skinny]

Thanks for the advice guys. Much appreciated.

@biggedon. I agree the quality of the domain makes all the difference.

This domain is term that is used here in Canada often in violation of certain laws.

I'm not going to go any more specific than that. It's not a premium or killer domain, but it would be useful to a legal type company.

Skinny

 

[Tim Schoon]

I've had some very good results lately with a one liner email.

Less is more.