Where are the brokers?

[Nexmax]

It would really seem this industry is in need of a good broker. This a pretty big industry, isn't it? Logistics just too tough? I guess we have to do it on our own. Put on your own site no one finds it, on a big site and no one sees it. There has got to be a better way.

 

[cyphix]

Couldn't agree more keshe... although I'm sure most of the experienced domainers have no trouble getting buyers for their names, I'm rather new to the domain business myself (about 4 months) & if it wasn't for my other business I would have gone broke by now doing all the buying & no selling lol, so basically my other business is supporting my domain name buying.

I know that in the domain business you have to have patience, especially when you are new, like myself, but I can definitely see where your coming from.

I guess you just have to learn how to find the right buyers along the way, as I don't think anyone's really going to give you 'all' the tricks of the trades.

I myself am still uncertain how often some of the more experienced domainers sell names & what methods they utilise most often, of course, in a perfect world you would hope it would always be end-users emailing or phoning you about a name... but I don't believe this happens often enough to make a living off of; & the few that have emailed me asking about names haven't been serious buyers anyhow...... I think they expected the domain for $50 or something.

Promotion methods I've tried with not much success..

ebay
my own domain site
afternic (just started adding some names a week ago)
emailing possible buyers

Frankly I don't see many other methods to selling names.... maybe writing them letters if the names really good to possible buyers.

 

[Nexmax]

Well good luck with all the methods. I have tried them all, but haven't done any of them with much heart of effort. I enjoy it and make a little money with it, but maybe not as much as the time is worth. Would be nice to get some real money out of decent name for a change. The only place I know that seems to come close seems to be a scam. Any way good luck.

 

[adoptabledomains]

The first thing you have to learn is what to buy, if you want to resell. The best broker in the world couldn't sell an awful name with no market and lots of other choices. Believe me, I've dropped lots of names that sounded a lot better when registered than a couple months or a year later. Names in highly monopolized markets are difficult to sell since ther are fewer potential buyers. Businesses that require lots of capital to start are hard to sell since it would be expensive to start a new business under the name. On the other hand, the new startup probably won't be paying high $$ for a name either. I find most sales of good names average in the $300-800 range, and probably take 2-3 years for the right buyer to come by.

Before registering a name, think about how many potential buyers there might be in the english speaking countries. A name like MovieRental.com would be very good because there are probably a couple potential users in every town. A name like MovieStudio.com still sounds great, but who would use it. Most studios use brand names, not generic ones. It could be just as valuable, but take much longer to find the right buyer in the period you need to move it.

I've had fair success by having my domains on a private site with no one elses' junk domains watering down my selection. The problem with large sites is that there are too many to look for, some of which are no longer available but just not removed, and a confusing process for buyers who may not understand domains.

I get most takers from those who actually type-in the name to find it for sale, or who see a domain seller name in the whois listing. Which brings up another domain reg rule...If you wouldn't type in the name looking for a potential product or service, no one else probably would either.

 

[Nexmax]

Understood, and still I sometimes reg a name and a day later, "what was I thinking". "THATS just awful!!" My best example of late, buyskin.com. I was thinking of skins and thought it would work, now it just sounds sick. It would take a heck of a salesperson to sell that name, well unless...let me leave it at that.

Yes you have to have a name worth buying.

 

[actnow]

Keshe,

I think I said this to you before. Even Walmart has some "dogs" on their shelves. You just never know.

Steve with CPI is probably one of the largest buyer and seller of names on our forum. And, they probably weed out 10 to 20% of their inventory every year.

 

[wordpimp]

I'm making the same mistakes - however it does seem like the market is domain owners buying domains at low values.

I'm not seeing the the end users buying online. Yet, there's no turning back.

visit my first try at www.watchoutamerica.com (85% completed)

 

[Nexmax]

Looks very good. I could do without the music, but thats just personal preference.

Yeah I understand all the rest you say. Things are what they areI've sold one name to an end user. Might help if I pointed all my names to where they should go. I think we too often make the mistake the average person has a clue what whois is.

Anyway great looking site.

 

[domainduck]

The problem with brokers becomes more apparent as your collection grows. Keeping your portfolio up to date can be a REAL time hog, when you have several hundred ( or more ) domain names.


quack

 

[Nexmax]

253 currently

 

[TexasFilly]

"Brokers" are not the need..
but rather.. "Buyers"

This site is a great site to converse and communicate with other "resellers"... and many names are sold and traded..

but the real domain "buyers" are an untapped market.

 

[Nexmax]

I love this site and it only gets better. It would be nice to get retail for a name here and there. End users are damn tough to find.

 

[adoptabledomains]

Originally posted by keshe
I love this site and it only gets better. It would be nice to get retail for a name here and there. End users are damn tough to find.

With domains, the buyer needs to find the seller. To sell you need to make sure that when searching for a business name, potential buyers are able to find your name AND not get scared away by overly optimistic or unreasonable asking prices once they do find you.

People look for names in either trying to register them, or in seeing who the competition may be by doing type-ins. If the type-in yields a for sale page it's more likely to sell. If the whois indicates it may be for sale and by a legitimate trustable source, it's more likely to sell. Some may go to afternic or sedo, but few end users probably would think to start at ebay or here in a domain forum or on a usenet group.

The best way for the market to work would be for registrars to sell both new and market for the domain aftermarket. Instead of showing only new name suggestions, they could show suggested for sale alternatives as well, taking a commission upon purchase. They would probably make more with this model than they would with new registrations, as well as supporting the loyal resale buyers who really buy most names in the first place.

 

[beatz]

Where are the brokers?

Here is one.

I've successfully brokered quite a number of names in the past.

99% to endusers.

My commission is 30% firm, and i don't accept crap names.

Don't think just because a name is good or even great it will sell by itself.
More often than not it won't.Or just for a fraction of what you actually could have gotten for it.

Many reasons, but 4 being the most prominent of them:

- No experience.
- Time problems
- No idea where/how to find buyers and how to approach them.
- Afraid of the phone.

There are several others like but not limited to 8to5 job, family duties, technical issues, depression , new love , watching TV, etc.etc - you know yerself.

I can take care of your names in such cases - that is, if they're not crap.

If interested, email your lists - if i don't respond, don't feel insulted it just means your names are prolly crap to me.

I will respond for all other noncrap list emails of course.

 

[wordpimp]

Good discussion. Thank you for giving us some direction.

 

[adoptabledomains]

Originally posted by adoptabledomains


The best way for the market to work would be for registrars to sell both new and market for the domain aftermarket. Instead of showing only new name suggestions, they could show suggested for sale alternatives as well, taking a commission upon purchase. They would probably make more with this model than they would with new registrations, as well as supporting the loyal resale buyers who really buy most names in the first place.

Okay, yesterday I post the above, and today I get this in an email from Afternic:

Your 15 Minutes of Fame! - One of our goals is to expand the reach of the Afternic Exchange. We want to increase the number of clients viewing your listings. So Afternic is announcing the implementation of the first two Registrar Partners; Domain People based out of Vancouver, British Columbia and DomainDiscover located in San Diego, California. Now, when a partner registrar's client does a search for a name, the Afternic exchange is offered as an alternative to "Sorry, the name is Unavailable". In fact, you can try this yourself by doing a search on your own name listed on the Afternic Exchange. Go to

www.domainpeople.com

or in a few days at:

www.domaindiscover.com

and do a search for the name. We expect this Afternic Exchange Network to greatly enhance the number of people (and sales) by leveraging the activity already occurring on the registrar sites.

I think this does enhance the value of Afternic. Something Register.com probably couldn't do when they owned it due to conflicts of interest being a registrar.

 

[Luc]

- Afraid of the phone.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

it's true, i spoke with quite a few of my clients who were afraid
to pick up the phone and call someone who they knew would
be interested.

what's with that?

anyways, to all listening. BEATZ is not afraid to use the phone
for you. :laugh:

Good luck guys!

 

[Nexmax]

I will try to get you a list soon. A bunch of crappy ones, but a few that you might have an interest in trying to sell.

 

[hhunterjr]

Keshe,

Overall, your website (urldeal.com) looks good and is functional. However, I do have one suggestion.


I typed in a couple of domains from your website in the address bar and it didn't forward to your website. I think that one that would help you is to have all of your domains forwarded to your website.

Curiously, I found that one domain that is on sale on your website (Bingoweek.com) is actually a functioning website that looks pretty good. Have you sold that name to someone already and not updated your site? Or is the name on your website misspelled - i.e. it's supposed to be bingoweeks.com that you're offering for sale.

These are only my opinions - okay. Take care

http://www.domainterritory.com
[email protected]