Selling to Endusers - Part 1

[chris]

question after reading another thread in dntrade

Can I approach people to sell a domain, which i havent develop any site, or havent done anything

Hi Asantha,

I don't have a vast amount of experience in directly approaching end users when it comes to selling domains, however, from my understanding there is nothing wrong with it provided the domain was legitimately purchased as per auDA's rules, such as an investment, to monetise or to develop etc.

Prohibition on registering domain names for sole purpose of resale
8. A registrant may not register a domain name for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to another entity.

Where I think people could get into hot water when selling to end users, is when the person they approach may have reason to believe the seller has violated auDA's rules (e.g feel you have purchased the domain with the intent to directly benefit from selling it to them i.e squatting) and lodge a complaint. So as I see it, make sure you consider a few variables first before you decide to approach anyone, such as the type of domain name (obviously make sure there are no trademark issues etc.), who you choose to approach and how you approach them. Make sure you clearly communicate your intentions.

People do sell .au's to end users and I've been approached by quite a few people over the years selling .au's via email. I'm cool with it as long as it's done tastefully, I've even bought a couple of domains this way myself.

It would be great if any other members are keen to elaborate/agree/disagree with what I've said and perhaps even share some of their experiences?

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Horshack]

It's when they keep on sending you the same email over and over again or the same person switches to selling a different domain name altogether and repeats the exercise that it just starts to become spam. Interesting to note the comments on fabulous domains on this forum because I've seen the offer page on a few domains that I've been interested in but have been suspicious about making an offer because when you go to fabulousdomains.com.au the domain is not listed there. It looks like a scam.

 

[chris]

Hi Horshack,

Fabulous offers parking services as well (http://www.fabulous.com/), which is very popular and different to their own names they have for sale (http://www.fabulousdomains.com.au/). The team at Fabulous/Drop are professional and very helpful if you ever have any questions for them, I'm sure they'll help you out.

I agree about repetitive email, the savvy operators will look into who they're contacting and use a more personal approach.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[findtim]

repetitive emails and scammy looking sites are great.......... you know who to avoid.

and use an escrow type service if you don't know them.

tim

 

[James]

I have had some success recently selling domains in the $x,xxx range to end users. I mostly just target buyers who have partial match of my term or even own the .net.au of the term. Just use a professional email template, follow up with a call or an email. I would never email any one more than twice if they do not reply on the 2nd email they are not interested.

 

[Horshack]

Thanks Chris, until I joined this forum I didn't know that Drop/Fabulous were the same company as I hadn't come across Fabulous until recently. I also came across another one called Bodis that I'd never heard of before also.

 

[Guidex]

I will try this method, however how would you convince someone the worth of a domain name? What if they don't see the value in it? (I've faced this issue before even though the domain was perfect for them)

 

[chris]

I will try this method, however how would you convince someone the worth of a domain name? What if they don't see the value in it? (I've faced this issue before even though the domain was perfect for them)

There are still plenty of people that think every domain should cost $10 dollars, but I think every day more and more people are learning to understand the value of a good domain name.

Pointing people to recent sales is a good way to explain value, our recent .au domain sales list is a handy reference for .au sales.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Guidex]

Thanks Chris, will keep that in mind

 

[findtim]

if you have a good name with many potential buyers helps get the best price I feel, I haven't tried selling any of mine yet so even after 2 years I am still in research mode.

I figure:

competition for the domain
brandable
memorable
short
a potential fast return on the investment based on the product or service they sell.
a good sales pitch " how many widgets do you need to sell to pay for the domain I'm offering"?

I think they are either buying an extension to their business or a piece of real estate, many don't get it yet, MOST actually.

maybe 2014 is my year to do some selling so we'll see how close I get to my advice

tim

 

[sapo]

Somewhat related to this topic, I cannot speak more highly of using the Fabulous parking system. (Same family as Drop.com.au).

The monthly income isn't all that great on parking, but as I'm not a developer, I haven't got the time to immediately put sites up. So suits me.

But the big benefit of using Fabulous are the "For Sale" / "Enquiry" banners they have. I've had four decent 4 figure offers on three separate domains this week. One is sold; the other two under negotiation.

When you got offers like these, it makes you realize there are buyers out there who are willing to pay realistic prices for domains.

I've looked at Fabulous in the past, however they have requirements that your porfolio should generate at least $750/month or to transfer 750 domains to them.

I don't meet those requirements as most of my domains have no content on them, not even ad banners. How do you guys get around this?

 

[findtim]

hows that part 2 coming along ?

tim

 

[phpprogrammersaustralia]

nice article.