This is part three of Domain Name Wire’s “Selling Domains†series.
In mymost recent article about selling domains I discussed domain name aftermarkets such as Sedo and Afternic. In this article I will discuss selling domains on domain name forums.
Domain forums are active online communities where domainers talk about domains, offer appraisals, exchange tools, and discuss legal issues. These forums also offer a way to buy and sell domains. I’m going to focus this article on Domain Name Forum (DNForum), because it is the largest forum and the one I’m most familiar with. That’s not to say that other forums should not be used for buying and selling. On the contrary, you should belong to multiple forums.
Before discussing DNForum in more detail, you should be aware of the profile of visitors to domain name forums. Visitors are fellow domainers. Unlike domain aftermarkets, which attract domainers and end users, sales that occur on forums are almost always wholesale. Other buyers are there to invest in domains you are unloading. Seldom will these buyers have an immediate need for the domains. This means your typical sale will be less than the end user market.
Now for DNForum. DNForum is run by Adam Dicker, whom I interviewed back in February. Adam has turned the site into the crown jewel of domain name discussion sites. As I write this article, there are over 1,000 people online reading and posting on the forum. DNForum has nearly 35,000 registered users, 180,000 threads, and 940,000 posts.
There are many sections on the site for selling domains. The most common is “Domains for Sale – Fixed Prices”. In this section users can post just about any domain for sale so long as there is an asking price for the domain. In order to post domains for sale you must purchase a Platinum membership, but this is well worth the one-time $50.95 fee. Another Platinum-only section is “Domains for Sale – Offers Wanted”. In this section users post domains they are willing to sell but for which they don’t have a price in mind. This section requires more back-and-forth by users to consummate a sale. Many buyers avoid this section because they can’t make deals as quickly. In the Fixed Prices section buyers can quickly find domains and know what the seller wants for them. Although fixed price sales require an asking price, sellers will often make an offer below that price that results in a purchase.
There are more Platinum sections for domain sales, including sections specifically for country code domains, numeric domains, and international character domains. There’s also a section for auctioning domain names, although I prefer to stick to the fixed price and offers wanted sections.
Two of the other Platinum sections warrant your attention. First, the “Domains with Traffic” section is for domains that receive 30 or more visitors per day. You must provide a screenshot proving traffic volume to post in this section. Second, the Domain Brokerage section lets you list domains that you do not own but for which you have the rights to sell. My experience is that this section typically contains some of the best domains on the site since brokers typically only want to sell premium domains. For example, right now the list of domains includes Bookmark.com and Note.com.
One step above the Platinum sections are the Exclusive sections. There are only 707 Exclusive members of DNForum, compared to 2,987 Platinum members, so there are fewer sales in this section. But as DNForum puts it, the Exclusive “Private Domain Sales” section is the Big Money Forum. A lot of the domains listed in this section having asking prices of $10,000 or more. Exclusive memberships cost $400.
Finally, domain owners should take a look at the Domains Wanted section in the Gold forums. People looking for domains post their requirements and users can respond with domains they wish to sell. There’s no way to verify the intent of the posters to actually buy the domains they seek, so you might find yourself posting domains but not making sales. But your efforts are not in vain — I frequently post to this section and make major purchases.
Stay tuned for future articles in the Selling Domains 101 series, including end-user sales, handling unsolicited offers, and the issue of “seller’s regret”.
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