Here’s what’s stopping you from selling more domain names.
1. The distribution market is still fragmented – we’re still at a point where we have a fragmented market of domain listing distribution providers. There’s AfternicDLS, Domain Distribution Network, and to some extent Sedo. GoDaddy has a separate service to get in front of end users. As long as these systems aren’t fully cooperative, it’s harder to sell domains.
2. You aren’t listing them with both major exchanges – if you’re just listing with only Afternic or only Sedo, you’re missing out on millions of monthly domain searches. List your domains on both.
3. You haven’t selected the maximum exposure option – AfternicDLS has three levels of exposure for your domains. The basic level just gets them on Afternic. Choose an expanded option to get them on BuyDomains or even to show up when people are searching for the exact domain at a domain registrar.
4. You haven’t priced your domains – small business end users don’t want to play around. They don’t like the game of “make an offer”. So price your domains. It also makes it easier to sell to other end users.
5. You think your domains are worth millions – If you price all of your domains at $1 million, or respond to all offers with a $1 million asking price, you aren’t going to sell many domains.
6. You don’t respond to low ball offers – Sure, many low ballers are just wasting your time. But many brokers who sell lots of domains have told me that some of their biggest sales start with low offers.
7. You aren’t using GoDaddy’s premium listings – if your domains are at GoDaddy, try Premium Listings. The domain will show up for sale when someone searches for the exact name. That’s what we call a targeted buyer.
8. You haven’t tried selling domains on NameJet and SnapNames – I haven’t had much luck with SnapNames’ self-service listing option in a while. But did you know NameJet offers something similar? It’s worth trying.
9. You’re afraid to sign an exclusivity contract – If your domain is worth something and you want a broker or auction house to list it, you’ll need to sign some sort of exclusivity deal, just like you do when you list a house for sale. Otherwise your broker won’t work as hard on your behalf.
10. Your domains suck – I can’t think of something witty to say about this. But if your inventory sucks, the above 9 items aren’t going to help you out much.
Rob Sequin says
Great list of reasons but I believe some are more true than others.
#4. Price your domains. Agree completely. I suggest that domain owners price all domains that they are not passionate about and leave “make offer” on the others.
#10. Your domains suck. Hate to admit it but that’s true for most of my domains and most of the domains that I see for sale.
Really, MOST domains for sale suck and most will never sell.
Best thing to do is price the domains that you don’t care much about, list them for sale everywhere possible then if they haven’t sold after one year, cut the price in half.
If they haven’t sold in the second year, let the domains drop. Save your money.
Joe says
Agree with all ten reasons. Great post.
Bill Sweetman says
Fantastic post, Andrew.
I’d like to add an 11th reason: You haven’t put a “This Domain is For Sale” message and link on your parked or developed domain. That is a *huge* source of sales leads because John Q. Public doesn’t know what a WHOIS lookup is and has probably never heard of Sedo or BuyDomains. They do know, however, how to type a domain into their Web browser.
Steve says
Great tips Andrew and good seeing at Domainfest. Come tag some pics on facebok. You look good in a lab coat.
Mike Sullivan says
I think a big reason is that many people don’t try hard enough and don’t know the fundamentals of sales. Top reason is likely that the names suck.
DNLingo says
Very good advice. I am always curious where to list my domain names. I have experience with Sedo but have never given the others much thought. Sedo for example is free to list. I have always wondered if the recent sales charts are free listings that sold or did they pay the $39 Feature fee?
Deke says
Don’t forget that Godaddy charges 30% commission when using Premium Domains. Payout next month for this month’s sales.
….just something to remember as they are brutal on the terms. 🙂
Acro says
Lowball offers deserve nothing but scorn and humiliation. If a “broker” is not willing to make a decent offer, they aren’t worthy of responding to. Those that give you attitude get a nice certificate 😀 http://bit.ly/d0xDGp
Ken says
3. You haven’t selected the maximum exposure option – AfternicDLS has three levels of exposure for your domains. The basic level just gets them on Afternic. Choose an expanded option to get them on BuyDomains or even to show up when people are searching for the exact domain at a domain registrar.
—
You really recommend applying for that AfternicDLS? I checked it and I need to spend at least $20/year for the membership and I don’t know if I’m guessing I need to spend more for the Premium Level? Is it that big of an impact to be considered a great investment?
I’m quite new to this type of work and any thoughts about this would be appreciated 🙂
Bart says
Great post! I personally am doubting if I should price my domains or not.
I got a listing a Afternic and Sedo and yes, Afternic has a yearly fee but last year I sold (just) one domain for a very good price with them so 🙂 profit taken.
Ken says
@Bart
tnx for d info 🙂
wondering if that was just the basic sign up or did u choose expanded/premium option?
HBV says
Great article! From my perspective, #6 is really important. Most of the time when I’m representing a buyer the client is initially suspicious and afraid that I will go on a rampage with their money. They will only give a small budget which makes an opening lowball kind of a necessity. (Believe me, I’d much rather open near the market rate and get things done quickly!) Once trust is established the buyer usually will open their wallet to a reasonable level, but that is impossible if the seller dismisses me out of hand and then won’t negotiate in good faith because their pride is “insulted”. I’ve had $XXX,XXX sales start with a budget in the low fours. A good sale is a process that requires some understanding on all sides.
Meyer says
I have some domains set at the min. ($60) at Sedo. 99% of the time when I counter with the fair (wholesale!!) market value, they
cancel.
I do it just to see the interest.
If you don’t have your domains parked with
Sedo, majority of the time mediocre/average
domains will not sell there. Unless you accept low offers.
Anytime you have a Sedo broker involved, the
chances of success rises. A professional sales
person trumps a dollar amount on a computer screen.
::: GooStation ::: says
11. because 90% of domains’ buyers and sellers always are the same guys… 😐
Meyer says
AfternicDLS is a good service if you want to
flip domains.
Or, wait a longer period of time for that
particular enduser.
The biggest problem with using AfternicDLS
is that you are actively competing with
NameMedia’s inventory. (And, also Oversee’s inventory.)
As much as NM denies it, Buydomain’s sales
people have to be more motivated to sell NM
domains before ours. We have no way to
know but how often is the prospective buyer
offered a NM domain as an alternative.
(buyer) “I see you are offering NeatDomainName .com for $ 3,000.
What is the best price?”
(sales person) “That is a great price for
that premium domain. If you are open to
suggestions, we also have CuteDomainName .com for $ 1,688.
And, today we have a special of 10% off. That expires tonight. Plus, we can transfer
ownership immediately.”
(sales person) “Do you want us to contact the
owner of NeatDomainName for a better price?”
“Don’t forget our 10% special on
CuteDomainName expires tonight.”
“We will do whatever you want.”
Neil Kavanaugh says
First – another helpful post Andrew. Keep them coming! My name is Neil Kavanaugh and I manage sales at AfternicDLS. I’m surprised by the comments above about our sales team giving preference to NameMedia’s domain inventory over inventory listed on Afternic. In fact, our sales team receives the same commission no matter what the source of the name, so they have very equal incentive to sell an owned name or a third-party name. We’ve been successful selling premium domain names for more than 10 years – selling hundreds of millions of dollars of names in those years. We have the largest sales force in the industry and would be happy to speak about the best ways to sell your names.
NKavanaugh (at) namemedia.com
Soud says
Reason #2 is risky, listing the same domain on 2 markets can cause bids on both markets to start while you are having an afternoon nap…YES it can happen in the multi million users industry, the so called “internet”. Unless ofcourse you set to ur sale type to “make an offer” so that u can refuse it on one market if you get bids in another.
Just an advice 😉
Soud says
I browsed namejet and I can’t see where can a domainer sell on namejet referring to reason #8
NetJohn says
@ Steve
You also looked quite elite and slick in your white lab coat at DomainFest NYC …must be nice having that PHD in Domainology….Can I please call you Dr. Kaz ?
I also saw that you added nicely to your portfolio at the auction.
Jay says
Andrew, all points make sense but why not let interested party make an offer if you dont know what to ask for, or have no clue what they might just offer?
Mountain says
@ Soud
I run business development for NameMedia/BuyDomains. Regarding your point about listing domains on two marketplaces, you’re right and parallel sales do happen. Shameless plug to follow….
That’s one of the reasons we implemented our fast transfer system and a real-time API that interfaces between our system and our partners’ portfolios. This way you know right away when a domain is sold and can immediately pull it from other marketplaces.
Andrew Allemann says
Hey all, back from vacation.
With regards to the trouble with pricing domains on different platforms and having them sell at both at the same time, that’s the reasoning behind my item #1 above.
For now at least, you really should only price them on ONE platform at a time. If the distribution systems could talk to each other better that wouldn’t be a problem.