“Upgraders” are prime targets to buy your domain names — and relatively easy to find.
Since I create a list of end user domain names sales each week, I notice some pretty strong patterns amongst end user buyers.
One of the biggest categories of buyers are the “upgrade” buyers. The domain name they buy is almost exactly like the one they already own, only better in one of two ways.
The first is a better top level domain. Buyers will often buy a .com domain equivalent to their existing second level that’s either a ccTLD or “inferior” gTLD.
Finding buyers like this for all of your domains is rather simple. You can use Estibot’s bulk appraisal tool to see which other gTLDs of your second level domain name are already registered.
(Sometimes the owner of a .com will even go “down the ladder” to buy an extension such as .org or .net, but this is less common and a harder sale.)
The second type of upgrade I see is a company dropping the hyphen in their domain. There are few things more damning than having a dash in a domain name, so this is a pretty easy sale as well.
I’m not familiar with a tool that will bulk check your domains for equivalent registered domains that have a hyphen. Please comment if you’re aware of any.
John UK says
Regarding the hyphen. I registered a 2 word .com not long ago thinking could sell it quickly. The company enquired how much and I told them. They then proceeded to instead buy the .com with the hyphen as cost them $10 and they were happy . I contacted them asked them if they wanted the one I had without hyphen and they said no thanks. I did 2 things, one of which was to put up a picture on the website ,this picture in fact http://tvjunior.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/a-journey-up-homer-simpsons-butt-the-simpsons/
Within few weeks they had bought the domain ,LOL.
Jenny says
This is hilarious. I almost spat out my food laughing at that Homer Simpson pic.
rob sequin says
An interesting way to motivate someone to upgrade to your domain 🙂
This tool http://www.domaintools.com/buy/domain-search/ tells you what other domains are registered with keywords from your domain.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Rob Sequin – that’s really helpful.
Meyer says
My only concern regarding this strategy is the TM threat.
Some companies think if you offer them a domain that matches their company name, they have TM rights.
There are some domainers that aggressively approach companies. Have they had any legal problems doing this?
???
Andrew Allemann says
@ Meyer – I agree. I’d only do it on generics, not something that matches a brandable or company type name.
John UK says
To be 100% honest, this was their company name ,not my usual style though but I thought it was amusing and they had a good laugh about it too ,and bought it rather than take UDRP.
Jen says
Rob,
Your post#2 containing tip was a priceless gem.
Thank you.
Mike says
Andrew, try zfbot.com also.
Bill Sweetman says
@ Andrew,
Estibot’s Domain Lead Generator tool offers this capability:
http://www.estibot.com/leads.php
Your mileage may vary…
Bill
AbdulBasit Makrani says
You can also try NameDroppers.com to find what other domains are registered with same keyword(s). Just give space between two words and you will see all hyphen domains as well 🙂