Name Ninja Bill Sweetman talks about his role as a domain buyer broker, and how domain name owners should respond to offers to buy their domain names.
Domain name consultant Bill Sweetman of Name Ninja helps companies find and buy the right domain name for their business. In this episode, he discusses how he helps companies and provides tips for domain name owners about how to respond to an inquiry to purchase one of their domain names.
Also: Analyzing GoDaddy’s $28.1 million purchase of Marchex’s domain name portfolio, Amazon.com’s use of new top level domain names and Minds + Machines by the numbers.
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This was a very enjoyable and valuable podcast, as someone who has frequently been approached by buyer brokers myself. I skipped forward to where discussion of buying and selling appeared to begin, so I don’t know what was on the first part of the podcast, however.
Nice of Mr. Sweetman to not name the other blogger he alluded to, by the way, in case anyone caught that and was familiar with the post he was talking about. 😀
So here’s a question: let’s say the % fee is based on how much less than $100,000 the broker can get the name for, but the seller will only sell for $100,000. What then? Fixed service fee only perhaps? No deal then?
With all this talk about the .com and waking up to the new TLD’s, don’t forget the TLD you already have forgotten about, people: .US. 🙂 I had a buyer broker hound me to the ends of the earth for what must have been months until we finally agreed to close on a .US.
Here’s some advice to buyer brokers from me as well now:
Don’t fall into a mode of thinking that the world revolves around every wish and desire of your client regarding every detail of a sale from start to finish no matter how big they are, and that the seller and everyone else must feel this way too even without knowing who your client is. Realize that it’s only common sense if you and your client treat the seller according to the “golden rule.” Your reputation as a broker can definitely suffer otherwise. Things can go much better if you do the common sense thing, though, especially if the seller even has more domains you and your client may want to make deals for later.
@ John, thanks for your comment (and for listening).
Regarding what would happen if a buyer broker can’t get the seller to reduce the price, I can only speak to how I operate and not other buyer brokers. My goal is to get my client the domain name and the final purchase decision is up to my client regardless of how I might be compensated.
Yes, there’s still life in other legacy TLDs. I am fond of [verb].me domains for instance.
Your advice is good. It’s never about just the current deal. Communication and relationships are everything in this business.
I am a newbie to selling domains but I have presumed that, if I list my name with an intermediary that entity will want a commission on the sale, however it comes about. If you avoid being “An Island in a stream.” and list your name with Sedo – Go Daddy – Flippa etc, presumably they all get commission on the sale.
@ Peter, yes, marketplaces and seller brokers that increase the odds of you selling your domains get paid a 10-20% commission. Would you rather earn 80% of a domain sale or 100% of no sale? Domains rarely sell themselves which is why marketplaces and brokers play a valuable role in vastly increasing your chances of making a sale.