discuss Would you rent out your domain(s) for the short-term?

[DomaHub]

Hello NamePros experts!

Looking to get some discussion and feedback going for an idea we have been developing. We appreciate any comments!

Background:
We are an early-stage start-up, creating a platform for domain name leasing and rentals. Currently we have developed the workflow to rent out your domain to anyone else by the day, week, and month.

You pick the price and time you want to rent it out for (e.g. $1 per day, $5 per week, etc.), we present it on our site (i.e. nice, personalized listing page), and we take care of the contract + transaction with your renters. You would have to direct your domain(s)' A Record to our servers and we would then redirect the end-user's desired web content to your domain.

For example, the end-user rents out www.imsopretty.com and has it display her personal Instagram page.
Or a big company wants to launch a marketing campaign for a new product and they rent out www.thenextbigthing.com for a month.

Issue/Discussion:
Although we do plan on providing more traditional leasing contacts (3, 6, 12 months), we also really like the idea of providing short-term rentals because it creates a lot of utility for a domain name.

For example, you could make happybirthday.com rent-able on a daily basis and someone could potentially utilize that domain every day. We are trying to provide an alternative to parking as well as the idea that you have to build a website/traffic to generate value for your domain. You help someone out and they put money in your pocket.

However, we are unsure if domain owners would also be interested in short-term rentals. Do you guys see value in being able to let people use your domains for just a day or a week at a time?

We will be happy to answer any questions regarding our business and company as well.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

tld;dr Would you be interested in renting out your domain(s) for days or weeks at a time?

 

[stewmath]

This could be something i might possibly be interested in

 

[alcy]

yep... keep us posted how its going bud.

anything that makes domainers some money while they wait for sales is good by me!

make sure you take proper steps to build up client base and visibility of company to a point where people go to you like they go to buy domains to sedo or other auction sites.

that'll be your task to do.

let's hope things work out and we all make few extra bucks.

 

[MapleDots]

Under no circumstances does the end-user gain email capabilities. This is because you, the owner, retain ownership of the domain throughout the rental life-cycle.

In this case, I think it would be a great service

Now maybe.... just maybe.... someone will even rent you DomainHub.com

Sorry, could not resist, I'm just being a bit silly now

 

[DomaHub]

In this case, I think it would be a great service

Now maybe.... just maybe.... someone will even rent you DomainHub.com

Sorry, could not resist, I'm just being a bit silly now

Hahaha! If you want to test our product you can sign up on our website (www.domahub.com) or send an email to [email protected]!

 

[frank-germany]

For example, the end-user rents out www.imsopretty.com and has it display her personal Instagram page.
Or a big company wants to launch a marketing campaign for a new product and they rent out

you may have my
urugly.com

you are ugly

 

[frank-germany]

For example, you could make happybirthday.com rent-able on a daily basis and someone could potentially utilize that domain every day.

contact Mike Mann he is looking to monetize that domain

 

[frank-germany]

Do you guys see value in being able to let people use your domains for just a day or a week at a time?

yes definetely, if you are able to get customers .. great idea!

 

[frank-germany]

Would you be interested in test piloting our platform? Send us an email at [email protected] or just sign up at www.domahub.com

signed up

 

[frank-germany]

it must have been implied

it's like sedo.. they don't promise they'll sell your domains.. but you go list there anyway.. cause that's where people who wanna buy domains go to.. and when it sells, you pay sedo for findng you buyers..

thsi should be roughly same thing.. imo

well I guess they promise to sell ..

"
Sell your domain
at the best possible price.
Sedo is the largest domain marketplace with the most buyers worldwide. By using our services you can sell your domain quickly at the right price while taking advantage of particularly low selling fees.

Start selling domains now
"

 

[Jman92]

One important thing you didnt address is how you're going to monitor what the rented sites are being used for. Is there going to be contractual agreement whereby you ban the use of names for scams, spam etc... How do you intend to run a clean traffic thru the rented domain space? Is there a mechanism in place?

 

[Joshh71390]

This is a great idea

 

[DomaHub]

One important thing you didnt address is how you're going to monitor what the rented sites are being used for. Is there going to be contractual agreement whereby you ban the use of names for scams, spam etc... How do you intend to run a clean traffic thru the rented domain space? Is there a mechanism in place?

Hi, these are all legitimate concerns for domain owners, we understand that. We make it clear in our terms that misuse or otherwise inappropriate usage of domain rentals is unacceptable and we reserve the right to terminate any rental that operates as such. Owners will also have the ability to flag/report rentals they don't like.

 

[DomaHub]

contact Mike Mann he is looking to monetize that domain

We have reached out to him via email, but no response yet. Is there a better way to reach him? Thank you for signing up by the way, appreciate it!

 

[frank-germany]

We have reached out to him via email, but no response yet. Is there a better way to reach him? Thank you for signing up by the way, appreciate it!

https://www.facebook.com/mike.mann.564

 

[hugegrowth]

Interesting idea, I've never had anyone ask to rent a domain of mine, only buy. Most people are cheap when it comes to buying domains, so if they only get to rent it a short while they would probably want to pay even less. I could see this working for premium domains or short term events or advertising campaigns by big companies.

 

[slader23]

Not sure if you've been told this...but this would be an excellent option for businesses born in high risk environments i.e start ups. If you could streamline your rental contracts into classes(to make sure crap names don't have exuberant rental costs), have a rent to own/rent to own for less+equity option and make an effort to be either present/associated with the many accelerators and incubators running throughout the US then there is a good chance you'll be able to make yourselves into a very equitable option for start ups. Your offering potentially gives them a more strategic and economical approach to acquiring a domain name...one that accounts for the risk of failure as well. Anyways...your onto something pretty cool...I'll sign up and give things a look.

Good luck

 

[Kieran]

Would you be interested in test piloting our platform? Send us an email at [email protected] or just sign up at www.domahub.com

I've registered, please accept me registration.

 

[LarryDomain]

I rented out a domain once and the F*&*&ker added child porn codes on it a few months later. I only knew about it because someone did a whois and emailed me cursing me out.

The main site was just a plain average joe site. I guess he used a subdomain that was the culprit.

So if you lease it out.. keep a close eye on it.

 

[Kate]

There is virtually no market for renting domains.
It's been tried several times before, and failed.
One example: Launch of LeaseThis.com Gives Domain Owners a New Option for Domain Monetization
And the founders of LeaseThis.com are not noobs, but even they couldn't make it work.
Flawed model imo, viable only for very few domains like ultra-premium domains or for time-sensitive campaigns.

 

[Martin Scurry]

OK, sounds interesting. lets do it.

 

[Jens P. Jensen]

Hello NamePros experts!

Looking to get some discussion and feedback going for an idea we have been developing. We appreciate any comments!

Background:
We are an early-stage start-up, creating a platform for domain name leasing and rentals. Currently we have developed the workflow to rent out your domain to anyone else by the day, week, and month.

You pick the price and time you want to rent it out for (e.g. $1 per day, $5 per week, etc.), we present it on our site (i.e. nice, personalized listing page), and we take care of the contract + transaction with your renters. You would have to direct your domain(s)' A Record to our servers and we would then redirect the end-user's desired web content to your domain.

For example, the end-user rents out www.imsopretty.com and has it display her personal Instagram page.
Or a big company wants to launch a marketing campaign for a new product and they rent out www.thenextbigthing.com for a month.

Issue/Discussion:
Although we do plan on providing more traditional leasing contacts (3, 6, 12 months), we also really like the idea of providing short-term rentals because it creates a lot of utility for a domain name.

For example, you could make happybirthday.com rent-able on a daily basis and someone could potentially utilize that domain every day. We are trying to provide an alternative to parking as well as the idea that you have to build a website/traffic to generate value for your domain. You help someone out and they put money in your pocket.

However, we are unsure if domain owners would also be interested in short-term rentals. Do you guys see value in being able to let people use your domains for just a day or a week at a time?

We will be happy to answer any questions regarding our business and company as well.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

tld;dr Would you be interested in renting out your domain(s) for days or weeks at a time?

This is very interesting. There are in fact no domain "owners" only "right holders", as they also rent the domain from a Registry and most often indirect through an Registrar. Some Registries do allow direct registrations, which might be more secure and more simple for you as an "domain name leasing and rentals" company?

 

[frank-germany]

There is virtually no market for renting domains.
It's been tried several times before, and failed.
One example: Launch of LeaseThis.com Gives Domain Owners a New Option for Domain Monetization
And the founders of LeaseThis.com are not noobs, but even they couldn't make it work.
Flawed model imo, viable only for very few domains like ultra-premium domains or for time-sensitive campaigns.

can't remember how often did Edison fail?

 

[AutoDealer]

Under no circumstances does the end-user gain email capabilities. This is because you, the owner, retain ownership of the domain throughout the rental life-cycle.

If you're setting nameservers for the use of the domain, then yes your "tenant" will be able to use it for mail. Your pointing the domain to their hosting and the hosting allows for creating email addresses and mailbox controls.

 

[biggie]

If you're setting nameservers for the use of the domain, then yes your "tenant" will be able to use it for mail. Your pointing the domain to their hosting and the hosting allows for creating email addresses and mailbox controls.

+1 for actually reading what is being posted and knowing the basic SOP for leasing/renting domain names.

 

[Bannen]

Like any new startup, you're still fleshing things out, and there are a lot of good ideas and possibilities in there, as well as a lot of bugs and potential problems.

I think the process of pointing nameservers to the rentee's host is not the way to go; it's messy, needs careful, close and constant monitoring to catch any misuse or abuse, and I can foresee some real legal problems. I think most of the people/companies that would rent a domain would be legit and decent... but just one or two really bad eggs out of every hundred or thousand rentals can really ramp up a huge legal mess, especially if it happens with an ultra-premium domain, and especially if it ever gets into the public eye, even just public news among domainers (who will be your main source of domains-to-rent).

I think the only way around that is to set up this whole platform to using your own hosting. This way you are the entire intermediary, between the domain owners who point their nameservers and rent out their domain, and the renting party who will pay for the domain rental and will send your webmaster the files to upload on your own hosting.

If you control the hosting, then the rentees have to give you everything they want uploaded, which means you only need to screen it once, rather than having to keep tabs on whatever content they put up if they use their own hosting. This works on both levels; if they have static content that just needs to be uploaded once, that could be a minor one-time surcharge tacked on to the rental. If they have dynamic content and plan to do additions and changes along the way, then their webmaster will have to send each of these to your webmaster to be checked and uploaded, so you'll have to provide an ongoing webmastering service with fees for that.

Static sites with one-time or limited uploads can be offered for cheap rent, but making a lot of updates/changes will involve a lot more work and money, so for that end of the biz you'd attract only the more lucrative clients, larger firms that are renting domains for longer terms or to the degree of leasing, or for some short term but intense marketing gimmick, or a startup product/service trial run, or whatever.

Others here have inquired about your ability to get customers to rent these domains, but I get it. You're pioneering; others have pioneered too, and failed, but you're all pioneers until someone figures out how to do it right (if it in fact can be done right, and is not a flawed business concept at its core). You're doing in a way what Brandbucket is doing, in trying to match up end users/customers with domain sellers/renters. You don't have the leads yet because you're still fleshing out the bugs of how it works. But you've reached your first tier, that of getting past the concept and now having an actual platform in place, so you're here at NP speaking with with us, which is your second tier... getting the domain owners involved, for our comments, our trial runs and experiments, our domains and our word-of-mouth to other domain holders. And when you've listened to our suggestions and tweaked your business model so you like it, then the next tier will be to venture forth and build up leads, probably by some selective mass marketing and a lot of emailing and phone calls to corporations who may be interested in renting domains... but of course you can't do that third tier without diving into this second tier... because you need a whole roster, and a strong roster, of premium and/or very interesting domains as part of your 'rental pool'. Gotta know what you have for rent, before you can go forth and try find renters.

Personally I feel there is use for this, and possibly even a great use, especially if you build up a strong list of likely domains; nice to have a strong list of premiums in there, as well as a list of domains that are really interesting and whose usage is clear just by looking at them. I like the possibilities of this service you're brainstorming, but it's a real balancing act because there are also so many drawbacks and caution areas, as others have mentioned here.

I think it's still young, you're not yet at the startup phase, you're still really fleshing out the whole business model and the operating platform. I think there's a lot more fleshing out to do, maybe even some entire revamping, before you could release this to the public and start things flowing with the real-world domain rentals. But you're also doing it well at the moment... being careful, asking for input from we who may be offering our domains up for rent, and you're actually listening to our input. I'll contribute more to this thread, but this is enough for now.

I think you need to hear a lot more feedback about both the possibilities that can really open this up into a viable business, and the hazards that can really sink you. The jury's still out, of course, until you're up and running with a public and operating service, but for now I think there's enough possibility for a viable business, and I wouldn't have wasted my time writing all this if I felt otherwise.

Good luck,
You'll hear more comments from me down the line