strategy My Rookie Plan - What do you think?

[mambooo]

Hi!

I'm starting domain selling after reading lot of content in the topic in the last few months (few years ago I sold one domain for $200, but it was a one time thing).

I can see that even the professionals arguing about strategies and tactics, so I decided to summarize what I learnt so far, how I planning to start and ask you to review it. I have some questions too, it would make me very happy if you can answer them. I hope it can help other rookies out there.

My ongoing and planned process:

I started to register domains on GoDaddy and I already had some domains on Namecheap. Marketplaces have different fees, GoDaddy is quite expensive, but first I thought that they have the largest reach in the world, so probably it's worth to pay more per domains and have more potential buyers thorugh GoDaddy Auction site and Afternic. Then I realize, it's not so simple, because if my strategy is to reach the potential buyers throught direct sales (uniqe emails one by one), I could park the domains in the cheapest place that is still safe and have a good service. After reading more about direct sales and marketplaces, auction solutions I thought the best if I use both the same time.

So now that's the plan:

1. I have a base website (domshine dot com) that branded and I create unique landers myself for all of my domains like this: domshine dot com / domaintomato. In this case I can make potential buyers to contact me directly and I can avoid to pay 15-20% commission on marketplaces. I would send these landers url to the target audience when I direct mail them.
   
   Q: Is it a good idea to put a line next to the BIN price on my landers that says the buyer can nagotiate or is it lower the profit too much? E.g. Have another price in mind? / Do you have other offer? Contact us.
   I don't want to lose any potential lead because they think they can not negotiate when they see a relatively higher BIN price.
   
   
2. I found that Escrow.com can be a trusted solution for those buyers who are not familiar with domain business. But after deeper examination, it seems that the commission level only good there if you sell higher priced domains as it has a $25 additional fee if your bank is not in the US (regarding paypal and credit card payments, I don't count on wire transfer). I know, everybody wants to sell much higher priced domains where this $25 doesn't count too much, but I think it's worth to mention. If you want to sell a domain for $100 with 10% commission and this $25 additional fee added (outside US), its minus 35%. Because of this, the optimal solution can be Sedo.com for lower priced domains where the commission is only 10% for parked, buy now domains (commission rising based on the type of sale).
   
   Q: Would you use Sedo as a main parking place where you can keep your portfolio?
   Q: Do you use Escrow.com? What's you opinion?
   Q: People using PayPal as payment method without any escrow function. How can they trust this process? It seems very risky.
   
   
3. I would also list the domains on marketplaces with higher prices than on my own landers so the commission wouldn't eat the profit. I can see experienced domainers say you should list your domains all of the big marketplaces (GoDaddy, Afternic, Sedo, Namejet, Flippa, Namecheap, Namepros, Name.com, Dynadot, Namesilo, etc.) and there are also experienced domainers say that it's unnecessary, you can go with 2-3 marketplaces. Honestly it's hard to imagine that a domainer check Dynadot, Namecheap and Flippa but doesn't care about GoDaddy/Afternic and Sedo. It's also a huge task to manage all the domains, change prices on all the marketplaces.
   
   Q: Is it enough if I use only GoDaddy/Afternic for auctions and maybe Sedo? (parallel with direct email sales as I mentioned before).
   Q: I'm not greedy, I'm ok with higher commissions if the service bring me sales. Is it worth playing with different pricing on my own landers and on marketplaces or it's just cause unnecessary risk because the rised prices could be too high for marketplace buyers?
   
   
4. So unique landers for all domain names set up by myself with BIN price (and maybe mentioning that buyers can negotiate); domains listed on GoDaddy/Afternic and maybe Sedo with 10-12% higher prices than on my landers; and I can start direct mail my target audience. I do market research and lists with potential buyers and contact information, and create a basic template email I can alternate later. I send direct emails one by one with unique subject line (E.g.: xyblahblahxy.com - Domain name offer for Exact Company Name) and necessary changes in email body text.
   
   OPTION A: When they reply my email we can negotiate in emails maybe phone/video calls, and I can tell them, if there are other bids. I assume that not many buyers will accept the BIN immediately, so BIN prices just set the stage for negitations. Finally we use Escrow.com to make the deal, everybody is happy.
   
   OR
   
   OPTION B: Drop original plan. I just make it simpler, don't care about creating own landers and using Escrow.com and in sales emails I forward everybody to an auction site where they can see each other bids and deadlines.
   
   I think Option A keep more profit in your pocket at the end of the day but needed more work to do. Option B seems easier to manage and I also read that seeing auctions can be motivators for buyers (time limit, other bids). Downside: if there are no bids they can see there are nobody to compete with and they keep their own offers low or just lost interest. Also looks more impersonal, because if I don't communicate the leads closer just forwarding them to an auction site, maybe they just leave the whole story behind.
   
   Q: Option A or Option B? Or Option C?
   
   
5. Bonus question: I read that GEO domains are dead because Google doesn't like them anymore, but I can also see that many domainers still build strategy on them. I really like GEO, so I would be happy if the first part won't be true. What do you think?

Of course I have tons of questions but these are the basics. I really appreciate your attention and it would be nice if you could share your opinions about my plans and answer some of the questions.

Thanks,
mambooo

 

[mr-x]

I saw domshine.com and thought domainshine.com; which is how most of our brains work. I'd find a better brand / domain.

 

[mr-x]

Q: Would you use Sedo as a main parking place where you can keep your portfolio?

You can list your domains at multiple sites. Godaddy, afternic, sedo, dan, etc.

 

[CTUXSF]

The most efficient thing I’ve heard is use DAN landers with BIN pricing. Then list on the major marketplaces like Afternic, Uniregistry, Sedo.

I’m a newbie, started last Christmas. Have my sites listed at all the above, as well as brandables pointed to Squadhelp, BrandBucket, BrandPa (it’s required if the names have been approved by them). I have some at DNWE to test wholesale pricing. I list at Juice Market for names with SEO juice. Have some at Flippa that might be used by entrepreneurs. Have another at DaaZ to aim at India market. I have .coms and cctlds and new TLDs so am testing different places to see what sells where. The only thing that’s worked so far is three sales at GD auctions. I’m still in the red from those sales so I can testify that them commissions hurt. But I’m treating it all as a learning experience and I’m focused on the selling mechanism before I worry about the fees. I’m in the red but not in a dangerous way, just painful enough to keep me paying attention

 

[biggie]

Hi

what was the plan, for buying the right domains?

seems you're more concerned about where to list or to list @ BIN or make offer, or high commission fee's, to having your own website.

and what is this from your homepage:

Do you want to buy one of our domains seen elsewhere?

Contact us: [email protected]

what sense does that make?
if they saw it on another marketplace, then why couldn't they negotiate on that platform?
that's... the main reason why.. you list on places like sedo, afternic, etc...

if, you're going to have a Buy It Now Price on your website for that tomato, then it doesn't make sense to have links to godaddy, escrow and sedo, unless those links are connected to that specific name.
you'll have to add your affiliate code to each link, so potential buyers can purchase thru the options you provided.

also >

Safety guaranteed:
all transactions go through Escrow.com.

using capital letters and correct wording is essential,
as it should be: All transactions go thru Escrow.com
not through Escrow.

focus more on quality names first.

imo....

 

[ultradog]

"Thru" is not a standard English word, but this misspelling has entered common use.

 

[biggie]

"Thru" is not a standard English word, but this misspelling has entered common use.

Hi
you are correct about standard,
but it's common usage is prevalent.

good catch

imo...

 

[bmugford]

Plans are great, but what matters most is domain quality.

If you have quality domains you have many options. If you don't have quality domains no plan is going to make much of a difference.

GoDaddy does have high fees, but because of their reach and market size it can be justified. They bring a lot of potential buyers to the table.

Buyers know the GoDaddy name. They are going to trust it a lot more than some random company that they have never heard of.

If you want to maximize sales, list them on the popular venues. The commissions are just a cost of doing business honestly.

Brad

 

[Cooldomainideas]

I agree with biggie in the sense that they would have had visited your domain after visiting your domain profile somewhere else. You should list the domains available for sale and link them to their respective listings.

 

[mambooo]

I saw domshine.com and thought domainshine.com; which is how most of our brains work. I'd find a better brand / domain.

Thank you for the answers.
I don't plan to focus on strong online branding, the site is only used to show the BIN price for end users.
I'm sure that there can be better names when you would like to build a strong online brand, but in this case it's not so important. I think domshine is enough to show BIN prices for now, but I keep in mind your words.

 

[mambooo]

what was the plan, for buying the right domains?
seems you're more concerned about where to list or to list @ BIN or make offer, or high commission fee's, to having your own website.

Thank you for the reply.

I didn't want to push every topic here, that's why I started with the plan. I'm aware that plans are worthless without good domain names, I just didn't want to list them here right now. My domains you can see just the tools of testing some marketplace settings without the risk of selling something valuable accidentally on cheap prices (so domshine.com and domaintomato.com are just parts of my sandbox).

and what is this from your homepage:
what sense does that make?
if they saw it on another marketplace, then why couldn't they negotiate on that platform?
that's... the main reason why.. you list on places like sedo, afternic, etc...

As I'm still mapping the possibilities I would like to create a general site first that can used for any case. If I use online marketing to promote concrete domain names and I try to avoid marketplace fees I forward the traffic to my website, and I think there can be useful a sentence like that: Do you want to buy one of our domains seen elsewhere? (so "elsewhere" can be anywhere online not just a marketplace).

if, you're going to have a Buy It Now Price on your website for that tomato, then it doesn't make sense to have links to godaddy, escrow and sedo, unless those links are connected to that specific name.
you'll have to add your affiliate code to each link, so potential buyers can purchase thru the options you provided.

I agree, I put the links there to help the user to get familiar with the options, but I can see it's unnecessary.
Affiliate activity is an option I haven't think about yet, thank you!

 

[mambooo]

"Thru" is not a standard English word, but this misspelling has entered common use.

you are correct about standard,
but it's common usage is prevalent.
good catch

I'm not a native speaker but I think it's better to use the formal version on a website like this.
Through - formal, thru - informal.

 

[Mike Goodman]

@mamboo, I don't think you have a plan yet by any means. Your questions indicate you are trying to make your mind up between so many options you have a lot more information to gather and qualitative decisions to make for yourself. You are not yet ready to make a plan.

On a forum such as this one you are going to get what appear to be contradictory replies. That is because those replies are from people with different routes to market, different purchasing approaches, a wide variety of domaining experiences which have led them to individual and very separate conclusions. This is a clear indication that there are several ways to skin the domaining cat.

You will also receive some from people who have no marketing knowledge or experience whatsoever and are new to domaining. I often think those latter people are looking for confirmation of their own ideas rather than offering help. I'm not holding that against them, they have every right. But just be wary not to treat those comments as "advice".

I'll try to make a couple of observations which may or may not be of help, depending on which direction you are really leaning. First though, a word of advice: do not buy any more domains until you have decided upon your strategic route. Take @bmugford's advice and buy quality domain names. Add to that, from me, make those quality names fit for your strategic approach to sales, which you cannot do prior to defining your sales strategy. It is pointless spending loads of money on ultra premium names if you are going to be fishing in the lower end user or wholesale market price depths and vice versa.

You talk about marketing by email and you have a clear idea how carefully you must target end users in order to be successful. That is to the good. You understand that spamming will end up in spam boxes, never to be read.

You then contradict that by saying you have no need to brand your business. If you do not brand you web site and your outgoing emails, which market sectors are you aiming at? Targeted email marketing is time consuming, detailed and many would describe it as hard work. You certainly have to think about what you are doing, at least. But if you end up in the right inbox with such a flaccid approach, after taking so much trouble to get all the other detail right, how are you not going to end up in spam boxes? And end up on RBLs so you don't reach many more?

The email marketing approach, simply by the nature of the beast, indicates a necessity to offer a higher level of premium domain names and to do it thoroughly. It also indicates the need to build relationships with many of those you target, or you will need to keep on building lists without ever being able to fully capitalise on the earlier lists. The question then becomes, what is your second stage strategy for keeping friendly contacts with those you reach in the first round of each new mailing?

You miss the point of the flexibility of escrow. When selling by third party landers, every one of them uses an escrow service. That is part of the sales fee you are charged. Sometimes their own, often a white labelled escrow specialist. By mentioning the fees being excessive at the lower end if selling directly, you display the fact you need to do more research, as well as the fact that you are going to be bottom feeding.

That is incompatible with direct marketing whether by email, phone, door knocking, or anything else. You won't have time to do both properly unless you have at least administrative help. On the first point, there is no premium but there is a slightly higher percentage charge when you have a deal set up with an escrow company. Secondly, you may insist the buyer pays it or at least some split between you and the buyer to defray it.

Food for thought. Take your time. Get the concepts sorted out in your own head before diving in, and certainly before spending any more on anything including domain names for resale.

Do that and you wopn't need my best wishes for success. You'll get there anyway.

 

[VadimK]

I think that the biggest misconception that you have as a newbie, is that you worried too much about how to sell, rather than what to sell. As it was said already here - your main concern should be getting the coolest domain names possible - hand-reg, auctions, pending/delete or drop lists etc. You get a good domain - and people will come to you for this domain, no matter if it's registrar's landing, your own page, or who.is record. That's a general.

On a more practical note.
Forget about your own landers. Soon you'll get caught on constantly checking and updating names, and creating new ones, and connecting your payment, and no proper statistics, and luck of trust, and all sorts of problems and hussles of a small independent website.

If you go with guys like Epik - it's all there what you need, a long time. Your catalog of names you can play the way you like, statistics of any kind, tags, transfers, markets, fast registration, auctions, awesome landers to be created in minutes - everything you need not to think of how exactly you will sell, but rather to be concentrating on digging good names. Plus you can create your own marketplace (basically a website) and also promote it how you'd promote your own site.

And for all this you don't even need them to be a registrar. You can register domains with whoever you want. For example, you can keep some of your domains with Dynadot/NameCheap, but using Epik's landers. This way you can also list your names on Afternic Fast Transfer and Sedo (you pretty much set between the lander, Afternic and Sedo, forget about the rest).

And don't get me wrong, I am not promoting and advertising for Epik whatsoever, I am just trying to show you that 80% of questions you ask in reality already have awesome and fast solutions and you don't need to invent the bycicle there, but as I mentioned already, rather to concentrate on getting good domain names.

Wish your best of luck on your journey!

 

[Clover]

Sounds solid. I'll check back in again later.