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

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

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?

alcy · Mar 8, 2017

sounds good

wil your co charge for listing items, or just when stuff gets rented?

biggie · Mar 8, 2017

the fundamental question is:

why point my name to ur site, when i can offer an interested party the same rental or lease options?

cuz, middlemen are a penny a dozen, and most are not worth a dime.

imo....

alcy · Mar 8, 2017

biggie said:
the fundamental question is:

why point my name to ur site, when i can offer an interested party the same rental or lease options?

cuz, middlemen are a penny a dozen, and most are not worth a dime.

imo....

I guess its cause they're gonna find you people to rent to no?

Ted.T · Mar 8, 2017

OK, sounds interesting. If you can find the clients, then why not. Subscribed!

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

alcy said:
sounds good

wil your co charge for listing items, or just when stuff gets rented?

Commission is for successful rentals only. No fees to list your domains - personally feel like that's an outrageous thing to charge for when the owner is being gracious enough to provide his domains in the first place.

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

alcy said:
I guess its cause they're gonna find you people to rent to no?

Yes, this would be the entire selling point of a marketplace/platform application. We are going to dedicate our resources ($$$) to building a customer base.

biggie · Mar 8, 2017

alcy said:
I guess its cause they're gonna find you people to rent to no?

didn't see anything mentioned in post about they're gonna find people to rent your names.

imo.....

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

Ted.T said:
OK, sounds interesting. If you can find the clients, then why not. Subscribed!

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

Ted.T · Mar 8, 2017

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

Yeah, let's try it

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

biggie said:
didn't see anything mentioned in post about they're gonna find people to rent your names.

imo.....

The whole point of the marketplace is to connect renters with domains. Customer acqusition is our top priority since no customers = no revenue for owners or for us as a business. We would put all of our resources into building that customer base.

Currently, we are operating a closed beta for domain owners only in order to develop features that owners are interested in. That's our main focus for now.

urlurl · Mar 8, 2017

my concern would be the use of the name and reputation damage - how can you ensure the renters wont use the name for malicious uses or do something that would put the name in google penalty box?

Question: why would someone need to rent a name for a few days, week, month?

alcy · Mar 8, 2017

biggie said:
didn't see anything mentioned in post about they're gonna find people to rent your names.

imo.....

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

alcy · Mar 8, 2017

DomaHub said:
Commission is for successful rentals only. No fees to list your domains - personally feel like that's an outrageous thing to charge for when the owner is being gracious enough to provide his domains in the first place.

yeah I think so too
sadly, thjere are still outrageous things happening out there today.

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

urlurl said:
my concern wold be the use of the name and reputation damage - how can you ensure the renters wont use the name for malicious uses or do something that would put the name in google penalty box?

Question: why would someone need to rent a name for a few days, week, month?

It is in our best interest to protect the value and reputation of a domain name and thus, we provide legal protection and safeguards against all malicious usage of domain rentals. We also reserve the right to pull any domain rental that is being used inappropriately. Rentals can be flagged and reported for this purpose.

Like we explained in the OP, for example, www.happybirthday.com could be rented for only a day to send something nice on the web for someone's birthday. Overall, the short term offering is to increase flexibility that customers may require.

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

alcy said:
yeah I think so too
sadly, thjere are still outrageous things happening out there today.

Alcy, would you be interested in test piloting our product? Like we said, we are trying to include any and all features that domain owners are looking for. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Send us an email at [email protected] or just sign up at www.domahub.com

biggie · Mar 8, 2017

DomaHub said:
The whole point of the marketplace is to connect renters with domains. Customer acqusition is our top priority since no customers = no revenue for owners or for us as a business. We would put all of our resources into building that customer base.

Currently, we are operating a closed beta for domain owners only in order to develop features that owners are interested in. That's our main focus for now.

DomaHub said:
Yes, this would be the entire selling point of a marketplace/platform application. We are going to dedicate our resources ($$$) to building a customer base.

every marketplace hopes to make a connection.....

but what "resources" specifically, do you have that will bring a customer base that is looking to rent domain names?

and, as is, what volume of traffic do you currently have, independent of domain owners redirection, for any listings to be seen by general public?

imo...

urlurl · Mar 8, 2017

ok that makes sense.

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

biggie said:
every marketplace hopes to make a connection.....

but what "resources" specifically, do you have that will bring a customer base that is looking to rent domain names?

and, as is, what volume of traffic do you currently have, independent of domain owners redirection, for any listings to be seen by general public?

imo...

Biggie,

Like we previously stated, we are early-stage and operating a closed beta as we work on developing the application to fit the needs and requirements of potential domain owners.

The platform is fully developed, but not live yet, so there is no traffic information we can give you, simply because we have not moved forward to that stage of our business yet.

biggie · Mar 8, 2017

alcy said:
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

big mistake to assume based on what you think was implied

also, what's being offered here, ain't nothing like sedo, they've been around for years and they pay ppc income for redirecting your name to their site.

and..., if people are already going to sedo to buy names, why will they go to this new place?

imo....

biggie · Mar 8, 2017

DomaHub said:
Biggie,

Like we previously stated, we are early-stage and operating a closed beta as we work on developing the application to fit the needs and requirements of potential domain owners.

The platform is fully developed, but not live yet, so there is no traffic information we can give you, simply because we have not moved forward to that stage of our business yet.

so, no resources. huh?

imo....

Ted.T · Mar 8, 2017

We could compare this service with Uber. There are taxis, old, good and well-known taxis, but the novelty that Uber brought and the possibility to use alternatives made it a successful story. Also, think about Amazon hosting, where you can rent server resources for any period, a couple of hours or days.

There is smth new in this idea, the short-term rental, and it has the right of existence. Let's see how it will be developed... Who knows, maybe the end-users will like it...

MapleDots · Mar 8, 2017

urlurl said:
my concern would be the use of the name and reputation damage - how can you ensure the renters wont use the name for malicious uses or do something that would put the name in google penalty box?

Question: why would someone need to rent a name for a few days, week, month?

Very good point.
Other thing is email.... what if the renter uses the domain for mass email campaigns?

I personally would be interested as long as the end user could not use the domain for email.

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

biggie said:
big mistake to assume based on what you think was implied

also, what's being offered here, ain't nothing like sedo, they've been around for years and they pay ppc income for redirecting your name to their site.

and..., if people are already going to sedo to buy names, why will they go to this new place?

imo....

DomaHub is focused entirely on the idea of renting and leasing domains. We provide a platform for short-term rentals as well as the traditional 3,6, or 12 month rental.

Comparing DomaHub to Sedo or any other traditional domain marketplace is like comparing AirBnb to Zillow or any other real estate company. Airbnb focuses primarily on short-term renting and usage of homes and apartments whereas traditional real estate focuses on selling and buying or at least renting out for 6-12 month periods.

What we're trying to do is re-imagine what a domain name can be used for. There are thousands of easy-to-remember domain names out there that generate natural traffic (congratulations.com, happybirthday.com, etc.). We are trying to utilize this intrinsic traffic and put it to good use by allowing users to direct that traffic to whatever web content they desire (provided it's legal and not harmful to the domain brand).

DomaHub · Mar 8, 2017

MapleDots said:
Very good point.
Other thing is email.... what if the renter uses the domain for mass email campaigns?

I personally would be interested as long as the end user could not use the domain for email.

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.

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

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