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domains MediaOptions Partners With DAN.COM To Provide Domain Brokerage

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equity78

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Two industry leaders are getting together as DAN and Media Options team up. … [Read more...]
 
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Sounds good.

However, I simply need inbound enquiries which at the moment are as rare as hen's teeth!
If some genius can generate them then that is a real winner.


As rare as hen's teeth? Are you sure?:xf.wink:
 
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Sounds good.

However, I simply need inbound enquiries which at the moment are as rare as hen's teeth!
If some genius can generate them then that is a real winner.

Leads are the life blood of many businesses. The point of advertising is in most cases to get leads.

In real estate, insurance and in lending the industry is built in large part on a commission system. The reason it works so well there is because the commissions are good so you have people trying to broker homes and insurance or do mortgages and some succeed and those stay but even those that fail can bring some business.

The domain industry is the most passive industry when it comes to generating sales. Each domainer for the most part will just list a name at some marketplaces, point the page to one of them and wait.

It could all change real fast if there is a commission system built out.
 
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Everyone should be celebrating this. The only reason domains didn't increase in price at the rate of many other assets in the past 20 years is because people do not know how to negotiate. End users have been robbing domainers now for a long time, I see premium EMD's that were sold for what amounts to theft. Obviously I do not mean literal theft or robbery.

I see many posts here of domainers in panic when they get an offer, complete shock and panic, exactly the position a buyer wants a seller to be.

Its time we let the professionals handle things. Its time we stop underpricing everything out of fear. When we do that we hurt ourselves and the community as a whole.

There is nothing to be embarrassed of if you are not good at negotiating. Some of us might be good at negotiating someone else's domain but not ours. Regardless, know your strengths and weaknesses if you hope to be successful.

Other ideas for Dan (to try because you don't know what will hurt or improve sales)

- Let people that visit a domain lander asked to be notified if price changes. No other industry throws away so many leads like this industry. Professional marketers would cry if they knew what's going on here. Imagine that, you have a potential lead finally come to your page and you have no way to capture it? Allow the domain owner to decide if they should allow it on their lander or not, just like Dan already does with many features such as traffic etc.

- Let potential buyers send a message without making an offer. Maybe they have a question. Allow the domain owner to decide...

- If we really want to open the floodgates to sales, add an affiliate program. Almost every major site has an affiliate program and there are a few big networks that act as third parties (cj, cb etc), here Dan is the third party.

You could allow people to promote your domain with a special link in return for a commission. You could set it per domain. Now you have millions of people that hustle online, a ton of marketers, promoting your names on their blog, social media, direct to clients etc in exchange for a commission.

HOW many people push Godaddy names just because of the commission? Many blogs would not even be alive today if not for their affiliate program.

I think if Dan would do this it would be incredible for everyone. Potential affiliates can signup with Dan and then pick what names they want to promote and view what the seller offers as commission. You have names that can sell for 25k right now if the right people see it and with more people promoting it the chance of the right person seeing is increases. So you offer a hefty commission of say 5-10% (or whatever the domain owner decides) and you have people knowing that within 24-48 hours they might get a payment of 1200-2500 for just posting something to their followers or to their email list etc.

One the regular affiliate program is implemented and working you could two a two tier. This is where people can earn money from all the people they refer to be affiliates. There are many people online that might not have the end user traffic but do have traffic of people that do. This is a form of multi level and it all can add up.

The asset hype and investing euphoria is happening now. Let's not miss this boat.

Keep up the amazing work Dan.

If people are in a panic over getting an offer they probably should not be in this business.I like doing my own negotiating so as long as its never mandatory its good for people lacking in confidence, negotiating skills or who have a very valuable name and don’t know how best to proceed.

If the name is not very valuable (under 5K lets say) its a sad state of affairs if they need another “professional” to sell their name. We are supposed to be professionals. Brush up on marketing skills and keep more of your sale price imo. The only people this should be a major godsend to are domainers who are not native English speakers.
 
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If people are in a panic over getting an offer they probably should not be in this business.

Would you say that about other industries as well that the leader of a company cannot do sales and has no negotiating skills? The story goes that all business owners must be gods in everything, that is far from the case. The smart business owner knows what they are good at and knows what they are not good at and finds the best people to fill all the voids.

Some people are really good at finding names and not good at sales. Finding names on marketplaces, ebay, deleted lists, hand registering and all that is a skill on its own. They deserve to be represented well when it comes to selling.
 
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dan needs to focus on people finding our names on their market directly .. like we get offers on sedo or gd auctions directly... this news is inconsequential for most.. who do not want or need brokers and more fees anyway
 
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dan needs to focus on people finding our names on their market directly .. like we get offers on sedo or gd auctions directly... this news is inconsequential for most.. who do not want or need brokers and more fees anyway
Sedo has traffic from all their auctions etc GD is not even something to compare here.

Think of afternic (before gd), they have no auctions, and they have been around forever. What end user would think to visit afternic when they were looking for a name for their business? They ended up their because someone's parked domain.

SquadHelp must be spending a fortune on online ads. With Dans small commission they would be out of business in an hour if they spent that type of money.

Would you like Dan to promote other names on your parked page?

So you have very limited option to get more traffic. Should they start allowing auctions on the platform? Maybe.
 
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Great news, thanks @equity78. I have a quick question -- what is the difference between reaching out MediaOptions directly (for top domains) vs reaching MediaOptions through Dan.com? Do you see any pros vs cons in this case?

Edit: looks like MediaOptions charge only 15% as success fee compared to 20% through Dan.com.
 
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Sedo has traffic from all their auctions etc GD is not even something to compare here.

Think of afternic (before gd), they have no auctions, and they have been around forever. What end user would think to visit afternic when they were looking for a name for their business? They ended up their because someone's parked domain.

SquadHelp must be spending a fortune on online ads. With Dans small commission they would be out of business in an hour if they spent that type of money.

Would you like Dan to promote other names on your parked page?

So you have very limited option to get more traffic. Should they start allowing auctions on the platform? Maybe.
SH has a revenue of around 4 million, so I don't think that it's so hard for Dan to compete with them, SH has 60k or so domains listed, Dan has 9 millions or so, so the lower commission can be compensated by the 100 times more domains listed. They can hire a few guys to do outbound professional calls for domains listed at dan, they can have a premium network working with other registrars, outside the afternic/sedo networks(smaller US registrars, lots of european and chinese /asian registrars available) and for sure they can find other ways to increase traffic to their marketplace( as in to charge only 1% or so for super premium domains and use the traffic from them to send them over to Dan marketplace)
 
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Be interested in who people think are the winners and the potential losers from the deal. Here are my thoughts.

Winners:
  • DAN for sure. As others have mentioned they have now reached agreements with various important players, and now having an association with the most successful broker can't hurt.
  • MediaOptions As has been mentioned, this is a different model, and in some cases type of domain, from what they have handled. I think it could move them towards becoming huge, but does come with possible pitfalls too. Time will tell.
  • Domain Investors are definite winners here. Some just don't like negotiating, or (like me) are not good at it. For the right domains, this now provides an option to get skilled negotiators handling names with offers.
Possible Losers:
  • Other Brokers. It will be so much easier to opt in rather than hunt around for a broker, I can see some losing out on business.
  • Possibly GD/Uniregistry as their agents probably would have handled some names that would go now into MediaOptions brokerage.
  • Other Marketplaces may lose some due to this association. Premium names may be more likely to go to DAN now because of this option. Of course Sedo and Afternic still have their registration stream visibility advantage.
  • NameSilo had not long ago introduced a service where you could hand your offer to a broker from a list they curated, and this may hurt them, but maybe not as it might make the idea more accepted and create room for others to do something similarl.
What do you think? Who wins and who loses?

Bob

Not sure about winners and losers, but one thing that comes to mind reading your post is Epik recently losing PayPal and GoDaddy.

I think if Epik was the one who said 'we've partnered with MediaOptions' that would been fantastic for them and things like that is what they need to try and do in my opinion, without PayPal and GoDaddy now they now at a disadvantage to their competitors, they need to offer something different to still be appealing.

Partnerships what Dan have done recently (Bodis, DNWE, IBM, Efty, MediaOptions) are the kind of deals Epik should be trying to do.
 
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Would you say that about other industries as well that the leader of a company cannot do sales and has no negotiating skills? The story goes that all business owners must be gods in everything, that is far from the case. The smart business owner knows what they are good at and knows what they are not good at and finds the best people to fill all the voids.

Some people are really good at finding names and not good at sales. Finding names on marketplaces, ebay, deleted lists, hand registering and all that is a skill on its own. They deserve to be represented well when it comes to selling.

A person running a solo or very small scale business, like most of us needs to have all important skills. There is no one to pass the work onto unless you want a large chunk going to someone else. Some like to give their profits away some do not.

Back to the original comment, if a person is paniced or afraid upon receiving offers they don’t have the temperament to be a sales person. You are either cut out for this or you are not.

As long as we can opt out or in the change is a positive.
 
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A person running a solo or very small scale business, like most of us needs to have all important skills. There is no one to pass the work onto unless you want a large chunk going to someone else. Some like to give their profits away some do not.

Back to the original comment, if a person is paniced or afraid upon receiving offers they don’t have the temperament to be a sales person. You are either cut out for this or you are not.

As long as we can opt out or in the change is a positive.

My reply is not intended for you, it is intended to new comers that might be misguided and discouraged by your flawed ideas in business.

What he just said does not have anything to do with the reality of business today. You should ignore it and learn to do what the majority of business owners that are successful do, they focus on their strengths and outsource what they are not good at.

According to him a solo or small business operator should do it all or not get involved in business.

A few billion dollars a week is spent by a small business outsourcing things they are not good at (no, it's not just about saving time), this includes:

Design
Programming
Server management
Accounting
Google Adwords
Social media marketing
Lead gen
Sales
Research

And a few hundred other tasks.

Do not be discouraged by the likes of people like him and their extremist views of business that do not reflect reality.

YES, you will cut into your profits when you hire professionals, its a lot better than losing your business by trying to do things you simply are not good at. The best leaders delegate, they do not see it as cutting into profits, they see it as growing their business better.

Again, ignore people that preach things that are obviously contradicting reality. Their motives I do not know, maybe its a roundabout way of saying "look at me, I'm good at everything". I don't know and surly do not care to understand, what I do care about is making sure nobody gets discouraged by these preachers.
 
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Massive, monstruous HURRAY!
I hope we get the "Listed by Media Options" tag.

Hello,

So we know when a buyer visits a domain for sale and sees a GoDaddy logo, we have trust.
Trust is very good at engaging prospective buyers.

Now when buyers visit a domain for sale page, most of them have no idea what the domain market is.
Talking to GoDaddy and getting a price from GoDaddy is a big advantage imo.
VS having to figure out a random offer with a random seller on something they don't understand.

Now if the seller is known, clear contact, clear public profile, real, well known professional dealing with domain name, clear background, we also have trust.

Such a seller has a huge advantage over one that doesn't have reputation.

Think @Recons.Com , @Josh R , many more.

On known marketplaces such as @DAN.COM , we could have a feature where one could basically assign all the domains in his/her account to a seller and let them negotiate all leads on his/her behalf in exchange for a commission, for example 10%.
Remember, it's only about replying to a message or talking over on the phone to qualified leads. Nothing else. None of all the work involved in brokerage finding executives, contacting multiple people, following up with everyone, etc..

Domain owner sets his price, adds a floor for the broker, and lets him/her handle leads.

Now because @Recons.Com and @Josh R have things to do, the marketplace would only let them (the broker) invite a person using an iD #. For example I would contact @Recons.Com or someone else on namepros or social media, let them know I have these domains, once they know I'm serious and my portfolio is good (profitable), they would send me an invite on DAN using the ID #.

Everytime there's a lead they negotiate on my behalf, they get a 10% commission.
Again, no work involved. Except replying to qualified leads.
Yes, sometimes there's fake leads and other things. Professionals know how to handle such things. It's life.

Yes we already have brokers on Uniregistry.
Yes you can point your nameservers to Afternic and let their brokers handle leads on your behalf.
Yes I've heard @Rob Monster is stepping in to help close deals using his reputation.
Yes he's setting up brokerage.
That's all good.

What I'm talking about is adding easy features to known marketplace such as @DAN.COM that will make it easier for us all.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/reputation-and-trusts-impact-on-sales.1169179/
 
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I think if Epik was the one who said 'we've partnered with MediaOptions' that would been fantastic for them
Had the swiss bank of domains teamed up with Media Options for brokerage, all the premium domains would have flocked at epik.
Too many decisive blows by the very quiet @DAN.COM , paired with karma blows by godaddy and paypal, I'm afraid epik has lost it all.

They can still win the new reg business with $2.99 .com's and reorganize for the future.
1$ .coms.
I buy 100 names.
You pay 1000$.
Platform minimum sales price $1000.
30% commission.
1% sell through rate.
You get $300.
You paid $1000.
Doesn't work.

But maybe you can work with numbers.
And keep bad apples out.
To make it work.

My consultant fee is $10,000 per email.
But here's a free one.
A very good one.

Get back to the original pitch.
Swiss bank registrar, for serious domainers.
Offer cheap .coms.
Select customers.
Force all sales to go through epik.
Raise minimum sales price.
Raise commission.
Monitor all new regs during tasting period (you can limit or advise accounts or get a refund from wherever registrars get domains from)
Tailored, close-up experience, for select & succesful customers.
Collaboration.
Which justifies high commission.

Squadhelp keeps 75% when they register on your behalf. People still do it, but it's BS.
You could have 40.

Forbid transfers for 3 years. Only allowed before when sale occurs (buyer convenience).
At cost renewals.
Minimum sales price.
Select customers.

You could always offer $2.99 .coms.
If you wish to mitigate further.

You can keep your current customers.
And start this as a side program.
Invitation only.
You know who is making numbers, you know who to invite.
@Rob Monster

If customer registers 100 domains. You pay 800$.
Sale occurs, 50% commission of 2000$ minimum sales price is 1000$ revenue.
But 2000$ is a lot, as a minimum, not as a selling price.

Now 2.99$ registration price x 100 registrations is 300$ saved on $800.
You pay $500.
50% commission on $1000 minimum sales price is $500.
You break even.
Thats the standing ground, based on 1% str and $1000 sales price.
40% commission better than 50%. But hey, its collaboration.

1% str, 2% str, 3% str.
$1000 sale price. $5000 sale price. Moonshot sale price.
Select invitations.
Monitor new regs. Limit/advise accounts.

You become some type of financial analyst.
More work.
More thrill.

Do it, and registrars are losing their new reg customers to you.
You want the serious ones.
They apply, with proof of sales.
Or you invite.

The swiss bank of domains.
 
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There are different ways to negotiate and when your used to asking on 2L 3L one word .com’s, the average Dan portfolio for the most part is wow I’m happy to accept any mid level offer, and they keep trucking forward. What I have seen in the past is bringing 2L.com tactics to 2 word .com negotiations, and watching buyers go over to huge domains, or brand bucket and find something else.

This scenario works best for media options as they get access to maybe some names they can buy from dan holders with under market valuations, or Dan clients with high end names.
 
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This is cool and all but how have I not heard of this "industry leader" :peeking:
 
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This is cool and all but how have I not heard of this "industry leader" :peeking:
They are big, they have good reputation, everyone knows them.
They brokered the sale of x.com between Paypal and Elon Musk.
 
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One thing I want to know is if they are getting a different dashboard than us. We have to accept, decline or counter to even talk to the prospect on DAN. If they can communicate without that to the prospect we all should be afforded that privilege.
 
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It is the rise of another era
 
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