discuss 2020 changes, improvements and goals...please share

[Mister Funsky]

Today I am looking back on sales made and sales missed in the last year and have decided to make some changes.

It is clear that it is only due my own hard learned selling skill set (over many years) combined with the quality of a particular domain that any of my names sold last year. Although the names are listed at all the biggie selling/market places, NONE of them made a sale without my eventual input...so why pay a 9-30% commission?!?!

Each sale at a marketplace came thru the lander at that marketplace (due to my name pointing the name there). At one marketplace the 'broker' made a price suggestion for a name which I rejected and then responded to with my own higher price (30% more), at which the name sold. This happened more than one time at the same marketplace with me going higher than the 'broker' suggested and achieving the sale at my higher price.

So, one logical thing to do is to find a parking provider that will not charge a commission for using their parking with a 'free' contact form that would appear should someone click on the 'for sale' link. The other option is to create my own marketplace and forgo any parking revenue. For payment I would take paypal for lower level sales and bank wire/payment service for the higher dollar transactions.

So now the search begins for: 1) a parking solution with a 'free' contact form. 2) a lander solution whether I create my own marketplace or use one of the paid services. 3) a payment solution that has reasonable fees for accepting and distributing funds.

It is amazing that after all the years I have been doing this that things seem to have come full circle...in the beginning it was up to a domain investor to take care of all the phases...then 'marketplace' solutions came along, some with no or very low commission fees and some that offer payment methods. Now those fees have gone through the roof however there is no increase in 'broker' activity and/or quality. It is clear that unless a domain name is a super premium the 'brokers' at these marketplaces do nothing...and, as we all know, a true super premium domain does not need a broker to begin with (assuming the domain owner is active).

I am genuinely curious what everyone plans to do differently (or keep doing) in the new year and what sources and resources he/she is using to achieve specific goals. Most of this info is scattered about here on namepros but it would be awesome if everyone from old timers to newbies would share some thoughts on all these issues in one place/thread...if we elevate each others knowledge base and skill set, our sales will increase both in volume and dollars/euros. (please note that I am not asking for you to share super secret sales techniques)

Please contribute to our collective and updated knowledge base here and may all of us have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

 

[biggie]

So now the search begins for: 1) a parking solution with a 'free' contact form. 2) a lander solution whether I create my own marketplace or use one of the paid services. 3) a payment solution that has reasonable fees for accepting and distributing funds.

Hi

since I have all of the above,
then not much to change or do differently, other than the normal maintenance duties one has manage.

and those duties might include rotating names from one ppc to another or changing format on a page or using escrow.com this time, instead of sedo.com



imo...

 

[wurdd]

1. Cheap, reliable hosting
2. Nice, short, memorable domain name for your marketplace
3. Wordpress theme with 2 or 3 columns
4. Each post/page is a sale page for each individual domain you own
5. Write 500 words of unique content for each domain/post and optimize an image or two
6. Monetize each post with Adsense and affiliate programs
7. Contact form on each post

Buy a domain, optimize, monetize and move on. Spend some time on each domain you acquire. Renew valuable domains for extra years instead of handregging. This is a long game. Buy quality names to hold for years. Think Rip Van Winkle.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Hi

since I have all of the above,
then not much to change or do differently, other than the normal maintenance duties one has manage.

and those duties might include rotating names from one ppc to another or changing format on a page or using escrow.com this time, instead of sedo.com



imo...

Thanks...rotating names is something I haven't done in a few years...may be time to give it a try again!

 

[Mister Funsky]

1. Cheap, reliable hosting
2. Nice, short, memorable domain name for your marketplace
3. Wordpress theme with 2 or 3 columns
4. Each post/page is a sale page for each individual domain you own
5. Write 500 words of unique content for each domain/post and optimize an image or two
6. Monetize each post with Adsense and affiliate programs
7. Contact form on each post

Buy a domain, optimize, monetize and move on. Spend some time on each domain you acquire. Renew valuable domains for extra years instead of handregging. This is a long game. Buy quality names to hold for years. Think Rip Van Winkle.

Thanks for the list...very complete and well put. There is quite a bit of good advice there and reluctantly I have to admit some of it knew but did/have not put into practice.

In my case I am particularly drawn to your suggestion of creating a page with content (whew...500 words!) as something I should do this year. I've got many lower tier domains this would not do much for but it is an awesome goal to have for my better names...and yes, handregging will have the brakes applied!

 

[Mister Funsky]

Although I have used voodoo.com for my paid parking for the last couple of years, I have never taken advantage of the contact form available through the site. For one reason or another I have always forwarded to one market or another.

They will forward a contact to your registered email with them once an inquiry is made...FREE. There is no commission charged and it is up to you (domain owner) to follow up with quote/comment and then provide a payment solution.

Now, in all fairness, other parking solutions may also do this for free and if anyone has any input on this it would be appreciated. My experience has always been a positive one with voodoo and customer support tickets are always processed quickly.

The thing I really like about parking with them are the statistics that are generated...much better and more in depth than the 'you had x visits' other options provide. On this page you see the country of origin...another tab will show you the referrer. See example below.

 

[namesprout]

I haven't had enough sales for this to be much of a problem yet. But if I do get some more sales in the next year I'll probably explore efty.com and creating my own wordpress marketplace to reduce commission fees.

 

[biggie]

Although I have used voodoo.com for my paid parking for the last couple of years, I have never taken advantage of the contact form available through the site. For one reason or another I have always forwarded to one market or another.

Hi

I've had a few offers and a sale via voodoo, where buyer clicked the make an offer link

bodis basically has same set-up which is free also
and, if you handle your own leads at uni, there is no fee payable to them

imo...

 

[Mister Funsky]

I haven't had enough sales for this to be much of a problem yet. But if I do get some more sales in the next year I'll probably explore efty.com and creating my own wordpress marketplace to reduce commission fees.

Great minds! As you were posting I was on the efty site! I was just checking out their new SSL lander option with non-efty based marketplace url showing. Because the contact page did not have ssl before I was not interested in paying for their services, but now I have to add them to my 'consider' list. I will post the link below to their video.

https://blog.efty.com/2019/11/12/it...red-by-efty-hosted-on-your-own-custom-domain/

 

[Mister Funsky]

Hi

I've had a few offers and a sale via voodoo, where buyer clicked the make an offer link

bodis basically has same set-up which is free also
and, if you handle your own leads at uni, there is no fee payable to them

imo...

Just in the last few months I have started registering with Uni...their interface is clean. Again I have to admit I never did much research about using their landers...for some reason I assumed there would be a charge. Thank you for letting me/us know...I will have to spend some time there later to learn more about the options they offer.

 

[oldtimer]

I don't have much experience selling domains as I am more of a hobbyist and collector when it comes to domaining, I like to be able to keep most of my domains as I use domains (even by the act of registering them) to express myself and my ideas to the World, although I don't mind selling couple of domains here and there if I could to help with the renewals.

From what I have learned over the years I have come to understand that there are basically two categories of domain names when it comes to making sales. First category is the domains that attract interest and offers on their own, these are usually high quality premium domains or liquid domains (like short three or four letter or number domains) that buyers can think of on their own without having had to see them anywhere, and the second category are the domains that need to get exposure which buyers don't really know that they want them untill they see Them somewhere such as in popular marketplaces and registrars or through your sales landers that have been indexed by search engines.

When it comes to giving your domains exposure I believe that it's best to use sales landers that are provided by marketplaces (with reasonable commission rates) that buyers know of and that can trust. Your sales landers might have a better chances of being indexed by the major search engines if they are somehow connected to a reputable marketplace or parking company.

IMO

 

[Mister Funsky]

Your sales landers might have a better chances of being indexed by the major search engines if they are somehow connected to a reputable marketplace or parking company.

This is a VERY good point. Some 'marketplaces' do not allow the adding of title, body, etc. info which would make a bot or search engine skip or not index.

 

[Josytal]

Today I am looking back on sales made and sales missed in the last year and have decided to make some changes.

It is clear that it is only due my own hard learned selling skill set (over many years) combined with the quality of a particular domain that any of my names sold last year. Although the names are listed at all the biggie selling/market places, NONE of them made a sale without my eventual input...so why pay a 9-30% commission?!?!

Each sale at a marketplace came thru the lander at that marketplace (due to my name pointing the name there). At one marketplace the 'broker' made a price suggestion for a name which I rejected and then responded to with my own higher price (30% more), at which the name sold. This happened more than one time at the same marketplace with me going higher than the 'broker' suggested and achieving the sale at my higher price.

So, one logical thing to do is to find a parking provider that will not charge a commission for using their parking with a 'free' contact form that would appear should someone click on the 'for sale' link. The other option is to create my own marketplace and forgo any parking revenue. For payment I would take paypal for lower level sales and bank wire/payment service for the higher dollar transactions.

So now the search begins for: 1) a parking solution with a 'free' contact form. 2) a lander solution whether I create my own marketplace or use one of the paid services. 3) a payment solution that has reasonable fees for accepting and distributing funds.

It is amazing that after all the years I have been doing this that things seem to have come full circle...in the beginning it was up to a domain investor to take care of all the phases...then 'marketplace' solutions came along, some with no or very low commission fees and some that offer payment methods. Now those fees have gone through the roof however there is no increase in 'broker' activity and/or quality. It is clear that unless a domain name is a super premium the 'brokers' at these marketplaces do nothing...and, as we all know, a true super premium domain does not need a broker to begin with (assuming the domain owner is active).

I am genuinely curious what everyone plans to do differently (or keep doing) in the new year and what sources and resources he/she is using to achieve specific goals. Most of this info is scattered about here on namepros but it would be awesome if everyone from old timers to newbies would share some thoughts on all these issues in one place/thread...if we elevate each others knowledge base and skill set, our sales will increase both in volume and dollars/euros. (please note that I am not asking for you to share super secret sales techniques)

Please contribute to our collective and updated knowledge base here and may all of us have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

Wow!
As though you were reading my mind!
Exactly what I've been positing all over the forum.
Regardless of what, once you start buying and selling, you're in business. And no one can manage your business better than you.
You must be ready and able to take control: establish, plan, promote, sell, analyse, invest, make profit etc.

Forget about the rhetoric of established marketplaces, over-reliance on them can be detrimental to your interest - on the long run. They are as good as supplementing your efforts. They should not be at the forefront.

Some may feel offended, but I regard any domainer without web presence as I would a cobbler without shoes.

 

[Mister Funsky]

They are as good as supplementing your efforts. They should not be at the forefront

Agreed...it is good to have your name available anywhere and everywhere...just have to build in whatever commission charges that may come your way based on a particular marketplace.

On the last inquiry I had on a name a few days ago, I let the person know that they could complete the purchase through anyone they chose, but all I would share in the 'expense' would be 5%...it kinda blew their mind when I eventually had to point out that their preferred marketplace would add about 25% total to the transaction...I think they will go my way on payment options (marketplace) if we come together on a price.

 

[Josytal]

Great minds! As you were posting I was on the efty site! I was just checking out their but now I have to add them to my 'consider' list. I will post the link below to their video. https://blog.efty.com/2019/11/12/it...red-by-efty-hosted-on-your-own-custom-domain/

There are others in that niche you might also want to consider:

DNHat - https://dnhat.com/
Domain Market Pro - https://domainmarketpro.com/
DomainTrader - https://www.domaintrader.com/
DomBuck - https://dombuck.com

Some of them are even better than efty.

 

[namesprout]

Things I have done in the last two weeks:
- List 75% of names on epik landers
- List 25% of names on dan
- Submitted 10% of names to BB
- Added 50% of names to sedo, but it's still requiring me to do some verification of ownership step
- Added all names to afternic

So my to do list for the holidays:
- Test efty landers/marketplace
- Create/test a wordpress site for a portfolio/lander of my domains

 

[Josytal]

Today I am looking back on sales made and sales missed in the last year and have decided to make some changes.

It is clear that it is only due my own hard learned selling skill set (over many years) combined with the quality of a particular domain that any of my names sold last year. Although the names are listed at all the biggie selling/market places, NONE of them made a sale without my eventual input...so why pay a 9-30% commission?!?!

Each sale at a marketplace came thru the lander at that marketplace (due to my name pointing the name there). At one marketplace the 'broker' made a price suggestion for a name which I rejected and then responded to with my own higher price (30% more), at which the name sold. This happened more than one time at the same marketplace with me going higher than the 'broker' suggested and achieving the sale at my higher price.

So, one logical thing to do is to find a parking provider that will not charge a commission for using their parking with a 'free' contact form that would appear should someone click on the 'for sale' link. The other option is to create my own marketplace and forgo any parking revenue. For payment I would take paypal for lower level sales and bank wire/payment service for the higher dollar transactions.

So now the search begins for: 1) a parking solution with a 'free' contact form. 2) a lander solution whether I create my own marketplace or use one of the paid services. 3) a payment solution that has reasonable fees for accepting and distributing funds.

It is amazing that after all the years I have been doing this that things seem to have come full circle...in the beginning it was up to a domain investor to take care of all the phases...then 'marketplace' solutions came along, some with no or very low commission fees and some that offer payment methods. Now those fees have gone through the roof however there is no increase in 'broker' activity and/or quality. It is clear that unless a domain name is a super premium the 'brokers' at these marketplaces do nothing...and, as we all know, a true super premium domain does not need a broker to begin with (assuming the domain owner is active).

I am genuinely curious what everyone plans to do differently (or keep doing) in the new year and what sources and resources he/she is using to achieve specific goals. Most of this info is scattered about here on namepros but it would be awesome if everyone from old timers to newbies would share some thoughts on all these issues in one place/thread...if we elevate each others knowledge base and skill set, our sales will increase both in volume and dollars/euros. (please note that I am not asking for you to share super secret sales techniques)

Please contribute to our collective and updated knowledge base here and may all of us have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

I'll quote this in my next blog article. Permission please!

 

[iKhalyfah]

Started domaining 5months ago.
99% of portfolio is hand reg.
Though hand reg is paying me back considering I've made 400% of my investment.
Around 60% of portfolio is Geos.

So my 2020 changes and improvements is to
1. Invest more on Geos.
2. Consider brandables.
3. Reduce % rate of hand reg
4. Hoping to make it big and bigger.
5. I have no renewals blueprints since my oldest handreg domain is just 5months

Cheers.
Khalyfah

 

[Mister Funsky]

Started domaining 5months ago.
99% of portfolio is hand reg.
Though hand reg is paying me back considering I've made 400% of my investment.
Around 60% of portfolio is Geos.

So my 2020 changes and improvements is to
1. Invest more on Geos.
2. Consider brandables.
3. Reduce % rate of hand reg
4. Hoping to make it big and bigger.
5. I have no renewals blueprints since my oldest handreg domain is just 5months

Cheers.
Khalyfah

Congratulations on your success! Geo domains can be fruitful if the right combinations can be found and you have found some.

This is a great time to think about renewals and putting money aside now would be ideal but I know it is hard...I plan to do that every time a sale is made but I always end up buying more names...saving is not my strong suit!

 

[iKhalyfah]

Congratulations on your success! Geo domains can be fruitful if the right combinations can be found and you have found some.

This is a great time to think about renewals and putting money aside now would be ideal but I know it is hard...I plan to do that every time a sale is made but I always end up buying more names...saving is not my strong suit!

Thank you very much for the words.

Yes, i have saved some couple bucks, what I mean by the renewal blueprint is I'm not still sure which names to keep. I think till about time of expiry and i i haven't sold, that's when I'll decide which to keep and which to let go.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Thank you very much for the words.

Yes, i have saved some couple bucks, what I mean by the renewal blueprint is I'm not still sure which names to keep. I think till about time of expiry and i i haven't sold, that's when I'll decide which to keep and which to let go.

Wow...sorry I missed your point...not enough coffee for me yet this morning!

As a new domainer you will have fresh eyes on the thought process as to what names to hold and what names to drop question. Once you come up with your plan/blueprint please share it...after many years of doing this I still struggle with that issue...it would be worthy of you starting a thread when the time comes to share your thoughts and conclusions.

 

[iKhalyfah]

Wow...sorry I missed your point...not enough coffee for me yet this morning!

As a new domainer you will have fresh eyes on the thought process as to what names to hold and what names to drop question. Once you come up with your plan/blueprint please share it...after many years of doing this I still struggle with that issue...it would be worthy of you starting a thread when the time comes to share your thoughts and conclusions.

Sure. Looking forward to that.
Thanks

 

[Mister Funsky]

I'll quote this in my next blog article. Permission please!

Check your DM...I responded earlier.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Okay, so 2020 is here and I just finished the required black eyed peas, collard greens and pork dinner that is required for health and success in the upcoming year.

I have also decided today that I will not have 'make offer' as the only option on all my names. For the last several months I removed the 'buy now' option and although I have had several inquires for names, they have not resulted in sales (several low value names were moved, but nothing over low xxxx).

It is clear several sales in the past were due to impulse buys, even on higher priced domains, so I will slowly make the transition back to a 'buy now' price with a 'make offer' option on all names except those I consider to be worth 7,500 or higher.

 

[Sutruk]

I have also decided today that I will not have 'make offer' as the only option on all my names. For the last several months I removed the 'buy now' option and although I have had several inquires for names, they have not resulted in sales (several low value names were moved, but nothing over low xxxx).

I am thinking too about placing the price tag on every domain. Some people (or a lot of them) is used to see the things priced, and not being asked to make an offer.
I mean, I think that we are too much into domaining and sometimes we lost the vision of the rest of the people, who do not have a clue about domains and just want to see something with a price.