Bulk Portfolio sales, thoughts and your experiences?

[markmiddleton]

Does anyone have any advice selling bulk portfolio's?

I've never done so before even when I was trading previously, as its not something that was publicly done, at least at the level of trading I was involved in. I was wondering about people's experiences or any considerations I should take into account marketing 100-500+ domains at a time.

I've had several pm's regarding the new stock I own but a lot of it is too new (60 days) to let go just yet, i've made a few sales of older domains I had and one website looks to be going through but as far as bulk portfolio's go, there always seems 'just one more name' I find and then want to age and include in any portfolio sale to increase its overall value.

It has occurred to me though it does seem a good way to turn a profit, at least for an individual as you've advertising many names at once, rather than singles or small collections. The opportunity to make a good return averaged over a large portfolio I would imagine is better, because your spreading the risk of losses and increasing the chance of you showing a domain to someone they really think valuable, do you feel this is the case?

Any experiences would be extremely appreciated, I don't expect methods of sale because I probably wouldn't share secrets myself, however any words of advice or experiences, positive or negative would be very helpful. Even if you just think bulk sales are a bad idea, I would appreciate hearing why.

For reference 90% of names I buy are generic .com's mostly with searches, traffic, web presence etc, the usual considerations. I speculate very occasionally on other extensions and IDN's but thats about it.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

 

[markmiddleton]

Nobody has even a small observation to share on bulk sales generally? Anyone have a rough idea of how many are being conducted etc?

I understand its all business, i'd be reluctant to give too much away either.

 

[VURG]

If your talking about selling freshly registered names, renewal fees come into consideration when your selling names in bulk and there is a lot. Bit confused on the "too new to just let go yet" comment. If you get good offers they are good reguardless of how new they are.

 

[Name Trader]

That's the problem Mark. Many bulk sellers are just trying to unload a bunch of crap names and they asking way too much.

 

[markmiddleton]

If your talking about selling freshly registered names, renewal fees come into consideration when your selling names in bulk and there is a lot. Bit confused on the "too new to just let go yet" comment. If you get good offers they are good reguardless of how new they are.

Well for instance I can't say to an end user well yes here is my portfolio but I can't transfer these three names into your account yet because they are still in their 60 days no transfer period. However I can transfer to a new account in the same registrar… How many people outside of our industry would know what the heck I was talking about?

As far as the offers I get currently, (with the exception of my sales and one really nice one) they are mostly low ball or after I run an auction someone will come back to me and ask how much did I want for the name, which at least means there's interest on my mid ranges names i've run at auction - Such as FixedCar.com which in the end got 2 offers, 1 inquiry for instance. (When I say mid range its a fair name but I wouldn't expect the earth for it)

Renewal fee's are of course a consideration in any business plan or investment but I aim for PPC and searches on names so its less of a one for me personally. I am looking at making a bulk sale to be honest with you, to make back a percentage or break even on my investment thus far. I don't mind letting one or two very good names go in such a sale, as long as I have enough left to work with when I have.

Just today for instance I picked Residential Real.com – Real Residential.com, average adwords (combined high overture results), 2 million google results, demonstrated end user interest in similar names. What I am getting at is I can afford to hold for PPC on most of my names but I’d like to clear what I’ve invested so far in a bulk sale or two, at least somewhere down the road.

That's the problem Mark. Many bulk sellers are just trying to unload a bunch of crap names and they asking way too much.

I will take the diplomatic line and simply . I will say though, the more I run adverts, ask for appraisals and run auctions the more I realize just why you need to show people raw search stats, web presence, uniques, traffic etc, to demonstrate why a name is worth buying. This should be no less true in a bulk sale, its still a product your selling and people still have a right to know why they should pay good money for it.

I do have a question though, lets assume a bulk sale of 500 names, lets assume the names are worth buying from whatever point of view your doing so. (traffic, ppc, resale etc).

How much of a discount would you offer, 25%, 50%, 75%?

 

[cache]

it all depends on the names. Most of the time, half of the names you don't like
but you do like the other half.

 

[Name Trader]

That's my point, cache. It's a really hard sell to sell a fixed number of bulk domains. The ones the buyer doesn't like/want have no value. OK Mark, your discount offer might solve that but it entirely depends on the names and the buyer. It might be possible to offer say 500 domains but accept offers for 100+ domains. That might work.