We test different portfolio-wide strategies every three to six months.
The best strategy so far in terms of profitability of our entire portfolio has been all names at BIN prices with no negotiations at all. It's the "take it or leave it" strategy.
Other strategies we have tested include:
– Putting all C and D grade domain names in our portfolio at BIN prices below $1,000 (usually $995 or $750) and all other domain names with no BIN price shown on landing pages with 'make offer' showing $1,000 minimum offer
– All domain names with no BIN price shown on landing page with 'make offer' showing different minimum offers (e.g., $1,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 or $20,000, etc.) based on our different valuations of each name
– Show BIN price on landing page and include 'make offer' showing $1,000 minimum offer
– Show BIN price on landing page and include 'make offer' showing different minimum offers (e.g., $1,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 or $20,000, etc.) based on our different valuations of each name
It's hard to beat all names at BIN prices with no 'make offer' available because buyers have no other options. No chance to negotiate. They can only look at the BIN price shown and decide to buy at that price or walk away. If you BIN price high enough, you only need one or two buyers to decide to buy at that price and you've paid for all renewals in your portfolio plus a profit. Yes, life is very quiet with this strategy but after two or three months go by, all of a sudden you get an email that says, "Congratulations! You sold XXXYYYY.com for $34,488!". We got such an email while standing eight people deep in an Indian restaurant's buffet line at lunch one random day.
For the past five and a half months we've been testing all 'make offer' with different minimums and no BIN price shown, and it SUCKS. So many unprofessional end user buyers being deceitful, lying about who they are, behaving nothing like they would behave if they were trying to buy or lease real estate from a property owner. Other buyers lying about their initial offer -- they'll enter the $5,000 minimum offer in the offer box and then in the comment box say, "My offer is actually $500. That's the most I am willing to pay." Why do business with liars and people hiding behind anonymity just because they can? We'll keep this test going until the end of the year, as planned, but we cannot wait to switch back to all BIN pricing – it's a much happier, more positive way to monetize your portfolio of domain names and it gets better portfolio results!
