discuss Do You Run Your Own Domain Portfolio Website?

[DanBingham]

If so -

Is it working for you?
What are the benefits?
Did you DIY?

If not,

Why?

Interested to know your thoughts....

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Anyone use like a 60 second Youtube video welcoming newcomers to your marketplace? I've seen it used very effectively on other sites, but I'm not sure about domains? Pros/Cons? Thanks

In theory I think if well done it would be good.
Although not a video, the folks at Evergreen.com have a super elegant interactive graphical display that introduces the company.
Bob

 

[Josytal]

Most buyers prefer to pay 25% more and buy the domain from Afteric/GoDaddy. So the website provides a showcase only for 99% of the time. It doesn't pay for itself, unless somebody sees a domain available and buys it at Afternic/GoDaddy (which I wouldn't know about). They pay the 25% more to remain anonymous, and to have the "security" of buying from a large recognized company. I've had buyers refuse to pay my asking price, but when the negotiations go sour, I put the domain on Afternic at twice my asking price, and they go right ahead and buy the domain at twice the price. Go figure.

Your own website is just one more tool in your sales arsenal.

Augmenting the efforts of your partners to close deals is also a benefit. I say partners, because when you list your domains for sale on third-party marketplace(s), you're entering into mutually beneficial partnership agreement.

It's possible, but for your website, those buyers who later go to your partners to facilitate purchase would not have known about your domain in the first place. Unknowingly to you, your domain landing page might have served as the first POS (point of sale) with full information about the domain generously presented. You can call it exposure, if you like.

P.S.
You should be able to implement simple codes to gather metrics on outgoing visitors from your domain landing page: traffic source, country, time spent on the page, next destination, etc.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

Yes, not only have I been running my own marketplace for two years, but also developed a stunning software for myself and for others to do so.

Benefits.
I can write a whole book on this, but let me just pinpoint most important benefits. All based on first-hand experience. Not hearsay.

1. You get more organized.
2. Additional, indispensable business management experience
3. Improved negotiation skill
4.
5.
6.
7.

Not bad. BE isn't as nice as the FE. You could save me a lot of work. PM me the licence details on self-hosted.

 

[Domain Redux]

There are many pros and cons to listing domains as "Make Offer" vs. "Buy Now" pricing ... I've just found the Make Offer to work better for me ...

Interesting that you've found more success through Make Offer. You've got some great names available!

Would you recommend also adding the option of say Afternic (noting: reputable + fast transfer option) and/or DAN (noting: reputable + great for payment installments/rent-to-own option) on your website's domain specific landers? I imagine it can't hurt, but just gives the potential buyer more choices (which may confuse/deter them?).

 

[Domain Redux]

Appreciate the insight, @Kpett.

I've got an Escrow BIN option with some details below the call-to-action on how it works. At the bottom of each page, there's a contact form where I guess someone could utilize to make an offer.

I may have to play with forwarding traffic to Afternic then in the next month or so if my current trend stays the same.

Thanks!

 

[Domain Redux]

I was thinking the same, @Kpett. Apparently the inspection period means nothing, so leaving it at 1 day is the way to go. Glad there were only two single input values to change in the HTML, so an easy find + replace all did the trick.

 

[Josytal]

Not bad. BE isn't as nice as the FE. You could save me a lot of work. PM me the licence details on self-hosted.

Sure, I'll additionally PM you details, even though full info is available on DNHat product page

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

Owning your own domain sales site is so 2000 or something like that.
What's the point? There is none.

List at afternic + activate fast transfer and you sell a lot more.
If you don´t like to park with afternic, use sedo or something like that.

maybe if you own 100 000+ domains, it has some point.

Or maybe if you sell some country .tld-s. And you need the marketplace to be in specific language

Oh you're so right. We should all just quit right now . The doom and gloom of developing one's own site, the horrible good feeling it gives us, the sheer bewilderment that we can keep 25% more of the money the buyer pays, the depressing feeling of sharing the work one has done with others, the total feelings... of being back in the Y2K.

...doom ...depression ...thunder clouds... etc...

 

[JayT]

^ yes, I am proud to promote domaining even if it does mean my own names. I wouldn't be investing if I didn't think it's great, and it only helps to get more people thinking the same.

The same pitch on all names is really easy, like you said. Even easier, using wordpress, I use a plugin 'widgets in posts'. Now, all I have is a widget that I can adjust, any update are made across ALL my posts.

wordpress is very powerful, you just need to KNOW WHAT YOU NEED.

 

[NicTraders]

Nice thread. Lot's of interesting approaches being highlighted.

It really isn't that hard to build your own landers and marketplace. I've been pondering on this idea of doing a tutorial on here that'll cover some basics, you know just to get you going.

Nothing too fancy so even if you're not that technical you can do it but just enough so you can build on it and expand if you like.

Do you guys think there's enough interest in something like this to make it worth my time? Should I poll it to see where we're at in terms of demand?

Yeah, I reckon you'd find a fair bit of demand.

 

[Tia Wood]

Yep I developed Nameed,

I like it. Nice and simple.

 

[NicTraders]

However, it's not my choice (normally) to use an outside company like Afternic for trust reasons. I think it's price gouging rates of commissions, IMHO.

I couldn't agree more!

 

[topdom]

Afternic+fast transfer: Does it have significant advantages over other marketplaces?
Does landing there have any benefits?
I rarely sell at Afternic, but maybe because I don't use fast transfer and don't park there.

 

[Name Trader]

(Interesting thread, I'm basically subscribing by posting).
So if you have your own marketplace, do you really complete sales there. or finalize transfers elsewhere.
Why should people trust you. I mean, you paypal me and I push the domain to your account; why should they accept it. Also, you ask the buyer whether they got the domain, and they remain silent, or say no, then what do you do.

All my sales from my website go thru Escrow.com. I don't sell under $1k. Put the trust question on the other foot. Why should I trust anybody I don't know, who isn't prepared to pay via a secure payment method? Escrow don't release payment until they have rcvd the domain. I have never encountered an escrow transaction being cancelled and the buyer scammed me out of my domain. I suppose it could happen in extremely rare cases.

 

[Name Trader]

@topdom - You can tell which offers are from domainers because they are almost always low-ball. I'm not saying that end-users don't low-ball too. I very much doubt that Afternic are bidding at Sedo, and not paying, officially. But I don't have to worry about such issues because I only use Afternic, and don't use Sedo too It seems this resolves that problem.

 

[Domain Redux]

Why am I talking about Afternic 25% commission, when it's only 20%.Just as a maths lesson...

100% - 20% = 80% +25% = 100%

So I'm adding 25% to the basic amount I want to receive in order to get to the Afternic Sales Price. (Sorry if this is teaching some of you to suck eggs)

That's a great approach; I've recently adopted this method.

 

[Enerika]

Nice thread. Lot's of interesting approaches being highlighted.

It really isn't that hard to build your own landers and marketplace. I've been pondering on this idea of doing a tutorial on here that'll cover some basics, you know just to get you going.

Nothing too fancy so even if you're not that technical you can do it but just enough so you can build on it and expand if you like.

Do you guys think there's enough interest in something like this to make it worth my time? Should I poll it to see where we're at in terms of demand?

I thought you'd never OFFER!

 

[branding]

I thought you'd never OFFER!

It's added to my to do list but I'll need to free up some time first. Too bust atm and don't want to leave anyone with a half assed tutorial

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Anyone use like a 60 second Youtube video welcoming newcomers to your marketplace? I've seen it used very effectively on other sites, but I'm not sure about domains? Pros/Cons? Thanks

 

[Bob Hawkes]

How can I find out the owner of a specific url if all information I’ve been presented is redacted?

You can't in some cases. I presume you have entered the URL in a browser and there is no web presence at all. You can use Whois and if it has been registered a long time odds are it may have shown owner back in past and tools like DomainIQ will show it but they are not free. If it had a website in past use the WayBack Machine archive. I would try sending an email to an address like [email protected] if they have catch-all implemented or if that address is a mailbox it will reach them. Most registrars have a setup that you can contact owner through the privacy service. Of course no guarantee they will respond.
Bob

 

[Corey]

Whois Lookup, Domain Availability & IP Search - DomainTools

Cheers
Corey

 

[Corey]

Trialing a WordPress Theme for my Hemp Names - a Work in Progress

HempBusiness.com.au

Cheers
Corey

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Trialing a WordPress Theme for my Hemp Names - a Work in Progress

HempBusiness.com.au

Cheers
Corey

Corey....a friend of mine is starting a Hemp House here in Virginia, and he just asked that I locate a domain. The best I have so far is HempHouse.online.....the .com was taken

 

[Corey]

CBDbusiness.com.au

Cheers
Corey

 

[premiumdomainforsale]

Yes. I have a website to show all of my domains

I don't know, but.. I love to see my collection well-organized on my web.