question Domainers are like used car salesmen and it hurts our industry.

[sgtppr]

Domainer when selling: 'this is a category killer and i wont accept less than premium end user prices, you'll never get an opportunity like this again. i have turned down offers twice as high as i'm willing to sell to you for'

Domainer when he bought that same domain: 'this domain isn't that great, here are some examples of drops where it sold for xx, i could even hand reg similar domains. you should sell it to me for $50 and consider yourself lucky'

You may think you are being clever and duping people with this type of stuff and maybe sometimes you actually do dupe them. However after 20 years of it, people know the game. And it keeps them out of the game. They despise domainers for it. They don't even bother contacting us about domains they want because they know we are going to try and bilk them for some absurd price.

It's an easy fix really. Be honest. Have integrity. Stop trying to hustle people into paying 100x more for a domain than you would pay for that same domain. Then people will start to trust us.

 

[bmugford]

Well, you need high margins to cover for low sell-through rates (1-2% generally).

But with the bar so low, there are lots of bad actors in the field...spammers, scammers, people with unrealistic expectations, etc. What can you do?

I tend to price domains based what I could envision myself paying as the right end user.

I am fine with sales that are singles or doubles. Not every sale needs to be a home run.

Brad

 

[sgtppr]

Well, you need high margins to cover for low sell-through rates (1-2% generally).

The reason sell through rates are so low is because the prices are so high. Reduce the prices and they will sell faster. We refer to 'wholesale prices' as the price at which you can sell a domain right now. Offer these prices to everyone and you'll sell a lot more than 1% or 2%.

 

[bmugford]

The reason sell through rates are so low is because the prices are so high. Reduce the prices and they will sell faster. We refer to 'wholesale prices' as the price at which you can sell a domain right now. Offer these prices to everyone and you'll sell a lot more than 1% or 2%.

Well, another reason is also because most domains don't have much resale potential at any price range.

That is not my business model.

I think when prices go lower you face diminishing returns at a certain level. For instance I don't think a decent .com priced at $500 is 5 times more likely to sell than at $2500 or 10 times more likely than selling for $5000.

Brad

 

[AEProgram]

Domainers don't charge enough. Retail buyers for the most part have had it real good because domainers don't know how to charge properly.

You claim people don't contact us because some bad rap? What people? I only care about end users. Most of them don't even know the term "domainer". Most will hear about premium names for the first time in their life.

If the price is too high they can go find something else or make an offer or setup a payment plan if that is what the domainer offers.

A lot of people are shocked that a domain name can go for 100 bucks never mind a million bucks. Some of them get mad, so what? People get mad at the price of hotel rooms too, let them go somewhere else.

Talk to someone in commercial real estate. Ask them what happens when people hear the price of a tiny corner store in a busy area. They flip out. Good things come with a high price, people are usually in shock. They could go the cheap route and be in a nice shock how fast they are out of business.

Overall we undersell good names all the time. Domains did not keep up with inflation and buyers are having a field day as domainers fear pricing properly.

Ever saw the TV show Pawn Stars? You usually only see them buying, but you can see what they charge for it on their site. They "take all the risk" as he says and he might have to sit with it a long time.

In general domainers are an honest hard working group of people, not aggressive sales people, and some are too good hearted and they leave a ton of money on the table.

Our only sin is we don't educate potential buyers on price. We don't explain anything to them. Examples of success stories. Examples of prices. Instead if we do educate we tell them what a domain name is using a video from the 12th century BCE, by now everyone knows that. If I have time I will build a lander that educates them properly.

Good luck finding an industry with more honorable people!

 

[VadimK]

Reduce the prices and they will sell faster

That's the one of the largest misconceptions in domaining, if you are talking about the end user (not the reseller).
It's not about ''cheaper'', it's about the right time and right buyer (again, end user!), who will buy for $1900 or more, just as he would buy it for $985, or at least will be negotiating.
Also, believe it or not, there are certain companies out there who won't be looking at a domain name if it's priced at $500 - they think ''their'' name should be ''worth'' much more than this.

But you can do yourself a favor and run an experiment of pricing your names much lower (whatever it means in your eyes). I bet you that the only increase in sales you get are from people that would immediately start reselling them adding 1 or 2 zeros at the end of the price they bought it for...

 

[bmugford]

But you can do yourself a favor and run an experiment of pricing your names much lower (whatever it means in your eyes). I bet you that the only increase in sales you get are from people that would immediately start reselling them adding 1 or 2 zeros at the end of the price they bought it for...

I have run A-B testing like that in the past. I have found that lowering prices did not yield a significantly higher sell-through rate that would justify the lower prices.

Brad

 

[DigiNames]

The reason sell through rates are so low is because the prices are so high. Reduce the prices and they will sell faster.

No, I don’t have to sell my domains for cheap to be a professional. I am nice to my potential customers, but I still expect them to pay a fair market price for my domains.

 

[karmaco]

Domainer when selling: 'this is a category killer and i wont accept less than premium end user prices, you'll never get an opportunity like this again. i have turned down offers twice as high as i'm willing to sell to you for'

Domainer when he bought that same domain: 'this domain isn't that great, here are some examples of drops where it sold for xx, i could even hand reg similar domains. you should sell it to me for $50 and consider yourself lucky'

You may think you are being clever and duping people with this type of stuff and maybe sometimes you actually do dupe them. However after 20 years of it, people know the game. And it keeps them out of the game. They despise domainers for it. They don't even bother contacting us about domains they want because they know we are going to try and bilk them for some absurd price.

It's an easy fix really. Be honest. Have integrity. Stop trying to hustle people into paying 100x more for a domain than you would pay for that same domain. Then people will start to trust us.

You have just described literally every product sold because there is always a significant markup on everything.

I really don’t think this is the business for you if you believe that garbage you wrote. Go be a monk not a domainer.

 

[The Durfer]

look at registrar's prices for premium domains. Not a bad scale to go by. good luck.

 

[johnn]

Domainers are not used car salesman.
Used Car Salesman lie - Domainers don't lie.

 

[NYJimbo]

It's an easy fix really. Be honest. Have integrity. Stop trying to hustle people into paying 100x more for a domain than you would pay for that same domain. Then people will start to trust us.

LOL. Have fun wondering why you aren't making any money in this business.

You sound more like an end user just trolling us.