showcase First domain sale over $1,000?

[kaz2]

Hi, we are a mix of domainers here - some experienced, some not so experienced. What I'd love to know is who, if anyone, sold their FIRST domain name for over $1,000 and how much was it sold for?

I'll kick off by saying that I sold my first name for $11 so way below a grand - however, it was a thrilling feeling nonetheless.

It would be interesting to see who, whether by beginners luck or shrewd domain trading, had a first sale of over $1,000.

Look forward to hearing from you!

 

[Haroon Basha]

Except that one Godaddy sales, so far all my best sales have been through Flippa and Ebay. Plus I have some regular US direct buyers who buys from me regularly (For these direct sales I pay no commission or even I do not have to pay PayPal commission for the sales proceeds).

 

[kaz2]

Mya I ask first $1,000+ sale was a $5,000 sale of a .org. Bought it for $69. My first time in DNJournal. It was the domain that got me from dabbling in Internet marketing to focus on domains instead.

Great sale main, can I ask when you bought the name and how long you held it for ? Also, being a .org, was it a keyword that suited the extension (ie charitable or purpose related and not commercial)?

Thanks!

 

[kaz2]

Except that one Godaddy sales, so far all my best sales have been through Flippa and Ebay. Plus I have some regular US direct buyers who buys from me regularly (For these direct sales I pay no commission or even I do not have to pay PayPal commission for the sales proceeds).

That is interesting Haroon, what type of names do you sell regularly on Flippa - are they .com's only and what type (ie brandable or keyword rich).

Also, are your direct buyers end users an, without giving away your secret sauce,what type of domains are they getting from you that they could not register themselves?

 

[Haroon Basha]

Most of my Sales in Flippa and Direct Sales have been only 4 L dot com names. I sold many Brandable names on Ebay. My direct sales were to the Investors, they are not end-users.

 

[main]

Great sale main, can I ask when you bought the name and how long you held it for ? Also, being a .org, was it a keyword that suited the extension (ie charitable or purpose related and not commercial)?

Thanks!

Sure, I bought it in 2012 and held onto for 13 months until it sold. It was a one word that was definitely suited to .org.

 

[kaz2]

My first sale was a hand reg for $7500, was asking for more but the price and more importantly the timing was right. It was a suburban + Keyword in com.

Phew! What an ROI for a hand registered domain name sale. Do you mind if I ask:

1. when did you buy the domain and for how long did you hold it?

2. when you say the timing was right what do you mean - was it an event taking place?

Thanks!

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Another amazing detailed reply LegendaryJP - showing that there are many different ways of selling domain names.

You said:


Can I please ask if:

(1) what are your views on keyword .org's and .net's? Would you stick to 1 word names in these 2 extensions or would you go for 2 or more words if the keywords fit and have good search volume?

(2) you don't have to answer this one : ) - if you were starting out today as a newbie what strategy would you approach if you had a small budget of say $200?

Org/Net, stick to one word unless the combo is extremely strong like homeloan carinsurance that type of thing, very hard to get btw

$200, that is a tough one, if you could bump it to $500-$1000+ it would be a whole new world in terms of chasing .org .net LLL and flipping for $XXX profits in org and $XXXX .net. Again tough but not wanting to bump your figure too high.

 

[kaz2]

Org/Net, stick to one word unless the combo is extremely strong like homeloan carinsurance that type of thing, very hard to get btw

$200, that is a tough one, if you could bump it to $500-$1000+ it would be a whole new world in terms of chasing .org .net LLL and flipping for $XXX profits in org and $XXXX .net. Again tough but not wanting to bump your figure too high.

Thanks great reply as alway LegendaryGP, what you are giving here is priceless info for any new comer.

Really appreciate your thoughts on a realistic budget and the type of .net and .org names to go for.

Again, I take it that even for these one word .net and .org names you would follow your strategy of directly approaching owners rather than participating in pending delete auctions etc?

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Yes, time to hunt! Make sure you have access to whois history a good command of finding people/relatives and thick skin Some times out of date whois like email or phone is a good sign and you may be the first offer they have had in a long time.

Offering a never before for sale name is the best way to go!

 

[kaz2]

Yes, time to hunt! Make sure you have access to whois history a good command of finding people/relatives and thick skin Some times out of date whois like email or phone is a good sign and you may be the first offer they have had in a long time.

Offering a never before for sale name is the best way to go!

Wow this has been an eye opening post LegendaryGP, you have really made me think hard about what to do next!

What tools, if any do you use - especially for checking WHOIS history?

 

[TRY]

Phew! What an ROI for a hand registered domain name sale. Do you mind if I ask:

1. when did you buy the domain and for how long did you hold it?

2. when you say the timing was right what do you mean - was it an event taking place?

Thanks!

I bought it in 99 and sold in 2000 or 2001, when I said the time is right I meant I needed capital at the time and that's why I was more reasonable to negotiate.

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Wow this has been an eye opening post LegendaryGP, you have really made me think hard about what to do next!

What tools, if any do you use - especially for checking WHOIS history?

I love whois history, it is an absolute must, I use domaintools.com or whois.sc which ever way you go there I am grandfathered in at $30 a month from many years ago, I hear now they charge $99? But I assure you a must in order to not just hunt the owner down but be sure no funny business is going on with ownership.

I love all the domain sales comparison sites like namebio.com and when hunting an owner, simple just the basics, google, 411 or a people search tool.

 

[GoKaizen]

hosting company
domain sales/brokerage
ticket brokerage

You run a web host or is it mainly reselling? How many domains do you broker? What is your fee? How does ticket brokerage work?

 

[Bram C.]

Hi, we are a mix of domainers here - some experienced, some not so experienced. What I'd love to know is who, if anyone, sold their FIRST domain name for over $1,000 and how much was it sold for?

I'll kick off by saying that I sold my first name for $11 so way below a grand - however, it was a thrilling feeling nonetheless.

It would be interesting to see who, whether by beginners luck or shrewd domain trading, had a first sale of over $1,000.

Look forward to hearing from you!

My first sale (around 2009) was around $200 USD if I recall correctly. Some .me domain that I purchased for around $15 USD. I sold it to an end user.

My second sale ever to an end user was $2K (SportUpdates (.) com ) and was sold to Fox.com (Fox Sports Networks, LLC) which, in retrospect, I sold for way too little. But I was still a domainer newbie back then and figured $2K was a great deal, especialy since I only paid $25 for the domain on Godaddy auctions.

 

[GoKaizen]

My first sale (around 2009) was around $200 USD if I recall correctly. Some .me domain that I purchased for around $15 USD. I sold it to an end user.

My second sale ever to an end user was $2K (SportUpdates (.) com ) and was sold to Fox.com (Fox Sports Networks, LLC) which, in retrospect, I sold for way too little. But I was still a domainer newbie back then and figured $2K was a great deal

Did you know it was Fox when you sold it? It was a good sale, learn and look fwd.

 

[Bram C.]

Did you know it was Fox when you sold it? It was a good sale, learn and look fwd.

Well it was in 2009. It was a third party which approached me, I didn't know they were representing Fox. But even if I had known I would probably still have sold it for $2K back then.

At present time, if I would know I'm selling a domain to Fox, I would of course ask for much more (but it will be unlikely for a scenario like this to happen since I'm selling domains with a BIN nowadays).

 

[wot]

A hand reg .ws in 2003 which I see is now back at the registry so must have dropped.

 

[creataweb]

Cool stories. All of my early sales were $xxx each on hand-regs and I was contacted by the buyers to sell the names. They were not posted for sale as far as I can remember. Simple whois lookup then money came rolling in. Easiest money I ever made (up until that time.)

Forgot to add, one of the names I sold is still parked to this day. I kept checking it each year to see if it was developed and what it would look like. If it gets dropped I'll reg it again!

 

[kaz2]

Cool stories. All of my early sales were $xxx each on hand-regs and I was contacted by the buyers to sell the names. They were not posted for sale as far as I can remember. Simple whois lookup then money came rolling in. Easiest money I ever made (up until that time.)

Forgot to add, one of the names I sold is still parked to this day. I kept checking it each year to see if it was developed and what it would look like. If it gets dropped I'll reg it again!

Hi creataweb, thanks for getting in touch about your hand registration domain sales! When did you sell most of domains? Was it a while ago or are you still hand registering and selling domains today?

 

[creataweb]

Hi kaz2 - I still sell names today. I took a break for awhile but kept a portfolio and still have some names from 15 years ago.