How I Sold My 1st Domain for 4390% Profit in Just 60 Days

[tarikpierce]

If you are just getting started, here is a bit of motivation to prove that you can make a good ROI in this industry.

Here's exactly How I bought a domain for $10 then sold it for 4390% ROI in just 60 days.

1. Find an Angle

When you first start out, you need to find an angle that allows you to hand register some good names.

An angle could be a niche, keyword combination, prefix, suffix, etc.

I.E. Finance domains, How to Domains.

The domain I sold was a "How to XXXXX". I use SEMRush (free w/ paid version) to generate a long list of similar how to names. It's a free tool but you need to subscribe to view all the results. You can use Google Adwords Keyword Tool (free) or Wordtracker (paid) as well.

Good Prefixes:

How to
Where Can I Find
How Much
Top 100
Best
What Are
What is
etc.


2. Find a domain with some Demand

You want to find a domain with either type-in traffic or LOTS of Google searches. Type in is the most important, but remember that searches indicates demand.

At least 5k searches per month is a GREAT domain to pick up. In some industries, 1k searches can be good if the CPC is high enough.

3. ALWAYS List the Domains on Godaddy Premium Auctions as well as other marketplaces (sedo, afternic)

The reason is because Godaddy is still the leader in the USA for domains and people trust them. Trust is key in this business. I have definitely lost a few sales due to lack of trust. It's better to list your domains on Godaddy, Sedo, etc and let the buyer purchase through their system.

Sure, you pay a commission, but the buyer feels comfortable. Lots of people get scammed. Try to spend a moment in the buyer's shoes and you will sell more domains.

4. Price the domain to SELL

Ok. We all dream of registering a $10 domain then selling for $20k. This does happen, but around 50% of the domain sales are less than $500.

Download the Sedo Q2 2012 report. It's a PDF and a good read.

Anything under $500 creates comfort and confidence. A buyer can purchase the domain without hesitation.

Once you exceed $1k, then the buyer may require a signature from the VP of sales or ask their spouse if it is ok. Cheaper domains sell faster than expensive ones.

5. Follow Up

Once you make your 1st sale, you have the option to contact the buyer through Godaddy. Ask them if they need any other similar domains and/or services. Your buyer may exclusively want certain domains, and you can create a side income selling domains to them. Or maybe you have design skills and can charge $200 for Wordpress development. The key is to foster a relationship because people buy domains, not businesses.

Join my mailing list for more in-depth methods plus a cool way to automate this

http://howtoselladomain.com/

 

[Havela]

3. ALWAYS List the Domains on Godaddy Premium Auctions as well as other marketplaces (sedo, afternic)

The reason is because Godaddy is still the leader in the USA for domains and people trust them. Trust is key in this business. I have definitely lost a few sales due to lack of trust. It's better to list your domains on Godaddy, Sedo, etc and let the buyer purchase through their system.

Sure, you pay a commission, but the buyer feels comfortable.

This post inspired me to list some of my domains as GoDaddy premium listings, and today I made my first GoDaddy sale ($5xx).

Sometimes words you read in a thread just stick with you, and Tarik's rationale about how GoDaddy is used by the man in the street (and hence has a much wider reach) made perfect sense to me. In that perspective 30% commission is a price you are willing to pay. My domain was listed on both Afternic and Sedo and was parked with Sedo's landing page, but the buyer had not even entered Sedo's sales page (with the exact same price). That just tells me that my buyer wanted to use GoDaddy to purchase the domain.

Just thought I'd chime in with my recent experience..

Tarik, you are repped (and I'll have a small celebration). One step closer to feeling like a real domainer

 

[tarikpierce]

Also, listing prices may hurt resale value. If I bought a domain for resale, then I wouldn't want anyone else to list the sale.

Do onto others as you want done on to you. Besides, what does it matter anyway?

I think the key is to study the process then find something that works for you.

A domain is only worth what someone else is willing to pay.

 

[Havela]

Great..happy for you!

Would you mid answering the following questions which could benefit us all to a good degree:

1- Did you hand-reg that domain?
2- Description of the domain i.e. 2-word.com etc
3- Were other main TLD's taken as well?
4- How old?
5- Did you have it appraised by GD's appraisal tool and how much if yes?

TIA.

Thanks

1. Yes, I hand regged a dropping domain which I had scooted out before the drop.
2. Two words, rather generic dot com.
3. No other TLDs taken.
4. I regged it 1.5 months ago so it is technically a very young domain, but it was regged for the first time in the 90s, so it has a long history.
5. Yes, when you list a domain as a premium listing, GoDaddy will automatically state their appraisal - which I do not trust at all. GoDaddy are so far off the mark they are not even on the same play ground, most of the time heavily underrating domain value. Did you see the recent thread where somebody appraised google.com and facebook.com and got some ridiculously low returns? According to GoDaddy, my domain was worth $62...

For appraisals, have you checked out Domainindex.com? I recently started using it and am so far very happy.

 

[enterscope]

yes very good advice. I have noticed that $500 is a good number for most domains. Just think you could spend months trying to sell a single domain for $2000 or you could sell 10 domain names for $495 each.

 

[tarikpierce]

Congrats on a great sale, Tarik.

Could you say something more about the sales process itself, i.e. where did you find your customer, details of your dialogue/negotiations, etc?

Actually, the buyer found me. I woke up and received an e-mail from Godaddy Auctions saying "Your Premium Listing Has Sold."

Godaddy Premium Listing Run Along the Registry Path

Let's say your domain is www DogTrainingForums com. Godaddy will show your premium domains alongside any keyword related domains.

If a buyer searches for www DogTrainingForum com and it's taken, they will see your domain is for sale.

Best of all, they can add it DIRECTLY to their cart. It's an easy way to make sales.

Sedo & Afternic is used mostly by domainers or big fish. Godaddy is the king of regular joe end users who are looking for a cool site.

Once you sell a domain, it may take up to 45 days to receive the payment, which is a slight downside.

Waiting Game vs Quick Sales

Many pro domainers will sell a domain for $2k+ but what they don't reveal is the process may take several weeks or months.

I recommend this method to get some sales + build your confidence. A lot of people never make the 1st sale which is so crucial to taking your business to the next level.

Hope this helps!

---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 PM ----------

Yes, interesting article, but I am not really sure that price under $500 is best choice. After sedo fees, and costs for domain you will get about $400.
This means that if you has 1000 domains you has to sell at least 25 domains on sedo in year for $500 to cover renewal fees. + you need something to make profit. I think that if company needs domain, they could pay $800-$2000+ for it.

Good point Alex. You need more volume to definitely make some money. But keep in mind that most domains are hardly worth the registration fee.

You can find AMAZING premium domains or 5 letter domain for around $1k to $2.5k nowdays. People have mortgages, bills, etc so there are WAY more sellers than buyers.

Most newbie domainers have average domains, which is why they list them at $500+ and never make a sale.

The majority of buyers are people with day jobs or small businesses.

Frank Schilling's DomainNameSales owns millions of domains yet barely sell a few hundred every month because each domain has such a high price tag of at least $1k or more.

We are talking only a couple hundred out of literally 1 million+ domains.

If you can wait for more, then rightly do so. But the average domains I see are barely worth $8 so getting $500 for them is a wonderful accomplishment imo.

 

[Nathan]

Great mini article!

 

[zoomactive.com]

Very nice thread and helpful new to those in the domaining industry!

 

[itssika]

Great article, especially for me, newbie domaining

 

[syedazhar]

a big thanks for tarikpierce! this is a great article for me.

 

[Havela]

Here's exactly How I bought a domain for $10 then sold it for 4390% ROI in just 60 days.

Congrats on a great sale, Tarik.

Could you say something more about the sales process itself, i.e. where did you find your customer, details of your dialogue/negotiations, etc?

 

[Obosh]

tarikpierce, this is an awesome post....learned some interesting and useful tips within 5 minutes....great article...

 

[alexdon82]

Yes, interesting article, but I am not really sure that price under $500 is best choice. After sedo fees, and costs for domain you will get about $400.
This means that if you has 1000 domains you has to sell at least 25 domains on sedo in year for $500 to cover renewal fees. + you need something to make profit. I think that if company needs domain, they could pay $800-$2000+ for it.

 

[alexdon82]

Tarik, Frank Schilling's DomainNameSales usually sells his names not for 1k$ but for 3-60k$.
Buydomains selling names for 1.5k or more, I think almost never for $500.
Hugedomains.com - 99% of all names listed there for $1395-$1895.

I think all this companies studied market before setting their prices.
They learned last years with their own experience (huge number of domains)

 

[regarega]

Very useful for a newbie like me. Thanks

 

[tarikpierce]

Tarik, Frank Schilling's DomainNameSales usually sells his names not for 1k$ but for 3-60k$.
Buydomains selling names for 1.5k or more, I think almost never for $500.
Hugedomains.com - 99% of all names listed there for $1395-$1895.

I think all this companies studied market before setting their prices.
They learned last years with their own experience (huge number of domains)

All good points. Frank Schilling is probably the best at getting high prices for his domains that I've seen.

What kind of domains are you selling for $3k+?

 

[rmg]

Nice article and congratulations for the sale.

 

[cgsdomains]

Post edited

 

[Billidn]

BTW- Just how much is 4390% profit on $10.

 

[GretelNick]

btw- just how much is 4390% profit on $10.

$439.00

 

[SK1990]

why dont people ever give out the name of the domains they supossedly sell for hundreds or thousands?

You can find many here:

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/83628-report-completed-domain-name-sales-here.html

 

[key-word]

Thanks for the informative way to make money selling domains.

A domain is only worth what someone else is willing to pay.

I have been saying that for years

 

[alexdon82]

My higherst ROI was 1 .de domain, which I regged for 1 Euro, and sold for 450Euros in 3 monthes.
Makes 45000%

 

[Tabernacle]

Thanks for the helpful Info...

 

[vs99]

Thanks, very useful article