strategy How to Find Potential End Users?

[shilmy]

Hi,

Do any of you has regularly sell your domain to end users? If so, do you mind share with me in this thread on how find potential end users for your domain?

Regards,
Sjarief

 

[lincolndsp]

Thanks a lot for this helpful post!

My response would go something like this, with the proper editing, grammar, etc...

Yes, In light of the recent economic situation, many are cutting back on expenditures they deem unnecessary. With that said, give us an offer that you would consider within your budget we'll evaluate it. If it meets with our approval, we can proceed.

However, if we do not hear from you within say a week, we'll assume you need more time to make an honest decision and will contact with within the timeframe you specified.

Kind Regards,
Calvin
BlahBlah.com

 

[copper]

I have got one reply to my e-mail from an end-user. How would you reply to this one, guys? I plan to make an offer later in the future with a reduced price but now I would like to sound positive about my domain and increase the probability of the sale in the future to this end-user. Here's his response:

Humm...
Sounds like reply is from seasoned domainer
setting the stage for rock bottom bargain price.

I wouldn't expect much from this person, however, no reason to burn any bridges

Your message could be...

"Yes, current economic condition is bad.
Everything is getting worse and worse.
However, there is one exception to this.
It's Internet.
Online advertising budget is increasing even now.
-you may want to point source here-
Most traditional printed media such as newspapers and magazines are dying.
But, again, many are moving onto online version.

Internet is only place where things are happening right now."

I guess you know what I am trying to say

 

[lincolndsp]

Humm...
Sounds like reply is from seasoned domainer
setting the stage for rock bottom bargain price.

I wouldn't expect much from this person, however, no reason to burn any bridges

Your message could be...

"Yes, current economic condition is bad.
Everything is getting worse and worse.
However, there is one exception to this.
It's Internet.
Online advertising budget is increasing even now.
-you may want to point source here-
Most traditional printed media such as newspapers and magazines are dying.
But, again, many are moving onto online version.

Internet is only place where things are happening right now."

I guess you know what I am trying to say

yes, I understand, thanks for the post! Np does not allow to +rep (

 

[Fork]

How much did you acquire the domain for?

Not much! :tu:

 

[copper]

yes, I understand, thanks for the post! Np does not allow to +rep (

Don't worry about rep.
Good luck with your sale

 

[lincolndsp]

Don't worry about rep.
Good luck with your sale

keeping my fingers crossed

 

[bamaboy]

I think it's hard to find a god end user.
I have some domains which would suit for a company name. i tried emailing them, but they don't even consider to respond

Hope i get some good deal in future

 

[Gene]

I think it's hard to find a god end user.
I have some domains which would suit for a company name. i tried emailing them, but they don't even consider to respond

Hope i get some good deal in future

Of course it's hard. If it were easy, everybody would be making a killing. You generally need to contact several dozen prospects with a well constructed campaign to sell a good domain.

 

[DJ-Sound]

Also avoid email, your chances of selling domains through unsolicited email... well are the same as a 'spammer'.

To get into the office use direct mail.

To ensure your letter will be read, use a fedex document envelope.

To increase chances of being contacted, make sure your Full name, phone number, address/company name and email is listed.

If you are overseas but the company is in the USA, make sure to sign up for a temporary toll free number or a number local to the businesses you are contacting.

That's a start, a follow up call improves your chances as well.

-Ryan

 

[End User King]

Got 2 offers today, 1 threat

BusinessTv.ext

High offer was "This name is worth $1200 to me"

The other "I'll offer you $50"

The threat "This domain belongs to a company, not a cybersquatter. Why dont you hand it over? I'll copy my lawyers about this!"

 

[h2o]

BusinessTv.ext

High offer was "This name is worth $1200 to me"

The other "I'll offer you $50"

The threat "This domain belongs to a company, not a cybersquatter. Why dont you hand it over? I'll copy my lawyers about this!"

You should definitely take the $1200 ASAP. Don't worry about the threat though. That is one generic domain and the "threat's" tone is not that serious.

 

[pk81]

I think it's hard to find a god end user.
I have some domains which would suit for a company name. i tried emailing them, but they don't even consider to respond

Hope i get some good deal in future

Most of the emails I sent went unanswered also, I just skip them and go to the next one. So far ive sold two domains in past week. The first domain I sold was just luck because it was the first email I sent, the second one however took some time but eventually I got an offer replied to me.

As far as replies go, Ive gotten hate mail from 1 guy, another guy ended up asking questions on how he can get in the domain selling business and if I did this as a hobby or part time. :D

I say dont give up, there are hundreds of potential end users out there for a single domain name, for me it depended largely on how well I searched google for those potential end users.

 

[aliweb]

Has anyone outside USA sold domains to end users in USA?

 

[DavidH]

Has anyone outside USA sold domains to end users in USA?

I sell domain names to end users in the USA all the time and I am in the UK.

They are all sold by an initial individual email approach which is then very often followed up by a phone call after an expression of interest.

Purchase prices are usually below $15, sale prices are usually low - mid $$$, buyers are almost always businesses with websites so they are real people, I push the name first (always use well known registrars like Godaddy and Enom) and get paid mostly by Paypal.

I also aim to give 120% service and make it very easy for buyers to buy from me, so they are increasingly coming back for more - I am gradually building up a list of buyers who want me to look out for names in their particular industry / niche.

The key is persistence and patience - not every domain name sells, often emails for a particular name will get no response at all whereas for another name the buyer will take your hand off! If I dont succeed with today's targetted emails, I simply continue tomorrow and the next day after until the next buyer comes along.

Choosing your names wisely when you buy or register them (make sure there is a market and a reasonable number of potential users beforehand) is half the deal; keeping prices reasonable, being polite and offering tremendous service makes up most of the rest.

I also dont try to squeeze the last penny out of a buyer but I am operating at the low end of the market; after all if I can turn $15 into $300+, why try to get a few dollars more when I can simply get another name and do the same again?

 

[aliweb]

I sell domain names to end users in the USA all the time and I am in the UK.

They are all sold by an initial individual email approach which is then very often followed up by a phone call after an expression of interest.

Purchase prices are usually below $15, sale prices are usually low - mid $$$, buyers are almost always businesses with websites so they are real people, I push the name first (always use well known registrars like Godaddy and Enom) and get paid mostly by Paypal.

I also aim to give 120% service and make it very easy for buyers to buy from me, so they are increasingly coming back for more - I am gradually building up a list of buyers who want me to look out for names in their particular industry / niche.

The key is persistence and patience - not every domain name sells, often emails for a particular name will get no response at all whereas for another name the buyer will take your hand off! If I dont succeed with today's targetted emails, I simply continue tomorrow and the next day after until the next buyer comes along.

Choosing your names wisely when you buy or register them (make sure there is a market and a reasonable number of potential users beforehand) is half the deal; keeping prices reasonable, being polite and offering tremendous service makes up most of the rest.

I also dont try to squeeze the last penny out of a buyer but I am operating at the low end of the market; after all if I can turn $15 into $300+, why try to get a few dollars more when I can simply get another name and do the same again?

Thanks...some good points discussed by you. But what if the buyer who is outside USA and English is not his/her first language? I mean has anyone outside USA whose first language is not English able to sell domains to end users?
I mean let's say if I send an email to buyer who is in USA then he may be a bit skeptical about it since I am not in USA!!? And those living in US or other English speaking countries have a better chance to connect with end users!

 

[Billy2009]

I am marketing the name AcademicPublications.com. I emailed 80 prospects in the publishing industry for what I thought was a great name - the most searched publisher category for academic publishing which is a massive industry - not a single response. Not one person bothered to get back to me. What a soul destroying business this is. Any ideas welcome.

 

[matrigaldo]

I am marketing the name AcademicPublications.com. I emailed 80 prospects in the publishing industry for what I thought was a great name - the most searched publisher category for academic publishing which is a massive industry - not a single response. Not one person bothered to get back to me. What a soul destroying business this is. Any ideas welcome.

It's pretty common, i have marketed around ten domain names (more than 200 emails) with only 12 replies, and 11 were "not interested thanks". Only 1 could be called an "active transaction" but buyer is very slow... we have started for a deal 6 months ago and sometimes he stops to write me until i contact him again asking if he really wants the domain name.

But i'm optimist, i have many domain names to market yet.

 

[lincolndsp]

I am marketing the name AcademicPublications.com. I emailed 80 prospects in the publishing industry for what I thought was a great name - the most searched publisher category for academic publishing which is a massive industry - not a single response. Not one person bothered to get back to me. What a soul destroying business this is. Any ideas welcome.

yes, there are times when it's really tough. try to stay positive. good luck with your future sales

 

[bgmv]

I am marketing the name AcademicPublications.com. I emailed 80 prospects in the publishing industry for what I thought was a great name - the most searched publisher category for academic publishing which is a massive industry - not a single response. Not one person bothered to get back to me. What a soul destroying business this is. Any ideas welcome.

Bill,

The domain is only half the battle, the other half is marketing strategy. As outlined by others before, there are some key steps to sending out emails to prospects, here is small rundown:

1. What does your email read like? Is it professional, short, non invasive and factual?
2. Are you using a private email, not free?
3. Where does the enduser operate? It has been said that the best times for endusers to RECEIVE emails is on Monday + Tuesday between 8 A.M - 10 A.M
4. Are you contacting the decision maker? I would rather send 5 emails to decision makers than 80 to info@....
5. Is there actually a market for your domain? For me, the easiest way to determine this is by the # of competing ads for the keywords - it doesnt seem like there are too many paid ads for your domain
6. Do you include the price in your initial email? I personally do not, i feel it kind of adds to the intrigue of the domain and requires the enduser to start a chain of communication
7. Pricing - are you being reasonable? endusers know when you are blowing smoke and will not return emails to outrageous prices, they arent stupid
8. If you live overseas get some sort of a 1800 forwarding number, tehre are a few sites that offer this service
9. Be persistent - if an enduser replies "how much" and then doesnt respond after that send them an email asking how much they would have been willing to pay and try to negotiate from there

This is all I can think of right now but it is a pretty rudimentary outline of how I go about selling, if anyone wants to add/subtract from this please post your thoughts!

 

[Billy2009]

Bill,

The domain is only half the battle, the other half is marketing strategy. As outlined by others before, there are some key steps to sending out emails to prospects, here is small rundown:

1. What does your email read like? Is it professional, short, non invasive and factual?
2. Are you using a private email, not free?
3. Where does the enduser operate? It has been said that the best times for endusers to RECEIVE emails is on Monday + Tuesday between 8 A.M - 10 A.M
4. Are you contacting the decision maker? I would rather send 5 emails to decision makers than 80 to info@....
5. Is there actually a market for your domain? For me, the easiest way to determine this is by the # of competing ads for the keywords - it doesnt seem like there are too many paid ads for your domain
6. Do you include the price in your initial email? I personally do not, i feel it kind of adds to the intrigue of the domain and requires the enduser to start a chain of communication
7. Pricing - are you being reasonable? endusers know when you are blowing smoke and will not return emails to outrageous prices, they arent stupid
8. If you live overseas get some sort of a 1800 forwarding number, tehre are a few sites that offer this service
9. Be persistent - if an enduser replies "how much" and then doesnt respond after that send them an email asking how much they would have been willing to pay and try to negotiate from there

This is all I can think of right now but it is a pretty rudimentary outline of how I go about selling, if anyone wants to add/subtract from this please post your thoughts!

Hi there bgmv, thanks very much for taking the time to write those very useful points for me. I have to use a yahoo address because I am travelling all the time and using hotel and apartment internet feeds. I know this is not ideal so I will look at setting up an email at one of my sites; however they are at Whypark and they don't provide email addresses. I have a golfing minisite which might be ok as its parked at Minisites.com.

Yes, the emails were pretty professional but I only had a return email address and not a number so I will check out the 1800 numbers.

In the first lot of mails I sent out I put no price for the domain but in the second lot I put a price of $2,500 which was just above the Estibot valuation of $2,200 (I had nothing else to go on!). It seems like a bargain for a catch all .com which covers a complete publishing category.

I didn't describe the benefits of the domain to the buyers because I didn't want to insult their intelligences. I thought it would be obvious to them. It ranks no.1 on search for any Academic Publishing Keyphrase I tried. I mean, even defensively it makes sense for that very low price, I would have thought.

Yes, I believe there is a market (am I being proved wrong?), because Academic Publications is the top Keyphrase in a multi hundred million dollar industry. I looked at adsense and saw the lack of Sponsored Links but the Academics kind of sit outside that system. The Universities have their own Presses and they don't really engage in advertising the same way a commerical company does. They tend to work within subject groups with transnational publications for each area that they subscribe to both on and offline. Kind of like a set of networks. But to me this domain represents the top level keyphrase that encompasses all of that publication activity. Maybe it needs to be some kind of directory to the University Publication world - there's a thought! An Academic Directory. lol.

I did send the same email basically to everyone - cut and paste. It saved so much time! I truly thought I would have been swamped with emails - a real wake up call I think!

Again I really appreciate the time you have taken to make those points. Thank you indeed!

Best wishes, Bill