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

 

[Cyphix]

LOL check out this classic response I got..

Hi Brett (little sado)


Why would you buy a silly domain name and try and sell if for more than
what it is worth you are a very little said person.

Get a life and stop trying to rob people everyone knows that domain names
our worth no more the £14.00 a year ! So why would you think that i or
any other of my friends in the hockey network would even think of to
paid a we furit like you £950.00 lol

you must be mad

** my name and address here **


But what i can tell you is that i will be sending this to all hockey
networks all over and make sure think see what you are (robbing cunt)

I hope you do know that **********.com can sue you and get this domain
name removed from you as the law say's that you can not hold a domain
name to make profit from another !

Good Buy Pencil Dick

Richard

Mmmmmmmmm........ firstly I can see this guy is a first class loser. Secondly I LOL at him thinking he is smart pulling my address from the whois like he's some genius or something and then going on to say domains are worthless and that the owner of the .com has a right to my co.uk - ok buddy! LOL

 

[fm1234]

@Cyphix I get those from time to time; there is never any point to engaging people like that. The only exception I ever allow in such cases are the very rare (like, twice in all these years that I can recall offhand) incidents when I got a response like that, from a person who worked at a place that clearly owned the sort of domains I'm trying to sell. Since someone at that company clearly knows the value of domains and buys them, in those rare cases I sent an outraged response to the customer service/pr address for the company, with a copy of the e-mail that was sent to me. In both cases I got a written apology from up the food chain, and in one I got a sale at ask :D

And on a serious note, all this talk about templates and the value of being any number under 100% honest and such just serve to remind me why I contribute so infrequently to this thread anymore. Successful end user sales require certain elements -- without them, you're just a huckster, a glorified telemarketer working the numbers until you get a hit, and this gig won't be any more profitable than whatever you were pushing before you started pushing domains.

1) Quality domains. Did you buy it on NamePros for $20? Chances are it's shit as far as the end user market goes. Did you hand reg it? Unless you have a very good understanding of the AdWords market, and some fairly sophisticated drop catching skills/software/service, it's shit as far as the end user market goes. In all the years I've been receiving "end user mails" from other domainers, I don't think I've seen a dozen domains that were even remotely interesting to me, and most of those that were the huckster didn't even own them; they were just trying to catch a middle on using my money to get a dropped domain.

2) Quality research. As I have said innumerable times in this thread and similar ones, here and elsewhere, if you are sending 100 e-mails per domain, you might as well spend your time playing video poker. The odds of making a living at video poker with a modicum of knowledge and patience are about the same as the odds of making any worthwhile money blasting out your crappy domains, and at least playing video poker you aren't bothering anybody (and you might meet some interesting people in the process!) Serious end user prospects have at least one of the following characteristics:

a) They own multiple domains that are not attached to a brand or product that the company owns and sells, or other trademarked/copyrighted domains. ie. a travel company which owns a few hundred geolocal travel domains, a finance company which owns multiple keyword domains that point to branded properties etc. etc. etc.

b) They spend measurable amounts of money advertising on AdWords, for the phrase that matches your domain. These are serious money prospects by the way, because they are already "renting" that phrase from Google.

c) The only exception to the above two would be the rare "non-domained" startup company, who is operating off of social networks and has not put up a serious website yet. There are many such opportunities out there; actually just had to censor myself because on second thought, not sure this is the place to post a list

Finally, serious end user prospects' domains are not hidden via whois privacy, MarkMonitor or other means, and the contact person listed in the whois can be found via LinkedIn or other professional networking sites. If a company is going out of its way to restrict contact, chances are you are pissing into the wind trying to get an e-mail through to them.

Bottom line on research, if you come up with more than 30 prospects for your domain, you probably need to trim your list; if you come up with more than 50, you definitely need to. If you come up with more than 100, you don't know what you're doing and will never succeed, because you are shooting yourself in the foot right out the gate.

3) Realistic pricing. Seriously, nothing you hand regged last week is worth more than a couple of hundred dollars. The odd lotto winner level sale, say $500-$1,000, can be seen, but these are the exception, not the rule. Nothing you won at a SEDO auction for $200 yesterday, is worth $2,000 today. If it were worth $2,000 on the end user market, an investor smarter and better-funded than you would have bid it up to $1,000 or more. Don't be an idiot. You could make a fairly easy $100-$200 on a hand reg with proper research done, which I feel very very confident in saying is more money on a single domain sale than 95% of the registered users of this forum have ever made on a single domain -- but if you price it at $5,000 ONO, you're just going to chase off people who might have otherwise been buyers, because they think you'll never come down to earth.

4) Actual negotiation and sales skills. If you don't know anything about e-mail and phone marketing, or about general sales and negotiation, you will get all the way down to the line on a domain, then get slaughtered by some lawyer who negotiates for a living. The biggest issue there, the biggest rule of sales that I think domainers either ignore or do not understand, is that treating your sales prospects like idiots is suicide. You think they can't Google the domain and see it was just registered for reg fee (with a coupon!) or that you just purchased that "$5,000 domain" for $250 at AfterNIC? Alternately, you think the guy who is in charge of making expenditure decisions for a company that is spending $30,000+ a month on AdWords alone, is just going to take your word that a domain has the potential to save or make them money? You may not be dealing with professional domainers, but chances are you are dealing with professionals -- grant them a bit of respect, and save yourself from looking like an idiot/jackoff/scam artist.

Short version: good domains, good research, realistic pricing, sales skills. Make full time living in underwear, be hero to wife and kids and envy of friends etc. Or just free associate until you come up with however many catchy-sounding domains you can afford with your current crop of GoDaddy coupons, and spam the shit out of a bunch of marginally relevant individuals, make some or even most of your money back, publish an ebook about the experience on ClickBank, collect medium-sized paycheck due to idiots buying your ebook, buy a used Cadillac, be broke as ever and have to start all over again. It's a tough decision, to be sure. But I recommend the first course.


Frank

 

[Angelicus]

Well put Frank.

Cheers.

 

[Cyphix]

I'm interested at how you go about contacting the places you mentioned that don't already have websites such as the ones found on social media; do you send them a msg through those sites?

I have found many businesses that could be really good targets for some of my domains that don't currently have websites, but I don't think they'd appreciate me phoning or faxing them to try and sell them something - so I just leave it.

---------- Post added at 01:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:32 AM ----------

Domain #1: = Stay quiet here and wait for the response.
Domain #2: = They don't want to buy the .co.uk, so you should move on and find a next buyer

good luck!

Still no response yet from domain #1

 

[Theydon]

lol, best post i have ever read on NP - say's everything. great stuff.

 

[Soofi]

Still no response yet from domain #1

inquiry email after 2 weeks should be good..

Cheers

 

[Cyphix]

inquiry email after 2 weeks should be good..

Cheers

Ok thanks. It's been about 6 days so far.

 

[momentum]

I'm interested at how you go about contacting the places you mentioned that don't already have websites such as the ones found on social media; do you send them a msg through those sites?

I have found many businesses that could be really good targets for some of my domains that don't currently have websites, but I don't think they'd appreciate me phoning or faxing them to try and sell them something - so I just leave it.

Email communications are very tough due to email overload, spam filters, etc. It can still be done but you absolutely don't want to spam.

Send emails to specifically targeted companies and organizations. Not just related domain name owners who are parking domains. That is where you will waste your time and get yourself in trouble. Contact owners of developed websites only.

As an alternative, LinkedN and Twitter are decent avenues for contacting leads.

 

[Cyphix]

Email communications are very tough due to email overload, spam filters, etc. It can still be done but you absolutely don't want to spam.

Send emails to specifically targeted companies and organizations. Not just related domain name owners who are parking domains. That is where you will waste your time and get yourself in trouble. Contact owners of developed websites only.

As an alternative, LinkedN and Twitter are decent avenues for contacting leads.

Thanks but I was talking about contacting businesses that don't already have websites and hence don't have an email to contact them on.

 

[Cyphix]

Ok thanks. It's been about 6 days so far.

I replied to him yesterday with asking him what kinda price we would agree on and if $550 sounded ok, still nothing back from him as yet.

On another domain, I got a "how much" reply, so I responded with basically "Looking for $1850 USD."; couple hours after I got a simple response of "not interested thank you".

What should I do here?

Thanks!

 

[RevolutionaryDomains]

.


Not trying sound rude or insensitive, but move on to fresh prospective buyers, IMO. The two you refer to seem to have already checked out. Holidays can be a tricky time of year to peddle domains, as most are getting hit from all sides to donate and spend, and focus on more important things. The proverbial 'sit and wait' game can last for weeks or even months, so a mere 6 days or even 2 weeks is nothing, especially at this time of year. You not only have to have patience, but equally as important, you have to be patient.

The first name at $550 is either another domainer toying with you, or someone savvy enough in business to sense your weakness and uncertainty. Both of which will wait for you to continue contacting them with lower and lower prices. Go any lower and you may as well just give them the name. At this point you should sever the ties and move on. The ball is in their court. If they reply at some point, great; honor your price. If they don't, you didn't lose anything and have already since moved forward.

The second one, again, you come off a bit hesitant about pricing, so from my outside perspective, you give an impression that you are unsure. You may as well be asking the buyer to price it for you. Not literally, but you get the point. You have to have confidence. Believe in what you are doing and the name/price you are offering. However, none of that matters now in this case. According to your post they already replied back with "not interested." Therefore, you don't need to ask what you should do here, as there is nothing left to do, other than move on to the next prospective buyer/s. Put some distance between you and your latest emails to both interested parties. If either of them is truly interested they will come to you.

Moving forward, know your prices ahead of time, and be confident about them. Both your starting price and your bottom line price. Also, don't put all your faith into one reply from someone showing barely moderate interest, and try not to hang your hopes on someone who shows merely general interest. Continuing to promote and making contacts to other prospective buyers, regardless if someone is showing interest in a name, keeps your processes moving and flowing with forward momentum. Remember, most people can sense weakness, desperation, and/or uncertainty, from a long distance. Even in emailing, texting and social media communications. Confidence and belief in oneself [and your products/names] is essential.

Just my two cents...give or take a penny. Best of luck with your sales and happy holidays.

 

[seank]

I replied to him yesterday with asking him what kinda price we would agree on and if $550 sounded ok, still nothing back from him as yet.

On another domain, I got a "how much" reply, so I responded with basically "Looking for $1850 USD."; couple hours after I got a simple response of "not interested thank you".

What should I do here?

Thanks!

on the second domain , i normally would suggest to wait a few more days , dont look desperate potential buyer might be waiting for your new LOWER price.

but if he was not interested at all he wouldnt have asked "how much".

just wait a few more days before you send any reply., thats my opinon .

 

[Cyphix]

Thanks for the post but I'm not sure why you think I was unsure of the price on the 2nd name. I told them $1850 straight out!?

Also, not sure how I should "move into other potential" buyers as I have contacted my whole lost of potentials for this particular domain and so far just have had the one interested response; hence that is why it is getting all of my attention.

 

[Icenevermelts]

I have a problem, please advise...

So here is the thing. I got email addresses of about 50 end users. Emails were taken from the whois and half from the owner's website, sometimes I used 2 emails one from whois one from the website.

When the emails were send out one by one, more than half of the emails were send back to me as mail undelivered and because of that my gmail account is not allowing me to reply or email anyone.

Here are my questions:

Does this usually happen to you?
Why does half of the email addresses were unable to receive my mail when it was used on whois.
What to do in this case?

Not all websites have contact page and some websites have domain privacy which make it hard to reach the owner.

 

[RevolutionaryDomains]

.


If I understand you correctly, you are using a Gmail addy from which to contact your potential end-users? If so, that right there is most likely the problem. IMO, never to use any of the freebie email accounts (goog, msn, yahoo, aol, etc) for business. It is unprofessional, amateur, and more often than not your email will either end up in spam folders automatically, or be considered spam by the recipient and therefore deleted.

Try to use an email address set up with the name you are wanting to sell, or use your real email address. It's typically free and easy to create an email addy with any domain name in this day and age. Most of the big registrars give a free email account with every name you reg, so IMO, there is never a need for the fake or freebie spam addy's.

Just my two cents...give or take a penny.

 

[Icenevermelts]

That makes sense, but you didn't answer my question buddy.

Weather they got my email OR it was in their spam box thats not what I worry for now. The problem is that most email are coming back as if the email address was not correct.

I don't think that registering email address for the domain being sold will resolve the issue but I did get your point.

RevolutionaryDomains - can you please share how many domains have you sold reaching end users by email which was registered for the domain you were selling to them?

 

[ruzeen]

How can I find end-users for ComputerUpgrade.info? Thanks.

 

[Icenevermelts]

How can I find end-users for ComputerUpgrade.info? Thanks.

We only try to find end users, there is no guarantee you will find. This thread says a lot if you read from the first page. But just to get you going i'll help you.

Open google page, type in computerupgrade.info and find already existing websites with similar keywords but uglier domains which will make the buyer want to buy your domain. If they have computer.com they will not want your computerupgrade because their is better. For example there is one website that i found on the first page which is Computer Upgrade King dot Com, you can get their email via whois or on their website and try to contact. Do not email more than once. If no reply means not interested. Move to next domain if no interest parties on this domain. And so on. This is only 2 cents from what was told in the thread.

 

[ruzeen]

We only try to find end users, there is no guarantee you will find. This thread says a lot if you read from the first page. But just to get you going i'll help you.

Open google page, type in computerupgrade.info and find already existing websites with similar keywords but uglier domains which will make the buyer want to buy your domain. If they have computer.com they will not want your computerupgrade because their is better. For example there is one website that i found on the first page which is Computer Upgrade King dot Com, you can get their email via whois or on their website and try to contact. Do not email more than once. If no reply means not interested. Move to next domain if no interest parties on this domain. And so on. This is only 2 cents from what was told in the thread.

Thank you, I already did this - but I was wondering if I did this wrong.

My email:

Subject: ComputerUpgrade.info is for sale!

Body:
Hello,

I am contacting your company today because I have the domain ComputerUpgrade.info available for sale for $250. I have the domain listed at Sedo and it can be purchased by following the link below:

https://sedo.com/search/details.php4?domain=computerupgrade.info

Best Regards,
Ruzeen

+1 xxx-xxx-xxxx
Plus94.com

 

[Icenevermelts]

I am not a pro so lets wait for experienced guys to comment.

 

[badesahad]

This site is one of the good places you can start..

 

[ruzeen]

Still waiting...

 

[sofiapartner]

Well - i have to say that your domain is useless (s**t). So - you won't find endusers for this domain.

Not for $250, not for $50, not for $10.

Your efforts to promote this domain are waste of time. It doesnt matter what you write in your email or how many hours of research you will put into this. This domain will never sell.

So move on and good luck.

One more advise - never invest in .info domains if they are more than one premium word.

Invest only in .com

 

[Bannen]

Thank you, I already did this - but I was wondering if I did this wrong.

My email:

Subject: ComputerUpgrade.info is for sale!

Body:
Hello,

I am contacting your company today because I have the domain ComputerUpgrade.info available for sale for $250. I have the domain listed at Sedo and it can be purchased by following the link below:

https://sedo.com/search/details.php4?domain=computerupgrade.info

Best Regards,
Ruzeen

+1 xxx-xxx-xxxx
Plus94.com

3 things here are not so good:
1 - in the subject line and in the content you have 'for sale', and many people and email progs set their spam filters to filter out any emails with 'for sale' in them because they're almost always spam. Just type the keywords 'Computer Upgrade' in the subject, and you can say 'I'm selling' in the content. Stay away from 'for sale'.
Some members say to include the domain in the subject (computerupgrade.info) as opposed to just the keywords (computer upgrade), but I've found no difference in responses. However I always only write the keywords now (though have tried the other a lot) because with the domain looks spammy to me.
2 - you have a link to your Sedo sale page in content; many filters are set to treat incoming emails with links, from people/strangers not on the contacts list, as spam.
3 - it's a dot.info you're selling. It's true that many domainers still deal in dot.info but most of us don't touch them any more, except a few who have real premium .info's and have a gift for selling them. Most of John Q Public have no idea what a dot.info is, so your response rate is going to be much less than if you're selling a dot.com. You'll often simply get no responses at all when selling a dot.info unless it's super premium.
*Note that super premium for a dot.info is different for a dot.com. For example any decent LLL.com is premium, but LLL.info are not, they're selling for average of mid xx. LeatherPurse.com would be premium, LeatherPurse.info is not. For .info to be premium, it has to be fantastic. Anything less than fantastic in .info is a real hard sell. Like I say, some domainers seem to have a knack of selling non-premium .info's, but they are ones who have a solid .info-selling plan, put in hard and smart work, and seem to have 'the knack'. Most of us don't. I've never sold a .info to an end user and have given up trying, and don't deal with them any more But a few domainers here seem to have the knack and do moderately well selling them.
However, your domain I'd have to say is valueless in .info. Nice in dot.com but practically impossible to sell in .info, IMO.

On the issue of using freemail vs realmail, I've tried both extensively. I have a realmail account and a Yahoo account; I have seen no noticeable difference in the response rates from end users, having sent probably thousands of emails from each over the years. Others here might find different results but for me the response rates have been similar for both.

As for the emails being sent back to you as non-deliverable, I find this quite common. So many non-domainers who have regged a domain for their business, or have hired a webmaster to do so, don't update their website or whois when they change email addresses. When I email end users for my dot.com's I expect roughly 1 out of every 10 or 15 to return to me as undeliverable. Even seemingly well-developed websites/businesses have obsolete email addies on their contact pages. Strange but true. I can't explain why you'd receive a higher number of returns like that, unless it's because there are so many fly-by-nighters in the genre you're contacting that they have a high turnover of websites, businesses, domains, and are constantly letting go of old biz models, creating new ones, and not bothering to update the older abandoned sites with new email addies.
It is surprising to me how many sites I'll go to, even sites that look like they're actively selling product and making bookings via their contact page... and their emails return to both my freemail and realmail accounts as 'undeliverable.

 

[ruzeen]

Well - i have to say that your domain is useless (s**t). So - you won't find endusers for this domain.

Not for $250, not for $50, not for $10.

Your efforts to promote this domain are waste of time. It doesnt matter what you write in your email or how many hours of research you will put into this. This domain will never sell.

So move on and good luck.

One more advise - never invest in .info domains if they are more than one premium word.

Invest only in .com

Thank you for your advice. It makes sense to buy only .COMs - larger group of buyers, easier to sell and makes more money.

However, if you didn't know, there are end-users (small business owners) that don't mind buying other decent extensions as long as it fulfills their need. What I'm trying to say is: not everyone can afford a 5 grand on ComputerUpgrade.com but most small businesses/ startups can afford $250 for ComputerUpgrade.info

Read this if you have the time:
https://www.namepros.com/83628-report-completed-domain-name-sales-here-228.html

---------- Post added at 10:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 PM ----------

3 things here are not so good:
1 - in the subject line and in the content you have 'for sale', and many people and email progs set their spam filters to filter out any emails with 'for sale' in them because they're almost always spam. Just type the keywords 'Computer Upgrade' in the subject, and you can say 'I'm selling' in the content. Stay away from 'for sale'.
Some members say to include the domain in the subject (computerupgrade.info) as opposed to just the keywords (computer upgrade), but I've found no difference in responses. However I always only write the keywords now (though have tried the other a lot) because with the domain looks spammy to me.
2 - you have a link to your Sedo sale page in content; many filters are set to treat incoming emails with links, from people/strangers not on the contacts list, as spam.
3 - it's a dot.info you're selling. It's true that many domainers still deal in dot.info but most of us don't touch them any more, except a few who have real premium .info's and have a gift for selling them. Most of John Q Public have no idea what a dot.info is, so your response rate is going to be much less than if you're selling a dot.com. You'll often simply get no responses at all when selling a dot.info unless it's super premium.
*Note that super premium for a dot.info is different for a dot.com. For example any decent LLL.com is premium, but LLL.info are not, they're selling for average of mid xx. LeatherPurse.com would be premium, LeatherPurse.info is not. For .info to be premium, it has to be fantastic. Anything less than fantastic in .info is a real hard sell. Like I say, some domainers seem to have a knack of selling non-premium .info's, but they are ones who have a solid .info-selling plan, put in hard and smart work, and seem to have 'the knack'. Most of us don't. I've never sold a .info to an end user and have given up trying, and don't deal with them any more But a few domainers here seem to have the knack and do moderately well selling them.
However, your domain I'd have to say is valueless in .info. Nice in dot.com but practically impossible to sell in .info, IMO.

On the issue of using freemail vs realmail, I've tried both extensively. I have a realmail account and a Yahoo account; I have seen no noticeable difference in the response rates from end users, having sent probably thousands of emails from each over the years. Others here might find different results but for me the response rates have been similar for both.

As for the emails being sent back to you as non-deliverable, I find this quite common. So many non-domainers who have regged a domain for their business, or have hired a webmaster to do so, don't update their website or whois when they change email addresses. When I email end users for my dot.com's I expect roughly 1 out of every 10 or 15 to return to me as undeliverable. Even seemingly well-developed websites/businesses have obsolete email addies on their contact pages. Strange but true. I can't explain why you'd receive a higher number of returns like that, unless it's because there are so many fly-by-nighters in the genre you're contacting that they have a high turnover of websites, businesses, domains, and are constantly letting go of old biz models, creating new ones, and not bothering to update the older abandoned sites with new email addies.
It is surprising to me how many sites I'll go to, even sites that look like they're actively selling product and making bookings via their contact page... and their emails return to both my freemail and realmail accounts as 'undeliverable.

Thank you for taking your time to explain things. I really appreciate it. I learnt a lot from you. Priceless advice.

Thanks again. 10/10.