Inquire about this domain. Is it a useful tool for you?

[PowerUp]

All parking providers have this "inquire about this domain" link. You have the option to activate or deactivate this link on your parked pages. The purpose of this link is to accept inquiries about your domain names.

I have a domain about studying, and just a few minutes ago received an email through the inquire link asking me "How much does this course cost? What's the duration of this course? etc". I had to spend some time to reply to the sender.

Would like to hear comments from others about the usefulness of the inquiry link.

 

[netmeg]

I turn it off on all my domains. I don't want to get questions like you list, and I figure if someone is seriously interested in buying one of them, they'll know how to do a WHOIS lookup and contact the gmail account on my contacts. And if they're not serious, or don't know how to do that, then I probably don't want to hear from them. Same goes for "This Domain May Be For Sale" messages. I always turn 'em off.

 

[SpareDomains]

The "This Domain Name May Be For Sale" or "Inquire About This Domain" link is the #1 way to get offers from end users. End users generally do not know about whois and how to look domain names up. Domainers know about the aftermarkets and whois lookups. Best money comes from an end user so make it easy for an end user to know the domain may be for sale. I have received end user leads from my own site and from various parking companies inquire links.

 

[FagEnd]

I always turn off the option. If someone is interested in buying your domain they will contact you via whois details.

 

[BizBot]

The majority of names I sell come from an inquiry request made from a parking landing page. I turn it on for the names I want to sell and off for the names I am keeping.

 

[PowerUp]

Here's another question.

Say some end user inquire about your domain via the "Inquire about this domain" link. The Parking Provider then sends an email to your email a/c (assume Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail) informing you of the inquiry together with the email address of the end user.

Then you reply directly to the end user. How do you know your email doesn't end up in his spam box?

 

[SpareDomains]

Here's another question.

Say some end user inquire about your domain via the "Inquire about this domain" link. The Parking Provider then sends an email to your email a/c (assume Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail) informing you of the inquiry together with the email address of the end user.

Then you reply directly to the end user. How do you know your email doesn't end up in his spam box?

no guarantee of not ending up in a spam box by sending an email to anyone, put the domain name they inquired about in the subject line and write a nice paragraph or 2 with your sales pitch, I have closed enough hand registered $7 domains to end users for mid XXXX or better over the years through inquire or make offer links, those that think an end user will just look up whois are mistaken, insurance buddy of mine asked me the other day I wan't this domain but it's taken, asked him what the whois says, his response what's whois?, domainers are scouring sedo, afternic, forums, whois looking for deals to resell, majority of end users type it in at the registrar and if not available they move on, some of them will type the domain in to see what site is on the name and when "this domain may be for sale" appears there is your path to an end user lead, end users produce the most income as they will develop so they can afford to spend more, key to this game is getting your domains out there anywhere you can and having the patience to wait on the perfect end user, closed 1 hand registered domain last week for mid XXXX and got another in moniker escrow now for the same, the second domain currently in moniker escrow I sat on for 21 months, not saying all end users don't know about whois or aftermarkets but the majority of them are still clueless and your parking page link is your best bet at least in my experience over the years.

 

[Name Trader]

I use it and sell many domains from those enquiries. You do have to put up with the downsides. Dumb questions, lowball expectations etc.

 

[notlikeyou]

insurance buddy of mine asked me the other day I want this domain but it's taken, asked him what the whois says, his response what's whois?........

....majority of end users type it in at the registrar and if not available they move on, some of them will type the domain in to see what site is on the name and when "this domain may be for sale" appears there is your path to an end user lead, end users produce the most income as they will develop so they can afford to spend more, key to this game is getting your domains out there anywhere you can and having the patience to wait on the perfect end user......

.......not saying all end users don't know about whois or aftermarkets but the majority of them are still clueless and your parking page link is your best bet at least in my experience over the years.

SpareDomains sums it up perfectly

Why not provide another possibility for a sale by turning on the inquiry link? Yes you will get moronic offers, random questions, but you will soon forget those when a nice offer rolls in. Take off the domainer hat for a couple of minutes and think the joe/jane off the street will have no clue what "whois" is

 

[Skinny]

Only ever had one reply. It's not something that I get lots of mail from.

 

[matt_bodis]

I recently had one where a woman was explaining that she needs to submit her rebate, and asked where she can do it. The domain name was obviously a typo of a rebate-related website.

I responded to her anyway with the real website. But sometimes, these things can get annoying.

 

[Varon]

no guarantee of not ending up in a spam box by sending an email to anyone, put the domain name they inquired about in the subject line and write a nice paragraph or 2 with your sales pitch, I have closed enough hand registered $7 domains to end users for mid XXXX or better over the years through inquire or make offer links, those that think an end user will just look up whois are mistaken, insurance buddy of mine asked me the other day I wan't this domain but it's taken, asked him what the whois says, his response what's whois?, domainers are scouring sedo, afternic, forums, whois looking for deals to resell, majority of end users type it in at the registrar and if not available they move on, some of them will type the domain in to see what site is on the name and when "this domain may be for sale" appears there is your path to an end user lead, end users produce the most income as they will develop so they can afford to spend more, key to this game is getting your domains out there anywhere you can and having the patience to wait on the perfect end user, closed 1 hand registered domain last week for mid XXXX and got another in moniker escrow now for the same, the second domain currently in moniker escrow I sat on for 21 months, not saying all end users don't know about whois or aftermarkets but the majority of them are still clueless and your parking page link is your best bet at least in my experience over the years.

Very well said. Using the inquire link has helped me close 15 sales this year. I do get some wierd requests too... just like Matt mentioned, but overall, it gets you one step closer to making a sale. So why not use it?

Reps added for a thoughtful explanation ...SpareDomains.

 

[PowerUp]

Which works better?
"This domain may be for sale." or "Inquire about this domain."

 

[whitebark]

I always turn them off. They have a nasty way of getting indexed instead of more relevant text on the parked page. A real buyer knows how to find you using whois.

 

[DomainLobe]

Always ON!
Have sold a number through ' inquire about this domain' link especially LLL.IN and NNN.IN. In fact, I field an inquiry every few weeks.
If you do not want to sell your domain then turn it off.
I see a number of threads with the theme 'How to find end-users' - do yourself a favor and let them find you! Your sales volume and margins will be larger.

Happy Holidays