Need advice on selling domains.

[Nerz]

Id classify myself as a definate newbie when it comes to domain name selling. Overall ive registered close to 50 domains, with 46,47 of them being .com's.

Basically after reading as much as i can about the tools of the trade and the best methods to use when evaluating a domain i came to the conclusion to stick to .com's...for safety's sake more than anything.

Due to a limited budget ive concentrated on what i think are quality 2 word .com combo's...trying to stick to the "10 letter or below" rule, or as close as I can.

The overwhelming majority of names ive registered were bought for less than $10 dollars but they still contain some strong industry/keyword overtones, such as forums, seo, auto related..and i try and match either the pre or post to the keyword with something rhythmic...ie tvtribe.com. Ive bought a few off pool and grabbed a few with snapnames...which quickly becomes very expensive...

In the last 3 months of doing this while still working full time ive only sold a few domains. One i sold for $500 U.S, a car related domain that obviously appealed to someone in the industry (on sedo btw), another for $80, $50 and a couple for not much more than reg fee...

I think my tactic of buying two-word .com combo's of decent quality is still a sound tactic, but how on earth can i get more sales? I cant afford to buy $1000 domains and speculate.

Im using all the best tools i can find to buy more domains, and im listing everything on sedo, until i can sell them.

I guess my main problem is im essentially buying a lot of domains without traffic, even though there short and good quality...Appraisals seem to be all over the place on not just the domains ive had listed, but just about every appraisal thread ive ever read. There's no consistancy in the market.

As you can see in the auction forum i posted a heap of domains to ebay U.S, but received 2 bids on 2 domains so far...ive had to delete a few because i refuse to let them go so cheap, i guess listing on ebay is always speculative at best, but i was hoping for more watchers and more bids...

Im at the point now where i think the only real way i can move forward is too do what others have suggested - email end users in the industry. Do a lot of people do that? and how effective is it.?

Im really starting to think that forum sites, auction sites like pool and sedo, are largely a waste of time unless you have something of real quality and can afford to promote it heavily. I think i got lucky with the $500 one i did sell.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[barefoottech]

It is often better to reg names with two Related keywords
then just catchy Rythmic names
You should put yourself in the average user or Buyer footsteps
Would you type-in in those words to Buy,find or locate info
if not then maybe nobody else would
As for eBay ,most of the trouble there is the BS and Crappy
names for stupid prices ,Same with overpriced $2 eBOOKS,Template Bundles and Turnkey websites
I found you could list names there for weeks and get no response
for names that sold for a excellent price elsewhere in days.

 

[Nerz]

Certainly out of the 50 names i own, a few are absolute duds but most of them i feel are decent. Finding buyers seems to be a large part of the problem for many domainers...im currently going through the process if building an email list, if its well targeted im sure that helps to boost sales.

 

[barefoottech]

Email lists are not good as most ignored as spam
Try selling names here at NamePros

 

[Michelle]

As another newbie will watch this tread with interest :blink:

 

[KPR]

As another newbie will watch this tread with interest :blink:

Im with you on that i have a lot to learn here.

 

[Michelle]

Im with you on that i have a lot to learn here.

Maybe we should have a thread on buying also, have made some really bad mistakes :hehe:

Sorry off topic :hearts:

 

[Nerz]

Maybe we should have a thread on buying also, have made some really bad mistakes :hehe:

Sorry off topic :hearts:

Its not hard to waste a lot of money, thats for sure. A few blood rushes to the head :red: have cost me, but not massive. Ive tried to play it pretty conservatively. I see quite a few people follow the .in rush, the .cn rush etc...every time a new extension comes out, a bandwagon develops, but if your on a limited budget you have to stick with the tried and tested option, so its:

1) .com extension...(with maybe .net .org .co.uk .de as the other possibles. co.uk and de represent solid value i think...there are some VERY popular .co.uk sites..i think ebay.co.uk is ranked number 7 overall..and a couple other extremely popular ones.)

I dont look at anything else myself, its probably cost me money, but more than likely saved me a great deal, as the hype surrounding other extensions dies, and everyone comes back to reality. I think obviously .in and .cn have massive potential if your prepared to wait it out...can afford to promote heavily on sedo etc...or are a seasoned pro, with a deep wallet.

2) Short - nothing more than 15 letters, definately no hyphens, and try to stick to 2 words max

3) Either focus on keyword within the domain...matching keywords is great, such as autoloans.com..ie auto..very strong keyword and much sought after, loans..also very strong in finance circles.

OR

go for branding...something that sounds strange, short and very memorable...such as google.

4) Use a registrar that has lots of good tools...personally i like registerfly, site is a tad slow, but the tools are awesome.

5) Traffic domains - if you can afford..your looking at link popularity, directory listings, pagerank etc to get the specifics of the domain in question. Unfortunately i often find big differances in numbers with differant tools...thats a problem.

6) Mistypes..very nice if you can get em. short, but not too short, 5 letters to 7 or 8...not short enough as to be very unlikely to mistype it, not long enough so the user is likely to check what he/she is typing.

Anywayz thats some of the methods i use. I also use tools like dropwatch (although may unsubscribe to this service, as snapcheck.com is just as good, apart from a couple features...and free. Domaininspect is a must have tool i think.

7) Dictionary domains - forget it unless your rich

So thats buying, how about back on topic and lets get around to selling

 

[Michelle]

Thanks it really is worth reading :blink: Just wish I had found this place sooner :hehe:

 

[Nerz]

Im still after some solid leads on selling. Im thinking about going through my entire Sedo listing, and changing them from "make offer" to a single for sale figure.

I need to get a better idea of worth to do that i guess.

What's been other people experience on sedo with "make offer" and a flat figure. I know some people dont like haggling so a flat figure would appeal to them if its realistic?

 

[RickyG]

It is easier to unload names under 500.00.

But ask yourself, what makes a 1,000$ name? The same thing you did with the 500$ car one....someone wanted it. I think you are on the right track...enjoy!

RickyG

 

[Fleege]

Good read.

Mattius nice to read such a well written post. I felt a lot of different similar feeling reading it.

I too have only been on a buying and registering spree over the last couple of years. Not many sales to speak of.

Are you domains at least producing some money to cover the registrations. I have about 115 names names now and trying to get down 100. I am letting a few newbie mistakes expire.

It would be interesting to see your portfolio.

as for selling: I am trying to figure out that myself. I park at domainhop and only list at sedo to more exposure. (+ the income is better)

But the key is to just find more outlets where to post your domains and draw interest. But the key is to make them produce income so you dont "have to" sell for peanuts like many of the NP sales are. (no offense - I can see how unloading many cheap is agood tactic - but too much work for me)

Also you should have a few platform websites of your own wher eyou can create an additional parked page (with out the domain direction) this way people in that industry will find your page and domain. I have had very little luck in getting my parked names to show up in searches.

Cheers and good luck. we'll be talking to along the way.

 

[Nerz]

Good read.

Mattius nice to read such a well written post. I felt a lot of different similar feeling reading it.

I too have only been on a buying and registering spree over the last couple of years. Not many sales to speak of.

Are you domains at least producing some money to cover the registrations. I have about 115 names names now and trying to get down 100. I am letting a few newbie mistakes expire.

It would be interesting to see your portfolio.

as for selling: I am trying to figure out that myself. I park at domainhop and only list at sedo to more exposure. (+ the income is better)

But the key is to just find more outlets where to post your domains and draw interest. But the key is to make them produce income so you dont "have to" sell for peanuts like many of the NP sales are. (no offense - I can see how unloading many cheap is agood tactic - but too much work for me)

Also you should have a few platform websites of your own wher eyou can create an additional parked page (with out the domain direction) this way people in that industry will find your page and domain. I have had very little luck in getting my parked names to show up in searches.

Cheers and good luck. we'll be talking to along the way.

My portfolio atm is only 45 domains..i sold 3 yesterday on ebay...for not much above reg fee...made $20 on one lol...Out of the 45 i have...a few are producing income and then some...enough to cover renewal nps. I certainly have a few bad ones, but one of the major problems with this business im finding is the lack of certainty. There are MASSIVE differances in opinion and evaluation of domains, a large proportion of it is speculation at best. Then i guess thats what where all doing...entrepeanurism (spellcheck that one!!) at its finest.

Ive sold about 8 domains in total, its not much, but it gives me the encouragement i need to move forward. The thing is out of the domains i still have, i think quite a few are good quality but dont generate interest, and after reading miles and miles of posts, im still confident in some of the domains i have that people have labelled $reg fee only or $0. Again we come back to MASSIVE differances in opinion, appraisal, and in the end market value.

In terms of developing your own sites, i certainly think that if your coming into the game with limited funds (a couple grand or so), then you need to develop some quality domains and use the advertising to feed your domain business, otherwise in order to get a decent portfolio your going to have feed of your other incomes...possibly your daytime job income etc. Not too mention renewal when it comes around.

All my domains that im not using are listed at sedo..

 

[komp]

Hello,

I'm too a newbie i have sold most of mine on ebay for good prices then some not . I rekon the key is money & a site, Then you can get traffic to them making them worth more, Sedo is good for parking as you earn revenue for it but i don't think good for selling, I think the domain market is too big to make much now.

Goodluck.

Komp.

 

[Fleege]

i wouldnt develop a site for adding value. not worth the effort. people dont buy a name for th traffic unless its an expired name that used to have lots of links etc.

the whole thing about "if developed" is bogus imo. If someone has a need for a specif domain thet will buy it for the domain - not for the little site you made.

However - you should do a page where you list your domain along with a lot of keywords around it. This way the interested parties have a fair chance finding your domain.

 

[SimpleDomaining]

thanks for sharing that valuable thoughts about buying domain. I think that thoughts could become some rules for buyers. But i also would like to ask a question to the people who are buying and selling domains for years...
Whould you share please what kind of mistake have you done by your own during buying and selling domains? How did you discover, what that was a mistake, how did you become a professional buyer and seller (there is no some classes to learn about this ), and the most interesting to me is how do you know now, that domain you have choose to register will be valuable?

 

[Michelle]

I am here sitting reading listening learning. Its only by people sharing that we learn

very grateful here

 

[Fleege]

you if you have a good one by what people say. the key is you have to listen. If you ask people to appraise a name and more than half say reg fee or just dont like they are right.

you one you are past newbie mistake when you get "good one" & "I wish I had thought of that" and your stat sheets on your parking site and on sedo amazingly will concur.

But like I said. 50% the peopkle are wrong - they are not bad people and they might be right next time - its not a science but then again it is..(a little bit) But I thing everybody are humbly learners even if they identites like urlguru and DomainShakespeare just to name a few : )

it is just one fantastic business. The key is to cut your losses during the learning curve. keep reading, I know I am..

 

[SimpleDomaining]

one more question.
what does make a person to call himself a domain appraisal? is where some license needed to become one? or person just think that he is good enouth to be an appraisal? or may be it is depend of what kind of domains and how successful he sold before?