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discuss No sales since July, is there a whining fairy to reach out to

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Mark4domain

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Very frustrating to see no sales since July, is there a whining fairy to reach out to, is this a trend others are experiencing too?

Most of my portfolio is 2 word names, or brandable names under 7 characters ( listed on 3rd parties)
3rd parties = about 150 on Brandbucket, 150 on Brandpa, 50 on SquadHelp = all priced by them
Rest, mostly 2 word, landing on DAN, listed on afternic and godaddy - all priced competitively near $2900
Most domains are 2+ years. Average sale was 3 domains per month till July.
Usually i get lowball offers, but that haven't been coming in for a couple of months.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Me too, I don't have many sales like last year. Acquire high quality names and keep patient, that is a key to success in this industry.
 
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Excluding the occasional newsworthy domain sale, the overall domain resell market is stagnate, at best. Most sellers would likely be quite happy with 3 decent sales a year in this boring market.

Yes, it is real slow. IMO, from 0.75% to 1.5% will sell in a year at end user-pricing level.

So if you have 500 domains expect to sell approx' 5 (n) a year but even less :xf.frown: if Google stops publishing the extensions in search as they are said to be planning to do soon.
 
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@Rob Monster

looks like I'm not the only one interested in that topic
and your personal strategic recommendation

>>>
....how you handle the risk of
losing the customer after a short leasing period

and how you sell the customer the idea of buying a domain name for $100K USD
when he can lease it for $75 USD for a lifetime


a $1000 USD / month on a $175 K USD domain makes much more sense
then a $75 USD / month on a $100 K USD domain

<<<
 
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You have to take what Rob writes about such strategies with a grain of salt.

He is interested in people setting low lease figures even when they set ridiculously high sell. That way someone might get hooked while Epik will get commission and the name is guaranteed to stay there.
 
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@Rob Monster

looks like I'm not the only one interested in that topic
and your personal strategic recommendation

>>>
....how you handle the risk of
losing the customer after a short leasing period

and how you sell the customer the idea of buying a domain name for $100K USD
when he can lease it for $75 USD for a lifetime


a $1000 USD / month on a $175 K USD domain makes much more sense
then a $75 USD / month on a $100 K USD domain

<<<

The leases are typically capped at 10 years.

So, after 10 years, the lessee would have to exercise the option or negotiate a new deal. By that time, they likely have SEO, email addresses, marketing collateral, etc.

Usually long before that they figure out if their idea is working and will exercise the option of negotiate a buyout on some terms.

This is not theory.
 
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You have to take what Rob writes about such strategies with a grain of salt.

He is interested in people setting low lease figures even when they set ridiculously high sell. That way someone might get hooked while Epik will get commission and the name is guaranteed to stay there.

somehow I knew it was a sales pitch...
 
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The leases are typically capped at 10 years.

So, after 10 years, the lessee would have to exercise the option or negotiate a new deal. By that time, they likely have SEO, email addresses, marketing collateral, etc.

Usually long before that they figure out if their idea is working and will exercise the option of negotiate a buyout on some terms.

This is not theory.


you did not answer the part of quitting early

most likely their business will fail
as they are not willing to surrender money to the project
so they are most likely hobbyists
most likely failing

so you are left with a few hundred bugs
on a $100K domain
that you can't sell in the meantime
and have some kind of bad history by now


do I miss something
is that strategy better than that?

enlighten us, please
 
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You have to take what Rob writes about such strategies with a grain of salt.

He is interested in people setting low lease figures even when they set ridiculously high sell. That way someone might get hooked while Epik will get commission and the name is guaranteed to stay there.

Leasing and financing is so ridiculously obvious. Not everyone can afford a $100K domain, but tons of people can afford to make payments. This also allows them to use the best possible domain for their project without starving the rest of the business of startup cash. You can choose to use this tool or not, but it is absolutely effective and is precisely why we price most domains as Make Offer so that discussion can take place versus warding off people with sticker shock.
 
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you did not answer the part of quitting early

most likely their business will fail
as they are not willing to surrender money to the project
so they are most likely hobbyists
most likely failing

so you are left with a few hundred bugs
on a $100K domain
that you can't sell in the meantime
and have some kind of bad history by now


do I miss something
is that strategy better than that?

enlighten us, please

If the buyer does not make payments, the domain returns to inventory. The domain in the meantime has additional organic traffic. Of course if you have a premium name you may have to be vigilant to who gets to use the domain, but I am talking about 2 word .COM domains that routinely get leased and financed when the person buying cannot afford the BIN price. The downside risk of a default is modest, and in the meantime, the domain cashflowed more than enough to cover the renewal fee.

Most marketplaces have a weak implementation of the lease/finance solution because they are not actually a registrar. In the case of Epik, the domain is delivered instantly and the enforcement and re-billing is automated while the lessee can manage the domain on their own directly from their Epik control panel 24/7. That is a superior implementation of the leasing/financing idea, plain and simple.
 
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If the buyer does not make payments, the domain returns to inventory. The domain in the meantime has additional organic traffic. Of course if you have a premium name you may have to be vigilant to who gets to use the domain, but I am talking about 2 word .COM domains that routinely get leased and financed when the person buying cannot afford the BIN price. The downside risk of a default is modest, and in the meantime, the domain cashflowed more than enough to cover the renewal fee.

Most marketplaces have a weak implementation of the lease/finance solution because they are not actually a registrar. In the case of Epik, the domain is delivered instantly and the enforcement and re-billing is automated while the lessee can manage the domain on their own directly from their Epik control panel 24/7. That is a superior implementation of the leasing/financing idea, plain and simple.


yeah agreed.
that sounds like a good idea.
I love it actually.

But I was not able to successfully implement it
( yes I didn't try epik on that )

as the prospect wants to own the domain
and buy it cheaply

they do not want to spend money on a domain and build it up
that they don't own

and as they have no money
they will fail most likely

they are not really committed
that's why they will return the domain

how do you handle these issues?

do you have a minimum length of leasing period?
do you collect upfront fees?

do you have a penalty fee?

don't get me wrong
I'm interested to develop a WORKING lease concept


or are you just trying to covert domainers into epik customers
with unmatured ideas that sound like a great plan?
 
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If the buyer does not make payments, the domain returns to inventory.

I had a name leased thru Epik at one time...the person eventually let it go but it was awesome to get that income...$75 a month helped keep that name (and others) regged. Great option for a buyer that has short term plans or limited funds.
 
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I had a name leased thru Epik at one time...the person eventually let it go but it was awesome to get that income...$75 a month helped keep that name (and others) regged. Great option for a buyer that has short term plans or limited funds.

Exactly. There is essentially no downside. Just incremental cashflow and additional traffic.

Sometimes your lessee comes back later when they get more funding.

The essential point is this:

1. Make offer pricing lets you make sure you have priced for what the value is to the BUYER. The same name in the hands of two different operators can vary massively. For one guy it is a hobby project. For another guy it is a private equity backed enterprise with great ambitions.

2. If the buyer does not want to buy the domain, they still have the option of being in a conversation. However, instead of "how much can you afford", the conversation is about "a lease or finance" option where they have full use of the domain while they make their purchases.

As more and more wealth consolidates into fewer hands, the mid-market is being collapsed. That is precisely why I prefer the "barbell" strategy of selling domains for high amounts that make business sense for the buyer, but still having the flexibility to enable a boot-strapper when they come along.
 
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Exactly. There is essentially no downside. Just incremental cashflow and additional traffic.

Sometimes your lessee comes back later when they get more funding.

The essential point is this:

1. Make offer pricing lets you make sure you have priced for what the value is to the BUYER. The same name in the hands of two different operators can vary massively. For one guy it is a hobby project. For another guy it is a private equity backed enterprise with great ambitions.

2. If the buyer does not want to buy the domain, they still have the option of being in a conversation. However, instead of "how much can you afford", the conversation is about "a lease or finance" option where they have full use of the domain while they make their purchases.

As more and more wealth consolidates into fewer hands, the mid-market is being collapsed. That is precisely why I prefer the "barbell" strategy of selling domains for high amounts that make business sense for the buyer, but still having the flexibility to enable a boot-strapper when they come along.

as long as you are only talking about theoretical benefits
that is not a strategy but a sales pitch for epik
 
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as long as you are only talking about theoretical benefits
that is not a strategy but a sales pitch for epik

Frank - you are becoming a broken record on this one. I can pretty much guarantee you that Epik does more domain leases than anyone. If you choose to be stuck in 1995, be my guest, but try not to drag others down with you.
 
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Frank - you are becoming a broken record on this one. I can pretty much guarantee you that Epik does more domain leases than anyone. If you choose to be stuck in 1995, be my guest, but try not to drag others down with you.

I have done domain leases more than 10 years ago
some were profitable
some were devastating

that why I just don't believe in every nice idea
unless its an exact plan
what happens if ...
how can we sell it
how can we make it profitable
how can we convince a buyer
how can we make him stay in the lease

just lease for a month and be happy afterward
is good for a $400 usd domain

but as I understand you are talking about an unmodified strategy
on a $100 k USD domain
 
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....Not everyone can afford a $100K domain, but tons of people can afford to make payments.....

It seems far-fetched to me anyone would be willing to tie-up a 100k name and unable to sell to anyone else for 10 years or longer for only $75 monthly income.

And if you offer to do that on other names how can you sell any for their value, i.e. if you extrapolate that $75 to 100k ratio to say a 10k name it means your payments are $7.50-month :xf.smile: I am sure no one would want to pay 10k up-front vs $7.50 a month :xf.wink:
 
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It seems far-fetched to me anyone would be willing to tie-up a 100k name and unable to sell to anyone else for 10 years or longer for only $75 monthly income.

And if you offer to do that on other names how can you sell any for their value, i.e. if you extrapolate that $75 to 100k ratio to say a 10k name it means your payments are $7.50-month :xf.smile: I am sure no one would want to pay 10k up-front vs $7.50 a month :xf.wink:

You are missing the point.

The initial tactic is to focus on the outright sale.

The followup tactic is to offer to finance, e.g. over 1-3 years.

The last option is to offer a lease, with or without a purchase option.

All 3 are good options, depending on the buyer's circumstance. You are thinking too narrowly because you are comparing Epik landers to Sedo, or Afternic or other closed marketplaces.

With Epik, we give you the full contact details of the prospect. It is possible to have a consultative sale with the prospect. If you don't want to do that, then an Epik staffer can do it.

And ICYMI, I do close many deals for clients and am happy to provide that service. We continue to optimize and automate many of those workflows so it scales nicely.
 
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You are missing the point.

The initial tactic is to focus on the outright sale.

The followup tactic is to offer to finance, e.g. over 1-3 years.

The last option is to offer a lease, with or without a purchase option.

All 3 are good options, depending on the buyer's circumstance. You are thinking too narrowly because you are comparing Epik landers to Sedo, or Afternic or other closed marketplaces.

With Epik, we give you the full contact details of the prospect. It is possible to have a consultative sale with the prospect. If you don't want to do that, then an Epik staffer can do it.

And ICYMI, I do close many deals for clients and am happy to provide that service. We continue to optimize and automate many of those workflows so it scales nicely.


you are just pitching and not giving answers

I'm not comparing with sedo / dan / whatever

but to my own landing pages
where I have all the details and payment options
 
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Leasing and financing is so ridiculously obvious. Not everyone can afford a $100K domain, but tons of people can afford to make payments. This also allows them to use the best possible domain for their project without starving the rest of the business of startup cash. You can choose to use this tool or not, but it is absolutely effective and is precisely why we price most domains as Make Offer so that discussion can take place versus warding off people with sticker shock.

Some domain investing tips are not fit for all. Some, like Mann (don't know your portfolio size or quality) can afford to allocate portion of their portfolio to ridiculously priced segment. He has data to back it up, he has regular cash flow from normally priced ones (he has even $xxx names) to deal with the drastically reduced sell through rates. For others, pricing names at $100K might mean no sale for long time.

At $100K for brandable, your sell through might go from 1% to 0.02%. If you have 10000 names like this, 1-2 sales might give you similar outcome, but if you have 1000 names, it might mean you have to wait 10 years for one sale and few $75/month leases won't cover your renewals.

I checked, for example, the name smart/back/com, GD values it at $2700. I have much higher valued names (given that I ignore GD bad valuations or where it undervalues 4L.coms etc.) priced at low $xxxxx and have sold only 4 in the past 2 years in that price range.
 
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yeah agreed.
that sounds like a good idea.
I love it actually.

But I was not able to successfully implement it
( yes I didn't try epik on that )

as the prospect wants to own the domain
and buy it cheaply

they do not want to spend money on a domain and build it up
that they don't own

and as they have no money
they will fail most likely

they are not really committed
that's why they will return the domain

how do you handle these issues?

do you have a minimum length of leasing period?
do you collect upfront fees?

do you have a penalty fee?

don't get me wrong
I'm interested to develop a WORKING lease concept


or are you just trying to covert domainers into epik customers
with unmatured ideas that sound like a great plan?

For absolute majority of companies $xxx,xxx for domain is out of question. Even multi-million startups are taught in incubators that domain is not that important in the beginning, so they will settle for a crappy alternative. And that is for a real prem domain. If it is just a good word+word or word+suffix brandable, they will have thousands of as good or nearly as good alternatives at low xxxx.

And then, factor in that only 1 in 10 startups make it, then you realize that your chance of getting from 75$/mo to 100K windfall is 1 in 10 or even 1 in 20, as they might either rebrand or negotiate much lower price.

If @Rob Monster really wants to be helpful here, he'd provide some stats from either his own portfolio or overall Epik's about how the price increase of 50 times affects the sell through rate and what % of names get leased and what is the average length of the lease.

Instead, unfortunately, he chooses to share success stories only which has zero usefulness for analytics, at best, and can be misleading, at worst.
 
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Instead, unfortunately, he chooses to share success stories only which has zero usefulness for analytics, at best, and can be misleading, at worst.

I wish I could articulate myself as well as you do!
 
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I am feeling it slow which is unusual as my domains suit everyone I just got rid of all my BIN pricing for make offer spent a week changing everything but going to have to be patient with the low ballers and spam.
 
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I don't get that criticism. There is an extra option almost nowhere else provides. If it does not suit your sales approach, you don't have to use it. To me it sounds like a great increase of possibilities both for sellers and buyers. In fact, there are some domains out there (listed at marketplaces with BINs, no contacts available) I would gladly buy myself using the lease option. Maybe they move to Epik and I get the chance.
 
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I don't get that criticism. There is an extra option almost nowhere else provides. If it does not suit your sales approach, you don't have to use it. To me it sounds like a great increase of possibilities both for sellers and buyers. In fact, there are some domains out there (listed at marketplaces with BINs, no contacts available) I would gladly buy myself using the lease option. Maybe they move to Epik and I get the chance.

as far as I understand nobody critics the leasing option

the critique is this:

creating hope by hyping
neither tested nor proven fragments of a
therefore misleading sales strategy

for the sole purpose
of making domainers
switch over to epik
 
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neither tested nor proven fragments of a
Lease in general is very well-proven and may be extremely beneficial for the wide range of businesses which know how to use it. Domain name is just another type of asset where all of the leasing advantages can be applied.
 
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