Rent your domains?

[Keral_Patel]

Don't bash me LOL.

Just thought we would discuss the pros and cons of it.

Lets say if we rent the domain name then it would be like:

1) Getting paid on flat rate for months or year.
2) Redirecting that name with SEO friendly redirect via .htaccess
OR
2) Changing the nameserver to whatever the buyer wants.
3) Predefined period already agreed at the start of the deal.

Can someone add some more issues to it?

Thanks.

 

[Pherix]

I rented 6 domains or so to someone for 35% profit for 6 months. Haven't seen any profit yet and its been like 2-3 weeks heh...

 

[mis_chiff]

One pro would be for those who cannot
buy a restricted ccTLD like a .ca
Renting - with a contract - could be an option :imho:

2) Changing the nameserver to whatever the buyer wants.
3) Predefined period already agreed at the start of the deal.

I think would work with this.

 

[Keral_Patel]

One pro would be for those who cannot
buy a restricted ccTLD like a .ca
Renting - with a contract - could be an option :imho:

Very good one mis_chiff I will keep updating the top post to reflect all the opinions mentioned in this thread.

 

[Aggro]

Most users want to own the domain - not lease/rent (regardless of the option to buy) - given they are building equity in the domain.

If they do not have the intent to acquire the domain, they certainly do not want to lease/rent it.
Unless it has a lot of targeted traffic (leads).
Even then it's competing with other advertising channels eg. PPC, print etc

Except for the rare blockbusters, end users are not interested in marginal domains, 4 times removed from the root keywords - when they can buy it cheaply elsewhere or get it reg fee.

How many end users have inquired about your domains recently...
That shows the MAX potential market for leasing your domains.

At best it's a very small niche market. If it happens on the off chance , good luck.

Ask how LeaseThis,com is doing...
How users even find the site is a mystery...

 

[Keral_Patel]

Another benefit is :

Leasing the domain, Forwarding it will atleast bring the traffic to the buyers site rather then Getting loads of impressions on parking pages and wasting them for nothing.

 

[freight1]

Pherix- It takes a small amount of time for us to develop them, and get them indexed. Once they are in search engines, they will get some traffic we hope. What was the alternative? Park them and make 12 cents a year?

Please let us know if you are unhappy.

 

[Michael]

I would lease a premium generic category killer for a few months and forward it to one of my sites instead of doing an Adwords campaign. I would never lease a domain I was trying to develop though, because after the contract is up the owner retains all the value through traffic and brand recognition, and all I'm left with is some code.

 

[seamaster]

i believe it will only work with high end domains.....when you cant buy it then take it on rent....hmmm good option hey who's the owner of sex.com :D

 

[CHILLY]

I really like the idea especially in a slow economy, I'm no business savvy genius but it makes sense to me. I'm just a person who wants to start or expand my business online so I'm not a domainer so I would not think like one. I cannot afford a brandable or traffic name at $3k or $5k or whatever (which is listed on my domain selling site) to start but I can afford $10 - $50 per month ect... for the same names. I can either rent to own or just rent it and when finished give it back (I just change the nameservers back to where I had it before, they are changed on my end #2 of your post) take this guy for example he can take a name like phxx and turn it into $100, that may not make anything in parking.

If i had a name that makes $5.00 a month and the traffic is looking for candy apples, why not rent the name for $15.00 a month, the renter would develope the site into candy apple shopping and that traffic is now direct targeted traffic which converts for the renter and get's me more than what I was making at parking and may end up in a sale after all as the renter sees the benefit of having this name.

I don't know how successful the people who are doing are but I like the idea and plan on trying it, one day when i can get my act together... :sold:

 

[labrocca]

I would rather sell then rent it. Too many variables for renting a domain and even legal problems in case of spam or TM violations. You can be named in a suit for simply being the domain owner. Hosts are protected by DMCA but domain owners are not. Sure you can stipulate in a contract that you can cancel the contract for violation of terms but once the damage is done you can't take it back.

Also what if the renter manages to get the domain banned in Google? That's a problem that doesn't go away easily. They might use adsense and get their adsense closed but now that domain might be blacklisted.

So many potential problems imho it's not worth it.

 

[kev]

In an ideal world, renting is great if you want to hang onto a name for a few years. You let your "tenant" build up links/traffic/revenue whilst you sit and watch your name appreciate in value :bingo:

But who would rent a name? I know I wouldn't! :hehe:

 

[shockie]

i wouldn't mind renting and it should be a viable option since domains do resemble "online property."

as for any legal ramifications, you could just visit your domain once a day to make sure everything's in order. most of us check our parking stats much more often anyway, lol.

 

[weblord]

i would rather sell the adspace on it rather renting out the whole domain.

 

[htmlindex]

Since we're talking about renting out domains, have anyone used LeaseThis.com or had any experience with them? I believe they're the largest in the industry offering this solution to owners & renters.

 

[soggyindo]

nice question nick - maybe add renting out subdomains to your topics to talk about here.

e.g. (in a small way) i have dating.through.tv, paybills.through.tv, realestate.through.tv, shopping.through.tv etc.,

although the chance of renting these subdomains is perhaps low (as stated by earlier posts), affiliate/ co-development plans might work as a proxy leasing arrangement?

 

[interestedenough]

You can use Moniker to Lease the domain (with yearly payments) with option for it to be bought. Don't know what is their lower end cutoff is for domain value though. In this case, the ownership is transfered to Moniker in an extended kind of escrow.

 

[cache]

I have yet to see renting/leasing being acceptable practice. Unless many people are doing it, there is no market.

 

[soggyindo]

^ agree, there needs to be real incentive to the renter, and i haven't heard it offered very often.

i once heard about someone renting out a generic name, with an option to purchase 20% of the name (at a discounted rate). the plus for the renter with this plan was that they gained some benefit for the development and promotion of the domain, rather than just losing out if the domainer decided to end the deal.