Selling brandable domains

[aramyus]

Here, I am talking only about domains that have a good pronunceability, that are about 6L, may be 7 or 8L, that are not keyword domains and that are not killers. Since they are not killers, there won't receive any/much unsolicited offers.

I am also assuming there are no obvious related parties interested (for example, if I own mydomain.com and mydomain.net or mydomain.org are registered, those owners are likely to be interested.)

Many such domains are listed at BB or similar places for more than 1000$. I've read an interview of namerific and this people seem to sell ~30% of their domains at BIN price. So, those prices are probably realistic.

Yet, on domainer's forums or market places, such domains are likely to be sold for low $xx or even less.

I am wondering if BB is the best solution to sell such domains or if there are viable alternatives.

Note that I am not looking for a magic pill. For example, it might be a good idea to participate in social media/specialized forums (those where the startup hangs around), or advertise on such places, but is it viable if I have a domain suitable for many different businesses ?

 

[FPForum]

There are a number of brandable marketplaces out there. BB is just one of them. brandroot, branddo, and namerific are just a few.. I think those are probably the best marketplaces to sell your brandables. Those type of domains need the right buyer, which is why most don't sell for high prices on the forums.

 

[equity78]

The people paying 4 figures for those names are actually going to use them, most domainers here have their own brandable names, they are not going to pay 4 figures here. They will look for a good one someone got tired of for $25 to $50 and list it on BB or another brandable boutique.

 

[aramyus]

There are a number of brandable marketplaces out there. BB is just one of them

I fully agree there are several market places like BB. That's what I was meaning by BB or similar places. It's probably not easy to use all of them simultaneously (they may require exclusivity).

The people paying 4 figures for those names are actually going to use them

Yes indeed. The 'problem' is to get exposure to startups or expanding businesses. Overall, I am wondering if BB-like sites are the only viable approach.

Some examples of alternative approaches:

May be 'direct' advertising in places these people hang around. Sites like linkedin or other social media may help. It's possible only for domains that relate well with a specific activity.

May be creating a list.

May be identify targets and contact them by telephone or mail.

May be 'affiliate' agreements with naming/branding consultants.

 

[Ralph2472]

For me, I have some names listed at BrandBucket, and 1 at Brandroot. I've sold one of them at BB and for the ones that they didn't want (plus a few others)
I started my own mini-site about three months ago Bargain Brander
I'm not a developer; I just used GoDaddy's Website Builder to list some names.
I have sold some names from this site; but at $xx to $xxx It's not a fortune; but it's something which has paid off for me.
Perhaps it's something you could try. You obviously need traffic to your site, which is what I'm trying to improve at the minute. You can't have sales if you don't have anybody looking.

Good luck.

Regards

Ralph.

 

[aramyus]

I started my own mini-site about three months ago

Thanks for your answer Ralph.

I have inspected a number of portfolio sites on NP, and indeed, a few of them have significantly reduced their selling price (versus what they might get at BB). I was wondering if it's a good strategy.

On one hand marketing manuals explain that it is as easy (or as difficult) to sell at full price versus selling at 50%-75% discount.

On an other hand, common sense tells us the contrary. And your experience suggest it's a viable strategy. (and since I am a beginner little guy, it seems a perfect strategy for me)

I'd be curious to know what ideas you have in mind to get targeted traffic to your site.

 

[NameFit]

I would not consider domain industry something that a 'marketing manual' could cover . The number of 50-75% would be on the lower end. It is less than 5% on forums. I have seen 2% solicitations as well (and that is the best of your names). Regarding strategy - it is the question for 'cash flow' for some. People who have enough cash flow normally do not undersell. Keep in mind, the ROI on domains is in the multiples of 100-200 or more, so underselling some may not be a bad option to keep the engine running.

A domain may be worth $50 to one buyer while it may be worth $500 to another buyer. So you just have to find the second buyer (outreach/wait). Remember, even though every name is unique, any decent name can 'fully fit' 2/3 needs at best - where you can expect the right money. Rest all needs may be met 'somewhat' - so you may not get the right price there. But to find the second buyer, you should have patience and planning for 5+ years. Of course, you will see lot of headline glaring news about making X,XXX profit in 3/4 months - you get only the part of the picture. If everybody could do it, then everyone would be a millionaire and would be on beach rather than in forums.

 

[Ralph2472]

I'd be curious to know what ideas you have in mind to get targeted traffic to your site.

I haven't done all the SEO work yet; I purchased Godaddy's Search Engine Visibility tool to do it myself on a low budget.
I've put Google Ad's on the site, which I think is one way of letting Google know you exist.
Using GoDaddy's tool I've submitted the site to Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
I registered the site with Alexa.
The names I have listed for sale are all forwarded to the site.
I've put the BrandBucket and Brandroot links on the site.
I've tried to make the site mobile friendly.
I still need to write more content for the site, and tag all the images for the Googlebot to find, and optimize the page headings more.
The first two weeks, I had about 2000 visitors. The following month was just under 5000, last month was 6385 (Hoping for more this month)
My Alexa rank went from over 12 million to just over 6 million, and is now 5,396.967
I also list some names on eBay, which I don't always expect to sell from there; but it does bring more targeted traffic to the site.
I hope this has been of some help to you.

Regards

Ralph.

Bargain Brander

 

[aramyus]

SEO work

Ralph

I don't think SEO is the ideal way to get qualified visitors to a domain portfolio site.

The main reason is that a domain buyer is unlikely to search for something like 'brandable name for virtual reality firm' (although, of course some will search that)

That said, SEO does not hurt of course

I have inspected the traffic of BB and namerific the best I could. Clearly, SE is a small part of their traffic. Social media traffic is very small too. They spend some money on adwords too but not much (I suppose it would bring about the same traffic as SEO and wouldn't be much targeted too).

Referrals and direct traffic account for the largest percentage of their traffic. This suggests that they work with name/branding consulting firms or alike, for example naming contest places or early stage venture capital firms. Plus they have a good reputation. May be they have a list too, but I'd be surprised a startup manager would subscribe to a list and wait for months to find a suitable name for their new venture.

Out of 133 readers of this thread so far, none seems to use the traffic methods I am suggesting. May be they are not cost effective or may be they prefer to keep them confidential.

That's really the aspects I am mostly interested to discuss.

 

[aramyus]

Keep in mind, the ROI on domains is in the multiples of 100-200 or more

I think I understand the business model of professional domainers.

They buy domains primarily for the 'long term' and try to be in trendy fields where an appreciation is likely. They are prepared to buy good to excellent names even at a significant price and wait sometimes for several years for the right buyer. In many cases, they choose so good names that they get primarily unsolicited offers.

To be honest, I am not comfortable at all with this model (may be this will change in a few years). So, I try to explore other models whith a relatively quick cash flow (even if it's small). By relatively quick, I don't mean weeks, but rather months.

For that reason, I am trying to explore how those who sell 'fast' get their traffic and buyers from.

 

[Ralph2472]

I think confidentiality is the thing. As I don't earn a living at this I don't mind.
Last month 8% of the visits to my site were referred from Google, and the majority of the rest were direct type ins of the site, or names I have forwarded to it. This seems to indicate that quite a few people have thought of the names I have for themselves, and want to find out about them, or their availability.

Regards

Ralph.

 

[sin]

Has anyone had good experiences listing invented words on sedo/godaddy? I think BB will be much better, but I was curious if anyone has had success selling brandables on sedo similar to "fixion" for example