strategy This is how I price my hand-registered domain names

[infosec3]

This is how I price my hand-registered domain names

Some people ask how I manage to sell so many hand-registered domain names. Before I answer that question, it would be convenient to answer this one: How many hand-registered names do I sell per every ten names I register? Generally, I sell between three and four names out of ten within the first two weeks of registration, but result vary depending on the month and hours dedicated to end-user search. So, if I buy ten names, about three of those will sell within two weeks. Some may sell later. Some others will never sell.

Everything considered, the business is consistently profitable, because hand-registration is not that expensive. The two key factors are registering the right names and pricing them correctly. As my sales report indicate, I focus on low value geo names or names that refer to a specific product or service within a given city, state or region. After doing this for some time, I have now a clear idea of which keywords sell quickly and which don’t, as well as which cities might mean hot sales.

My focus on this post is not keywords, but pricing. This is a pattern I have seen often enough in domain investors who attempt to sell hand-registered names. A domain investor registers a few decent names (ex. MiamiGoldBuyer.com, PhoenixDoors.com, etc.) and then contacts potential buyers attempting to sell each name for $1,500. He receives either a negative response or no response at all and then the domain investor arrives at the conclusion that this doesn’t work.

Have in mind that in my perspective the two names listed above are decent in the sense that you can easily flip them for a few hundred dollars. Forget keyword search, forget age, and forget CPC. Those rules do not apply to this particular game. The fact is that both MiamiGoldBuyer.com and PhoenixDoors.com have a list of small business owners who would like to own them. That is all that matters.

But, going back to prices. The key to flipping hand-registered geo names quickly is to price them in a way that it would be hard for end-users to reject. In other words, to speak the language of small business owners when it comes to pricing. Let me illustrate it this way. Now that I am also into numeric names, if you try to sell 76888.com to me for $5000, there is no way I could buy that name from you. However, if you ask for $100, that is an offer I can’t reject. So, I will buy it immediately.

The point is that when it comes to pricing, there is a melting point. You have to present the hand-registered names at a price that becomes hard to reject in the eye of end-users. You must find the balance between profit and expedited sales. In my opinion, for the two examples I gave (MiamiGoldBuyer.com and PhoenixDoors.com), the balanced and appropriate price tag is $250-$500.

Again, this is if you really want sales to happen. If you plan to sit on the names and ask for $1500, that is fine. But I doubt you will sell them before renewing them for a few years. And, most certainly, they will never sell. So the question is $400 now or $1500 never.

 

[cdnbigd]

Man, i think your words are gold!!
This is the point, common sense is above all, especially here.
I guess we all receive tons of soliciting mails every day, how many we read? i think very few...
How many end up to make us purchase something or making an action solicited in that mail?
I think very few in 1 year and if there are any, why we have do that action?
Because we are savvy enough + able to do proper research in order to not be scammed.

People not so close with these knowledge will surely delete your email or neither consider your offer.
Build trust is a must then in order to sell.

About automatized way to send email or reach people at the phone.
Also here we know that nowadays people receive soliciting calls everyday and you can ask your friend with a business if they like those. I'm sure 99% of people will tell you that they are really bothered about that thing and again to have success you should be trusted by the customer you are reaching.

I'd like to start an enstablished biz in this way (selling names) so i'm trying to read a lot, especially in the law field gathered with sales.
I want to mention some thing that i've never seen mentioned by other experts around.
At least this is for Italy, the country where i live but i think that many other countries surely have similar rule.
Do you guy know that reaching a person with a soliciting mail is forbidden and illegal at criminal level if they have not requested it?
I think it is not a nice business model just not care this because people receive tons of mail everyday and they should spend all day to denounce the sender. Especially because many times it will end in only a waste of time due to the different country of the sender, so they overlook the mail.

I've also read about @cdnbigd asking for an automatized tool.
I think this is not a nice option, if you automatize mail you end up doing spam, spam is illegal.
Another thing to keep in consideration is that doing manual mail ends up in better opening ratio because they can less trigger the junk filter of the receiver. A vey high percent of people do not neither know there is a junk folder in their mail account. If they know there is a junk folder, the possibility they are trusting what it is there it is very low.

About phone calls,,, same here like soliciting mail, it is forbidden if you have not allowed a company to do that.
There are also timing where you can reach people, and for US many state have also different time.
Sure mostly are similar but i think we should be aware of this thing.
I've recently heard this because i'm setting up a system to call possible enduser and i've hired a cold caller to do the task. I will hear him recorded while he is doing his job..
My spoken english is not perfect + i like a native speacker of the country where i'm trying to sell.
I think this will add trust but i still need to figure out how i can not be persecuted by law if a customer want proceed. They are low percentage but there are also frustrated people.

I know there are services like linkedin that allow you to message businesses decision maker if you want offer something to them. This is not free and they let you send really realy few mails per month.
I guess this is totally legal because it is written on linkedin TOS that an user there accept to receive soliciting offers + they offer really low mail so the message sent need to be highly targetized.

Maybe i'm just too worried because i'm italian and here burocracy kills many business for its
complexity or maybe i've missed something.
Sorry for the long post but i think to have mentioned fresh things that maybe not all have thought on.
I'm still learning so i read more than what i do in practice.


about other comment:



great point of view... i've not thought to this. I've seen @infosec3 has mentioned citied where it is not so easy to sell names so i thought the reason was that there are places where certain business/services are more requested than others but i really do not know how to discover this.

Yes, I've wondered about the spam act. It seems domainers on here haven't had any issues with cold emailing.. at least none which they've divulged.

I wasn't asking about an automated emailing tool exactly. I always write personal emails individually to each potential buyer. It just takes me forever to find the email addresses so I was wondering if there was a (hopefully free) tool which will collect the email addresses & URLs for me.

 

[paul79]

this sums up a catch 22 situation for new comers trying to sell - emailing end users is not advised by many/ not an efficient way to sell but then neither is phoning (cold calling) for the same reason. so how do you actually sell anything - rely on the auction sites?

 

[pablohc86]

Yes, I've wondered about the spam act. It seems domainers on here haven't had any issues with cold emailing.. at least none which they've divulged.

I wasn't asking about an automated emailing tool exactly. I always write personal emails individually to each potential buyer. It just takes me forever to find the email addresses so I was wondering if there was a (hopefully free) tool which will collect the email addresses & URLs for me.

For finding email, do you mean a software that provide email of potential end-user? Or a software to keep managed the mail you have extrapolated from your research?

 

[cdnbigd]

For finding email, do you mean a software that provide email of potential end-user? Or a software to keep managed the mail you have extrapolated from your research?

Software which provides email addresses for potential end-users.

 

[pablohc86]

Software which provides email addresses for potential end-users.

The best free is Domainero imo,also if the free part only find domains of possible end-user. If you go paid you can directly have their whois mail.
Other similar Tools are called lead generation tools.
About Domainero there is also a thread here on np and one member of the support.

 

[cdnbigd]

Yes, I've tried Domainero before. It brings up a lot of false positives and results from neighboring cities but I does give you some decent results in there too. Just can't get the contact info without paying for an upgrade.

I also remember that you can only enter in a domain name to run the search for leads, you can't enter in your city+keyword search phrase, I don't think.

 

[pablohc86]

Yes, I've tried Domainero before. It brings up a lot of false positives and results from neighboring cities but I does give you some decent results in there too. Just can't get the contact info without paying for an upgrade.

I also remember that you can only enter in a domain name to run the search for leads, you can't enter in your city+keyword search phrase, I don't think.

You right you can only enter a domain name. A possible alternative way could be check on yellowpages a product/service for a specific city

 

[WebInvestments]

Nice thread. Had questions related to geo domains so thought why not post them here.

Just this week, I have been outreaching to potential buyers for three of my geo domains. The categories of my domains are:

1. Gift Basket niche
2. Cab Rental niche
3. Boat Rental niche

All domains are geo+service/product dot coms.

For the boat renting domain, I have emailed around 25 sites with similar business/domain. I have got one response; requesting me to unsubscribe them from my mailing list.

For gift basket domain,I have so far emailed over 50 site owners, and received one similar request from the business owner to unsubscribe them from my email list.

For cab renting domain, just sent out 2 emails and no results so far (will be sending more in a day or two).

In my emails I sent to gift basket and boat renting companies, I have sent emails with two different pricing, means in 50% of my emails to boat renting and gift basket companies, I quoted an amount of $1000 and for the remaining 50%, I quoted $500 for the domain.

My question is, even when I have quoted $500, I have not received any interest from anyone. Secondly, I am using Streak to track opened emails. A good number of emails were opened and few emails were viewed more than once (2 to 5 times).

I am using a short email pitch with nothing fancy, two paragraphs with two sentences in each and a closing line (to contact us if interested).

So any idea what I might be doing wrong here.

PS: Also please add your experience about pricing the domains for the niches I have mentioned.

 

[SupNames]

Great post!
OP makes 2 points that are spot on
1) When selling these type Geo domains, metrics mean NOTHING! This makes selection much easier
2) Keep the pricing realistic - Sell at an irresistible price, your profit margin will be good (but not astronomical), and move on to the next sale. Keep the cash flowing!

I sell quite a few of these type of domains, and I rarely ask for/get more than 300$. Of course as OP points out, this has mostly to do with the quality of the name.

 

[Salai Domains]

Thank you very much!!!

 

[cdnbigd]

Nice thread. Had questions related to geo domains so thought why not post them here.

Just this week, I have been outreaching to potential buyers for three of my geo domains. The categories of my domains are:

1. Gift Basket niche
2. Cab Rental niche
3. Boat Rental niche

All domains are geo+service/product dot coms.

For the boat renting domain, I have emailed around 25 sites with similar business/domain. I have got one response; requesting me to unsubscribe them from my mailing list.

For gift basket domain,I have so far emailed over 50 site owners, and received one similar request from the business owner to unsubscribe them from my email list.

For cab renting domain, just sent out 2 emails and no results so far (will be sending more in a day or two).

In my emails I sent to gift basket and boat renting companies, I have sent emails with two different pricing, means in 50% of my emails to boat renting and gift basket companies, I quoted an amount of $1000 and for the remaining 50%, I quoted $500 for the domain.

My question is, even when I have quoted $500, I have not received any interest from anyone. Secondly, I am using Streak to track opened emails. A good number of emails were opened and few emails were viewed more than once (2 to 5 times).

I am using a short email pitch with nothing fancy, two paragraphs with two sentences in each and a closing line (to contact us if interested).

So any idea what I might be doing wrong here.

PS: Also please add your experience about pricing the domains for the niches I have mentioned.

Without knowing the actual geo domains you're marketing or what is said in your email, the only suggestion I have is to set more realistic prices.

I've only ever sold 1 geo domain for $1000US, all the rest sell for between $250 - $300US (same as the op & many other domainers).

 

[cdnbigd]

Oh btw, just had to laugh when I read about you using the email program to view when ppl open the emails. lol That's so frustrating isn't it?! I see people opening my initial email 5 times even up to 15 times in a 2 day period and they still won't close the sale. I'm going through that right now.

 

[WebInvestments]

Without knowing the actual geo domains you're marketing or what is said in your email, the only suggestion I have is to set more realistic prices.

I've only ever sold 1 geo domain for $1000US, all the rest sell for between $250 - $300US (same as the op & many other domainers).

But doesn't "niche" plays any role in pricing the domains? I mean, for example, for my boat rental domain, I initially priced it $1000, then sent couple of emails with $800, then $500? No response.

For cab domain, I have priced the domain around $300-$400.

So doesn't business niche gives us a reason to boost prices a little, like the example I mentioned above? Like we price high-paying industry domains a little higher than low-paying industries domains?

 

[cdnbigd]

But doesn't "niche" plays any role in pricing the domains? I mean, for example, for my boat rental domain, I initially priced it $1000, then sent couple of emails with $800, then $500? No response.

For cab domain, I have priced the domain around $300-$400.

So doesn't business niche gives us a reason to boost prices a little, like the example I mentioned above? Like we price high-paying industry domains a little higher than low-paying industries domains?

I used to think the same way. But experience has shown me it's all a crap shoot really. If it's something like city+realestate or city+lawyer then sure, ask for more but almost anything at all else, I haven't seen geo's go for more then $300 too often.

 

[Galleshem]

I used to think the same way. But experience has shown me it's all a crap shoot really. If it's something like city+realestate or city+lawyer then sure, ask for more but almost anything at all else, I haven't seen geo's go for more then $300 too often.

I bought my 5 first geo domains recently. KentRestaurant .com, AlbuquerqueSalon .com, SeattlePedicure .com, OmahaHairSalon .com and NewYorkPedicure .com.

I tried to sell 3 of them, I think I sent around 30 mails each time. I wrote the price each time on the mail, the first time I priced it at $480, and the 2 other times at $280.

Most of the mails have been seen, however, almost no answers, a few "not interested" answers.

I think my main potential issue was the mail template I was using, I think it was too long, I was trying to list a few ways the domain can help them but I'm not sure it was a good choice looking at the results.

What do you think about the domains and the little you heard about my "strategy"? What should I improve?

 

[cdnbigd]

I bought my 5 first geo domains recently. KentRestaurant .com, AlbuquerqueSalon .com, SeattlePedicure .com, OmahaHairSalon .com and NewYorkPedicure .com.

I tried to sell 3 of them, I think I sent around 30 mails each time. I wrote the price each time on the mail, the first time I priced it at $480, and the 2 other times at $280.

Most of the mails have been seen, however, almost no answers, a few "not interested" answers.

I think my main potential issue was the mail template I was using, I think it was too long, I was trying to list a few ways the domain can help them but I'm not sure it was a good choice looking at the results.

What do you think about the domains and the little you heard about my "strategy"? What should I improve?

Hmm.. so you sent 3 emails to the same people for the same name? Like the initial email on one day, then follow up with a 2nd email (reduced price) a week following and perhaps a 3rd email the week after that? Or did I misunderstand?

 

[Galleshem]

Hmm.. so you sent 3 emails to the same people for the same name? Like the initial email on one day, then follow up with a 2nd email (reduced price) a week following and perhaps a 3rd email the week after that? Or did I misunderstand?

No, you missunderstood, I sent 1 mail to 30 different users. I did the same thing for 3 domains, each time around 30 potential end users. There are still 2 domains I didn't try to sell.

 

[cdnbigd]

No, you missunderstood, I sent 1 mail to 30 different users. I did the same thing for 3 domains, each time around 30 potential end users.

Ah, okay.

Your pricing seems right. What I normally do is send the initial email 3 paragraphs or so with the price in there, then send a follow-up email 1 week later (try for a monday morning). If you don't get any bites, just post it up on the marketplaces and move on. Don't get stuck for too long on one domain. (or 3)

 

[WebInvestments]

I used to think the same way. But experience has shown me it's all a crap shoot really. If it's something like city+realestate or city+lawyer then sure, ask for more but almost anything at all else, I haven't seen geo's go for more then $300 too often.

I hear you friend. I did this tweaking in pricing to experiment things howtheyt would go, and that what if I can really make a sale of geo domain for $1000. But you are right, experience also matters the most.

Now that I have had my experience (and fun), here's my:

New Strategy: Will send emails in the $250-$350 price range. Let's see how this would turn out for ma three domains.

 

[cdnbigd]

I hear you friend. I did this tweaking in pricing to experiment things howtheyt would go, and that what if I can really make a sale of geo domain for $1000. But you are right, experience also matters the most.

Now that I have had my experience (and fun), here's my:

New Strategy: Will send emails in the $250-$350 price range. Let's see how this would turn out for ma three domains.

Cool, sounds like a plan!

I'm doing an experiment of my own right now with geo-domains. I want to see what my ratio is for domains that actually have interested buyers or sell.

In a few days time, I purchased 10 domains, researched & found contacts for potential buyers and wrote them all. I emailed about 40 - 125 people for each domain. Out of those 10 names, 5 of them have interested people. It's just frustrating right now trying to complete the sales. They say "I'm very interested" and that sort of thing but then they never write back or call. Ugh.

 

[WebInvestments]

It's just frustrating right now trying to complete the sales. They say "I'm very interested" and that sort of thing but then they never write back or call. Ugh.

You said it right my friend. I am seeing the same hard times in achieving a sales for geo domains, mostly because these are my first geo domains (worth something; in my eyes that is, lol).

I am also planning to send emails to approximately 50-100 businesses for each domain. I also read today here to craft email uniquely for each buyer, and that is exactly what I'll be experimenting now in my new round of email outreach.

Anyways, let's hope for the best and keep digging potential buyers until the domains we have gets sold.

 

[Andy Dexter]

Thanks for sharing. Have learned so much.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Good information here!

 

[NetworkPearl]

Cool, sounds like a plan!

I'm doing an experiment of my own right now with geo-domains. I want to see what my ratio is for domains that actually have interested buyers or sell.

In a few days time, I purchased 10 domains, researched & found contacts for potential buyers and wrote them all. I emailed about 40 - 125 people for each domain. Out of those 10 names, 5 of them have interested people. It's just frustrating right now trying to complete the sales. They say "I'm very interested" and that sort of thing but then they never write back or call. Ugh.

I have 2 of my domain having 1 interested person for each.

One email "very interested ,how much?" She replied 20 minutesafter i emailed her. I replied quoting the price of 300$ , no reply since 2 days, even emailed again asking if she's still interested.

My second domain had someone interested too but no reply since a week.

How are you able to find 40-150 end usera for a domain ? I hardly get 20

 

[paul79]

hate it when ppl reply saying they want it and then disappear when you go back to them. so annoying and just don't know why they do it?!