discuss Why Domain Names are Tough to Sell?

[Aarav071]

Dear Friends,

I want to know what problems are you facing while selling your domain. May be we can help each other as a group

 

[MKA]

Presupposing you're getting offers on a domain, they're not tough to sell at all. It's only a matter of agreeing on the price.

If you're not getting offers it's for one of three reasons:

1. Your domains aren't good enough.
2. Your domains are overpriced.
3. Your domain portfolio isn't extensive enough.

 

[dizzibooster]

Selling domain names can be challenging due to market saturation, subjective valuation, time requirements, competition, legal hurdles, and other challenges. Despite this, success is possible with careful domain selection, realistic pricing, active marketing, and patience.

 

[bmugford]

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

@MKA explained it pretty well.

Brad

 

[eyedomainous]

Increasingly end-users / creators are paging the platforms instead of domaining the internet.

the total addressable market of the creator economy could roughly double in size over the next five years to $480 billion by 2027 from $250 billion today. The analysts expect spending on influencer marketing and platform payouts fueled by the monetization of short-form video platforms via advertising to be the primary growth drivers of the creator economy.

 

[HotKey]

I've invested in extensions that don't get much support from other investors but have managed to find homes. It's hard when others don't see your vision but nice when an end user does.

4. Support from fellow investors.
5. Eyes. Sometimes it's a matter your DN being found. Consider presenting it to someone rather than waiting.
6. Your domain name might be great to you, but reality bites.

 

[zhangning]

Based on personal experience, there are several reasons:

1. People who want to buy domain names are unwilling to pay a reasonable price, while those who can afford it are not interested in investing in domains.

2. The domain names have passed their peak popularity, such as .vc, .ic, Bitcoin, blockchain, etc.

3. Low-priced sales by peers have eroded user confidence in domain names.

4. Many individuals are just testing the prices and do not have genuine intentions to make a purchase.

 

[MKA]

Increasingly end-users / creators are paging the platforms instead of domaining the internet.

I'd argue that there's more a demand for (good) domains than there's ever been. Any platform is going to be inherently limiting. While a platform page it's a great starting-point to build up a community, if you want to expand or properly monetize your work you need your own site.

 

[killshotroxs]

Well while not a popular opinion but it has worked for me once,

If you're a developer and can attach a working version of a project relevant to that domain then you can get good offer's and can sell that domain pretty quick,

and yes No Marketing or even SEO Needed,
Just have to make sure that you really have a working version of that particular project deployed on that domain and that usually helps (Atleast did for me)

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Well while not a popular opinion but it has worked for me once,

If you're a developer and can attach a working version of a project relevant to that domain then you can get good offer's and can sell that domain pretty quick,

and yes No Marketing or even SEO Needed,
Just have to make sure that you really have a working version of that particular project deployed on that domain and that usually helps (Atleast did for me)

While I'm not a developer (wish it was one of my talents), you are spot on imho. Having started and named dozens of businesses, there's a business idea behind 80% of the domains I own. When David Castello of the Castello Brothers seen here; https://www.castellobrothers.com/ told me they had developed, but now develop themselves a "working version of a particular project deployed on that domain", I just new their idea had merit. They sold Whisky.com to some German's for 3.1M back in 2014, and to think Whisky spelled without the "e" is made/distilled and distributed solely by the Scots from Scotland. That said however, the Germans seem to be operating a successful business behind Whisky.com despite not being Scottish or having a fully developed/operating business behind the name.

The larger point I want to make here is that David Castello personally told me that if I wanted to be successful selling my domains and ideas that I should learn Wordpress
I'm sure he's right, but at 70+ years old that's a bit over my head, thus until I partner with a developer I'll continue to struggle selling domains the old fashion way

 

[J.D.]

Increasingly end-users / creators are paging the platforms instead of domaining the internet.

They'll eventually need their own EMD website.
Dependency on 3rd party platform is lazy, inefficient, dangerous.

A great example of this danger comes in the form of username rug pulls by the platform.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-takes-x-handle-longtime-twitter-user-rcna96074

Who owns your 3rd party platform identity and audience is the question every brand or startup should ponder before allowing EMD dotcom to be purchased by another party (see Shortcut, formerly Clubhouse).

Looks like Elon Musk's answer is clear, all X Twitter handles are the property of X Twitter.

 

[wh0isthis]

Selling domain name is not the purpose. The purpose is to maximize your profit.

 

[A1EX]

I see the same thing all the time... (Example.com for sale, $100,000) then a year or 2 later they let it drop because in reality its a $200 domain. People, please stop wasting your time doing this. Stop listing every name thinking that is whats going to buy you a private island... (Not every buyer is Amazon or Nike) If your name isn't selling, and you are going to drop it anyway, list it for a reasonable price, or at least wholesale it and break even, then you wont be so discouraged and think it's impossible to make money! There may be someone out there who would have no problem giving you $500 for a name you got for 20 bucks, but when they see a $100,000 price tag, they just walk away. In reality, it takes money to make money, your not going to invest $100 and walk away with millions, if that's the goal, go buy a lottery ticket.

 

[eyedomainous]

In theory I agree its best to have both, your domain and platform pages.

In practice, buying, building, maintaining and equipping a 'good' domain with platform page features is, increasingly, a bit much for many creators.

Also, the scale of platforms allows them to offer high end services like video production, AI features, target market ad services, and so on.

Of course 'good domains' will always sell, but sales are down and the profits from domain sales is counted in the millions where as profits from creator platform pages is increasing and counted in the Hundreds of Billions!

They'll eventually need their own EMD website.
Dependency on 3rd party platform is lazy, inefficient, dangerous.

A great example of this danger comes in the form of username rug pulls by the platform.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-takes-x-handle-longtime-twitter-user-rcna96074

Who owns your 3rd party platform identity and audience is the question every brand or startup should ponder before allowing EMD dotcom to be purchased by another party (see Shortcut, formerly Clubhouse).

Looks like Elon Musk's answer is clear, all X Twitter handles are the property of X Twitter.

I'd argue that there's more a demand for (good) domains than there's ever been. Any platform is going to be inherently limiting. While a platform page it's a great starting-point to build up a community, if you want to expand or properly monetize your work you need your own site.

 

[J.D.]

In theory I agree its best to have both, your domain and platform pages.

Also, the scale of platforms allows them to offer high end services like video production, AI features, target market ad services, and so on.

For creators, maybe so.
Domainers should be focused on selling to companies.

But none of that scale offered by platforms matters if their TOS is completely arbitrary and subjective.

3rd party platforms own @Username rights and can delete, suspend, or seize your username with no recourse to an administrative body.

I wouldn't gamble on a multi-million dollar brand under those circumstances, w/o the EMD dotcom.

 

[eyedomainous]

^^ Virtually every existing company has a domain by now.

As 50 million 'Creators' have become the fastest growing type of business... in a Creator Economy expected to double in a few years... they are prime domain sales prospects that should be courted, not dismissed.

Of course platforms 'own' their domain's usernames, but -as Musk is proving, its not good business to take a user's name, so it rarely happens.

With billions of users on platforms there is no real fear of losing ones page.

 

[killshotroxs]

While I'm not a developer (wish it was one of my talents), you are spot on imho. Having started and named dozens of businesses, there's a business idea behind 80% of the domains I own. When David Castello of the Castello Brothers seen here; (website name) told me they had developed, but now develop themselves a "working version of a particular project deployed on that domain", I just new their idea had merit. They sold Whisky.com to some German's for 3.1M back in 2014, and to think Whisky spelled without the "e" is made/distilled and distributed solely by the Scots from Scotland. That said however, the Germans seem to be operating a successful business behind Whisky.com despite not being Scottish or having a fully developed/operating business behind the name.

The larger point I want to make here is that David Castello personally told me that if I wanted to be successful selling my domains and ideas that I should learn Wordpress
I'm sure he's right, but at 70+ years old that's a bit over my head, thus until I partner with a developer I'll continue to struggle selling domains the old fashion way

Appreciate the input on my answer, and i would also like to say that i still truly believe you can learn basic web design and deploy static web pages on your domain very easily, I would also like to do it for you in a budget as it would be a very good chance for me to learn and apply my knowledge in a practical work load.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

What a superb summary by @MKA of the key factors - thank you!

If you're not getting offers it's for one of three reasons:

1. Your domains aren't good enough.
2. Your domains are overpriced.
3. Your domain portfolio isn't extensive enough.

The only thing I would add is names are not being seen by those who might be the buyers. Some really good names will get sought out even when not actively listed anywhere, but most need to have a route to acquisition that the potential buyer will find and have trust in.

There also is the factor of what names have a market at this time. A quality name that is not over priced may still not sell for some time, due to market conditions. Some 'trendy' names only have a market for s short time, as others have noted in the discussion.

-Bob

 

[ThatNameGuy]

What a superb summary by @MKA of the key factors - thank you!

The only thing I would add is names are not being seen by those who might be the buyers. Some really good names will get sought out even when not actively listed anywhere, but most need to have a route to acquisition that the potential buyer will find and have trust in.

There also is the factor of what names have a market at this time. A quality name that is not over priced may still not sell for some time, due to market conditions. Some 'trendy' names only have a market for s short time, as others have noted in the discussion.

-Bob

Bob....it's been a couple months ago that I carved out a new niche in the restaurant and food services industry. With a population of 500,000 in Virginia Beach we have 996 restaurants or about 2 restaurants for every 1,000 people. I share this with you because you commented that unless i focused on the nuances resulting from Covid this "niche" might prove difficult at best. Well, i knew you were right so I focused on names involving takeout, pickup and delivery. And because I'm in a town that boarders both the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, I've focused on domains involving "Seafood" in particular. Furthermore I started a thread about "Catchy" domain names a few years ago that just resulted in my hand registering KarmaSeafood.com, a name that had never been registered before today. Now here's where this industry is Crazy with a capital "C". I paid GD a whopping ten dollars and fifty cents 10.50 to register this name for a year, and while GD values it $123, Nameworth another appraiser i use values it at $19,500....Go Figure? My point is, the likely hood of anyone finding it via GD, Sedo or Dan is slim and none imo. However, having named dozens of businesses in the last 50 years I believe it's a damn good name worth a lot more than what I paid for it. So my question to you or anyone else....how would you propose this name best be monetized? Thanks Bob, and Happy New Year!

 

[johnn]

In order for a name to be sold, it must meet the following conditions:
- Taking in more than 200 extensions
- Godaddy appraises $10,000 or more
- Less than 10 letter
- Must dictionary word
- No mixing letter/number
- Squadhelp approved
- Brandpa approved
- 20 Years old or more
- Selling price from $5-$100,000