discuss Would you rent out your domain(s) for the short-term?

[DomaHub]

Hello NamePros experts!

Looking to get some discussion and feedback going for an idea we have been developing. We appreciate any comments!

Background:
We are an early-stage start-up, creating a platform for domain name leasing and rentals. Currently we have developed the workflow to rent out your domain to anyone else by the day, week, and month.

You pick the price and time you want to rent it out for (e.g. $1 per day, $5 per week, etc.), we present it on our site (i.e. nice, personalized listing page), and we take care of the contract + transaction with your renters. You would have to direct your domain(s)' A Record to our servers and we would then redirect the end-user's desired web content to your domain.

For example, the end-user rents out www.imsopretty.com and has it display her personal Instagram page.
Or a big company wants to launch a marketing campaign for a new product and they rent out www.thenextbigthing.com for a month.

Issue/Discussion:
Although we do plan on providing more traditional leasing contacts (3, 6, 12 months), we also really like the idea of providing short-term rentals because it creates a lot of utility for a domain name.

For example, you could make happybirthday.com rent-able on a daily basis and someone could potentially utilize that domain every day. We are trying to provide an alternative to parking as well as the idea that you have to build a website/traffic to generate value for your domain. You help someone out and they put money in your pocket.

However, we are unsure if domain owners would also be interested in short-term rentals. Do you guys see value in being able to let people use your domains for just a day or a week at a time?

We will be happy to answer any questions regarding our business and company as well.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

tld;dr Would you be interested in renting out your domain(s) for days or weeks at a time?

 

[DomaHub]

If you're setting nameservers for the use of the domain, then yes your "tenant" will be able to use it for mail. Your pointing the domain to their hosting and the hosting allows for creating email addresses and mailbox controls.

There seems to be a misunderstanding in regards to the technical process of how domains are listed on our platform. We apologize for any misunderstanding and will clear that up right now.

At no point are domains pointing their name servers to DomaHub servers. At no point do we point the domain's name servers to the renters' hosting, ever. Thus, renters would not be able to create email aliases or mailboxes.

What we are doing is simply creating an A Record on the DNS records of the domain that points to DomaHub. All DNS records are still being managed with your domain registrar. When any HTTP request is made for that domain name, it is sent to us to be handled. This is how we then redirect that domain name to display whatever web content the renter desires.

When a request is sent to a domain name, it is then forwarded via A Record to our servers. Our servers then determine whether the domain is currently rented out and if it is, then that initial web request is redirected to the current renter's web content. If not, it simply leads to the domain's listing page on DomaHub.

 

[DomaHub]

Thank you for going out of your way to write all of this, Bannen! We greatly appreciate it and you brought up a lot of great points that we'll try to touch on.

I think the process of pointing nameservers to the rentee's host is not the way to go; it's messy, needs careful, close and constant monitoring to catch any misuse or abuse, and I can foresee some real legal problems. I think most of the people/companies that would rent a domain would be legit and decent... but just one or two really bad eggs out of every hundred or thousand rentals can really ramp up a huge legal mess, especially if it happens with an ultra-premium domain, and especially if it ever gets into the public eye, even just public news among domainers (who will be your main source of domains-to-rent).

Please refer to our previous comment - at no point are domains pointing their name servers to DomaHub servers. And thus, we cannot and do not point name servers to the rentee's host.

I think the only way around that is to set up this whole platform to using your own hosting. This way you are the entire intermediary, between the domain owners who point their nameservers and rent out their domain, and the renting party who will pay for the domain rental and will send your webmaster the files to upload on your own hosting.

If you control the hosting, then the rentees have to give you everything they want uploaded, which means you only need to screen it once, rather than having to keep tabs on whatever content they put up if they use their own hosting. This works on both levels; if they have static content that just needs to be uploaded once, that could be a minor one-time surcharge tacked on to the rental. If they have dynamic content and plan to do additions and changes along the way, then their webmaster will have to send each of these to your webmaster to be checked and uploaded, so you'll have to provide an ongoing webmastering service with fees for that.

The listings page of each domain name (for example) is hosted on our servers. The idea of hosting files that the renter uploads is something we have discussed and might be open to doing at some point in the future.

Static sites with one-time or limited uploads can be offered for cheap rent, but making a lot of updates/changes will involve a lot more work and money, so for that end of the biz you'd attract only the more lucrative clients, larger firms that are renting domains for longer terms or to the degree of leasing, or for some short term but intense marketing gimmick, or a startup product/service trial run, or whatever.

We're hoping that we can partner with website creation services such as Wix/Squarespace in the future.

Others here have inquired about your ability to get customers to rent these domains, but I get it. You're pioneering; others have pioneered too, and failed, but you're all pioneers until someone figures out how to do it right (if it in fact can be done right, and is not a flawed business concept at its core). You're doing in a way what Brandbucket is doing, in trying to match up end users/customers with domain sellers/renters. You don't have the leads yet because you're still fleshing out the bugs of how it works. But you've reached your first tier, that of getting past the concept and now having an actual platform in place, so you're here at NP speaking with with us, which is your second tier... getting the domain owners involved, for our comments, our trial runs and experiments, our domains and our word-of-mouth to other domain holders. And when you've listened to our suggestions and tweaked your business model so you like it, then the next tier will be to venture forth and build up leads, probably by some selective mass marketing and a lot of emailing and phone calls to corporations who may be interested in renting domains... but of course you can't do that third tier without diving into this second tier... because you need a whole roster, and a strong roster, of premium and/or very interesting domains as part of your 'rental pool'. Gotta know what you have for rent, before you can go forth and try find renters.

Thank you for your insight. We're trying our best to listen to our greatest partner--the domain owners like each and every one of you on this forum. It is in our best interest to create a platform that caters to domainers like yourself and others here.

Personally I feel there is use for this, and possibly even a great use, especially if you build up a strong list of likely domains; nice to have a strong list of premiums in there, as well as a list of domains that are really interesting and whose usage is clear just by looking at them. I like the possibilities of this service you're brainstorming, but it's a real balancing act because there are also so many drawbacks and caution areas, as others have mentioned here.

We're hoping to create just that exact portfolio of strong premium domains before we go public (or open beta) with our platform.

I think it's still young, you're not yet at the startup phase, you're still really fleshing out the whole business model and the operating platform. I think there's a lot more fleshing out to do, maybe even some entire revamping, before you could release this to the public and start things flowing with the real-world domain rentals. But you're also doing it well at the moment... being careful, asking for input from we who may be offering our domains up for rent, and you're actually listening to our input. I'll contribute more to this thread, but this is enough for now.

I think you need to hear a lot more feedback about both the possibilities that can really open this up into a viable business, and the hazards that can really sink you. The jury's still out, of course, until you're up and running with a public and operating service, but for now I think there's enough possibility for a viable business, and I wouldn't have wasted my time writing all this if I felt otherwise.

Good luck,
You'll hear more comments from me down the line

Thanks once again, and if you are interested--please sign up for the beta on our website or just shoot us an email at [email protected] we'd love to have you on board.

 

[anderow]

IMO this is solving a problem that doesn't exist.
If I am going to go to the massive time and expense of developing a site out I want to know I get to keep it long term.
I wouldn't spend years building a brand on a domain name only for the domain owner to pull the plug ' Im not renting this anymore but thanks so much for the amazing link building and traffic you have given me'.

Kind of removes the incentive to work hard at a site.
Maybe ok for throwaway sites or black hat stuff, which is the type of user IMO it is useful for. I cant see how you can regulate what they are doing with a domain until it's too late. COuld easily get blacklisted with google leaving the actual owner a PITA to sort!!

Sorry, just my thoughts.

Plus domains are very affordable to buy outright unless your going in to the costly realms and then that still wouldnt appeal to me, I would rather own a cheaper domain, than rent a perfect one that could be taken away at any time effectively....

 

[DomaHub]

IMO this is solving a problem that doesn't exist.
If I am going to go to the massive time and expense of developing a site out I want to know I get to keep it long term.
I wouldn't spend years building a brand on a domain name only for the domain owner to pull the plug ' Im not renting this anymore but thanks so much for the amazing link building and traffic you have given me'.

Kind of removes the incentive to work hard at a site.
Maybe ok for throwaway sites or black hat stuff, which is the type of user IMO it is useful for. I cant see how you can regulate what they are doing with a domain until it's too late. COuld easily get blacklisted with google leaving the actual owner a PITA to sort!!

Sorry, just my thoughts.

Plus domains are very affordable to buy outright unless your going in to the costly realms and then that still wouldnt appeal to me, I would rather own a cheaper domain, than rent a perfect one that could be taken away at any time effectively....

Thanks for the feedback anderow.

I think the marketing on our website is misleading judging from the feedback we have gotten on NP so far. We intend to be a service for premium domains - ones with intrinsic value and natural web traffic. The ones that have extremely high BIN prices that are collecting dust while waiting for buyers. So that they can rent out these domains to people or companies who are going to make temporary use of them - effectively a new revenue stream.

 

[biggie]

Thanks for the feedback anderow.

I think the marketing on our website is misleading judging from the feedback we have gotten on NP so far. We intend to be a service for premium domains - ones with intrinsic value and natural web traffic. The ones that have extremely high BIN prices that are collecting dust while waiting for buyers. So that they can rent out these domains to people or companies who are going to make temporary use of them - effectively a new revenue stream.

Hi

yeah, you probably should have said that in initial post. but as is, let me give some insight why your plan will be difficult.

those who own such domains are more than likely fielding offers on a regular basis, and probably have their names parked to generate income while they "wait" for the right buyer, and/or set to landing pages and/or have their own portfolio sites to handle inquiries.

additionally, many frequently offer "lease to own" options, when potential buyers can't afford the lump sum payment.

as i states earlier in this thread:

why point my name to ur site, when i can offer an interested party the same rental or lease options?

imo....

 

[Silentptnr]

My only questions would be:

Am I paid up front? Most things available for rental are paid in advance of use.

if not, Am I guaranteed payment whether or not the renter pays?

Lastly, for me I'm not sure it wouldn't cause a distraction. My hands are full managing my portfolio, marketplaces, my own marketplace, renewals, etc. I haven't rented any of my domains before. I do think a domain holder should be paid up front or guaranteed payment whether or not the renter pays or actually uses the domain.

 

[ikhub]

... We intend to be a service for premium domains - ones with intrinsic value and natural web traffic. The ones that have extremely high BIN prices that are collecting dust while waiting for buyers. So that they can rent out these domains to people or companies who are going to make temporary use of them - effectively a new revenue stream.

Why will I point my domain with natural web traffic to you and wait for potential client who will rent it for short time, not earning anything when there is no rent, whereas in normal parking chance of generating revenue is more since there is regular traffic? I think you should try adding parking revenue too, this will attract more domain owners you are targeting.

 

[Jv1999]

my concern would be the use of the name and reputation damage - how can you ensure the renters wont use the name for malicious uses or do something that would put the name in google penalty box?

Question: why would someone need to rent a name for a few days, week, month?

Yeahhh you can expect the one day rentals to be up to no good lol. 100%%%%%

 

[Bert23]

It's a great idea if domain owner can be given a choice of nameservers and set the desired market vertical it should be attributed to. (Forget happybirthday customers), concentrate on "tyrefittingarizona.net" or whatever and let the end users make use of the seo generated and take a cut of the added value put into the domain when the lease is up.
It may get complicated with the need for a trading system backend.
Bert

 

[Jv1999]

Under no circumstances does the end-user gain email capabilities. This is because you, the owner, retain ownership of the domain throughout the rental life-cycle.

And that's why probably not many people will rent. Premium domains with high-end sites will want to use email... like healthnews.com... editor at healthnews,com, not [email protected]

 

[Silentptnr]

Personally I see very little if any value in short term rental of domains for registrant or renter. It's not like AirBNB with short term rentals of properties.

I would do something like place a banner or something that I can track clicks, etc. I probably wouldn't be interested in just pointing the domain.

One thing I might be interested in is a Lease With Option To Buy. Non-refundable of course.

 

[carob]

What evidence or market research is there that people actually want to rent or will do so?

 

[DomaHub]

My only questions would be:

Am I paid up front? Most things available for rental are paid in advance of use.

if not, Am I guaranteed payment whether or not the renter pays?

Lastly, for me I'm not sure it wouldn't cause a distraction. My hands are full managing my portfolio, marketplaces, my own marketplace, renewals, etc. I haven't rented any of my domains before. I do think a domain holder should be paid up front or guaranteed payment whether or not the renter pays or actually uses the domain.

All rentals are paid for up-front before they go live. The funds are then held in your DomaHub account until you withdraw it to your bank account. You cannot withdraw the money if there is something wrong with your account (revoked DNS, issues with bank account, etc.)

No domains can be used until the credit card charge goes through.

 

[Silentptnr]

All rentals are paid for up-front before they go live. The funds are then held in your DomaHub account until you withdraw it to your bank account. You cannot withdraw the money if there is something wrong with your account (revoked DNS, issues with bank account, etc.)

No domains can be used until the credit card charge goes through.

I see. Will you be offering any kind of longer term lease to own?

 

[DomaHub]

Why will I point my domain with natural web traffic to you and wait for potential client who will rent it for short time, not earning anything when there is no rent, whereas in normal parking chance of generating revenue is more since there is regular traffic? I think you should try adding parking revenue too, this will attract more domain owners you are targeting.

Adding parking revenue is definitely something we're open to in the future. Thanks for your reply. We're not trying to close any revenue streams for domainers, but rather trying create a new one while providing users an option to utilize otherwise unused domain names.

 

[DomaHub]

I see. Will you be offering any kind of longer term lease to own?

Buyout options / lease to own is definitely something we're considering. At the moment, we do not offer this option because we're still in a closed beta and figuring out our next steps / options.

 

[carob]

There is virtually no market for renting domains.
It's been tried several times before, and failed.
One example: Launch of LeaseThis.com Gives Domain Owners a New Option for Domain Monetization
And the founders of LeaseThis.com are not noobs, but even they couldn't make it work.
Flawed model imo, viable only for very few domains like ultra-premium domains or for time-sensitive campaigns.

Yes where are the customers?

And how much would they be willing to pay?

What benefit do they think they get?


For a temporary url there a lot of extensions that will do it for under $2.

 

[DomaHub]

And that's why probably not many people will rent. Premium domains with high-end sites will want to use email... like healthnews.com... editor at healthnews,com, not [email protected]

Great point.

There are examples of premium domain names that may not necessarily require email. For example--take batman.com, superman.com, wonderwoman.com. They all lead to the DC Comics page about each respective super hero. You don't necessary need @batman.com @superman.com emails for those domains to have value.

Yes where are the customers?

And how much would they be willing to pay?

What benefit do they think they get?


For a temporary url there a lot of extensions that will do it for under $2.

Why doesn't thenextbigthing.com lead to Samsung's page about their newest Galaxy phone? Surely a big company like Samsung could've purchased that domain name to run simultaneously with their marketing campaign? While we don't know the details, it's possible to imagine that the owner of thenextbigthing.com was either asking for too high of a price (millions) or didn't want to sell it to Samsung (why not?)

What we're trying to do is create a platform that allows domain owners of ultra premium names (worth hundreds of thousands to even millions) to generate revenue while they are searching for a potential buyer.

Take a look at this list from Sedo--there are a lot of good domains in there that could be useful to a 3rd party but the asking price is simply too high to justify.

blackfridaysales.com? Macy's, Target, Walmart, would all love to own this domain. But 6.5 million dollars? For a domain that's really only useful for 1 month out of a year?

humanbeings.com? 4.5 million dollars for a domain that may be used by a non-profit organization to spread awareness about various volunteer opportunities. Non-profits don't have that kind of money.

buyherepayhere.com - 1.3 million
neighborhoodwatch.com - 1.25 million
shootinggames.com - 1 million
vintage.com - 1 million

We're fully aware that URL shorteners and new unique TLDs are out there, but none of them have the same "oomph" and recognition as a strong premium .COM. But simply put--a lot of these ultra premium .COMs are priced way too high for anyone to utilize in a economically feasible manner. Which is a damn shame because these sites generate millions of views/clicks in traffic simply by existing. That traffic is something we're positive is worth paying for.

 

[ikhub]

Adding parking revenue is definitely something we're open to in the future. Thanks for your reply. We're not trying to close any revenue streams for domainers, but rather trying create a new one while providing users an option to utilize otherwise unused domain names.

So you tend to narrow down target domain users like:
domain owners >> who hold premium domains - ones with intrinsic value and natural web traffic >> who are not monetizing their domain.
So your target prospects either is not interested in monetising or don't know about monetising . Why will be they be interested in your platform is the million dollar question. Now your target narrows down to selected domain owners not comfortable with available streams of monetising and trying a new stream. How many of them are out there is the billion dollar question. How many of them can you reach is the trillion dollar question.
Please do not take my reading in a negative light, I am just trying to figure out the business model and its sustainability to convince myself to give you a try.

 

[comati]

domain name leasing and rentals

 

[DomaHub]

So you tend to narrow down target domain users like:
domain owners >> who hold premium domains - ones with intrinsic value and natural web traffic >> who are not monetizing their domain.
So your target prospects either is not interested in monetising or don't know about monetising . Why will be they be interested in your platform is the million dollar question. Now your target narrows down to selected domain owners not comfortable with available streams of monetising and trying a new stream. How many of them are out there is the billion dollar question. How many of them can you reach is the trillion dollar question.
Please do not take my reading in a negative light, I am just trying to figure out the business model and its sustainability to convince myself to give you a try.

Thank you, if only we had a trillion dollars--haha. This exact question is why we were motivated to post here on NamePros in the first place--to try to gauge the feedback from domain industry experts.

 

[DomaHub]

Ironically "Stop trying to make fetch happen" happened exactly because they tried to make fetch happen. :P

 

[ikhub]

What evidence or market research is there that people actually want to rent or will do so?

That's exactly what my fingers were itching to type again.
Is there any research done on market demand or testing a probability? Many big things happened exploring probabilities of course.

 

[comati]

Ironically "Stop trying to make fetch happen" happened exactly because they tried to make fetch happen. :P

dude, you seem like a decent human being but you're wasting your time. find a real problem to solve, this is a non-issue.

 

[DomaHub]

dude, you seem like a decent human being but you're wasting your time. find a real problem to solve, this is a non-issue.

Haha, thank you.

We truly do believe that the perception of domain owners and squatters is pretty low (in the general public outside of this forum). We're trying to solve that by providing a little incentive for all parties involved--

• Domain owners make money
• Users get a premium domain otherwise un-affordable
• We make some money

How many times have you been in a conversation where you were asked "what value do you provide the world as a domain owner?" It's not a nice feeling to be seen in that way from the general public.