A word of caution to all inexperienced domain buyers

A truly worthy post,

I completely agree, there is so much crap floating around that you'll find less of it at a sewage plant, people register names without even thinking about what it is they are buying, you need to stop and think

1) What uses does this name have
2) does it make any real sense?
3) is it short or would it take you the rest of your life to type out?

One thing that really gets on my wick is when people go asking for appraisals of their "Godsend" of a domain thinking the world of it and then they get brought back down to earth with an allmighty thud when they get told reg fee or mid $xx at best, and then carry on insisting its worth 5k, if they know what a name is worth why bother asking for an appraisal? don't complain at someone for giving you an opinion you ASKED for in the first place.

I think you should also add the namecheap marketplace to the list of those links too, some treasures to be had in there no doubt.

Great post

ES

 

I'll try to answer this one.

Selling on these forums is not ideal for any developed site or standalone domain name. If you attempt to do so, you are just trying to sell to other resellers, who obviously will offer you, only low ball sums of money(wholesale prices), you will most certainly not get full retail price at any of these places (domain forums), period.

Depending on the quality of the name or website in question, you could try selling via entrepreneur or general business forums, really it depends on the name though, to which sector it actually applies. Wherever you end up choosing, especially if it is another unrelated forum to domain names, you want to be very careful that your brand new thread, does not come across as spam, therefore it's important to write in a very friendly and professional manner giving as much information to other people as possible.

I usually start off with telling them straightaway in my new 1st post that I am a professional domain trader and then go on to tell them what that is and a little about this industry. Following that, I move into the actual name being offered, and why it could be particularly useful to a member of that community. Again, I try to give as much info as possible.

Too, I'll always include the admin of that forum in my 1st thread, never moderators, just the admin. I like to make them feel that they are giving their own community members a valuable service by allowing me to stay, to make my post, or selling pitch, which is what it is at the end of the day, but just wrapped up in words, that offers something just quite a bit beyond the everyday spam post. Not that it works every time.

Sometimes, you get thrown off as fastas can be, which is a mite annoying when you've done everything in your power to help out other people in said community with your professional advice.

Now, that's only one way of trying to reach your ideal end users, personally I do not think it's the best way, but I'll give anything a shot, try many avenues.

An end user is your 'ideal purchaser' for the website you have for sale or the domain name. Ideally, s/he owns a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) and has a lot of emotional attachment to their business. You need to read that sentence through again, and again, and again, and again until the words sink in. It's an easy sentence to pass over as having little significance.

Your ideal end user purchaser, already owns their small to medium sized enterprise. People in large businesses or companies become eventually, just a cog in a wheel of their own making, with little or only mild emotional attachment to their business affairs.

Small to medium sized businesses typically employing anywhere from 1 -20 people, these business owners have exceedingly high emotional attachment to their business, and for them, image and reputation are very important indeed, which includes owning the perfect generic domain, which best describes them, to their intended audience. These people often pay good money to be in possession of their perfect name or website.

The key point here, is emotional attachment. You are not going to find on these forums here, or Name Pro's or similar, individuals with an emotional attachment to the items they are buying or selling generally speaking.

Selling a name then, or a website requires good old fashioned leg work and research, sometimes, it's proven methods that have been tried and tested for donkey's years that work most effectively.

Once you've got a list in front of you, of perspective ideal purchasers and you are absolutely clear in your own mind and can explain well, why what you have to offer would be excellent for them, the next thing is to try and contact these people, in the most optimum manner possible, which is time effective for the return on investment after negotiations and too, allows you enough breathing space to offer further names to other parties, via various avenues, whilst too, juggling other business and family life priorities and responsibilities.

Sometimes, I lose my own thought pattern, where was I lol?

Ok, after identifying your ideal SME business owners, you need to make contact with them. Personally speaking I find email 97.5% the worst choice of all. Usually it results in no reply at all, no matter how cleverly you try to word your communication. Often, the business owner the other end is receiving so many emails, that yours will only receive a cursory glance at best. Subject title is everything. I always put the name / website in question, my full name and full telephone number including country and area code, so they can rest assured that I am not another mindless spam idiot.

By far the best way though is to rely on good old snail mail, a letter through the post.

Need a cup of tea, will finish this off in a minute ...

 

Ahhhhhh I notice the one and only Electric Shadow of NamePro's forum fame has graced us with his presence, blimey, that's a turn up for the books.

Yeah, that really gets on my wick too, and on top of that, they're often quite rude with their replies when all you are trying to do is to help them out with your vastly better experience on the subject, giving your time and consultation skills away, completely free of charge, ungrateful bloody cretins.

One of the main reasons, I've stopped pretty much giving appraisals out anymore, it's just not worth it expending the effort just to be insulted by way of return.

Although, if there is one thing wrong with you ES, it's your choice of heavy metal music, no offense mate, your taste in bands is bloody hopeless, what a racket.

Don't worry about me, I'm just being cantankerous, now where was I, trust you to send me off track.

*****

I'll continue this thread later, writing all this out, it's pushing me behind schedule today, my apologies to the individual who asked the question about reselling, check back later please, running too short on time right now to fully explain this to you.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to translate any of my points into American English, with bullet points for easy clarification of points conveyed, rather than my wanton waffle, certainly be my guest.

Must get some more work done now.

Dashes orf.

 

People read ebooks about making millions online, success stories of web-sites earning billions within few years like ebay.com or google.com and they get impression that internet money is easy to earn. If an average webmaster doesn't earn a lot of money with his web-sites, he can't offer much for the domain names with limited incomes and budget.

 

great article and that is a link I have been looking for, !

 

Cheers mate, your'e more than welcome.

Will get around to finishing off writing later, still developing another website as fast as possible plus a hundred and one other things I'm juggling at the moment.

All the best!

Mark Magawr

 

Magawr - just out of interest. When you talk about developing websites, what sort of sites do you build?
I'm heavily into niche content sites, is that what you're refering to? Or something else?

 

Yep exactly that.

This is one I'm working on today, still tidying it up loads, just waiting for my developer to come online, both just took a break for an hour or so as working so fast today, getting information overload.

http://www.boatsbroker.co.uk

 

Great advice Mark, much appreciated. I was just starting down "that" road but I think these wise words may well have saved me a bundle of money and a stack of crap domains.

I got hooked when I bought an amazon affilate store off eBay and began looking for a good domain name to put it on. I soon realised there was money to be had in the "domain game" and have registered around 20 domains in the past few days.

I still reckon I have a couple of crackers that could make me a buck or 2 if I'm lucky but following this post I'm going to stop pummelling GoDaddy with random searches for the "forgotten gem" and develop what I've got so far before buying any more. I still might have the odd "flutter" but will be considerably more choosy (with help from the great tools you posted at the start!)

Cheers for the advice.

Blair

 

PS: Why the hell am I refered to as PEON?!!!

 

No idea, is that a Scottish expression? Thanks for your feedback, glad it could help you the advice above, any time mate, more than welcome.

Stuff the English.

Mebyon Kernow!!

Mark Magawr

 

Could be, I'll need to find out if I can change it to something a little nicer! I had to google Mebyon Kernow btw!!

PS: Can anyone recommend a decent (free ideally!) domain appraisal site / tool. I've used one from "Zing software" and nameboy.com but the valuation amounts are a bit suspect. GoDaddy do appraisals for a reasonable price, anyone used them?

I'm be keen to see if any of the domains I've bought the last few days are maybe worth punting as I don't have the time to develop them all.

Cheers

Blair

 

The free appraisal tools are hopeless.
Estibot never gives me an accurate amount. I've put domains in there that I know have sold for $xxxx or more and they give a valuation of reg fee.
Just goes to a show that a domain is worth what someone will pay for it.

 

Very true, a bit like houses I guess - Worth what people will pay!

I might stick a couple of the names in the appraisals forum and see what people reckon......

 

Coudln't agree more, allthough they can be helpful, I've also in a name which i sold for mid $xxx and it gives reg fee, nothing can beat the accuracy of a human nose

PS thanks for the intro Magawr lol, allthough i stand by my taste in music, you won't catch me flinching on this one

 

thanks so much for this valuable info.

benny

 

You are welcome, there's a lot more to come, just very busy right now.

Might as well write a short course soon I think, for the number of pm's received, how do I do this, how do I do that, how does this work, what does this mean etc etc

Laters.

Mark Magawr

 

Interesting post, indeed. Without good design, development and marketing skills, the domains will be as good as the junk you keep storing in your backyard. In fact the junk is a far better bet as you won't have to pay the "renewal price" every year! ;-)