best place to sell domains/flip ??????

[expertc]

Domaining = business. With all usual rules that apply to ANY business.

1. If you are a "multinational" (Mike Mann, etc.) you are pretty much set in the industry.
2. If you are small company / self employed - lots of legwork required.

To see how successful you are, you should apply same metrics as in any business. Turnover, expenses, profit. If you see that you are in red, you are doing something wrong. If you are making initial investment, plan when you are going to break even and if it doesn't work - you are doing something wrong.

Where to sell? All over the NET. Wherever your potential customer is or might be - go there. And, to be honest, if you are not a "big multinational", then better to concentrate on a specialist segment or niche, at least for a beginning, it might help to break even quicker.

Just my 2p...

 

[rob]

Hi Rob,

Originally we used to only buy domains for sites we were developing etc BUT THEN, came across on the CNN news site and on bbc about people domain flipping etc, after a weeks research and browsing forums and domain news sites learnt that could buy and sell domains and make profit if the keywords are valid and if a made up domain name could be something catchy and brandable.

Then came across some guys called: kevin ham and mike mann started to follow their profiles, m,mann was the first to sell a .co for $80k, so thought what the heck and started buying, so far bought 73 in less than 4 weeks, now to sell a few to buy more.

These sales are what motivates us, I know there are a few negative comments on here or taking the mick ones, but hey if you don't try you will never know correct

Mike Mann has 400,000+ domains. That's like fishing with 400,000 hooks. You're almost bound to catch a fish sometime. However, he also know what he's doing (which is always a bonus!)

If you can only fish with a few dozen or a few hundred hooks, you HAVE to fish, very very patiently, where the vast overwhelming majority of fish are.

That means .com or .co.uk, strong commercial terms, and be prepared for a LONG wait until your name sells.

Kevin Ham is probably the most successful domainer on the planet (although Frank Schilling could give him a run for his money). Reading about him and then starting to register domains "based on what he does" is like reading about Usain Bolt and then rushing out to submit your entry to the men's Olympics 100m race. In practice, 99.9999999% of people in the world aren't going to qualify, and the 0.0000001% who do will have trained intensively for years and years.

BTW, you may not like the tone of some of the responses in this thread, but they're coming from people with over 50 years combined experience in the domain industry. That's expertise that money can't buy, handed to you free on a plate if you're just willing to listen and learn!

Edwin pretty much saved my fingers there.

Its worth noting to those who run blogs, forums, speak at conferences and write ebooks or the like - people can and do lose money based on what you say - so always give a reality check and not hype, and bear some responsibility for the losses others incur.

 

[sdsinc]

Domaining = business. With all usual rules that apply to ANY business.

Exactly. But domaining is usually run like a hobby. If you actually turn a profit you're doing better than average. Remember, most people dabbling in domains are losing money.
If you want to compete with people like Mann you must be structured and funded like a real business and most importantly you must know exactly what you're doing.
It takes a lot of experience but you can learn a lot from the experience and mistakes of others

 

[rob]

Exactly. But domaining is usually run like a hobby.

I wouldnt agree with that, its like saying share trading is a 'hobby' business - there are full range of levels to it.

 

[expertc]

Exactly. But domaining is usually run like a hobby.

If hobby then question about profit is irrelevant, enjoyment in hobby is first priority. If it is (even!) an "after-hours business" - then... it's still business

 

[Edwin]

I can see a misconception creeping in around the "hobby" tangent...

Owning 100 or 100,000 junk names doesn't make you "a domainer" - it just makes you somebody who's thrown away a lot of money on domains. It's not about the raw number of names you have, but about how many are genuinely commercially viable. The ultimate example of that is this chap, who spent over $2,000,000 on domains that were worthless...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/06/27/belgian_asks_1_5_billion/
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q="Van Neste" domain&f=false

 

[Jamie101]

Yeah I can also see how domaining and so on can be seen as a hobby.

For me it was a hobby at the start until I realised that you can actually make a bit of money if you put in the work. I suppose I kind of do it for a hobby in some ways, but if I made no money I wouldn't be doing it - so maybe it's not a hobby!

 

[bakais]

Kevin Ham is probably the most successful domainer on the planet (although Frank Schilling could give him a run for his money). Reading about him and then starting to register domains "based on what he does" is like reading about Usain Bolt and then rushing out to submit your entry to the men's Olympics 100m race. In practice, 99.9999999% of people in the world aren't going to qualify, and the 0.0000001% who do will have trained intensively for years and years.

BTW, you may not like the tone of some of the responses in this thread, but they're coming from people with over 50 years combined experience in the domain industry. That's expertise that money can't buy, handed to you free on a plate if you're just willing to listen and learn!

One key word: "inspiration" this is the key factor for anybody doing anything to be inspired by someone!
Furthermore, just clicked on your signature link and randomly selected the following (see screen shot) Checked out on Google, and the results speak louder than your above comment, hmmm? and on average £1k each!!

 

[bakais]

music dab = music + digital audio broadcasting = great results for e.g, something just copied from a stereo product:

""DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting) digital radio is, on top of FM analogue transmission, a new way of broadcasting radio via a network of terrestrial transmitters. It provides listeners with more choices and information delivered in clear and crackle-free sound quality. The technology allows the receiver to lock on to the strongest signal it can find. With DAB+ digital stations there are no frequencies to remember, and sets are tuned by station name, so there is no retuning on the move"".

Remember analogue tv, now extinct, same fm radio will be, just read up on it, we may be new at domains but definitely not at market research, a big bonus for domaining + the inspiration of successful domainer's as well as programming back round.

All I wanted to query initially is how and where to sell "the selling mechanism" now this thread has burst from its seams lol, Thank you all for participating great debate going on.

 

[Systreg]

@ Bakais, I'd prefer to own any of those generic names in the screenshot that actually mean something, rather than those you've registered like laceoff

You also need to know Edwins business model, he owns a lot of domains and his model obviously works for him, as was pointed out previously above, when someone holds a lot of domains, they can price them in such a way that they only need to sell a small percentage to be in profit. It also means they can hold on to names without having to possibly sell them at lower prices, or having to wait quite a while for a sale, as many of their other domains will be selling in the meantime.

Edwin has around 7,000 domains, which cost £42,000 (at £6 per renewal) to renew every 2 years, of the 7000, if he was to sell only 1% (70 domains) at £1,000 each year for 2 years, that would be £140,000, far more than it costs in renewal fees and a nice profit, plus a lot of his names cost a lot more than £1,000 to buy.

If someone owned 7000 names in a similar style to the laceoff name and other made up non generic names, they would be waiting an eternity to sell any of them, and would be totally swamped by renewal fees, it wouldn't be long before they couldn't afford the renewals due to not selling many of the names.

 

[expertc]

It's very good that you are not new to a market research. One thing I know - Edwin does sell domains, and does it well.

In case of market research... hmmm... to be honest, there are different markets and different researches. One can be very good at, let's say, clothing market info but it doesn't mean that he knows chemicals market. Domaining is a separate business with it's own business model.

 

[Edwin]

There are several live trademarks on "dab" as relating to music/audio equipment.

 

[bakais]

My question is I have read on here that most people don't like using Sedo etc because it takes a long while to get the domain and get paid etc: So do you guys buy and sell through forums such as this one and is it a pay with paypal and domain push through say Godaddy???

That was my original question that started this thread, however it turned into a debate quite quickly because !!!!!! a few on here "think they are it" with comments about: (athletes and comments about theory test) I was asked a question by Rob, what inspired us to start domaining and I answered with how this came about for us ((((the reply I get is some cuss as above))) so don't insult if you don't like it back, is this not a fair thing to ask: treat people how you would like to be treated back????

 

[Edwin]

Buyer comes to us directly by typing in one of our domains for sale. We invoice, get paid by BACS, transfer via Nominet.

 

[sdsinc]

Same here.
The best way to sell domains is simply to have domains that somebody would actually want. People will find you if they want your domain.

End users don't do window shopping ! At least not often.
Usually they are interested in one specific name, possibly they will also make a shortlist of alternatives then begin negotiations with owners and try to get the best deal. But usually the options are limited.

Since there are millions of domains listed at Sedo, you have no real chance to stand out.
Unless maybe a potential buyer does a search based on keyword. For example a short domain in .com that begins or end with 'lace':

begins with 9,362 'lace': 9,362 search results
ends with 9,362 'lace': 19,742 search results

If you are in page 1 or 2 maybe there is hope but I don't think it is the case.
That's a lot of ifs.
That doesn't mean Sedo is not a viable marketplace. >99% of the domain supply is worthless.

If you are looking for a place to flip domains, then the domain forums. But you will be dealing with other domainers and they won't pay retail price.

You don't have to use Sedo. They are a facilitator merely. But since they provide escrow and payment processing it can be reassuring to some, for example those who live in another country and are afraid of being scammed, or those who are not experienced with domains and could do with some assistance.
Listing on marketplaces like Sedo or Afternic means more exposure. But it will do no good if nobody is interested in the domains. That's reality. My point is that the venue is not very important. It is the quality of the domain that matters.

 

[expertc]

Mostly direct sales (similar to above posts) including site sales. Some forum sales, 1 or 2 sedo in years, have to check, couple of broker sales. That's about it.

 

[bakais]

Thank you guys for getting back on topic, lets start a fresh.. (any offers on our domains then ? lol)

Anyway, 1 domain we own is called: ngco.co, came across it by just keying random letters in Godaddy, but after reading this forum gained some tips on searching i.e to look on the right side of Google for paid adverts etc. Now just done it with "ngco" and see the screen shot came up with a variety of different companies, some Saudi, some Korean and so on.

So what shall I do with this one (ngco.co)a featured on Sedo or email each company or flip it to one of you to do the leg work?

 

[rob]

Why do you think .co is any good?

What does .co mean to you?

( genuinely interested )

 

[bakais]

The .co , is all up in the air at the moment and from what we have been reading from all domain news sites; its a 50/50 in terms of selling them. Some dot co's have gone for crazy high prices especially one worded domains or keywords etc. On the other hand still a lot of people hate them or yet don't value them.

dot co for us, is the new extension for buyers who lost out on the chance to buy a dot com, as well as companies are buying up the .co version in order to keep it in the family. It is also short catchy extension for a domain that carries either the Columbia or company/commerce/coop meaning applied so in short: think it might be an extension that could take a while to kick off, selling wise even though high sales are underway, and a majority of internet users type in a name but forget the 'm'.

 

[Bailey]

, and a majority of internet users type in a name but forget the 'm'.

Sorry but that just caught my eye So 'M''s are out.

Of course it happens that someone misses typing an 'm' on 'com' back they backstep in an instant.( one in a few dozen thousand, that miss the "m" as a last digit)

Lets NOT forget directly typing in the URL means (I know exactly where I'm going -and/or - expect to see) So not the same as in 'Searching' as in your reference.

on the other point of 'DabRadio' it works that way ony - Not in reverse - your wording is akin to "StrapBra" (or "MUSICDIGITAL) if you get my drift with (MusicDab)

"Dabmusic" (Words in the Correct order) itself misses out all the references to the "transmission Medium" (its reason of Reference for DAB)