Getting my feet wet at DomainLore

Bailey · Apr 12, 2011

Been an interesting few days getting my feet wet at DomainLore. I've visited DL every day for the past 6 months or so to try an gauge the "whats & Wherefores" of this particular market.

So far one sale and one dead duck. I won't use this post to plug any future listings but, I guess it's OK to talk about the deceased duck seeing it's past its sell-by-date.

I knew "valuate" (I know it's a toy) might be a tad optimistic at $27,000 for the Co.UK domain of " OperatingSystems" but even I was slightly relieved when it didn't sell for £50 but, I'm interested in peoples opinions on what I should be focusing on listing - I've got a fair spread of UK domains, descriptive, short, general appeal etc - If "Existing" Traffic and PR is the main criteria then i'm clearly barking up the wrong tree at "DomainLore".

I am very interested in any tips I might be missing - fortunately for me domain selling is just part fun and I do like to be successful although the money is handy it's never been overly important to me so I don't mind trying different approaches at the benefit of learning rather than just for profit.

So any direction that acorners feel I may be missing would be appreciated, Thanks Ray

Aaron Clifford · Apr 15, 2011

Operatingsystems.co.uk doesn't really do it for me, mainly the other operating systems other than windows are unix based and mostly free, mac being an exception. If you search for "operating systems" theres only one paid advert showing up for me which gives me the impression not many people are paying for adverts, there for theres not much money to be made from them.

To be honest DL can be a bit hit and miss, but I suppose you get that with any auction platform, all depends on if there enough people interested and if there online at the right times to bid.

brum · Apr 15, 2011

a domain is what someone is willing to pay for it ... i know that is not very helpful but it is true.... what they pay seems to vary... depends on many things seems to be hit and miss.

one thing i can say though i buy a lot of domains (portfolio is growing around 100 a month) , most domainers want xx,xxx for their domains but dont want to pay even xx for anyone else's LOL !!!

funny really quickest way for a domain to go up in value is for you to own it !!!! then it's worth 10* as much lol !!!! can't sell though ....

anyway the point is untill the general population and business owners understand domains they will always be something that domainers, traders deal in.

and as such have less value because there are so many available on the secondary market .

websaway · Apr 15, 2011

brum said:
a domain is what someone is willing to pay for it ... i know that is not very helpful but it is true.... what they pay seems to vary... depends on many things seems to be hit and miss.

one thing i can say though i buy a lot of domains (portfolio is growing around 100 a month) , most domainers want xx,xxx for their domains but dont want to pay even xx for anyone else's LOL !!!

funny really quickest way for a domain to go up in value is for you to own it !!!! then it's worth 10* as much lol !!!! can't sell though ....

anyway the point is untill the general population and business owners understand domains they will always be something that domainers, traders deal in.

and as such have less value because there are so many available on the secondary market .

I know what your saying but Domain values can actually grow 10 fold when a particular person owns them, that's because not only does his/her experience allow him/her to spot the value they also know how and where to sell them.

Bailey · Apr 16, 2011

Thanks for taking the time to answer guys. I suppose I can consider myself relatively knowledgeble in domain names generally (not development though) but a bit of a newbie in regards to reselling of .co.uk. I agree and arrived at the same conclusion that the immediate ccld market is predominately in the hands of just a couple of buyers.

Just walking around my own fairly busy towns of Rochford & Southend I've come to realise how little domains are used as a business identifier in the UK. ie, somebody may have quite a clever name play for their thriving business but, still choose to use a Hotmail address on the side of their business vehicles as the main point of web contact even though the domain its self is available to register. I consider that quite unusal for a Country as supposedly web-developed as the UK and I do travel through out the World quite considerably

Well as much as we all have our negatives about Sedo - I am going to move towards placing all my domains on their service at fixed prices. I've learnt in the past that "make offer" listings are a recipe for a time wasting disaster. On the plus side I suppose the time I have spent at Acorn has taught me to be more realistic in pricing if the listing is going to move towards a sale .

namealot · Apr 19, 2011

My personnel experience of sedo is it’s a waste of time they may push high end but they pretty much sell themselves anyway I’ve had lots sales that fall through they don’t seam to block the timewasters at all,,, Wouldn't use as only way to sell ?

A simple page just the name and a contact email is far more effective (especially so end users) Your domains get lost in the mass of others on “sedont” very few end-users I have spoken too use it or even know of its existence… names are not easy for everyone to find or even make offers on they have to join etc, For the % of co.uk names on there sales are very low..? How much do they push the 1k to 10k names in the real world…?

Your surprised how few endusers have domains names.. I've come across plenty that think there generic business term would be available and that no one else would have registered it ? many are pretty clueless ...It surprises me more how many domainers don't contact end users...No good being great at registering them if you cant’ sell them…

An hour a day even once a month calling companies, end-users etc A simple I have xxx domain are you interested this is my number email etc is a start, If they don’t want the name offer to help them find one if they want one in the future… You build up contacts... You may catch them when there just about to spend £££ on advertising and go magerzines. newspaper radio etc not because they think its more effective, they may just not have the time or knowledge to look for a name, contact, the owner etc , The more traditional forms of advertising call them all the time so they spend with them out of habit or laziness…

Bailey · Apr 19, 2011

Thanks for that post namealot - I think you've hit a few nails-on the head there. I must admit to never having been an active seller and I put that down to two main reasons.

* I've always in the past had a fairly constant stream of enquiries (one or two a month) which I have been able to convert. The enquiry ratio is still pretty constant but the offer amounts seem to have fallen considerably.

* I get so many unsolicited approaches myself from sellers trying to unload their .in or .pl etc that I've started to wrongly assume that end users (actual businesses) get an equal number of unsolicited approaches - which of course they don't.

Your certainly right about the Print medias constant (daily) barrage of selling - I've worked/represented quite a few of the ThornEMI companies in the past and the phone/cold calls were incessant.

Time to get my finger out of my arse I think, just looking back at the number of abandoned emails in my inbox where I haven't pursued a sale quite as vigorously as I should has given me a bit of a shock.

Time to smell the Coffee.

PS - final dead-duck count at DomainLore 4:1. Out on a duckshoot, i'd have been ecstatic