Selling a .co.uk domain name via Sedo

[Admin]

This is a recent example of our experience selling a .co.uk domain name via Sedo. If you are new to domains or Sedo this will give you a guide on the process and the time scales involved.

Negotiations

This is the hardest part of selling a domain – how much to ask?
Ask too much and the buyer may lose interest. Ask too little and you may not get the best price possible for your domain.

You can use www.domainprices.co.uk to get an idea of recent .co.uk domain sales prices or ask to an appraisal on the www.acorndomains.co.uk appraisal forum.

Come up with a price that allows you some room to haggle but don’t get so greedy you scare off the bidder. This can be an anxious time, waiting for the domain prospect to come back with an offer.

Transaction Fees

Do not forget to allow for Sedo transaction fees and Nominet transfer fees during the negotiation stage.

We asked for the buyer to pay Sedo’s fees (10% of sale price) and the Nominet fees on top of the sale price, which they agreed to.

Agreement Reached

We started negotiations on our domain on the 21st June and reached agreement on the sale price and fees on the 1st July.

Sedo Transfer Process

Having agreed the sale price, Sedo sent the buyer an Invoice on the 1st July.

The invoice is in your name and is placed in the buyer’s user account.

Once the buyer has made payment (into Sedo’s Escrow account), Sedo ask the buyer to make a transfer request at thier registrar or if the buyer has an account at the domain’s current registrar, they ask you to move it to his account.

NB: Make sure the administrative email address for your domain is active and that you can receive emails from it or you will have trouble with the transfer process.

Once the transfer has been completed and the WHOIS information shows the buyer's name, Sedo send you the money.

Tip: Add your bank details to your Sedo account if you want to avoid Paypal fees for receiving the money.

Nominet Transfer Forms

Sedo didn’t ask us apply to Nominet for the domain transfer forms. Their emails are worded towards .COM domain name transfers.

We knew we would need these so as soon as we agreed a price we emailed Nominet to request them and they arrived 2 days later.

This will save you time.

Sedo receive Payment

We chase Sedo on the 5th July as we had heard nothing. This prompted them to chase the buyer for payment. Sedo advised that the buyer said they were making a bank transfer of the funds that day.

We chased again on the 7th July with a response from Sedo that it would take a few more days. So much for electronic funds transfers!

Sedo confirmed receipt of the money on the 11th July

Finalising the Transfer

Sedo sent us the Buyer’s details for us contact them about sending the Nominet forms.

We already had the forms in hand so signed and sent them on the 12th July.

On the 18th July we chased Sedo for any news, they contacted the buyer to see if they had received the forms.

22nd July we noticed the Nominet WHOIS showing the buyers details.

(This is a little unsettling, your domain has been transferred but you have no funds).

Money Money Money

26th July we received an email from Sedo saying they had sent the money to our account. They also stated this can take up to 7 business days.

We received the money on the 29th July.

Start to finish, 38 days.

 

[singlefile]

A very useful post. Thank you.

 

[domaingenius]

A very useful post. Thank you.

and one that tells me "don't bother using Sedo".
DG

 

[Edwin]

and one that tells me "don't bother using Sedo".
DG

From experience, you could be leaving quite a bit of cash on the table by ignoring them. Don't use Sedo exclusively, but even with their drawn-out sales process the money you get at the end is just as good as any other money!

 

[Admin]

Well said Edwin.

If you align your expectations on the process and timing example we gave then at least you know when your cash is likely to be in your hands.

I think it is also unfair to tarnish Sedo due to the manual Nominet transfer process with all the forms which is a big part of the reason for the time it takes to all happen.

Sedo were always responsive to emails they just need to fine tune thier automated responses towards the UK market.

Overall I am very pleased with the sale.

 

[texidriver]

Sedo

It would be quicker to put it in a forked stick and run over to his house.

 

[ratboy]

I've got one down as sold at the moment with sedo. But, the purchaser is dragging his heels and probably won't complete the nominet forms which means after 2 emails from sedo with no reply he gets his money back.

What a great (not) system that is. It leaves their client (me) pissed off with no money.

UPDATE: ITS 21/10/05 AND SEDO STILL HAVENT RESOLVED THIS!

 

[Paullas]

.

I've got one down as sold at the moment with sedo. But, the purchaser is dragging his heels and probably won't complete the nominet forms which means after 2 emails from sedo with no reply he gets his money back.

What a great (not) system that is. It leaves their client (me) pissed off with no money.

dont start me of with sedo. this is the domain sale i recently made...

2005-07-26 Agreement reached
2005-07-27 The buyer of the domain has yet to confirm his personal details and contract type. Every effort is being made to contact the buyer in order to get him to complete this information. Once this has been done, the transfer can proceed to the next stage.
2005-08-01 We have invoiced the buyer for the sale of your domain. As soon as the payment reaches our escrow account we will inform you and begin the technical transfer.
2005-08-02 We have received full payment for this domain. Please await further instructions from your transfer agent. It is often the case that we have to wait for certain details from the buyer so please be patient during this period.
2005-08-02 The buyer has started transfer request. Please confirm the next transfer request from Nominet (ALL .co.uk. domains), or contact us to verify the request to be confirmed.
2005-09-08 nominet chaanged details on the whois to the new owner.
2005-09-13 The domain transfer has been successfully completed! We will now process and send you your payment for the domain.
2005-09-13 We have processed and sent you your payment for this domain. Please note that international wire transfers can take up to 14 days to reach your account.
2005-09-14 The payment has been released and the transfer is now complete.
2005-09-14 This transfer has been successfully completed!

I would not use sedo for domain sales of .uk again im sorry to say, there support and responce is the worst ive seen in this industry.

 

[domaingenius]

I have never sold a domain through sedo, have always received full payment in advance of doing anything and have never had any problems apart from buyers not bothering to transfer the domain to themselves. Usually payment is received within 3-7 days and then domain is transferred immediately to them.
DG

 

[Paullas]

.

i wont be in future will rather use a broker now then i know my £100 is being spent on making sure it is transfered within reasonable time...

 

[ratboy]

Hummmmm.

I agree. Do you think buyers prefer the "safety" of using a third party such as Sedo?

Thinking of moving mine away. It's just easier to plonk em with Sedo and get on with my other work.

Johnny

 

[sedo]

.co.uk transfers with Sedo

Hello everybody!

I have brought up the subject of .co.uk transfers once again with my colleagues and they have given their guarantee that if Nominet were to cut out some of the red-tape involved, then Sedo will PROMISE to lower the minimum price to bring it more in line with .com transfer costs.

I am also unhappy to hear from Laskos that you were unhappy with the service received from Sedo. We aim to see that every customer query and complaint is replied to within 36 hours.

I can understand the frustration when transfers take longer than usual. In all honesty we are very much reliant on the full cooperation of both the seller and the buyer - a quick response will always result in a speedy transfer. Having been notified of the posting yesterday (14-09-05) I personally made sure that funds were being transferred to Laskos that day.

I will ensure to keep you up to date with the latest transfer developments.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Dave - [email protected]

 

[retired_member27]

"Nominet to cut out some of the red-tape" ha ha ha

 

[Paullas]

hi david.

I fully appredciate your co-operation in dealing with the hassles i have had. Unfortunalty until sedo sort there bad support situation out i dont think i will be using sedo services again to sell the .co.uk domains i have. Having to wait the time scale i did was and i hope you agree, was very badly handled by sedo. To pay £100 to sedo to handle the sale of a .co.uk domain and then me spend 3 days on the phone to nominet, then email sedo cost me money for the time i spent chasing everything when at the end of the day, that is what i paid sedo £100 for ( don't you agree ??? )

anyway all is done now. lets hope your services get better......

 

[sedo]

Laskos,

.....me too. I will do my best to find out what actually happened. I would like to encourage you to stick with Sedo, we are currently making changes to our customer support, which I am sure will mean that queries will be dealt with faster than before.

Please do keep in touch - I will be happy to help with any further questions.

David: [email protected]

 

[rob]

Hello everybody!

I have brought up the subject of .co.uk transfers once again with my colleagues and they have given their guarantee that if Nominet were to cut out some of the red-tape involved, then Sedo will PROMISE to lower the minimum price to bring it more in line with .com transfer costs.

What do sedo actually do for the extra money?

In recent transfers I am the one requesting forms, filling them out, posting them off etc. Likewise the transfer fee, form filling , posting to nominet is done by the purchaser.

There is no aspect of nominets 'red tape' that sedo gets involved with. The only 'extra' compared to a .com transfer is that there is a longer time period.

Which parts of Nominets red tape cost Sedo money?

 

[Paullas]

.

good point rob...

 

[ratboy]

I agree. Especially true with low value .co.uk domains. I don't sell below £250 as minus the £100 fee it's hardly worth it.

David, lets see some decrease in fee for .co.uk, then all the hundreds of people who read this will be more keen to use Sedo.

After all I love the usability of the site, and it seems to be the quickest to load parked domains - which must affect click rate.

 

[domaingenius]

I would be interested to know roughly how much one could expect to earn from parking at sedo each month. I know its very hard to pin down, but are we talking £500 or £5000 per month for say 500 average domains ?.

DG

 

[Nigel]

I've got a couple of points:

a) Nominet transfers may take a while longer than .coms but I feel that it does give us extra protection. You only have to read the .com domain forums to see that top .com/.net domains are always being stolen. It seems to be a lot harder to steal a .co.uk (the thief would have to forge documents which could mean a prison sentence) and if you've got a large portfolio it certainly gives peace of mind.

b) Sedo say they need £100 for the work involved but if they work in dollars it's $100 (that's £56). That's some difference. That's my main gripe with sedo - they could easily convert the $100 minimum fee to pounds or euros but you can't blame them for dragging their heals - the profit level on Nominet names done in pounds must be very nice. I've done some .com sales thro' sedo and there is actually some extra work to do that they don't have to do on .uk domains - for example they do offer to transfer a .com domain into a Sedo account and then back out again. That's extra work done manually by them. Perhaps we're subsidising the .com market! And as Laskos says most of the donkey work is done by us. Those of us that have sold many .co.uk domains know the Nominet procedure inside out and never involve sedo. They say that we can price our domains in dollars to get a cheaper deal and I've done that but bidders definitely bid less in dollars and are maybe put off from bidding all. So come on sedo - give us a $100 min fee but priced in pounds. Many thanks.