Selling My First Domain Name
I own 290 domain names.
That means I am spending almost $3,000 per year just to hang onto these.
Very few of these are developed yet.
Quite a few of them are variants of my name, and family members name.
(I highly recommend you buy those all up while you have the chance and no one is attacking you.)
All of them have some idea or plan behind them of what they are to become.
About every month or two I get a request in the mail of someone wanting to buy a domain name.
Usually the person has no idea what the domain is really worth.
If it is an exact match domain, like one of my cityname followed by the word chiropractic, such as BeverlyHillsChiropractic.com (which I don’t own), it can easily make the owner tens of thousands of dollars per year extra or even a hundred thousand dollars per year extra if they know what to do with it. Often people offer me a few hundred dollars for these domains, and I politely explain what can be done with it and the value.
It is funny, because I bought SanDiegoChiropractic.com for $500 a few years ago which could be very valuable to me, when I finally develop it properly.
A lot of my domain names are simply brandable domains that I bought for one idea or another. One of my favorites is roadfish.com
This spring I got one of these anonymous requests to purchase urbid.com
I had thought the name was very clever, but I did not own yourbid.com which I thought would make a good pair. I figured one day whoever owned yourbid.com would make me an offer on urbid.com so they could complete the pair.
When the offer came in, I believe the were offering me something like $500. An offer that high to me means the person is serious about buying it. I figured they must be the owners of yourbid.com
I put the word out that I needed the advice of a good domain appraiser. I believe it was Lauren Vacaerllo, genius SEO and internet marketer who got me in touch with a domainer. It is amazing how many great referrals she gets me. The domainer said something like, sell it quick at $500.
So I countered with $10,000. I didn’t think they would take it, but figured I could always come back down to $500 if needed. I didn’t need the money at the moment, and was just enjoying the game.
I get the word back from godaddy who was the go between, and I get a story that $5,000 is as far as they can go, and even that was pushing it.
I politely agreed to $5,000 and we put it into escrow.
I have often asked how to value a domain, and have heard many others ask the same question. The answer I hear the experts say is whatever the market can bear, often determined by one individuals value of the domain.
In this case the guys who bought it valued it at $5,000, but it could have just as easily sold for $10,000 or $500, or not at all. In fact I still have never gotten an offer for roadfish.com and it is one of my favorite domains of all.
Really interesting story…
ReplyIt makes me wanting to do the same….
Wow! I love the simple nature of your business concept and it’s given me some ideas of my own in terms of domain names. As you mentioned, there’s lots of brandable potential out there and that’s without even developing the site further…I love it! Plus difficulty in valuing can get interesting. I guess when someone is interested they’ll pay what they think it’s worth and certainly it’s gotta be north of the domain registration fee. Very cool. Need to check this out further. Thanks for the quick notes.
ReplyIn this economy, this seems like a fairly good business. Profiting off of domain names from people who believe their company can benefit from it sounds alomost to good to be true, but all in all its wonderful. The timing in this business is also a plus, getting a buyer within three months or fewer and making them and yourself an ample amont of monies….I mean you just can’t beat that.
ReplyI’ve been trying to buy a domain name that a closed company owns for almost a year…no responses. I guess I have to wait until their contract runs out. It’s a tricky business, and a little frustrating, but I’m glad you’ve had such success!
ReplyWhat an interesting blog. I’ve heard about domain name selling before, but never got too many details about it. This is something I should be looking into. I have a few domains myself, and I have yet to do anything with them. This was a very informative, and useful blog. Thank you!
ReplySo, this might sound like a provocative question, but, do you keep a list of your domain names for public viewing? I think it could be good advertising, as well as a useful instructional tool for those of us looking to do similar things. Only downside is that you’ll be vulnerable to copy-cats, but then again, you [should] have probably thought of very similar domains and snatched them up, too.
ReplyThe business of buying and selling domain names is one you really don’t hear much about unless you are already in the business. This is certainly valuable — perhaps literally — insight. It is easy to think of an unused domain name as a waste of money, but if you think of it as an investment on the other hand…
ReplyAs more and more “traditional” businesses establish an online presence to expand their consumer base, having a suitable domain name becomes an absolute necessity. It seems that being a broker (domain names) can potentially become a lucrative investment opportunity for those who actively seek out unique names and then match them up to specific small or medium sized companies that are more likely to express an interest as buyers, if they could easily establish an indirect or direct association with their brand or main product lines. If a broker can’t reach his or her target audience by directly soliciting their business then maybe the best course of action would be to create a good SEO webpage promoting the domain names, establishing high quality backlinks, commenting in forums and maintaining a blog (such as this one.) This strategy would inevitably draw a serious, knowledgeable client who is ready to pay some big dollars.
ReplyIt’s nice that you are well developed and knowledgeble on the subjects. I have given some thought in the domain name business off and on. I know you can always park the domains and use them for ads when not using them until you sell them. Picking the right names is the key.
ReplyThat is a good idea about pairing up the domains. I hate when I am one letter off, either because I spelt it phonetically when I typed it in or I just mistyped, and I get either a placeholder or a spammy website. What is the idea you have for roadfish? It is pretty interesting domain name.
Reply@Raindance:
ReplyIt is funny. PurposeInc.com was owned and used by a company for many years. I kept e-mailing them asking to buy it. They never answered by e-mails. Then one day I just typed it in to the console to buy domains, and it was available and I got it for the 9 buck registration fee.
This is actually kind of sweet. I like it because really you could actually make nothing or make a ton. I’m really into taking chances and this seems like something I would do. Only problem is I have no idea what I would choose.
ReplyThat is great that you have found success with this.
ReplyIt makes me wonder what the overall success rate is in a venture like this.
I would imagine it must be very high risk/ high reward.
That was very smart of you. This sounds like an amazing way to earn money these days.
ReplyNiiice! Congrats! This is actually something I’ve thought about doing myself, so it’s good to see that it works out for someone fairly nicely. I think I may pursue this after a little research and saving for investment.
By the way, I really like the name roadfish for a website; I think it’s really workable. I’m sure someone will be interested in buying it from you soon enough. 🙂
ReplyIt sounds great…. You own 290 domains thats a bit cool…….
ReplyAnd the domain you sold as shown in screenshot – 5000$ a huge amount
Of the $3000 in maintenance fees, how much do you make up from redirects, affiliate marketing, ads, etc.?
ReplyWOW! I am in awe right now because of that. Now honestly I have heard domain flipping story after another, even read reports and ebooks on it. I have to be honest though no one quite put it to me in such an easy or inspiring way that it actually motivated me to pursue something. Now I really am going to check it out.
ReplyI’ve heard of this but never tried it – what is the price of most domain names? Are there sites that simply sell them? You mentioned buying to one for nine bucks – that sounds great especially if you can sell it for many times over. I guess its like a copyright – people hang on to it for years?
ReplyWow, I’ve never realized that something like a domain name can become profitable. I know I’ll spend the rest of the day trying to predict would domain name could become a hit
ReplyWhat a brilliant way to make money. Problem is you need to speculate to accumulate and with the economy in the shape that it is in is it worth gambling that things will trun around and people will be willing to splash on domain names?
ReplyI never even thought about doing this but it makes so much sense. I like many of us here plan to try and do the same thing.
ReplyWow this is cool! I always wanted to learn about this domain buying and selling business. Now I have to ask, what do you do next after purchasing a domain if you don’t want to wait on some to make an offer?
I think I’m gonna give this idea another chance because I have causally dismissed it in the past because I thought it would be too complicated. Thanks for this post, Happy Blogging 🙂
ReplyThat is really interesting. I have purchased up to as many as 20 domain names that I found to be catchy and interesting. I held on to them for about six months straight, then started receiving offer’s from people to purchase them. The negotiation process was long, however, I made a huge profit, and stuck to my asking price.
ReplyIt is a new information for me!! thank you!!
ReplyHey DK,
Would you ever consider selling Purposeinc.com?
And if so – what would you sell it for? (Hypothetically Speaking)
One of my 2 main blogs is quickly becoming a big hit. So even though it is not worth a million dollars right now, I would not consider selling it because it is much too valuable to me… And who knows where it will go.
Take care DK,
Brian M Connole
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I’ve had to buy a few domain names for some sites I’m hosting but I never thought of buying any as an investment. If your experiences are typical it sounds like it could be quite profitable.
ReplyI may look into it when I have the extra cash to try it.