Selling domain names is becoming a big business these days. What’s the catch? The catch is in owning the right domain names and having a vehicle to find the right buyer. What a given domain name is worth to one buyer is very different than what it might be worth to another.
Case in point, I picked up TexasBreastImplants.com from an expired domain names list a year or so ago. I thought I would get numerous offers. I even called up a couple of local plastic surgeons that had no interest, because they did not understand the value of having a common search phrase-based domain name.
A few months went by with no offers. I had the domain name parked at NameDrive.com displaying ads. It was easily making enough in ad revenue to pay for annual renewals on the domain name and make a small profit, estimated at about $100 per year.
NameDrive.com displays a small link on the ads page that says “Inquire About this Domain.” When you click on the link it takes you to a web form where you can make an offer to the owner. I always set the minimum sales price for every domain name I own at $100 to keep away the tire kickers. This domain was worth far more than $100 and I’m never a motivated seller, as I earn six-figures from other online interests –a nice position to be in.
Then, one day out of the blue an unsolicited offer of $1,500 came in from a really nice plastic surgeon in San Antonio. It was obvious from his offer that he was web-savvy enough to know and understand the value of the generic search phrase based domain name. That said, and given my “never-motivated to sell” personality, we ended up agreeing on a sales price of $2,250. Not bad at all for an investment of $7.05.
I have many other examples of such success stories with domain name sales. But you can see and witness first-hand yourself what I’m talking about with a quick visit to Sedo.com and review their “Recent Sales” near the bottom of their home page. For example, on today’s home page, Sedo has confirmed that KidsPraise.com sold for $1,400 (give me a break!), BuyLamps.com sold for $2,775, eGraduate.com sold for $2,500 (a steal for the buyer), Looted.com sold for $4,000 (an overvalued one-word domain and a shocker), LogPosts.com sold for $3,288 (that’s almost impossible to believe), DogRule.com sold for $2,000 (you’ve gotta be kidding me!) and PokerClick.com sold for $5,000 Euros (wow!).
Most of these are examples of what I’m talking about when I say that you’ve got to be very lucky and be matched with the right buyer at the right time. One could sit on a domain name like KidsPraise.com or DogRule.com for several years without getting a single offer. Thus, if you want to fetch top dollar for your domain name portfolio online it is very important to market and promote your domains via several means and modes.
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