People Are Buying Domain Names!
In the past several months I have spent most of my time focused on the bigger business we are growing rather than flipping domains and growing my traffic domain portfolio. Typically this would mean sales have been few and far between and admittedly for a couple months there were fewer than typical.
But, in the past couple months I have seen a sharp trend upwards in offers even with out any active promotion on my side, although DomainGang.com a great spoof promotion for my domain ExGirlfriend.us, and for those that did not get it, it was a joke although the domain is for sale:)
Not sure if every one is seeing this but the offers on both my exact match keyword domains and on my traffic domains have both been coming in pretty consistently. In the past week alone I had 4 deals closed. Once again, with zero promotion. What is really interesting is I recently shrunk considerably the number of names I actually have for sale due to a separation between company and personal domain assets. So percentage wise it looks even better.
What is really nice here is that 2 of the 4 deals this week were end users that had actively sought out the domain, one a dot com , one a dot net.
Are you seeing the same thing? Feel free to post your current experience with people actively looking to acquire your domains, how has the market been for you?
Hey Bruce,
Thank you for kick-starting the new DomainGang.com promotion. Every Saturday, we will be showcasing for sale a domain in a new and unique way – by delivering a humorous story about it
This is another DomainGang exclusive and in this beta phase it will be free of charge.
No problem @Acro. A fun and engaging way to sell a name!
I have noticed a HUGE surge in demand for my names since December. One reason is I put everything on Sedo and they have drawn more attention. My 4Ls and 5Ls have been the sellers though. Generics are moving slower than brandable. But that’s just me. Acro, keep up the good work but Domain Shane has taken over the Domaining comedy world.
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/domainshane.com
@Shane – Nice to see you have the uptick in sales as well.
You guys gotta watch out, I am almost back to having time to blog more again. I will let you guys have the Alexa for a bit:)
I have seen a slowdown at SEDO relative to Sept-Nov 2009 but some nice movement using Godaddy’s Premium Listings service in 2010 – seven sales so far one of which was my largest sale ever. I didn’t have any domains with Godaddy’s Premium service until late November 2009 and I believe December is normally a slow month for domain sales. It would be nice to see the number of queries for my domains to gauge interest and how often price scares away buyers but Godaddy clearly does a good job of marketing to end users.
Interesting Leonard, that is the first I have heard of that level of success with that, very nice.
Oh, can’t imitate the leaders in domain comedy. DomainGang is simply the best. Sure, anyone can tell jokes but we do it in a classy way
DomainTools sponsored us just for that and we’re about to announce corporate sponsor #2 
Wonderful news Bruce!
What’s interesting is that domainers still think end users don’t get domain values. Well first off, of course they do get domaining, the question is do domainers get domain values in reality? If you hand reg a name for 8 dollars and has a nice exact search count, why not ask a fair amount and both the buyer and seller are happy. A lot of domainers think holly shit man this name is worth 8,000 bucks and that’s my price. Then people bulk because end users won’t buy. A roi is a roi. I don’t care if you sell for a name for 500 bucks or a 1,000 on a 8 dollar investment. Oh wait that name I’m telling you is worth 8,000 bucks lol and let me tell everyone tell domainers on a forum that end users don’t get name values.
Congrats Bruce and your a great domainer and realize when to move on things and when to hold out.
Thrilled to hear they are coming to you and start the talks up with offers.
Cheers and now enjoy the weekend, take the family out to a nice dinner and don’t spend the weekend working away and computer.
@Jeff – Thanks bud. It is about knowing the value and knowing when to sell. All the names sold were very solid returns but also very fair prices for the buyers.
And about the weekend, I am working all night to night on tax stuff to make sure I have the weekend with them:)
@Jeff: What if you have registered that domain, with the ” nice exact search count “, for $8, and you get an unsolicited offer for $100. $50. What if you hand reg that domain 5 years ago and paid $50 in reg + renewal fees? Are you supposed to let that go for a measly $50 profit after 5 years when in fact it IS a $4000-6000 domain? Bottom line is, too many people want these domains for nothing and arent realistic on the other side.
People wouldnt think of walking over to that nice empty lot, one road over from the main road, with very decent traffic, in a very good area, and offering the property owner $5000 on what may be a $75,000 piece of land — or would they……..
Most of the time you have to let these buyers walk. 1/2 the time I notice they come back, as different “names”, maybe even different IP’s and email addresses but with $50 more for their offer.
It doesnt take but a little bit of due diligence to find out exactly who your buyer is. When its NBC TV and they offer $75 for a domain that is clearly a $10K domain or more, they need to be told to take a hike – nicely of course.
@Lisa agree on what you say as well. I’m more thinking on short term flips, inn and out quickly. I’m all for trying get top dollar or my older names. But its face it, if you hand reg a name, 3 word long tail, under 3k exact search monthly search volume and own the name for a month, you pay 8 dollars and its all about return on investment and tying capital up. If I can sell that domain for 100 or 150 to a domainer I will. If I can spend couple hours of work and sell to an end user for 500 I will do that as well.
The issue I have is this basically. Not every name I own is a 5,000 dollar name. I would rather give discounts and free up capital for next purchase or upgrade.
Now Lisa I’m not disagreeing with you and on age of names and carrying costs. Yes I agree on that and the same speech on prime land and etc. Completly agree on this. Candy.com prime land. 3 word long tail hand reg prime land for small search exact search not so much.
I’m all about top dollar for things too. There is a time to take a profit, when to hoLd and when to fold if need be.
Now if they approach you and you get top dollar! Hey that rocks! Congrats.