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Selling a domain name

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Kowloon Tong
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    282

    Selling a domain name

    I've been corresponding with someone wanting to buy a domain name I registered but never used (and never thought I would sell to a third party).

    The person seems genuinely interested in doing a deal as far as I can tell, ie they have responded to specific questions making spamming unlikely and I can't think how they might be benefiting other than wanting to use the name for their own site as claimed or onselling it at a higher price (which is not necessarily a problem).

    I asked them to make an offer last week, and they've just responded with an offer of US$200.

    I have no idea how to effectively execute payment (or if US$200 is reasonable - it probably covers my costs - is it possible to do an objective assessment or just counter with my own guesstimate based on what I think this person might be willing to pay?). I don't even know how to effect the transfer of the name (its registered through Network Solutions).

    Bottom line is I'm happy to walk away from any deal, although getting some dollars for something I don't need makes sense, too.

    Anyone able to offer advice on how I should handle this?


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    薄扶林
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    47,968

    John Doe, We've generally bought and sold domains through a third party that either manages the process ( www.sedo.com ) or a specialist escrow service that is well aware of all the tricks that a buyer and a seller can play to rip each other of ( www.escrow.com ).

    When it comes to domain names, I generally tell the buyer - make one offer, we will not negotiate. If its too low, I'll walk away and not waste any more time. If they're serious about it, they'll give you a decent offer.

    Happy to help walk you through the process if you have specific questions.

    More info - https://www.escrow.com/solutions/dom...me/process.asp

    Last edited by shri; 13-01-2011 at 09:15 AM.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    636

    You could sell it via auction in flippa.com


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    薄扶林
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    A few things that will help you improve your price.

    Well aged domains are priced higher. Domains which have been around for years, without dodgy content, links etc are looked upon kindly by search engines. New domains are filtered and will not rank until the show certain signals of quality. If you have a 10 year+ old domain, I'd add price that at $1000+ just for the age of the domain (without any branding value etc).

    The shorter the domain, the better... buyers like short brandable, unique names.

    Check the buyer out .. see if any trademark applications have been filed for that name. Someone I know sold farcoast.com for several hundred thousand dollars after figuring that the buyer was Coca Cola and they were launching a multi million dollar business.

    The real pros ( domainers ) will play all sorts of tricks to get the price down (I'm a starving student / unemployed person / startup is a favorite one..)

    (prices in USD)

    John Doe Jr likes this.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    7,441

    There could also be a client behind the buyer to mask the real intention. They might have already got an on selling price for the name.