image image image image image image

How to Sell Domain Names (Step-By-Step Guide & Tips)

How to Sell Domain Names

How to Sell Domain Names (Step-By-Step Guide & Tips)

Selling a domain name at a profit requires a clear-cut plan to sell it at its valued price. Even with basic knowledge on finding suitable buyers, you still need assistance in certain aspects, or you’ll get dupped.

Fortunately, you can take several steps and measures to ensure that you learn how to sell your domain name without any hitches or fear of someone acquiring your domain name without paying.

This article will help you discover the steps you need to take to sell a domain name at a profit. Let’s cut to the chase.

Step 1: Establish Your Domain Names Value

The first step towards selling your domain name is determining its worth so that you don’t price yourself out of the market.

However, determining what your domain name is worth isn’t that easy as you might sell it for less than what it’s worth. But if you’re lucky and in rare chances, you might sell it for more than its initial value. To be safe, check out the methods below to know how you can correctly price your domain name:

1. Search for Comparable Sales

You can use NameBio.com to get resourceful information regarding domain name sales. Similarly, you can search similar domains that match yours to know their listing price.

NameBio is well established and has a background database that accounts for $1.5 billion in domain name sales. Moreover, the site is updated daily to show the exact number of domain names that have been purchased in various marketplaces. So, it’s an ideal platform to help you determine how you’ll price your domain name.

Furthermore, you can narrow it down to the keywords and filter so that you’re left with a filtered list that will give you the precise number of domain names that have been sold and at what price.

2. Try Domain Name Appraisal Tools

Using a domain name appraisal tool will come in handy, especially when you want to know the exact value of your domain name. Some of the tools you can use in this case are GoDaddy or Estibot.

GoDaddy and Estibot use sophisticated algorithms to evaluate your domain name based on numerous factors such as word count, domain length, pronunciation, keywords, monthly searches, click cost, and extensions.

However, you have to know that since these appraisal tools are primarily automated, they won’t be as accurate as you’d want them to be as domain values isn’t a technological absolute. But it’s still worth a try.

3. Get a Domain Name Professional’s Opinion

If the first two methods don’t work for you, you can look for an expert to provide you with a quality assessment of how much your domain name costs. However, the expert must be qualified and have the knowledge required to identify and tell you how much you might get if you choose to sell your domain name.

Similarly, you can choose to use free appraisal services such as NamePros that helps people sell or buy domain names to make profits. However, prepare yourself psychologically for candid answers and note that not everyone who writes a comment is a specialist.

Step 2: Set The Right Price For Your Domain Name

After determining your domain’s name worth, you can now take the next step and decide on the exact pricing technique you’ll use to price your domain. Generally, numerous domain names are sold at around $2,000 on the aftermarket, while those on the secondary market go up to $5,000.

That being said, you shouldn’t place a heavy price on your domain name if you know that, in reality, the price is farfetched. You need to be more realistic with your pricing to get buyers quickly.

Domains to be sold immediately (Buy-it-now) often sell out instantly compared to the standard offers. This is because the buy now technique brings a sense of urgency to the buyers; hence, they move promptly to secure the domain names before someone else does.

If you have a domain name in high demand and don’t mind negotiating with multiple potential buyers, you can go with the offer technique (Maker an Offer) and not slap a fixed price on it. Whereas negotiating these deals might take quite some time, you’ll still benefit as you can get a higher amount than what you had initially anticipated.

Step 3: Try A For-Sale Landing Page

Generally, when people need a domain name and want to know if they can secure it, they often search in their browser. However, if they can’t see information stating the domain name is for sale or your contact, you’ll be missing out on numerous selling opportunities.

But with an effective plan such as a for sale landing page, you automatically make it known to potential buyers that the domain name is up for sale and how to contact you. The best part is that there are several ways you can design a for-sale landing page to help boost your domain name sale.

If you own a website, you’ll simply have to divert every domain name you have, and you’re ready to sell with an inquiry form to a landing page. Alternatively, you can try for-sale landing page marketplace sites like Afternic and Sedo.

However, the downside of incorporating such pages is that they have a lot of ads that often distract or draw away the attention of potential domain name buyers. Similarly, you’ll have to pay a commission between 10-30% of the price received if you make sales through the marketplace.

Even so, you can still use commission-free sale platforms such as Efty that will help you sell your domain name immediately at a low cost. Moreover, Efty conducts all the updates and ensures your landing page is up and running, and the best part is that they have optimized pages that help sell the domain name quickly.

Step 4: Put Your Domain Name Up For Sale On Marketplaces

Apart from making potential buyers know the domain name is up for sale and availing of your contact information, you can also add your domain name on marketplaces to have a considerable impact and stand a high chance of more people bidding for it.

Note that massive marketplaces have consistent buyers and various dispensation networks. They partner with other websites like registrars to place your domain name on the radar of potential buyers worldwide.

Step 5: Try Auctioning Your Domain Name

You can also sell your domain name on an auction site as it has a lot of returns than the usual selling process. Auction sites operate just like eBay and similar platforms, and you’ll only need to come up with a list and place a reserve amount or the starting bid.  Similarly, you can choose to go with a “Buy it Now” price.

However, you have to know that most domain name purchasers at auction sites are generally well-established investors who primarily buy the domain name to resell it at a profit. That being said, you have to take up the wholesale route or the reseller price thats mostly 5-15% of the domain name retail price.

Step 6: Look For Outbound Sales Buyers

If you have a unique domain name, you may need to work smarter to quickly sell the domain name by getting in touch with wealthy businesses that may realize the profits of using your domain name.

Generally, when you take up the outbound sales route, you’ll need to know that most of the transactions will be run on the phone or email to the targeted audience. Ensure that you search for businesses and organizations that complement your domain name’s keyword when conducting your research.

After identifying the business, you want to target, use tools such as Clearbit and Linkedln to get the names and email addresses of the chief marketers of the companies you’re targeting. From there on, start a conversation that will ultimately help you strike a deal with them. However, if you come across a small business, I suggest contacting the business owner directly to secure the deal.

If you want the emails and messages to be impactful, personalize them and make them simple while explaining to the chief marketer or the owner how they will benefit from buying your domain name. Ensure your responses are polite even if they don’t take the deal at first, as they might opt to come back later after thinking about it.

Step 7: Get A Domain Broker

If you have a valuable domain name and don’t know where to start or sell it to, you should probably get an expert domain broker to help you secure a significant deal from buyers and manage the entire process. Note that you’ll only pay the broker a commission that’s only a percentage of the price the broker gets for you.

It’s also important to note that most brokers work well when they know how valuable the domain name is and that they can get a substantial commission once they deliver a great deal. Engaging a domain broker to show you how to sell a domain name in no time will save you time and bring in qualified buyers faster.

Here’s a list of domain name brokers:

  • Starfire Holdings
  • NameCorp
  • Evergreen
  • Buckley Media
  • Media Options
  • Grit
  • com

However, ensure you conduct proper research on which broker fits your plan before assigning them the work.

Step 8: Try Escrow Service For Secure Money Transfer

When selling your domain name online using services like escrow, you’ll reduce the chance of getting duped, especially if you don’t have a domain name broker. Escrow will see that you get paid your full price as long as your buyer is satisfied with the product.

Escrow services are extremely impartial as they treat both buyers and sellers equally throughout the transaction. The buyer will be required to deposit the needed domain amount to escrow. Once the service payment has been received and authenticated, the seller will then avail the domain name to the buyer and transfer ownership. Once the buyer confirms ownership transfer, the escrow service will release the money to withdraw to your desired account.

In Conclusion

It’s clear that selling a domain name isn’t a walk in the park, but it’s also not impossible. There are many ways you can go about it, such as hiring a domain name broker to help you find a suitable buyer and be in charge of executing the deals. Alternatively, you can do everything yourself and use an escrow service to ensure you don’t get duped.

Either way will help you sell your domain name at its market value or more.

Leave a Reply