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Taglines/Names   URGENT - Need Help Fast!  
 
This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
How To Find Buyers For Great Unused Domain Names?
Posted By: Matt* on 3/13/2007 2:18 AM (CST) 1000 Points
I will choose the 2 or 3 best answers, so here's a chance to rack up a lot of points.

For clients of mine, and for my own ventures over the years, I've generated possible names and registered the dot com domains -- so I have a growing inventory of excellent domain names (short, trademark-able, clear, communicative of benefits, memorable, etc.). Some of these I or my clients will eventually use, but not all. They are the result of creative effort, branding expertise, and research, so they are worth more than a trivial amount.

I receive inquiries frequently with no marketing on my part, but I want to find a low-cost, relatively low-effort way to reach multiple prospects who understand the value of these names such as (perhaps) branding firms, naming consultancies, start-up entrepreneurs, et al. I want to generate sufficient interest to fuel an auction, with multiple buyers bidding the price up.

An example: I recently received an offer for one domain name -- innovisual.com -- so I have put it up for auction at GoDaddy's domain name aftermarket, to see if I can attract multiple bidders. But there are hundreds of thousands of domain name auctions on that site -- most are nonsensical, awful names -- so I am not expecting anyone to discover my auction. Rather, I will need to communicate the availability and value of what I'm offering, and drive traffic to the auction.

That's where you come in -- I'd like responses to the following questions:

1. What have you actually done in terms of low-cost marketing that resulted in the sale of one or more domain names for more than $1,000? I'm talking about proactive marketing and selling, not just passively receiving an inquiry and negotiating a sale.

2. Even if you've never done it, how would you suggest marketing and selling high-quality unused domain names? I'm looking for approaches that are promising, practical, innovative, and low-cost. And I want specifics, i.e. tell me the actual steps required to implement your idea.

3. If you have specific leads for me, you can post them here or contact me privately (via my profile).

Thanks for your help, and perhaps your responses will be useful to other marketingprofs members as well.

Posted by: rjohnni Member Response
3/13/2007 6:45 AM (CST)
Hi matt:

Though proving that I am greedy for the points, by being here as the first one, I liked the challenge. You want to sell your bank of innovatie names to a drought hit namezone in the internet.

1. Create a Portal: This is an idea for today and a viable biz model for tomorrow when your namebank empties. You can launch a portal that specifically talk about the innovative, creative and in need of names. The criteria will just be that, that they be intersting on certain parameters. Once you promote your website using the relevant tools, the traffic should satisfy your biz requirement. Once the model takes off, you can invite similiar names to get advertsied or displayed in your portal for sales. So you not only generate revenue with your exisitng names, you also pave way for a future biz.

2. CONTACT: A DM /eDM exercise to the prospects: organisations that may need the names, branding consultants, naming consultants, leading hosting companies and leading ISPs. Also buy Adwords and see how you can hit the jackpot.

3. FOCUS: make sure that your communication is 'your offers are not exactly cheap' etc. So that the prospect interaction from day one is going to be to a vendor who provides million dollar webnames at a decent pricepoint. So you can avoid the non quality enquiries. The premium positioning will help as no one else is occuppying that position also....so you can be the only player providing 'milliondollardomains'

KUDOS
 
Posted by: NuCoPro Member Response
3/13/2007 7:27 AM (CST)
You can remove "start-up entrepreneurs" from your list of candidates. I know from my own experience and those of my colleagues - paying for a URL is NOT in the budget, other than the domain registration fee. You just keep searching until you find something open.
 
Posted by: DesheaW Member Response
3/13/2007 9:10 PM (CST)
I HAVE A QUESTION IM INTRESTED IN BECOMING A VENDOR FOR A GROCERY STORE IM A COLLEGE STUDENT AND I DO NOT HAVE MY OWN BUSINESS BUT I HAVE THIS GREAT RECIPE THAT I WOULD LOVE TO GET OUT THERE, NOW DO I HAVE TO OWN MY OWN FOOD COMPANY TO BE A VENDOR THIS IS MY PLAN I PLAN TO SELL THE GROCERY STORE MY RECIPE AND THEY COULD PUT IT UNDER THERE NAME.
 
Posted by: amandajo Member Response
3/13/2007 10:09 PM (CST)
Hi Matt,

If you want easy and low cost, and want to drop the domains rather than get more with a portal. Just make a quick auction site. You can make your own pretty easy but also see: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=auction+site+template
(or use ebay)

Then follow the contact advice from rjohnni. Except just advertise your auctions.

I am not to worried about the points so I wont bother to give you a step by step other than that, but I hope my advice helps!

-Amanda
 
Posted by: farfromnormal* Member Response
3/14/2007 12:10 AM (CST)
chk out

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums
..go to domain name on left column(sitepoint marketplace)

beg ,borrow or steal the points...

Good wishes
Palak
 
Posted by: darcy.moen Member Response
3/14/2007 2:39 AM (CST)
You could try listing your domain names for sale with a company that specializes in selling domain names. Small companies may not buy domain names, but if the name is just right...you might get your asking price. Here is a link to one such company: http://www.sedo.com/?language=e&partnerid=28653 (oh yes, one can also search domain names offered for sale at the same link. Good names are for sale for less than what you might think, so go shopping). Sedo will also act as a broker if need be. They are very active in selling domain names.

You might also want to have your domain name appraised to make sure it is as valuable as you think it is. It may help you sell a domain name is it is appraised. See here for appraisals: https://www.securepaynet.net/gdshop/dna/appraisal.asp?app%5Fhdr=&prog%5Fid=...

Another option is to log into some of the webhosting forums available. Some of these forums have a special area where you can list your domain names for sale.

You could try to develop the domain name yourself, build traffic to the site, but keep a little for sale sign on the site and see if you get any offers for it. In the meantime, you can build Page Rank and traffic, and perhaps earn banner ad or per click revenue on the domain.

I've seen park pages and park page revenue share plans available too. When you park the domain name with a domain for sale page, you can share ad revenue and per click revenue from the park page. You can find out more here: http://www.customerloyaltydomains.com/

Building a page with page rank adds more value to the domain name. Some companies will pay a premium for a domain name with traffic, so consider investing in developing the domain property with content and traffic.

Hope this helps you.

Darcy Moen
 
Posted by: Y Lo* Member Response
3/14/2007 8:57 AM (CST)
I don't have a whole lot to offer at this moment, but agree with some of the comments above. I have experience at Fortune 100 companies, private equity-owned and non-profit firms. None were willing to buy a domain name. They saw no value in it as creating names was not too difficult as we could look to corporate names, brand names, or could even play off our positioning statement. Also, with the flexibility of adding symbols, e.g., dashes and such in the nomenclature, it was a no-brainer to go with something home grown.

When you say trade-markable, are you assuring the buyer that the name indeed is not already a TM or circle-R? This could be a sticky legal point down the road.
 
Posted by: KathySmithFilms* Member Response
3/14/2007 12:36 PM (CST)
Hi Matt ,

All of the above, except DesheaW whose question got stuck into your thread, are great advise.

On some of the websites from the past which have already sold, can a buzz be created or some sort of promo of their success in your new portol you will be advertising this? I feel a survey of 3 questions would be good with questions designed around the words, have, do, be for starters then things you want to know from your intended new audience. Once they punch in the answers and give you an e mail you can see which new name they are interested in purchasing.

The auction idea is great! What fun! Still needs to have a press release or some PR as you approach could generate a lot of interest. I would love to know some of your names as I would love to help promote your unknown names to my public in Hollywood. If you survey this site you will discover that there are a lot of reaches for names and taglines and that will give you more ideas on your survey.

Good luck on this,
Kathy
 
Posted by: kevin.horne Accepted Answer
3/14/2007 1:40 PM (CST)
I'm really mixed on whether this is even a good business strategy to pursue.

On the one hand, other than marketing costs to get this thing out there, your expenses are trivial (your purchase price). So if you get a few really big hits, the payoff will be great.

On the other hand, the process for coming up with a name pretty much mimics what you said yourself in your post - to paraphrase, it is the result of research into brand and customer insights and drives home the point of a "big idea" (not to get all Donny Deutsch on ya ;-). I really doubt you'll be able to reverse the process, a la someone sees a domain name and then creates a big campaign around it. For example, in which order did the new Calvin Klein campaign for IN2 begin? (The site for the campaign is called whatareyouin2.) My guess - the product came first.

The portal idea seems a little me-too. And you would have to really keep it up-to-date, so it might get more complex (expensive) than you think or want. And then you have to drive the right people there.

Also, an auction would hack me off if i reached out to you first and then you said hmmmm someone's interested - let me start a bidding war.

Still, I might give something a try - a PILOT, to see if it is promising. Here are the steps:
- Organize your domains into categories, probably by company type. For example, if you have domain names like "innovationiscool" you might not choose grocery or CPG as targets.
- Create a differentiated position. It is not "we parked these names ha ha pay us a fortune you losers" but something that shows you are trying to help "We reserved these names for YOU. Talk to us about how we can leverage these domain names to grow your business around big brand ideas" blah blah
- Get direct mail lists for one (or more) of the following: Brand Managers, Heads of Internet Mktg, Agency creatives, and Agency Account Execs (if they exist)
- Create/send a direct mail letter with the right category of domain names to each target (e.g., send the "innovationiscool" etc. to hi-tech company names on the list) using the "new" positioning
- Call to action could be the portal if you decide to do that, or simply an 800# where you could negotiate over the phone, fax them other domain names, etc etc. At least at that point you have a real lead.

My two cents anyway.
 
Posted by: Matt* Author Response
3/15/2007 5:51 PM (CST)
Thanks to all who have responded so far. (And the rest of you, jump right in!)

Vevolution and Y Lo, I respect that you are speaking from experience, yet I have received offers for domain names both from start-up entrepreneurs and from established companies. And, clearly some entrepreneurs and companies DO perceive quite a lot of value in a good name, or they would not pay the high fees of naming firms and branding firms.

Here's a rigged example, to make a point: imagine you're trying to come up with a great name, and from a long list it gets narrowed down to two names. One name has 10 letters and no hyphens and is highly memorable and relevant to your desired positioning (e.g. "innovisual" for an innovative, visually-oriented product or service) -- but the domain is already registered by me. The other name is not registered by anyone, but is hyphenated and has 19 letters and is not distinctive. Wouldn't you consider purchasing mine? And wouldn't it be worth even a few thousand?

If there are people who want good names and are willing to pay decently for them, then I am not willing to write them off at the outset just because they are a small segment -- on the contrary, I'm very interested in ideas for how I can market to them, either directly or through intermediaries.

Also, Y Lo, re trademark, I'm not offering legal guarantees. But an initial trademark search shows no trademarks for any of the names I'm selling (that's part of the screening I do when creating names in the first place). So I think it is a reasonable risk, which of course the buyer factors into the price. If you want to buy an actual trademark, you'll pay a whole lot more than I'm asking.

kevin, I agree that segmentation and differentiation may be the key. And you raise an interesting question about "reversing the process" -- you use the Calvin Klein IN2 example -- with domain name "whatareyouin2" -- and you guess that "the product came first." That name gives me not a clue as to what the product is, so to me, that's an example of one form of "reversing the process" -- whatever your product, find a cool name you can own that you think is brandable, and that is relevant to your positioning -- not necessarily to the features of your product. IN2 is a cool name that could work for almost any product or service that targets younger people who value self-expression. My point being, again, that I think there's a high end market for such names, without having to be in on the product development and strategic market planning process from the start. And, thanks for directing me toward understanding potential customers' process -- that's clearly a useful line of thinking, and if you (or others) have further thoughts on it, please post them.

I'm hoping some of you have other ideas that would help reveal and reach the high end of this market -- because I'm offering high quality, and the low end isn't worth my time.

Leaps of imagination, factual info, contacts, experience-based advice... I welcome it all!

Appreciatively,
Matt
 
Posted by: ggrover Accepted Answer
3/15/2007 6:58 PM (CST)
Matt:
I think you have the right idea in getting your names in front of branding/naming consultants. There was a time when clearing trademark hurdles was the big challenge for naming firms; now it's providing clients with not only stellar names, but available URL's as well. In fact, domain search engines (such as nameboy) often serve as another "creative tool" in the name dev. process. Great names often get tossed because the URL is taken. So having a couple of URLs free and clear--particularly if they are more lifestyle-oriented --might be something an agency would be interested in having in their back pocket.

I think you need to have a sense of what you want for the name in advance. IMO, bidding wars aren't the way to go--set your minimum price. If you want, you could add a fee structure based on the profile of the company purchasing, e.g., Fortune 100 versus small start-up. (I'm sure you're aware that larger companies use brokers to negotiate purchasing URLs so they're not paying a premium for this very reason...). Agencies don't have time to waste on bidding wars--if the URL is good, they'll give you a fair price.

Here in the SF Bay Area, the naming community is relatively small--the top tier folk all know each other. (In fact, we often will enlist each other as additional creative resources on projects.) I think you need to approach agencies directly (ideally where you have an “in”) and gauge the interest in seeing your list. If they’re not interested, they might be able to point you in the direction of someone who is.

There are definitely folks out there buying "cool" domains--some even creating identities to go with them--and then flipping them.

Tap me off-list and I'll see if I can put you in touch with some folks doing this...
Gaynelle
 
Posted by: darcy.moen Member Response
3/15/2007 8:44 PM (CST)
This sounds like the dude who created a bunch of names that were unique, different, and did not mean anything in any language (this guy is a linguist). He registered or protected his intellectual property, and I believe he registered all as domain names. He now sells these names as brands or markeable names for new pharamcueticals (like Vi@gra and Ci@lis). I suppose he makes a mint.

You might do alright registering and parking domains, but the trick is to sell them. Some companies, when seeking a new domain, may move on and keep thinking when they encounter a domain already registered. Other companies may consider someone registering and holding domains for sale for what may be considered a high price, may even consider such actions as cyber squatting or holding good domains for ransom.

Selling the names is not so easy, and many many have tried. Companies like Sedo have sprung up to act as a broker to sell domains and act as a legitimate service to a niche market. Enom, and Sedo do a decent job, but domains selling for $1,000 or more are rather rare. You might have to work hard to find a better solution than the companies that already are doing it.

I was thinking of your question earlier today, and mentioned it to my business partner. He said: 'if you come up with a better way to sell domain names, you better charge more than 1000 points for it, like maybe ask for REAL MONEY'. I just had to laugh, hope you do too.

Darcy Moen
 
Posted by: retail Member Response
3/16/2007 1:52 PM (CST)
I did not look to see if this is already mentioned, my apologies if it has been.

One idea is to let the name sell itself - specifically create a page for every name that you have with a way to contact you.

On the page let them know it is for sale and available.

Many people think of a name, then check to see if it is there and if so, they will at least go to the page to see the content.

Good Luck
 
Posted by: Matt* Author Response
3/16/2007 4:32 PM (CST)
Darcy, I did laugh at your partner's comment. It's true, I'm not looking for a way to sell names. To clarify something, though: I created these names among others for particular projects -- and they are original, not cyber-squats on some existing company's name. So they represent intellectual property (as with the linguist you mention). I may still launch the web sites for some, but don't have time to pursue all, hence my question.

Also, Sedo acts as broker for those who want to buy names, not sell them (according to their web site). If anyone knows of a decent seller's broker, please let me know.

Thanks again for all suggestions and info,
Matt
 
Posted by: Matt* Author Response
3/16/2007 5:32 PM (CST)
Oops, what I meant to write in the post above was:
"It's true, I'm not the only one looking for a way to sell names."
 
Posted by: darcy.moen Member Response
3/17/2007 4:08 AM (CST)
Sedo is definately in the domain sales business. Read details how here:http://www.sedo.com/services/s_selldomain.php3?tracked=&partnerid=richardhertz&language=us

My partner Kelly has a couple domains he's offering on his website: http://www.fatbrand.com/

Note how subtle Kelly is offering (lower right corner)

Darcy
 
Posted by: Matt* Author Response
3/18/2007 12:43 AM (CST)
Darcy, of course Sedo is in the domain sales business in that you can put a domain up for sale on their site. And there are many, many sites where I can do that.

That is not what I mean by a "seller's broker." I'm talking about someone who could find potential high-end buyers for me, interest them in my names, and negotiate for me. Now that would be useful!
 
Posted by: Matt* Author Response
3/21/2007 1:58 PM (CST)
Thanks, everyone, your responses have overall been very helpful to me. You've provided a good range of information and advice from very basic to advanced. Darcy, you stayed more on the basic end, and your thoroughness will I think be quite useful to many who are less familiar with the domain name market.

For my purposes, the most useful responses are creative high-end market strategies, and insider advice and connections. If there are more of you out there with that to offer, you have another day or two to chime in before I select the winner(s) and bring down the curtain on this show.

Matt
 


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