Question

Topic: Other

Best, If Any, Way To Sell Domain Names

Posted by SRyan ;] on 9/7/2004 at 4:51 PM ET 750 Points
Has anybody here had any luck selling domain names? We probably own about fifty that we registered way back when we were brainstorming ideas for product names and other stuff. Some of them are due to expire in November, and I'd rather not let them go if they have any value.

I do realize, of course, that this is not 1999 and people aren't paying ridiculous sums of money for dot-com identities. Ah, the good old days!!

Our domain name host has provided one of those lame landing pages that says "this name is for sale" when someone tries to go to that URL. (Not exactly a proactive marketing push -- to see what I mean, try visiting www.FormFly.com.) Last year we did, however, get a buyer for one of our unused names that way. If you're curious, they paid us $600 for Regpoint.com.

I've seen people offer cheap domain names, often with websites, for sale on eBay. It usually seems to be a ploy to sell ongoing hosting services to the buyer, though.

Any and all ideas are welcome. The best ones get the points, though! (Or maybe a free domain name.)

Shelley ;]
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 9/7/2004 at 5:01 PM Accepted
    Shelley,

    Check out Afternic at www.afternic.com

    They use to be THE broker for used names, back in the good old days.

    You can also see what they are getting for names which will help you in your valuation. Some of them you might want to renew if you don't sell them!

    I hope that helps!
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 9/7/2004 at 8:13 PM Accepted
    Hi Shelley,

    Years ago I tried to sell hubmaster.com. My only offer was $100.00 and I turned it down and eventually just let it expire. Here are a few more links:

    https://www.greatdomains.com/

    https://www.sedo.us/main.php3?language=us

    https://www.domainmart.com/


    Good luck in selling some of ‘em,

    - Steve
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 9/7/2004 at 9:35 PM Author
    Tim, Afternic looks like a possibility. Thanks for recommending it.

    Steve, I'll check those other resources out tonight.

    Tate, I don't know what the buyer did with Regpoint. Maybe they're just using it for email.

    Marcus, while I don't mind building minisites, I'm too cheap to pay a web hosting service to park sites for these names! But the CAR idea... hmm... I was thinking of selling my own car, so maybe I could bundle them together!

    If anyone wants to see the names, you can go here to see the full list.

    Yes, some of them are weird or silly. Don't ask.

    Those that start with "reg" or "gov" came out of a brainstorm session we had when our product first focused on the regulatory and e-government market.

    My favorites are the first two, Digicrat.com and G4B.com. I wanted to coin the term "g4b" a long time ago when everyone was tossing around the b2b, b2c, and b2g lingo. Instead of Business To Government, I thought the online market needed to address the Government For Business space! Since then, I've learned that g4b is also shorthand for God Forbid.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 9/8/2004 at 6:41 PM Accepted
    Shelley

    I don't think you need to pay a hosting service to park each of the domain names. Can't you put them all under an existing webpage (like a sub-directory) and get the sub-page registered via DNS?

    e.g Say existing domain is www.shelley.com and you want to create minisites for chris, you would set it up as
    www.shelley.com/chris and then register the IP address for the page as the domain name register to point sstraight to that page, where you have created the one-page minisite and domain name sales brochure. Repeat for each domain name you have registered.

    I would go on a more proactive campaign as well, targeting the kind of companies you had in mind when you registered these names to let them know it's for sale - send them a link to the page - if they don't buy the name, they may still buy your design services.

    Good Luck

    Chris
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 9/8/2004 at 6:44 PM Member
    BTW your daughter has perfectly captured your aura, even got the colour right!

    (visit shelley's website www.bootnik.com if you don't get it!)
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 9/8/2004 at 6:53 PM Author
    Chris, I'll ask my domain hosting service if there's a way to redirect visitors to my bootnik domain page. Seems like every little service requires a monthly fee, though, and even if it's only five bucks, it gets pretty expensive when you multiply it for 32 names!

    Glad you like my aura. What does bluish-green mean, I wonder?

    Shelley ;]
  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 9/8/2004 at 10:10 PM Member
    I have sold a several via ebay for about the same price you received. Plus, one guy called me up one day and offered me $500 for supercoolproducts.com.

    I used to own a bunch of Las Vegas hotel names and sold them to the hotels for good money.

    So, my answer is post ebay auctions, and send me an email to get that one dud'e info to see if he wants to buy any of them from you. I might want a few as well...do you have a list?

  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 9/8/2004 at 10:35 PM Author
    Hi, Blaine... I posted a link to the list earlier. In case you missed it: https://www.bootnik.com/domains.htm

    I'll email this link to you as well. Thanks!
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 9/9/2004 at 2:07 PM Author
    Tim, on your suggestion, I just joined Afternic to get the domains some exposure. The one-time $10 registration fee lets me list all my names (although I'm having to get the tech support guys to help with the upload, durnit!). The appealing fringe benefit is that I can use their online forum to get subjective appraisals and additional advice from DN fanatics/professionals. Points for you!

    Steve, I also joined Sedo (no charge) to list the domains. However, I'm not going to pay for their "featured listing" sections, so I don't expect big results. Interestingly, Great Domains won't ACCEPT domain names that don't pass muster, so I'm waiting to hear if I can put G4B.com on their list (I don't think any of the others will qualify). Points for you, too!

    Chris, I'm not sure that a page or folder within a website has a unique IP address -- the top-level domain does. Maybe I will look into redirecting those pages to Bootnik's home page, though. The idea has earned you points here.

    I'm closing this question, but maybe I'll come back and add a comment later if I've got any interesting results to share. Thanks, ya'll!
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Other)