5 Domain Tools I Use Daily

Without using a handful of domain industry tools, I don’t think I would be able to make a living from domain investments. Some of these tools are used to gain knowledge and others are used to do domain name research and due diligence on domain names I want to buy.

There are several tools I use daily, and I thought I would share 5 of them with you. Three of these tools require a paid membership, and two of them are free.

If I missed an essential tool, I invite you to share it with me.

DomainTools (Paid) – I use DomainTools for historical Whois searches to help me find domain owners and perform due diligence on domain names I am looking to buy.

NameBio (Free) – I use the comparable sales data from NameBio to get an idea of what similar domain names have sold for in the past. I can also use it to help make offers on domain names with a sales history.

DomainIQ (Paid) – I use DomainIQ to see what domain names are owned by various people. This can help me identify names in a portfolio that I want to pursue. This tool also helps me find domain names other people own that I might want to buy when I am negotiating. It also helps me with due diligence when buying a domain name.

FreshDrop (Paid) – I use FreshDrop.net to analyze domain names that are coming up for auction. I can set filters and sort domain names in an easy to use manner allowing me to find domain names I want to pursue each day.

Domaining.com (Free) – Although this isn’t really a “tool,” I couldn’t leave it off a list like this. I am on Domaining.com more than many other websites and it’s the place I use to find domain industry news.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

41 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for the reference. I confirm you are the second older blog listed at Domaining.com, just after Rick Schwartz. A domaining pilar!

    On my hand I have been using DomainTools.com and Valuate.com daily these past years but now I almost only use DomainIQ.com (through the DOFO browser’s pluggin – I am lazzy) for the ability to access buyer portfolio and an easier presentation of the domain history.

    I never played the drop game so never really used dropping tools.

    ZFBot.com is very good to help find potential buyers but I use it rarely as I prefer to wait buyer’s offers better than suggest domains and sell for cheap.

    Screenshots.com is another tool I use sometimes.

    For a reason I ignore I never look at past sales at Namebio or similar services, the valuate/estibot appraisal gives me an estimate that is enough for me. Now I admit NameBio has been really improved this year, it’s now a very nice tool.

  2. Elliot,
    Thanks for sharing. What other tools do you use to contact end users? Or to find end users ?

    For example; Data.com for end users or Toutapp.com to manage email marketing.

    Rafael

  3. Domains are like food.

    If it tastes good, eat it.
    If it smells good, eat it.
    If it looks good, eat it.
    If it feels good. eat it.

    That why all my hand reg 99cent domains are selling good!!

    • “selling well.” selling good–whatever

      As DomainS says, money is money and all you need to know is just sell what the demand calls for.

      4yrs ago I bought lots of 4L domains dirt cheap as low as $10 a piece or $20 for 5 of 4l domains.

      Remember, 4-6 yrs ago, nobody wants them??!!! and those were the domain experts who think they know everything…and dumping them.

      oh well…

  4. Domaintools is not a valuable tool anymore as it was 10yrs ago. Domainers are not important to them anymore. They now target and cater to the IP lawyer community.

  5. I use DomainTools all the time. Does DomainIq provide anything that DomainTools doesn’t?

    Also, I use DomainMonster to see what ccTLDs are taken for a specific domain instead of just searching for the most common extensions.

    • I like using DomainIQ to see what other domain names people own and filter searches by value (I believe Estibot values). For instance, if I am looking at a 10,000 name portfolio, I can easily search by what Estibot considers the most valuable domain names in that portfolio.

    • Thanks, I might try it out.

      Oh, archive.org is also a useful tool to me because the screenshot archives are more comprehensive than DomainTools’.

  6. I use Archive.org almost daily, especially as I buy almost exclusively expired domains. I want to know whether the names were ever developed, and what sort of website operated on that name previously. Checking Archive.org certainly saved me from buying an otherwise cool sounding brandable name that had previously sold counterfeit handbags and had been taken over and shut down by Homeland Security… Not exactly the sort of past baggage a brandable name purchaser wants to inherit….

  7. As a complete and utter novice, newcomer and whatever else is applicable to me, I would appreciate it if someone would recommend some ‘learning’resources in the dark arts of domaining?

    I’ve been buying up a small portfolio of, what I think may be desirable, domain names, with the vague idea that I might be able to make some money in re-selling them, at some future point in time. However, I have a problem; I haven’t got a clue where to start. I guess all you other people had the same problem when you first started out/

    I’ve built up a small portfolio of about twenty something TLD’s, and would be really grateful for some guidance on the best way to proceed to sell some of them. Thanks in advance!

    • Ian, if you really are that new then you should know that if you happen to have anything really valuable you can expect an army of people trying to convince you it isn’t worth much and trying to buy it from you dirt cheap. Also, DO NOT enter any of the so called domain “appraisal” areas of any domain related discussion forum with any of your domains. That would be a huge mistake, and they are nothing but cut throat shark tanks where the same thing goes on and worse. These are things the rest of us learned years ago of course.

      If you have mainly new TLDs now then it would seem you probably don’t have anything very valuable, unless you happen to have picked up some of the most killer ones possible, especially during EAP (early release before general registration).

      You’re kind of playing with fire if you’ve begun with new gTLDs instead of .com, and unless you had money to spend on an already valuable .com, it would be unlikely but not completely impossible that you have anything all that valuable now or likely to become very valuable. Then again, who can say.

      At the top of this page you will find a Resources link which you should check out.

      At this blog, the illustrious host Elliot Silver is focused on valuable .com’s and is taking a wait and see approach to new TLDs now. As far as new TLDs go for resale, you would only want to look at the best of the best for that. But it would be much safer to stick to .com if you are thinking about resale, and to invest $ in one valuable one vs. many junky ones. I am primarily and end user and only secondarily a seller. I definitely do like some of the new TLDs, only a very small few (see my posts here, for instance: https://www.domaininvesting.com/do-you-own-any-new-gtld-domain-names/), but if you are just starting out and don’t know much then it’s safer to start with .com and look for one good one instead of 20 ones that may leave you high and dry if you don’t already have some of the best of the best of the new TLDs.

    • Hi John
      Please forgive the lateness of my reply, I’ve only just found your king reply to my original enquiry. So, firstly, many thanks for your much appreciated advice, I really do appreciate it; and, yes, I am that new!:-)

      However, probably by sheer luck, most of the domain names I own actually are .com names.I will take your advice, “At the top of this page you will find a Resources link which you should check out”, and I will do so.

      I also looked at your early January postings on this blog John and I can see that you’ve been around ‘domaining’ for some time. As I previously mentioned,I really haven’t got a clue, so I’ve got a lot of learning to do.

  8. I was shocked today when I received an automatic email from Domaintools informing me that something had changed on a domain I had on the watch list.

    Rec’d notice from DomainTools on 1-15-16. The change occurred on 12-29-15. I can understand a couple days but 17 days later???

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