Advice

A person who has long owned a 3 letter .com domain name reached out to me to try and sell it. It’s a nice domain name and has a great history, but I told her I wouldn’t insult her with what would likely be perceived as a lowball offer. Instead, I shared some advice to help her sell the domain name.

I don’t offer any domain consulting or domain broker services, so I figured I would share this advice in the event someone else is looking for advice on what to do with an unused domain name.

There are three different routes a person can take to sell a domain name. These are not individually distinct, so a person can use a combination of these three options – or even all three options.

I’ve built my business by keeping costs low and reinvesting most of profits into more and better domain names. When I have a nice sale – often after an intense or long negotiation, I like to spend money on something special to celebrate it.

A photo shared by someone named Youssef resonated with me:

Thanks to my domain profits, not my daily job, for this Red Sea beach escape! #RedSea #BeachLife 🌊☀️😂 pic.twitter.com/AKUcXp1nZq

— Youssef (@Aladey) February 14, 2024

I have the lease to own (LTO) option enabled on nearly all of my inventory-quality domain names. The maximum length of the lease term is generally set based on the price of the domain names. There is one category of domain name I won’t offer LTO on – trend domain names.

For trend types of domain names – either a hot topic or something along those lines, I want people to pay in full before using my domain name. I don’t want them to pay a fraction of the cost, use the domain name while the topic is hot, and then dump the domain name back to me once the trend has subsided.

There are many helpful domain investors who share tips, insights, and thoughts on social media. It’s super helpful to see what others are doing and where they are finding success. There is much more real-time information available now than there was when I started out.

Despite all of the data that is freely shared, there is no vetting and/or minimal verification of information. I would imagine most people who share are doing so with good intentions, but even the most transparent people don’t share *everything.*

I took a quick dive into domain investing Reels and TikTok videos. I watched several short videos created by people I don’t know. That doesn’t mean they’re not domain investors as I am sure there are many people who are actively investing in domain names under the radar. The premise behind these videos seems to revolve around how easy it is to make money from domain investing. My reply – it is not easy.

The videos I watched seem focused on buying expired domain names either at auctions or via marketplace where a platform lists recently acquired expiry names at what would appear to be wholesale prices. The videos then advise to get an idea of the value of these domain names – either by using a domain appraisal tool like GoDaddy’s or by looking at the asking prices of similar domain names.