Tip for Buying Good Names to Resell

Once in a while, I will have a domain buyer who has a specific type of interest. Generally, this comes from a domain sale I made to an end user, and obviously the end user wouldn’t be interested in random other domain names, no matter how great they are.

If you present this buyer with other good names of similar quality to the name he bought, there’s a chance he might buy others. The problem always becomes finding good domain names that are of the same quality. Here’s a tip I can share with you to give you an idea of what I do.

I search for other websites in that industry/vertical, and I find the websites with the best navigation. I then find the keywords that are used for products and services on those websites, noting those that are used most. Ā  Once I have a list (or while still searching through the list), I do both GAKT searches as well as standard Google searches to see the frequency of searches and the number of companies advertising those different terms I’ve found.

Once I have a list of domain names that I think would be valuable, I come up with a sales price in my mind. This may be the hardest part, but I place a hypothetical bottom price I think each domain name could yield to this buyer or to others. I then begin the process of contacting the owners and/or seeing if the domain names are already for sale, and I make offers based on what I think I can get for the domain name.

There are two things you need to be cautious about:

1) The buyer won’t want additional domain names even if they’re of similar quality. You’ll still be able to pitch the name(s) to others, but end user sales aren’t always easy, and it might be tough to flip specific names to domain investors.

2) You obviously need to be realistic with your price, and lowballing to get a name at your necessary level of profit margin generally isn’t a good idea, unless it’s not owned by an end user. Keep in mind that if the name is owned by an end user already and you do make a lowball that’s accepted, it should tell you something about the domain name!

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

9 COMMENTS

  1. Im so jazzed. I only started domaining 6 months ago .
    i sold 2 domains I bought almost right away one for 500 and one for 300 total investment around 100 bucks.
    Last week I sold a domain for 750 i hand registered two months ago.
    But i just closed my biggest deal yet. I sold one domain for 11,500 i paid a couple hundred for it a few months back .
    Anyway i had a similar name i offered it to the buyer and he took it for 1500.
    What an amazing day.
    I cant give out the url because of our contract.
    Im planning on buying a good domain for development with the proceeds

  2. @ Brian,

    How do you locate a buyer? I put in a ton of work. I’ve been advertising, emailing, writing and using many other strategies. In the past 3 months, I’ve only sold two. I sold two at the end of last month.

    It sounds like you have a good system. I own a name that is far better than a company’s current name. I contacted the company, but never heard anything. For example, their name is _ _ _ _ _ -Texas.org. I have the exact initials and then .org. They plan to expand nationwide. I assume it would benefit them to acquire the
    name.

    I put in a ton of work to find names which are marketable. I turned a few domains I recently acquired into actual sites. I would be interested on how you’re able to make a sale. Thanks in advance.

    Jason

  3. @jason
    The first two domains I sold I basically used the search engines to identify companies bidding on the exact match keyword.
    I than sent out an email stating I noticed you are bidding on x keyword I own xkeyword.com and it is for sale.
    This domain will increase your organic search ranking and increase click through on your ads. It might also help with your quality score lowering ppc costs.
    No reasonable offer will be refused.

    That message gets me a lot of what is a reasonable offer.
    This opens the line of communication.

    The big sale (money came in today šŸ™‚ ) I didnt do anything
    The buyer found me so probably just pure luck

    I did try the same method for stopforeclosure.net and I didnt get a single response so I am sure it is hit and miss.

  4. @Brian

    I appreciate the feedback. I noticed that one of my domains which sold last month was purchased by another who owns the .com. I’m sending a letter to offer two other extension I acquired on the same name. It targets a specific tourist place that is widely popular.

    I resent an email to a company who I offered a domain to before. I never received a reply on the initial message. It is possible the e-mail may have been overlooked. I conveyed the domain will increase their brand online, give them an additional portal and could redirect traffic to their main website.

    My domain is 5 characters which is exactly the name of the nonprofit company. The company currently has the extension with a dash and the state name. Since they are looking to expand
    their products and services nationwide, I sense they would want to obtain a more concrete web presence.

    Do you think these approaches are good to make a sale? The first two I sold were because of Craig’s list, but I’ve been on a dry spell for the past month. I receive more spam and scam responses than anything else.

    I may place a list of five domains on this board I would be interested to hear you pitch them. I want to start moving some domain now, because some will expire in 9 months, whereas others have a year left. I learned about the internal and external factors within search results, cpc and name value.

    Should I change my settings from fixed prices to make an offer? It seems that others have more success with making a sale after receiving an offer, which they then push the domain into the auction marketplace. How do interested parties find certain domains when there are millions to choose from? Would it be best to pay the fee to promote a specific domain?

    Whwn it comes to auctions, I always get turned down by Sedo and never sell anything on Go Daddy. I usually use the basic listing at Go Daddy. Would the multiple category listing improve the chance I’ll receive a bid? I’m sure I’ll have many more
    questions directed your way. I really appreciate expert advice. Thanks.

    Jason

  5. Would it be better to move the name to Sedo and then start sending out emails or would you keep it at the domain registrar and simply send the emails.

    Also, how do you transfer the domain to the end user and how do you get paid (what service do you use)?

    Sorry for asking noob questions and appreciate your help@

  6. @ jason
    I am not an expert just started

    @adi
    I use escrow for the larger sales.
    the smaller ones I got paid first and then transferred the domain

    @jason
    you approach seems good
    Its hit and miss lets just hope for more hits.

    I also develop 99% of the domains I buy
    They are going to be much easier to flip if they have traffic

  7. @Elliot

    I noticed your favorite links. In addition, the Alexa traffic website identifies links coming from a website. I have only 5 links that branch off from my blog. How do you increase Yahoo and Google links? Does the process involve interacting with visitors?

    I’ve alread figured how to use a domain to redirect traffic. Now I want to increase traffic to a few websites. Thanks in advance.

  8. @brian

    Thanks for all the info. I have never sold a domain to an end user but would like to give it a try. I have a few domains and I believe they might be good for some of the companies out there.

    I’ll come up with a nice\short\professional email and just send it out to a few companies. Just to test the waters.

    Thanks for your help!

  9. @brian
    “I sold one domain for 11,500”..How do you determine your price..did you make an offer..can you give us an idea how you came to price this domain…was it a product domain..What were the essential aspects of the domain that u were able to sell it at that price

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