It’s the end of the year, so I am spending a bit of time consolidating some of my domain names into my GoDaddy account, where I keep the majority of my domain names. For many of these domain names held at different registrars, a pending delete auction win prevents me from transferring for the first 60 days, and I tend to transfer these names in bulk at the end of the year.

I just transferred about 3 dozen names to GoDaddy. I like NameBright and Namecheap, but I feel like I have a better handle on them if I keep them in all in one primary account.

I was chatting with someone I’ve known for many years, and he started to tell me something in confidence about his business. He asked the standard, “can I tell you something that you can’t share with others?” I think my answer caught him off guard.

Instead of agreeing and listening to something that he doesn’t want to have shared, I told him not to tell me. As interested as I was (and still am) in what is happening with his business, I declined to hear the secret he wanted to share with me.

I don’t think successful outbound domain name sales is easy. In fact, it can be pretty demoralizing depending on the response to your outbound efforts. From not receiving a reply to being told off, there’s nothing really glamorous about outbound sales.

If you’re looking to sell an industry defining domain name via outbound, I thought I would share a tip to help find prospective buyers that goes beyond what I typically find with Google, DomainLeads, DomainIQ, and AI searches. Find an industry trade organization and reach out to some of the public facing member companies that would benefit from buying the domain name.

When you agree to a lease-to-own (LTO) domain name deal, you’re making two bets: one on the buyer’s ability and willingness to complete the payments, and another on the platform’s ability to stay operational for the entire lease term. It’s easy to focus on the buyer, but the platform should also be considered, and that decision shouldn’t be made based solely on the transaction cost.

There are some platforms that have operations governed by a governmental authority. I believe Escrow.com, for example, has specific escrow requirements in the different states it operates. I think it also has California-specific escrow requirements it must meet to operate because the business is located there. Law firms and attorneys also have specific governmental requirements and oversights for managing escrow payments and transactions.