Ask HN: How to Sell Domain Names? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to Sell Domain Names?

8 pointsSMAAART7 comments

I know, I know, buying and selling domains is so 1999, but... I do have a portfolio of about 100 very decent domain names that are valued anywhere between around 2,500 and 25,000; generic names not infringing on anyone's trademark, and yet they can be trademarked in the future. Think Time.com in 1992.

I was talking with a domain broker at a party a few months ago and he was telling me that he does "outreach", hiring an offshore call center to cold call brands whose interesting dovetails with his domains.

Is that the best was to do it?

I am thinking about starting an LLC, transferring all my domains to it, and raise capital for the selling operations, but I have to come up with the selling strategy, that is the second part of the secret sauce.

Any innovative/disruptive ideas?

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Add some free hosting to the domain (Github allows you to create pages for a domain of your choosing, for free). Then add a contact email so prospects can get in touch if they want the domain. Then you just give them the transfer code upon payment. Only caveat, they have to trust you to give them the transfer code, which is why you should probably use a middleman to broker the deal. And there's plenty of 'domain flipping' services to do just that:

https://www.dontworkanotherday.com/guide-to-domain-flipping

https://sitebeginner.com/domains/domain-flipping/

https://www.sidehustlenation.com/domain-flipping/

https://www.makedollarswork.com/domain-flipping/

I wouldn't dismiss the domain brokers ideas but wouldn't be too caught up with them, either, unless you have tried it yourself first. There are domain auction sites. You might start there with a handful and see how it goes. I get solicited all the time for domain names that brokers think I might be interested in due to my industry. But I've already established a reputation with the brands/URLs I have, so I'm not in the market. The people to solicit are those who are formulating a brand strategy but need a catchy name. Those people are hard to find You would have to know what people are thinking when they are CONSIDERING starting a brand. Here's a place to get started with a few and see how it goes: https://themeisle.com/blog/premium-domain-name-for-sale/

>”I was talking with a domain broker at a party a few months ago and he was telling me that he does "outreach", hiring an offshore call center to cold call brands whose interesting dovetails with his domains.”

I am genuinely curious as to how successful this actually is. I suspect it isn’t. I can’t imagine many businesses or brands are receptive to buying a scalped domain name because they were intrigued by an unsolicited call from an offshore call center.

Chances are, these entities have already gone through the trouble of trying to get a good domain name and have passed on whatever names have already been parked/speculated on by some “domainer” (scalper) and have chosen an alternative that hasn’t already been bought and works well enough for them.

I am curious about that too.

How about you see if you can sell some of them yourself first before raising capital to try and outsource sales.

You’ll be selling the idea that someone else may be able to sell these domains vs. just selling some of the domains yourself.

Also, since there is no real downside, why don’t you just post the list of them here to see if folks have ideas or want to buy them.

> How about you see if you can sell some of them yourself first before raising capital to try and outsource sales.

Good question. I have done this in the past. Now, let's say that I have "discovered" a sub-niche in the whole TLD universe (hard to believe, I know) and my strategy is to buy about 1,000 domains to stake my territory there, and of those I am pretty sure I can sell quite a few for >25K each, the remainder would be less, and - of course - some would remain unsold.

In the past I have done lease-to-own domain deals.

> Also, since there is no real downside, why don’t you just post the list of them here to see if folks have ideas or want to buy them.

It's one of those things that.. once you see it a lot of people would say "Why didn't I think of that?" So I am laying low for now. While I could foot the bill to register the 1,000 domains, and I will, and I will also incorporate a special entity just for this project; I need to acquire "domain expertise" (pun intended) how to monetize the portfolio, I don't want to have that many domains sitting there unused, but I don't have the bandwidth or expertise to do outreach business development.

Hmm… I have a friend who has made millions buying and selling domain names if you’d like an introduction.

1,000 names is what, $10k? You could just sell 1 of the names, but the domains, and then get someone to sell them.

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