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Whonami-There are different ways to buy used domain names

There are different ways to buy Used Domain Names

Of course coming up with a list of domain names and then looking to see who owns them is only one way to find good domain names. There are several other methods that have become standard in the industry. Online auctions, name listing services, and domain brokers are all great ways to find good names at bargain prices.

Dealing with Appraisers

Appraisers and consultants can be very useful when you’re buying or selling domain names. Their expertise in the industry could save you thousands of dollars when considering a domain. But beware – no matter what an appraiser says, your domain is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Many domains appraise for hundreds of dollars, but really aren’t worth much at all (perhaps not even the registration fee) simply because there isn’t a market for the name. Novice domainers often go through a phase where they buy several such non-valuable domains only because an appraiser or automated appraising service (which we recommend avoiding) told them that the name was worth a sizable sum.

Choosing the Right Appraiser

It’s important to choose a good appraiser that won’t try to inflate a domain price just to promote other services, such as domain brokerage, escrow, or listing services. The position of an appraiser who doubles as a broker has a very precarious relationship with his/her clients. It is very easy for an appraiser to give a potential buyer a higher price than a domain name is actually worth. While there are a number of variables that consistently help predict the value of a domain name, there are just as many unpredictable factors, and therefore it’s virtually impossible to come up with an accurate price.

Using our previous example, if the owner of the domain name carparts.com has the site listed on SEDO for $10,000 and you want to know if the domain could be worth much more before investing the money, use an appraisal service other than Sedo. Sedo will get a percentage commission for the sale, so the higher the sale price, the more money they stand to make. Check out our resources section for recommended Domain Appraisers.

When Appraisers Get In the Way

While an appraiser can help you bring down a domains price while negotiating (or help you confirm a domain name’s value), they can also hinder your negotiation strategy. If an appraiser has convinced a seller that a domain is worth more than your offer, you will have a much harder time convincing that person that your offer is reasonable.

Sometimes the easiest thing to do in such cases is use a brokerage service, which will be discussed later.

Auctions

When using an online auction (or even an offline one), try to keep in mind that while you can get lucky and find a great bargain, it’s just as easy to over-pay for second-rate domains. Auction goers can get into bidding wars where pride suddenly becomes more important than their search for a bargain. As a matter of fact, an appraisal company recently published results showing that people paid up to seven times more than a domain name’s market value in one of the industry’s most popular auctions.

At the same time, there are plenty of domains that go virtually unnoticed at such auctions and can be purchased for very reasonable prices. If you’re hunting for domains at auctions, make sure you remember you’re there to get a quality domain for a good price. Don’t chase a purchase if it gets driven out of what you consider to be a reasonable price range.

Domain Listing Services

Domain Listing Services are a great way to pick up good domain names, but they are also full of worthless domains that you must sort through. Use precaution before jumping into an expensive sale and remember what you’ve learned about what makes a good domain.

Once you’ve learned how to discern a good name from a bad one, searching through a listing site’s directory will pay off. You might find one or two good names someone has had listed for a long time and make a low offer. This is a great way to get decent domains with minimal investment.
Now that you know how to buy domains, let’s look at ways to sell domain names.

(Written by Igoldrush)

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Whonami-How to find the right names to buy and weighing prices?

How to find the right names to buy and weighing prices?

When looking for domain names to buy on the secondary market, you may find it productive to undertake the same research process you would follow if you were going to register an available domain name, such as keyword research. However, once a third party becomes involved, other factors must be taken into consideration, including:

  • How important is it for you to secure this specific domain name?
  • What kind of budget do you have available for purchasing the domain name?
  • How quickly do you want to complete the transaction?

Here’s a specific example: in your research, you find a piece of new software that will make it very easy for car parts dealers to take their stores online. That information, coupled with your own experience, has shown you that the likelihood of finding a simple, memorable domain name relating to that industry is zero. However, you decide that you can afford to spend up to $10,000 on securing a suitable domain name because there will be a higher demand for it in the future. So, you draw up a shortlist of names that you’re absolutely certain would have a high resale value by next year (none of which are currently available). This list includes:

carparts.com
car-parts.com
carparts.net
autoparts.com
automobileparts.com

Now it’s time to start honing your list down to the top one or two candidates. To do so, you need to examine the use to which the name is being put. Try and visit each domain name on your shortlist by typing it into the address bar of your browser to see if it currently has a website associated with it. If there is a site associated with the domain name, is the site:

A) Related to the domain name, and associated with a successful business that is using the domain name as its primary URL?

In the example, if you were checking the domain name “carparts.com” and you found a site belonging to a company selling car parts, with “CarParts.com” as its company name or in its main logo, with an up-to-date News section and copyright statement on it, then clearly the domain name is being put to very good use by its current owner. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 10/10.

B) Related to the domain name, and associated with a successful business that is NOT using the domain name as its primary URL?

If you checked out “carparts.com” and found an up-to-date site belonging to a company selling car parts, with “AutoParts.com” as its company name or in its main logo, with an up-to-date News section and copyright statement on it, then while the domain name is clearly being put to good use by its current owner, the owner is not using the domain name as the primary domain name for their site. This may make it a little easier when it comes to negotiating a purchase. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 9/10.

C) Related to the domain name, but containing clearly out of date material?

If you checked for “carparts.com” and you found a site with broken links, missing pictures and a 4-year-old copyright notice, then things are looking more promising. While the domain name owner clearly made good use of the domain name at some point, it is not being used very effectively right now. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 6/10-8/10.

D) Related to the domain name, but essentially linking to one or more affiliate programs?

If you checked for “carparts.com” and you found a single page with a few affiliate program links relating to car parts sites, your attempt to purchase the domain would be very closely tied to how much revenue the domain is currently generating. In other words, the current owner is monetizing the domain name by sending its traffic straight to an affiliate program and receiving a commission from the transactions generated by visitors. Therefore, the value of any sale must reflect this loss of income in addition to the value of the domain itself. However, the current owner is less likely to have any deep or long-term attachment to the name. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 5/10-7/10.

E) Unrelated to the domain name, but linking to a generic affiliate link or parked with PPC ads?

Using “carparts.com” again as the example, if you visited the site to find a generic “Hottest Sites on the Web!” page filled with affiliate links to gambling, credit card, cell phone, loan and other ads, then any transaction will likely be based on primarily on how much revenue the domain is generating. It’s also clear the current owner isn’t too sure what to do with the domain name, since they’re not targeting it at an appropriate affiliate program. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 4/10-6/10

F) Showing a generic “Registrar” page or a blank “Under Construction” page

If “carparts.com” directed you straight to a page advertising a Registrar’s services or an Under Construction page, then clearly the owner hasn’t “moved in” to the domain name yet. At the same time, they are not currently doing anything with the name to generate revenue, so it may be easier to persuade them to sell it. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 3/10-5/10.

G) Pointing to a “Domain for Sale” page

This could be your hardest challenge or an easy transaction. The domain name is owned by somebody who, at the least, understands that desirable domain names can have value. The prospect of closing a sale will depend on the desirability of the domain in question, the current owner’s expectations and experience in the domain name resale market, and your negotiating skills. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 4/10-10/10.

H) No website at the domain

If the domain name is not currently pointed at any website, this at least tells you that its owner is not making any money off of the domain name right now. Maybe there used to be a site at that domain name or maybe the server hosting the site is offline. Whatever the reason, the domain name is currently gathering dust, which should make it a little bit easier to close a sale. BUYING DIFFICULTY: 2/10-8/10.

Now that you know a little about the difficulty in picking up names from website owners, let’s look at how domainers usually try to buy the names for the right prices.
(Written by Igoldrush)

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Whonami- To buy a domain name from a third party

To buy a domain name from a third party

What happens if the domain name you want is already owned by a third party?

In this case, unless you believe you have a fundamental legal right to the domain name and are prepared to undertake aUDRP dispute or other legal action against the domain name’s current owner, there’s only one thing left for you to do: make an offer to buy the domain name directly from the current owner.

While nothing can guarantee the success of any particular transaction (much will depend on the current use of the domain name, and what the current owner values the name at), the right approach can increase your chance of completing a successful transaction while at the same time reducing the amount you’ll have to pay to secure the domain name.

If you already know which domain name you want to buy, you can move on to the initial approach to the “seller”. If you’re not yet certain which domain name you’re interested in, or if you want to explore the options available to you, then read on.

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Whonami-There are some warnings about monetizing domain names

There are some warnings about monetizing domain names

Like every other industry, the domain name industry has its own set of etiquette rules. Ignoring these rules could result in a bad reputation or being banned from certain sites. In some cases, it could even land you in court.

Cybersquatting

The term cybersquatting refers to the practice of buying a trademarked domain name with the intention of reselling it for a high price or damaging the reputation of the trademark owner. That sounds like a nice simple explanation, but the rules concerning cybersquatting are still somewhat open to interpretation.

For example, the company Virtual Works registered the name VW.com. It was challenged by Volkswagen, known as VW for short, in 1999. Volkswagen lost the battle that year, but came back later with an appeal and won the court case and the domain. Conversely, eToys.com tried taking the name etoy.com from a Swiss art company; the courts found in favor of the Swiss art company in this case.

As long as you remember to use common sense when registering domains, you probably won’t have any trouble related to cybersquatting. Registering kodak.ru and using it to sell cameras is obviously a bad idea, and it could likely land you in court. It has happened before and will likely happen again.

Click Fraud

There are several forms of click fraud. The only one concerning this guide is the kind PPC sites or parked pages would use to make fraudulent money. In this case, a website owner clicks on the various PPC ads on their own site in an attempt to generate more revenue. Sometimes software is used to automatically click through links from different IP addresses. Either tactic will get you banned from most PPC networks or parking services.

You would also gain a bad reputation with other domainers since the high click-through rates would make your site seem more valuable than it really is. If someone were to buy a name from you that vastly under-performs, word could spread and damage your ability to make future sales.

Typo-Squatting

Typo-squatting has not yet been established as a crime the way cybersquatting is. It also is not yet as damaging for your reputation. But, many in the industry do frown upon the practice.

Typo-squatting is when you buy a domain name that is very similar to a popular domain or trademark, hoping for unsuspecting users to mistype a common domain into their browsers. For example, buying frod.com in the hopes of receiving traffic from those who meant to type in ford.com would be typo-squatting.

In most cases, typo-squatted domains are full of PPC ads. The first of the links is often one that leads to the site users had meant to type in.

Obviously, the owners of many large, well-known sites are opposed to this tactic since it preys on their visitors. It remains to be seen if such practices lead to anything definite in the way of legislation (recent court cases have not been unanimous in decision). Regardless, the practice of typo-squatting is becoming increasingly frowned upon in the online community and is not advised or advocated by this guide.

(Written by Igoldrush))

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Whonami- Way to developing domain names

Developing Domain Names

Domain development is often confused with the ‘stencil’ method of putting the same content on several domains and then selling the domains as ‘businesses’. True domain development consists of building a website with unique content (or functional tools) and receiving a residual income from the site itself as opposed to the domain name.

The reason some domainers develop their domains is because having a well-known domain is like having a good foundation for a business. Since very valuable domains already receive a certain amount of type-in traffic, developing such a domain into something useful can only increase the traffic, which will make the domain name that much more valuable.

How can you make money from a developed site? You could set up an online store and sell things. You could set up a membership site with a forum and sell advertising directly to advertisers. You could set up a news/information site and give readers some kind of bonus incentive for paid memberships (or, again, rely on money from advertisers). And, of course, you could develop a content/information site and earn money from PPC and affiliate ads.

A simple way to figure out how to develop a money making site is to search for successful sites related to your domain name. What are they doing to develop their domain? Would it be easy enough for you to do something similar?

The Difficulty in Developing Sites

Developing a site isn’t easy, even if you know how to design a website. The real difficulty is in finding an idea that hasn’t already been tried, or in making an idea that has been tried work better. Of course, if your domain receives a lot of type-in traffic, the sheer number of users who happen across your site could make even a worn out idea profitable for you. Website owners usually spend more time promoting than developing their sites. Since a domain with lots of type-in traffic doesn’t need as much promotion, it will be that much easier to make money from the domain name.

But even without promotion, a developed site is basically a business and must be treated as such. That can mean anything from updating your store details, filling orders and answering phone calls from customers, or even moderating user created content.

If you find that developing domains becomes profitable, you could easily trade the time you spend ‘domaining’ for time spent developing and running a business. Not that this is a bad thing, but it’s different than domaining, and shouldn’t be confused with domain development. The purpose of developing a domain (from the viewpoint of a domainer) is to increase the revenue made from it while holding the name (spending as little time as possible on it), and to increase the overall value of the domain name. The purpose is generally not to start another business.

(Written by igoldrush)

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Whonami-Top Non .com gTLDs domain names sales Aug. 24, 2015 – Sept. 6, 2015 by DNJournal

Top Non .com gTLDs domain names sales Aug. 24, 2015 – Sept. 6, 2015.

Two short domain names rounded out the first five with Sedo selling #4 238.net for $9,130 and NameJet moving #5 LX.org for $8,500. The Non .Com gTLDs were led by one of the year’s six biggest sales in this category – Y.top at$78,500 via Jiangsu Bangning.
1. Y.top $78,500 Jiangsu Bangning
2. Degrees.net $16,500 NameJet
3. Data.world $10,000 Pvt Sale
4. 238.net $9,130 Sedo
5. LX.org $8,500 NameJet
6. Super.club $7,095 101Domain
7.Betting.club $7,000 GoDaddy
8 Sea.club $7,000 GoDaddy
9. Anzeigen.info 6,720 Sedo
10. OurVoice.org $6,000 Sedo

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Whonami- Two of the Ten Biggest Domain Name Sales Reported for the two weeks ending Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015

Two of the Ten Biggest Domain Name Sales Reported by DNJournal

Leading the charge was PX.com at a cool $1 million – only the second seven-figure sale reported so far in 2015. he other big sale just became official this week when SnapNames informed us they have closed the $480,000 sale of 358.com.

No Domain Sold For Where Sold
1 PX.com $1,000,000 MediaOptions
2 358.com $480,000 SnapNames
3 Projects.com $82,550 SnapNames
4 Y.top $78,500 Jiangsu Bangning
5 Scarf.com $63,000 Guta
6 TheRake.com $42,000 MostWantedDomains
7 OAL.com $33,000 NameJet
8 SGJ.com $31,500 Sedo
9 Aitch.com $30,000 eNaming
10 ISU.com $25,000 NameJet
tie
10 Zoff.com $25,000 Sedo
tie
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Whonami- Using cheap domain registration for pay per click website

Using cheap domain registration for pay per click website:

PPC sites work almost the same as affiliate sites, except you earn money every time someone clicks on one of the ads on your website which differs from affiliate marketing, where you are only paid when someone actually makes a purchase.

How It Works, In a Nutshell –

To make money from PPC (Pay Per Click) ads, you start by developing a website, usually with informative articles, visually appealing graphics, or some type of networking system, like a forum.  Once the site is complete, sign up for a PPC program, like Google AdSense or Yahoo Publisher Network and place the ads on your website. Most programs will automatically inventory your content, and then display ads with similar themes.

For example, you publish an article on your website about house pests. You then take the code provided to you in your AdSense account and put it somewhere on the same page as your article. The PPC system will see the keywords used throughout the article, and, when your page is loaded, ads from pest control companies, or other pest removal services, will automatically be displayed on your page.

You take the same code that you had used, and put it on a page with an article about finding the right shoes to match a new dress. When that page is displayed, the ads will take browsers to clothing stores.

Every page will display a different set of ads based on its content and every time an internet surfer clicks on one of those ads, you’ll make money. The amount of money that you make per click depends on the popularity of that keyword and how much money those advertisers are paying to get their ads out.

One temptation you must fight is to click on your own ads or to encourage others to click on your ads. Advertisers and PPC networks fight this type of ‘click fraud’ constantly and taking part in it will quickly get you banned from the various programs in which you are participating.

Finding the right PPC Domain Name

Use the same guidelines outlined above for finding a suitable name for affiliate site. Like affiliate websites, the most important thing to consider when creating a ppc website is to select domain names with popular keywords.

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Whonami-How to sell your domain names?

To sell your domain names:

A domain names seller can be as aggressive with sales as he or she wants. But in the domain industry, there are some drawbacks to aggressively marketing the sale of a single domain.

First of all, when trying to sell a domain to suitable companies, you run the risk of happening on one that might already have the phrase or name trademarked. If they can prove that you tried to sell the domain to them (or even their competitors), you could become implicated in a case of cyber-squatting. So you have to be careful when soliciting individuals about a domain sale.

You also may have to lower your price if you decide to promote your domain name sales. After all, marketing involves finding a need for your product and sometimes that requires creating a need. If the target audience isn’t already actively seeking your domain name, then you don’t have quite as much leverage when negotiating a sale. Remember, you approached them, not the other way around.

But at the same time, aggressively marketing something is the key to making more sales. That could mean posting your sales on forums, if allowed. It might involve sending out press releases. It could even be a simple matter of knowing where to sell your domains (how much coverage a specific broker gets and how aggressively they market their own services).

The bottom line is that launching a marketing campaign will bring you more sales, but waiting for the buyers to come to you will usually result in higher sales prices.
Another way to sell more domains is to establish yourself as a domain reseller. This, however, takes time. It also requires investing money in enough quality domain names to establish yourself as a reliable source, which can be an expensive endeavor. If you’re a skilled negotiator, you could make some substantial profits. However, this method requires substantial investment without any immediate returns. It’s better to at least gain some experience in the domain industry before trying this method.