Risks Of Investing In Domains
There are many risks that would-be domain investors should carefully consider before buying and selling. The three largest risks are liquidity, subjectivity and legality, but there are also many other ranging from misleading appraisals to faulty escrow payments. Would-be buyers should carefully consider these risks before investing in domain names.
Sell Via A Domain Name Broker
When selling a highly sought-after domain, a professional broker might facilitate the sale and help you sell your domain name for the best price. MediaOptions and Grit Brokerage, for example, are well-known domain name brokers with solid reputations.
In most cases, domain name brokers work on a commission-only basis, meaning they get paid based on the final sales price. Thus, before entering into a contract with a domain broker, check the terms and conditions and whether there are upfront fees.
However, note that the domain broker might refuse to sell your domain name if its potential price is not high enough or they dont think theres great demand for it.
What Can I Do With A Ca
Host a website or build an online store
A website or online store is an obvious and powerful way to use your domain name.
Create your own .CA email address
Your .CA domain name can be used for personalized email addresses
Link your .CA to your social media profile
You can forward your .CA domain to another online or social media profile, like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Etsy – anywhere you want.
I think a .CA will always be the number one domain for us partly because of the brand value that Canada has abroad the quality that Canada brings, the brand recognition. I personally believe that a .CA has more brand appeal internationally than a .com does.
Connor CurranFounder and Chief Laundry Folder at locallaundry.ca
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Domain Trading: How Can You Make Money With Domains
If you choose the right domain name, it can be worth a lot of money. It doesnt matter what kind of website you have published at the web address. In principle, you dont even need a website to start actively domain trading, since the address itself is the thing with value. If you own a domain that others are keen to claim, you could even make a fortune with it. But how? What do you need to do to sell a domain?
Your very own .ca domain name!
Find your perfect domain name including SSL and a personal consultant!
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Designing A Domain Listing
If you have chosen a platform where you want to advertise the available domain, create an entry there. Like with other sales, there are a few rules to keep in mind: If you state your domain name and price, you probably wont attract too many customers. The platform entry might not be attractive enough. However, those who provide additional information are more likely to encourage prospective buyers to make a purchase.
While it might seem silly at first, you can also add a product description to a domain. For example, you can enter information about the domains previous ranking and provide information about what kind of areas the URL is appropriate for. Even adding a picture is possible: a graphic reworking of the domain name or a screenshot of the former website encourages marketplace visitors to consider your advertisement. If possible, you can also comment on the existing or expected future value of the domain, justifying a required price.
Not all marketplaces offer you the opportunity to store extensive information. However, in those cases, no-one can take advantage of this, so it doesnt necessarily have to become a disadvantage for your listing. Instead, many platforms allow you to promote your domain for a fee. So, if you assume that your domain name will fetch a decent price, it can be worth investing in the additional advertising.
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Run Your Business As A Business
While you might not think of domain flipping as a business, it certainly is. And for that reason, youll want to run it just like any other business keeping track of your income and expenses.
As you acquire more and more domain names, your expenses will start to rise and you might start becoming less profitable. Try to keep your expenses low and cash flow positive to grow your business.
If you are working your business as a side hustle and dont have a significant amount of time, you might consider hiring a VA to help you find valuable domain names.
Determine The Value Of Your Domain
The first thing youll need to do is properly price your domain. A lot of people end up overpricing their domains and wonder why they never have any interest. Just because youve owned a domain for a while doesnt mean that it has any inherent value.
For example
- Is your domain a .com, or does it have some other random suffix? A .com domain will carry a higher price.
- Is your domain name short? Or does it contain a lot of words? Shorter domains tend to sell for a lot more.
- Is your domain easy to spell? Or have a common abbreviation? Domain names that include common words or regular abbreviations will fetch a higher price.
- Do you have hyphens or other elements in your domain? Domains that contain fewer words , and dont include hyphens will sell for much more.
Spend time researching what other related domains have sold for. You can use the tool Namebio to determine what other similar domains have sold for.
There are a variety of online estimation tools you can use, but these dont tend to give very accurate quotes. You can use them as a general indicator, but not as a true measure of value.
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Secure Domain Escrow Service And Its Benefits
When you are selling a domain name, you dont want to suffer because of failed transactions or being tricked by defaulters. Safeguard your monetary dealings the best way to do this is to take the help of a secure domain transfer and escrow service. The escrow system is highly beneficial because a buyer has to deposit money at the trusted source prior to purchase, and the dealing between a buyer and a seller takes place through a secure domain transfer and escrow service. This makes the transaction safer for both parties with the involvement of a neutral third party.
Domain name sellers are advised to use Sedo.com to list their domain name. The real advantage with Sedo.com is the mandatory escrow service that comes with every transaction. The site charges the seller a commission of 15% per transaction or USD 50, whichever is higher, for domain names featured on the site. Sellers who do not list with Sedo.com but would like to use their escrow service will have to pay the minimum transaction fee of USD 50, or 3% of the transaction, whichever is higher.
Escrow service is useful, and cost effective, but only if the domain names have a high enough value. For names that are priced lower, using escrow service may lead to losses.
Determine The Value Of The Domain Name
Before selling a domain name, you first need to figure out how much your domain name is worth. This is easier said than done and the value of a domain name can range anywhere from a few dollars to numbers in the six or even seven-figure range. The only 100% correct answer is that a domain name is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay for it but luckily there are some techniques for appraising a domain name that can give you a good idea about the potential value of the domain name if any.
Start with studying comparable sales: a great resource to find recent domain names sales and research sales of domain names similar to the ones you own is NameBio.com. This awesome site offers a historical database containing $1.5 billion dollars in domain name sales and is updated daily to show how much domain names have recently sold for across a number of different marketplaces. Use it to your advantage to see how your domain name compares to recent sales. Use filters for length, keywords and of course extension to narrow down a list of domain names that sold that are similar to yours.
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What Does It Mean To Transfer A Domain Name
Transferring a domain name means changing the registrar with which your domain name is registered. If you have already tracked down and purchased that perfect domain name for your business or project, but find yourself displeased with the level of service provided by your current registrar, dont worry. Transferring your domain to a registrar that better suits your needs is a relatively simple process.
Domain Flipping Takes Time To Learn
Just like any other field of business, you need relevant experience to become a successful domain flipper. Buying domain names and then selling them at a higher rate is not a piece of cake. You need to stay under the radar for at least a year and learn everything related to domain flipping before you can start selling domains for a profit.
In the beginning, you will make several major blunders like losing money over useless domain names, missing prospective deals and much more but slowly, you will get the hang of it. The road to flipping domains for sums is not easy you need to climb a steep learning curve before you can become a pro.
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How To Sell Your Domain Name
Hi, my name is Michael, and I an a domainaholic.
Im in recovery now, but at one time I owned more than 500 domain names. I realize thats small potatoes compared to the big domain name holders, but during that time I learned a thing or two about buying and selling domains.
The main thing I learned is that it pays to be patient. It can take a long time to sell a domain name.
But, there are steps you can take to accelerate the process. The more aggressively you market your domain, the quicker youll sell it. And if you do it right, youll reap the maximum amount the domain can bring.
Whether you go about selling your domain name in an aggressive or more passive way, the basic steps are the same, so lets get to them.
How To Sell A Domain Name: 9
Many of us have the habit of registering a domain name whenever we have a great idea for a new startup company, product, project, blog or side-business. But those ideas often remain just that, an idea. And the domain name will end up sitting dormant in your registrar account for months, years or even decades alongside an often growing family of other, unused domain names. These domain names dont have to stay dormant starting up a business is incredibly scary, but achievable.
Other reasons for owning unused domain names could be that you retired from or closed a business, decided to stop updating your blog or personal site or you acquired other companies over the years, with their domains. If so, youre probably wondering if these domains are worth anything to someone else and if yes, how you can sell your domain names?
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How To Sell Your Domain
Selling your domain is going to be a lengthy process, and you might not get any bids straight away. It depends upon the existing value of your domain and how well you market it. The process will differ from selling websites, however.
Below we cover the process of discovering the value of your domain name and hopefully selling it for a nice sum.
Is The Venue Trusted And Well Known
Its important to feel confident that you will get paid and that the buyer will get the domain name they paid for.
Pick a place that has good ratings with recognized bodies such as the Better Business Bureau or licensing from a trusted government source.
This will make it easier for the buyer to pull the trigger on the domain purchase as well knowing they can trust the brand that is selling the domain.
A trusted brand is vital when selling a domain.
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Look For Short Domains
Shorter domain names are inherently worth more.
Why?
Because theyre easier to type in and easier to remember. With that said, you might find that these domains are more expensive up front, so youll want to determine how much you might be capable of selling it for before making your purchase.
If youre capable of finding a short domain name, its best to purchase it before someone else does. These domains can be scooped up in a matter of seconds, so its worth a shot.
The majority of short domains have already been acquired under the .com extension, however as other extensions become more popular this provides tremendous opportunity.
For example, a short domain like sidehustles.co could be a top tier domain even though it doesnt end with .com.
Determine The Value Before You Sell The Domain
One of the most common pitfalls that we run into when trying to sell a domain name is believing it is more valuable than it actually is. Reading about those million-dollar sales can lead us to believe were sitting on a goldmine when our domain may only be worth the cost of a nice dinner.
But hey, at least getting the cost of a nice dinner is something. If we dont temper our expectations, its likely well wind up with nothing. Listing a domain for more than its worth rarely leads to a sale.
There are sites and services out there that will provide you with an estimate of a domains value. Those are only estimates though, based on algorithms. And like all algorithms, they are generic, not specific.
I prefer to look at comparable sales. It isnt like selling on eBay where you can see what the exact same product sold for. Domain names are unique, so you have to look for roughly comparable names.
Sites like DNJournal, estibot, DNPric.es, and NameBio provide information on what domains are actually selling for, so they are a good place to start.
There are also rules of thumb you can apply. Like if ggexample.net sold for $100, you can assume that you could reasonably ask for 5 to 10 times more for ggexample.com.
Those multiples work the other way too. If you own a .net or .org version of a .com that sold for $100, you can expect to get 5 to 10 times less than the .com sales price for your domain.
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