Sunday, March 24, 2024

How To Become A Domain Broker

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Namecheap Is The Best If You Can Afford To Be Flexible With Yourdomain Extension

How to Buy and Sell Domains With a Domain Broker | The Journey

Are you looking for the perfect .com domain name or are you more flexible about the exact wording and extension of the domain?

If you have some wiggle room and are willing to be creative, I suggest you check out what you can get at Namecheap. They are a domain registrar, not a broker, but you will find a huge selection of domain names there for much less than you could get through a broker.

You dont get any help with the negotiations its purely a personal process whether youre buying or selling, but you dont pay any upfront costs and theres only a 10% commission on the domains you sell through the marketplace platform.

And if you buy a new domain name directly from Namecheap, theres no commission at all.

I think youll be surprised at what you can find. Namecheap offers domains for $0.99 for the first year. For that price, you wont get a .com or .org, but there are many new extensions available, like .store or .link. And .com domain names start at $8.88 for the first year.

The reason I recommend Namecheap to people considering using a domain broker is that they dont always know whats out there. You may be confused when looking for a five-star domain name, but now you can buy a great one.

If you can afford to be flexible, Namecheap can help you find something. The search tool is great. In the Beast mode of the search function, you can enter up to 5,000 keywords. This will return thousands of results on domains accessed with these keywords.

What Should I Look For When Selecting A Domain Broker

If you were to look for a new home or consider other valuable investment, you would want a seasoned professional by your side to help advise you to the best course of action.

The same is true if you are looking to purchase, or sell, a domain name. Youll want to find a domain broker that you can trust to be an honest agent on your behalf. That being said, what should you look for when selecting a domain broker to help you buy or sell a premium domain name?

How Much Does A Domain Broker Cost

  • A 10% 15% success fee
  • Per project fee
  • Whats the most recent acquisition you closed?
  • How do you communicate during the project?
  • Whats your process like?
  • Are you equipped to handle complex negotiations and coordinate with legal departments where necessary?

Other questions to ask:

Who have you worked with in the past and can I speak to your clients?

Speak with a current client to understand their experience. It gives you a clearer picture of what to expect.

Ask for the contact information of clients for the domain names theyve brokered. How was their experience with the broker and were they satisfied with the service?

Use Whois to crosscheck that references match the seller and buyer email addresses. This ensures that the broker isnt giving false information.

Sometimes, clients have strict NDAs in place that make it impossible to release client names, but a buying domain service should have a list of clients they can share with you.

Do you use an escrow service to close deals?

Do not transfer money directly to the broker under any circumstance. An accredited escrow company is essential to facilitate a domain name transaction between buyer and seller.

Escrow.com is the industry standard in domain brokering. There are other reputable domain name escrow companies such as Epik.com that facilitate transactions.

What is your commission and how long is your exclusivity period?

Read Also: How To Sell Your Domain Name

Is Their Service White

For a lot of our resellers, remaining in control of their brand and customer experience is super important. And it makes sense. Offering a stellar customer experience sets providers apart in a competitive market. As mentioned above, domain owners receive a number of mandatory notices from their registrar. When your customers receive these, will they think they are receiving a message from you, or some other company theyve never interacted with? If its important to you that your registrar provider stays behind the scenes, make sure this is, in fact, the case.

Track Record And Testimonials

4 Week Domain &  Website Broker Training

Some domain deals cant be publicly disclosed. But there are plenty that can. Lots of domain brokers will have a dedicated page on its site where it lists its track record selling or acquiring domains for past customers.

Its important to look for this as proof of its brokerage process and as a way to measure its success rate. At the very least, testimonials can help you get a better-rounded idea of the quality of services offered.

I highly recommend you do this with every domain broker youre thinking of working with as you narrow down your search. While some domain brokers are a full-blown team, others are a small business of two or three that work on a more intimate level. The more proof you have of a successful track record of some sort, the more trust and confidence you can have going into a deal.

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Handles Paperwork And Domain Transfer On Your Behalf

If you dont have experience buying a domain, theres a good chance you dont know how domain escrow works.

When the deal is complete, a reputable domain broker provides you with all relevant information and paperwork related to your domain transfer.

Not only can a broker oversee the process, but they also ensure that the domain transfer is completed in the safest manner possible.

Is Being A Domain Reseller Profitable

Absolutely. Some providers, like Hover, for example, have built their business around selling domain names its their bread and butter. For most of our resellers, however, the real value that domain names bring is that they often complete a service offering or website building experience. Beyond earning a potential margin on each domain name sale, you realize the long-term benefits of increased customer stickiness and a great UX. Plus, youll be able to attract customers who are in the dreamer phase: not yet ready to build their website, but definitely ready to secure the URL for their big idea.

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Scour Domain Auction Sites

Some site owners put their domain names up for sale on aftermarket domain auction sites.

Why would people sell their domains?

There are four major reasons:

  • They are not using the name .
  • They know theyre sitting on gold and want to cash in.
  • Their business is taking a different direction altogether.
  • They are domain merchants who live on buying and reselling domains.
  • Here are the top 5 auction marketplaces to help you kick-start your search.

  • Sedo
  • Display A For Sale Message On Your Domains Home Page

    My name is Darryl Lopes | When I was a Domain Broker in the Cayman Islands.

    Believe it or not, the number one source of secondary market domain name sales is buyers typing the domain name into their Web browser and navigating to the domain to see if it is available. There are a bunch of domain tools out there that can help you manage the sale.

    To boost your domain name sales, you first need to make sure that your domains resolve to a page that, one way or another, clearly indicates that the domain is for sale and provides a choice of ways for the prospective buyer to contact you or purchase the domain right away, whether that be via email, phone, chat, or whatever.

    The goal here is convenience. Theres a bunch of easy ways you can accomplish this.

    Your domain name registrar may provide you with a free one-page Website tool, which you can use to create a this domain is for sale landing page. Alternatively, you can create a single page that indicates that your domain names are for sale. You can then forward all of your domain names that are for sale to that one page.

    If you are feeling ambitious, you can link each of your domain names to its matching buy it now purchase page at one of the marketplaces. Another more sophisticated option would be to park your domain with one of the leading domain parking companies, such as DomainSponsor or SmartName and enable their built-in for sale message and contact mechanisms.

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    Best Domain Buyer Brokers In 2021

    Here are four expert domain buyer brokers that I consider to be the best domain buyer brokers around, based on their reputations and track record.

    Name Ninja

    Name Ninja is another dedicated buyer broker service, working purely with startups and entrepreneurs on domain name purchases. Founded by Bill Sweetman, Name Ninja has a track record of working on acquiring valuable domain names. Most of Sweetmans acquisitions are entirely under the radar, but he has publicly disclosed buys such as Carrot.com and Files.com.

    Website: NameNinja.com

    Media Options

    Media Options is primarily a sales broker that has won Escrow.coms Master of Domains award for two years running. The company has sold domains such as X.com, Zoom.com, and Prime.com. Aside from sales, Media Options does offer acquisition services and has worked with countless startups and entrepreneurs to secure domain names.

    Website: MediaOptions.com

    NameCorp

    NameCorp is run by Alan Dunn, a digital naming expert and brand consultant with over 20 years of experience. His company never reports domain sales, but he has been pivotal in the acquisition of names such as Alan.com, Beacon.com, and Yap.com.

    Saw.com

    Make Contact And Gather Information

    Once youve made contact, the first thing you should do is discuss the brokers previous track record. If you dont already have it, begin by asking for a list of domain names that the broker has successfully sold in the past.

    Although they are unlikely to divulge any prices, a perusal of the list should provide evidence whether or not the candidate deals in quality names. Youll want your broker to have a solid track-record and a strong knowledge of your niches webspace.

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    Use Charm Pricing To Increase The Likelihood Of A Sale

    Theres a reason a lot of products on store shelves have prices that end in 99 or 98. This is called charm pricing and it has to do with retail psychology.

    You can and should apply this best practice to your domain name pricing. For example, even though a domain name priced at $1,999 is only $1 less than a domain name priced at $2,000, the $1,999 domain will feel like a much better deal to many potential buyers.

    Domains, like most products with charm pricing, have been statistically proven to sell much faster. I know this may sound crazy, but it works!

    Godaddy Domain Brokerage The Best For Buying Domains Under $5000

    4 Week Domain Broker Training

    Tons of people use GoDaddy Domain Brokerage to buy a domain name thats currently owned by someone else. Heres why: its really straight-forward to use and there is virtually no work on your end.

    Plus, GoDaddy brokers will go after any domain you want, regardless of the price.

    I recommend it highly for people that dont want to spend more than $5,000 on a domain. The truth is that this is a fairly low number in this space. A .com domain with words youd find in a real dictionary is usually going to cost five to six figuresmaybe a lot more.

    Youll find that GoDaddy has a higher commission rate than what you get by going with a smaller domain broker. The trouble is that those smaller firms dont always agree to take on clients looking to buy small fish domains of less than $5,000.

    GoDaddy doesnt care about the cost. Once you connect with a broker, they will chase down any domain your heart desires. So if your budget tops out at a few thousand bucks, GoDaddy is a great place to start.

    Simply reach out to GoDaddy and tell them the domain you want. Youll get an email back asking you to name the price you are willing to pay.

    From there, GoDaddy handles everything else. The broker spends up to 30 days tracking down the domain owner and trying to negotiate a price. If the broker is successful, the domain is yours. Simply follow the guided steps and youll be in control.

    Read Also: How To Change Ownership Of Domain Name

    A List Of Companies That Have Upgraded Their Domain

    Before taking the step to upgrade your own domain name, it may be beneficial to have some data on companies that have already taken that step. Here, Ive compiled a list of companies that have made domain upgrades since 2017.

    This isnt an exhaustive list, and these may not be outright purchases , but real-world data is often very helpful in research. Where possible, Ive included the domains purchase price as listed at NameBio.com.

    Note that these purchases may or may not have been brokered by a domain buyer broker.

    Company Name
    titan.com

    Finding And Evaluating A Broker

    Domaining.com has a directory of domain brokers to help you get started. You can also search Google for brokers.

    Regardless of where you find a broker, its extremely important to vet them. There are no licensing requirements for domain brokers. Anyone can start brokering domains by simply saying they are a domain broker.

    Here are some important questions to ask before selecting a domain broker:

    • Who are some of your previous clients? Can I speak with them about working with you? You can also read about client experiences on NamePros, a domain forum.
    • What are some domain names youve sold?
    • How will you market my domains? Will you do outbound sales? List them for sale on websites/newsletter/social media?
    • Will you use an escrow service to complete the sale? Be sure the broker uses a reputable third-party to hold funds There have been cases in which a broker acted as the middleman for funds and people complained about not getting paid.

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    Check The Domains History Before Buying

    Like people, domains have a history. That history must be meticulously checked.

    Check three crucial issues:

  • Bad Backlinks Thoroughly examine the site backlink profile using your favorite SEO tool such as Ahrefs or SEMrush. Any bad links from link farms, Private Blog Networks , or Press Release syndicates? If the profile is dominated by suspicious links think twice.
  • Ownership history Inspect how many times the site has changed hands since the original owner bought it- the more it has been bought and resold the more worried you should be. To check for a sites history insert the domain name into the search box on Whois Lookup Domaintools Scroll down to Registrar and Hosting History. Rapid changes in ownership and hosting in a short time are signs of instability.
  • Trademarks The last thing you want is to buy a domain with a trademarked term and run into legal trouble a few months down the road.Trademarkia allows you to search federally pending and registered trademarks to screen out marks that are already registered.Just type in the domain. If any part of it is trademarked, the algorithm will pick it.
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