discuss 2020 changes, improvements and goals...please share

[Mister Funsky]

Today I am looking back on sales made and sales missed in the last year and have decided to make some changes.

It is clear that it is only due my own hard learned selling skill set (over many years) combined with the quality of a particular domain that any of my names sold last year. Although the names are listed at all the biggie selling/market places, NONE of them made a sale without my eventual input...so why pay a 9-30% commission?!?!

Each sale at a marketplace came thru the lander at that marketplace (due to my name pointing the name there). At one marketplace the 'broker' made a price suggestion for a name which I rejected and then responded to with my own higher price (30% more), at which the name sold. This happened more than one time at the same marketplace with me going higher than the 'broker' suggested and achieving the sale at my higher price.

So, one logical thing to do is to find a parking provider that will not charge a commission for using their parking with a 'free' contact form that would appear should someone click on the 'for sale' link. The other option is to create my own marketplace and forgo any parking revenue. For payment I would take paypal for lower level sales and bank wire/payment service for the higher dollar transactions.

So now the search begins for: 1) a parking solution with a 'free' contact form. 2) a lander solution whether I create my own marketplace or use one of the paid services. 3) a payment solution that has reasonable fees for accepting and distributing funds.

It is amazing that after all the years I have been doing this that things seem to have come full circle...in the beginning it was up to a domain investor to take care of all the phases...then 'marketplace' solutions came along, some with no or very low commission fees and some that offer payment methods. Now those fees have gone through the roof however there is no increase in 'broker' activity and/or quality. It is clear that unless a domain name is a super premium the 'brokers' at these marketplaces do nothing...and, as we all know, a true super premium domain does not need a broker to begin with (assuming the domain owner is active).

I am genuinely curious what everyone plans to do differently (or keep doing) in the new year and what sources and resources he/she is using to achieve specific goals. Most of this info is scattered about here on namepros but it would be awesome if everyone from old timers to newbies would share some thoughts on all these issues in one place/thread...if we elevate each others knowledge base and skill set, our sales will increase both in volume and dollars/euros. (please note that I am not asking for you to share super secret sales techniques)

Please contribute to our collective and updated knowledge base here and may all of us have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

 

[Reddstagg]

Great minds! As you were posting I was on the efty site! I was just checking out their new SSL lander option with non-efty based marketplace url showing. Because the contact page did not have ssl before I was not interested in paying for their services, but now I have to add them to my 'consider' list. I will post the link below to their video.

https://blog.efty.com/2019/11/12/it...red-by-efty-hosted-on-your-own-custom-domain/

Happy New Year and best wishes for the future.

As a relative newbie (under a year) I went for the alternative option and chose to show the Efty marketplace banner.

I, like many people have 50-50 love/hate relationship with the internet in general and sometimes lack confidence when seeking out new ventures.

To a third party who may be looking for a website/domain name or a brand name, I am not someone they know or have heard of. At least for me, using the Efty name gives someone something that is tangible. They can Google Efty and they will perhaps have an increased level of trustworthiness.

I've yet to make a sale, although it is my main priority for 2020.

If you'd like to see how it all looks at Efty, you can access my marketplace at the following:

www.dobermain.com

I'd love some feedback as a newbie, but I'm fairly certain that I've made the right choice for me.

After all, it is $15 a month which is one less rookie hand reg in the world...lol.

Regards,

Reddstagg

 

[Blitzpotz]

1) a parking solution with a 'free' contact form.

Did you ever consider ParkingCrew.com? They offer free contact form.
The company has been sold a short while ago but I did not recognize any changes in their parking system and results.

3) a payment solution that has reasonable fees for accepting and distributing funds.

Many people favor transferwise.com.

I am genuinely curious what everyone plans to do differently (or keep doing) in the new year and what sources and resources he/she is using to achieve specific goals.

I have the feeling as if modernizing or at least completing my domain biz all the time as a continuing task.
Recently I completed my listings with Afternic, before that added all to Epik, before that did the same with Dan. Afternic listings got reasonable BINs, I experienced this marketplace with its stable stream of sale revenue as a life insurance several times.

What I newly use is Epik brokerage for the inquiries arriving there. The CEO himself is your broker sometimes and everybody here knows how well Rob does in writing and in marketing. Yes, and sometimes we will try to shoot to the moon. Call me a fool but to me there is no difference in losing buyers after my own first counter from 1k to 2k or if the counter was 80k done by an industry pro.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Did you ever consider ParkingCrew.com? They offer free contact form.
The company has been sold a short while ago but I did not recognize any changes in their parking system and results.

If I recall correctly, parking crew was the first parking with revenue solution I used. I've been listed with sedo for longer than I can remember and although they had/cutting edge statistics, etc. my sales results were awful. I tried bodis with mixed results, but overall voodoo has been the best. It is hard to admit this, but for some reason I thought there was a fee when using the voodoo sales lander, but I've recently learned that there is no charge and I am currently doing a test using their landers.

Transerwise is not a service I've looked into yet but I will.

Most of my sales have come though epik (names pointed there at the time), but since I pulled bin it now pricing leaving only 'make an offer' option, results have significantly declined. It has become clear, that impulse buys are part of the process. Also I believe that when pricing is in place it makes it easier for a buyer or representative of a business to begin the process considering a purchase then come back later to buy or make an offer. Most of my pricing is 'shoot at the moon' but I also give and option to 'make an offer' so I don't lose a lead.

btw, Happy New Year!

 

[Blitzpotz]

btw, Happy New Year!

Dito, colleague, dito. Looking forward to your post # 13k at the end of this year .

 

[Mister Funsky]

"Happy New Year and best wishes for the future.

As a relative newbie (under a year) I went for the alternative option and chose to show the Efty marketplace banner.

I, like many people have 50-50 love/hate relationship with the internet in general and sometimes lack confidence when seeking out new ventures.

To a third party who may be looking for a website/domain name or a brand name, I am not someone they know or have heard of. At least for me, using the Efty name gives someone something that is tangible. They can Google Efty and they will perhaps have an increased level of trustworthiness.

I've yet to make a sale, although it is my main priority for 2020.

If you'd like to see how it all looks at Efty, you can access my marketplace at the following:

www.dobermain.com

I'd love some feedback as a newbie, but I'm fairly certain that I've made the right choice for me.

After all, it is $15 a month which is one less rookie hand reg in the world...lol.

Regards,

Reddstagg"

Thank you and Happy and Prosperous New Year to you!

Thanks for sharing your marketplace...efty is an option I have not tried. Even an old timer like me should keep an open mind and as a result of your post I will give them another look.

It made me laugh when I read the 'love/hate relationship' above as I still, after being active on the net since the billboard days, find myself lacking confidence when new things come along.

The only feedback I would offer about your efty is if you are creative, some logos might dress up the page. I have never thought a logo will sell a name, but having seen some of the efty pages of others, that type of 'window dressing' makes me pay a little more attention and linger longer on their marketplace. If there is some business or hobby you have a lot of knowledge about, that is an area in which to consider new domain buys. I look at the godaddy auctions daily and every now and then I find a name that would VERY appealing to someone in a particular genre and I pick it up. Additionally, although many people say all good names are already registered, most of my sales in 19 came from names I hand regged...nearly all were names that had been dropped at some point in the past. Best of luck to you moving forward!

 

[Mister Funsky]

Reddstagg

Not sure what happened above, but I wanted to tag you to make sure you would see my response.

EDIT: lol, I had to fix my grammatical error

 

[Reddstagg]

Not sure what happened above, but I wanted to tag you to make sure you saw my response.

Thanks for your response. I headed into my 7th decade on Tuesday, so us youngsters should stick together lol.

I was one of the first generations in the UK to use computers and/or the internet in a work capacity and it was a tool that replaced the rather large and heavy written ledgers we used back in the day to record the monthly payments on life insurance policies.

I'd also say I'm 50-50 on whether technology has improved or made worse the little planet we live on.

All of my domains are hand registered and getting them onto Efty was the first step in trying to sell a few. I will definitely look in to getting some logos...another thing to learn...sigh!! Nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose.

I think that I am also going to list them on Afternic, as I believe it is fairly straightforward and I can leave my domains pointing at Efty. They are all registered through GD, so the transition should be straightforward.

Again, thanks for your good advice and good luck in 20:20.

Reggardds,

Reddstagg

 

[Mister Funsky]

Thanks for your response. I headed into my 7th decade on Tuesday, so us youngsters should stick together lol.

I was one of the first generations in the UK to use computers and/or the internet in a work capacity and it was a tool that replaced the rather large and heavy written ledgers we used back in the day to record the monthly payments on life insurance policies.

I'd also say I'm 50-50 on whether technology has improved or made worse the little planet we live on.

All of my domains are hand registered and getting them onto Efty was the first step in trying to sell a few. I will definitely look in to getting some logos...another thing to learn...sigh!! Nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose.

I think that I am also going to list them on Afternic, as I believe it is fairly straightforward and I can leave my domains pointing at Efty. They are all registered through GD, so the transition should be straightforward.

Again, thanks for your good advice and good luck in 20:20.

Reggardds,

Reddstagg

LOL...your tag of my last post made me see my grammatical error...my long passed mother who taught English would have a field day correcting me!

Yes, I agree completely...a listing at Afternic is a great idea.