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strategy This is how I price my hand-registered domain names

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This is how I price my hand-registered domain names

Some people ask how I manage to sell so many hand-registered domain names. Before I answer that question, it would be convenient to answer this one: How many hand-registered names do I sell per every ten names I register? Generally, I sell between three and four names out of ten within the first two weeks of registration, but result vary depending on the month and hours dedicated to end-user search. So, if I buy ten names, about three of those will sell within two weeks. Some may sell later. Some others will never sell.

Everything considered, the business is consistently profitable, because hand-registration is not that expensive. The two key factors are registering the right names and pricing them correctly. As my sales report indicate, I focus on low value geo names or names that refer to a specific product or service within a given city, state or region. After doing this for some time, I have now a clear idea of which keywords sell quickly and which don’t, as well as which cities might mean hot sales.

My focus on this post is not keywords, but pricing. This is a pattern I have seen often enough in domain investors who attempt to sell hand-registered names. A domain investor registers a few decent names (ex. MiamiGoldBuyer.com, PhoenixDoors.com, etc.) and then contacts potential buyers attempting to sell each name for $1,500. He receives either a negative response or no response at all and then the domain investor arrives at the conclusion that this doesn’t work.

Have in mind that in my perspective the two names listed above are decent in the sense that you can easily flip them for a few hundred dollars. Forget keyword search, forget age, and forget CPC. Those rules do not apply to this particular game. The fact is that both MiamiGoldBuyer.com and PhoenixDoors.com have a list of small business owners who would like to own them. That is all that matters.

But, going back to prices. The key to flipping hand-registered geo names quickly is to price them in a way that it would be hard for end-users to reject. In other words, to speak the language of small business owners when it comes to pricing. Let me illustrate it this way. Now that I am also into numeric names, if you try to sell 76888.com to me for $5000, there is no way I could buy that name from you. However, if you ask for $100, that is an offer I can’t reject. So, I will buy it immediately.

The point is that when it comes to pricing, there is a melting point. You have to present the hand-registered names at a price that becomes hard to reject in the eye of end-users. You must find the balance between profit and expedited sales. In my opinion, for the two examples I gave (MiamiGoldBuyer.com and PhoenixDoors.com), the balanced and appropriate price tag is $250-$500.

Again, this is if you really want sales to happen. If you plan to sit on the names and ask for $1500, that is fine. But I doubt you will sell them before renewing them for a few years. And, most certainly, they will never sell. So the question is $400 now or $1500 never.
 
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Good to know someone have experience in selling handreg domains quickly.
I was thinking the same way to reg some geo domains maybe in range 5 domains. Actually i dont like geo domain because there a less commercial value and need specific buyer. Thats why we need to price that domains for less than $500. So you're correct.
I will start do reg geo domain in next month but not many and hoping those sold to keep my bills paid.

Ok so this is my plan..

Regging: 5 domains each month
$9 x 5 = $45 invested
Pricing: $300 each(depends on quality)
Emailing: 10 email each domain
Target: 3 end user reply for each domain
Sold: 2 domain each month
Profit: $600 - $45 = $555
 
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really good post and food for thought. there is a natural tendecy to over-price i think especially for newcomers who may be unsure of the true value and worried about selling for much less then its worth (which applies to me). but as has been noted as long as you're making a good return , its better to have money in the bank really
 
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thanks, infosec3, for this thread
I have one more question: which names do you prefer - city at the start or end? insurancehouston.com or houstoninsurance.com? I think city at the start of name more better than at the end. Maybe you have some approximate statistic of sold domains..
 
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I just went through a wave of geo name sales attempts but didn't hear anything back on any of them. I was planning on selling each in the 100 - 500 range but I did not include the pricing in my sales emails. Perhaps I will try again with the prices included.

Thanks for this info, it is very much appreciated!

thanks, infosec3, for this thread
I have one more question: which names do you prefer - city at the start or end? insurancehouston.com or houstoninsurance.com? I think city at the start of name more better than at the end. Maybe you have some approximate statistic of sold domains..

I prefer City first and rarely register those with the city at the end. But there are exceptions. I recently sold PlumberBerkeley.com. Plumber is a hot keyword. All main City+Plumber are taken, so when I find a nice Plumber+City, I register it.
 
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everyone needs a good plumber lol
 
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What if the hand registered domain names are valuable to you ? How do you come up with a price knowing you secured a very brand able and memorable name. I have two domain names that fall in this category, and I have a hard time coming up with a price. I don't want it top expansive and not too cheap. Its really frustrating

Sometimes I think I should just keep them and start my own business.
 
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I prefer City first and rarely register those with the city at the end. But there are exceptions. I recently sold PlumberBerkeley.com. Plumber is a hot keyword. All main City+Plumber are taken, so when I find a nice Plumber+City, I register it.
Have a general question concerning geo domains flipping. Let's say you want to sell PlumberAtlanta.com, how are you gonna start finding the potential end users? Do you have a specific site you're going to that has a list of all the plumbers in atlanta with their mails and websites, how exactly do you proceed? How much end users do you need in average to make a sale? I find it extremely boring and time consuming to get a list of 25 websites + find their mails, so I wonder if you have a more optimized method or something. Do you have a top 5/10 of the most successful keywords for Geo domains?
 
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Have a general question concerning geo domains flipping. Let's say you want to sell PlumberAtlanta.com, how are you gonna start finding the potential end users? Do you have a specific site you're going to that has a list of all the plumbers in atlanta with their mails and websites, how exactly do you proceed? How much end users do you need in average to make a sale? I find it extremely boring and time consuming to get a list of 25 websites + find their mails, so I wonder if you have a more optimized method or something. Do you have a top 5/10 of the most successful keywords for Geo domains?

I would go to Google and type in "Plumber Atlanta" and see who is showing up in the results as well as who is advertising on the results pages, for a start...

Also, Estibot.com has an lead generator tool. You can set up an email template and mail out offers from that site. I have never used it but I have had an account there and have seen their system. http://www.estibot.com/leads.php
 
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I would go to Google and type in "Plumber Atlanta" and see who is showing up in the results as well as who is advertising on the results pages, for a start...
Yeah of course, you can also go to google maps and there will be a list of plumbers in the location you searched but I'm interested to know how he's doing it exactly.
 
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Yeah of course, you can also go to google maps and there will be a list of plumbers in the location you searched but I'm interested to know how he's doing it exactly.

Ah. OK. I'd be interested in that too.
 
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In this price range do you just generate a Paypal link and put it in your message? Sending them a Sedo link might be too much friction as I'd imagine you'd want to make it as easy as possible for them to close on the offer.
 
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In this price range do you just generate a Paypal link and put it in your message? Sending them a Sedo link might be too much friction as I'd imagine you'd want to make it as easy as possible for them to close on the offer.

Almost every purchase is handled through PayPal invoice. When an end-user agrees to buy, I send him a PayPal invoice formatted with my company logo, which they can pay with PayPal or any major credit card.

My invoice includes my company's contact information and even my company's tax ID number. The point is to give the end-user every reason to trust me and convey the idea that the transaction is safe.
 
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I agree with DomainVP. Great post.
 
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First of all big thanks for the great post!

From my experience in domaining ( only 1,5 years ) step by step and with lot of mistakes I found out that this method is working, simply because the money that you generate will cover the renewal fees and you still get some profit on top.

Of Course I've got a few domains which I kept for better times, but mostly I'm trying to flip quickly .com domains with price range $50 to $350.

Only one thing that bother me at the moment is the subject line in my emails, I still looking for this one that works "perfectly", will appreciate any advice from all of you.

Regards
Bonin
 
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Been a week closely using infosec's strategy, some for geo, other more general ones too and including a realistic price in the email definitely increased the answers back.

Zfbot.com = very quick results of domains registered with your keywords

Google = search with "quotation marks" around your keywords, then remove the quotation marks and search again (this gives you direct and indirect results for potential clients.

Whois.godaddy.com = most up to date whois info

Whoisology.com = fairly accurate, also shows other names that person owns using that email (after certain searches per day it's payable unless you're in the US and you register)

Sidekick plug-in = see who opened your email more than once, helps to know if there's some potential brewing

Have sold 3 this week and counting.

My strategy per day is search for 30 mins to 1 hour, find 5-6 names I see definite value (usually short & sweet) and send emails using the strategy above, so far at least 1-2 is selling per 6-7 names, some might next week or so who knows.

Always always always follow up, most of my sales are done after following up 1-3 times
 
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That RajDomains guy did this on eBay and has become immensely successful. Simple but very effective. It is great for people have no or less money to invest.
Thanks to @infosec3 for this great post.
 
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Been a week closely using infosec's strategy, some for geo, other more general ones too and including a realistic price in the email definitely increased the answers back.

Zfbot.com = very quick results of domains registered with your keywords

Google = search with "quotation marks" around your keywords, then remove the quotation marks and search again (this gives you direct and indirect results for potential clients.

Whois.godaddy.com = most up to date whois info

Whoisology.com = fairly accurate, also shows other names that person owns using that email (after certain searches per day it's payable unless you're in the US and you register)

Sidekick plug-in = see who opened your email more than once, helps to know if there's some potential brewing

Have sold 3 this week and counting.

My strategy per day is search for 30 mins to 1 hour, find 5-6 names I see definite value (usually short & sweet) and send emails using the strategy above, so far at least 1-2 is selling per 6-7 names, some might next week or so who knows.

Always always always follow up, most of my sales are done after following up 1-3 times
Great information, thanks!
Can you share the domains you sold for the moment? Btw, does Sidekick work for every messaging provider, I mean, does it work with sites other than gmail, hotmail, etc?
 
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First of all big thanks for the great post!

From my experience in domaining ( only 1,5 years ) step by step and with lot of mistakes I found out that this method is working, simply because the money that you generate will cover the renewal fees and you still get some profit on top.

Of Course I've got a few domains which I kept for better times, but mostly I'm trying to flip quickly .com domains with price range $50 to $350.

Only one thing that bother me at the moment is the subject line in my emails, I still looking for this one that works "perfectly", will appreciate any advice from all of you.

Regards
Bonin
about subject in mails you can give a look to this awesome post:
https://www.namepros.com/blog/5-tips-for-a-perfect-outbound-sales-email-subject.868353/
 
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Been a week closely using infosec's strategy, some for geo, other more general ones too and including a realistic price in the email definitely increased the answers back.

Zfbot.com = very quick results of domains registered with your keywords

Google = search with "quotation marks" around your keywords, then remove the quotation marks and search again (this gives you direct and indirect results for potential clients.

Whois.godaddy.com = most up to date whois info

Whoisology.com = fairly accurate, also shows other names that person owns using that email (after certain searches per day it's payable unless you're in the US and you register)

Sidekick plug-in = see who opened your email more than once, helps to know if there's some potential brewing

Have sold 3 this week and counting.

My strategy per day is search for 30 mins to 1 hour, find 5-6 names I see definite value (usually short & sweet) and send emails using the strategy above, so far at least 1-2 is selling per 6-7 names, some might next week or so who knows.

Always always always follow up, most of my sales are done after following up 1-3 times

Thanks for the informative post mate.

Can you share what kind of domains you were able to sell in a week's time? I mean were they GEO or brandables or etc.?

Happy domaining y'all.
 
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Thanks for your tips and time to share your experiences.
 
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Good Advice, while reading your thread i keep remembering my earlier domain. SeoOakland.com which i hand registered sold at $150 within 1 week.

It was my first profit from domaining :)
 
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Good Advice, while reading your thread i keep remembering my earlier domain. SeoOakland.com which i hand registered sold at $150 within 1 week.

It was my first profit from domaining :)

Yes, one of the things I found out with hand-registered names is that most end-users for those particular names don't care about age, which is one of domainers' obsessions.

I usually sell names even the same day I register them.
 
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One thing I disagree with you on is search volume. I have sold a domain with only 10 or 20 searches per month. But if absolutely no one is searching the term then I don't see why an end user would want it. I don't even wanna buy it for 8$ when there's no searches
 
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@RGkiiing,

Value is not only only determined by search volume... Value is determined on demand. It's just like the common saying "the domain is worth as much as the end user is willing to pay for it"... meaning if someone likes the name or has a need for it, they will buy it.

It's keyword domain vs brandable/unique domain really


The moral of this OP post is simple: Price your domains realistically.
 
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