Have you ever unloaded a domain name for pennies and then saw it listed for sale for thousands? How did that make you feel?
If you are new to domain investing, it might make you feel frustrated, or even mad. You might even feel taken advantage of, but I encourage you to use it as a learning moment. Here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself:
Why did I sell it for the price that I did?
Sometimes people simply need money so they liquidate a domain for whatever they can get. Other times, a novice domain investor may not understand the true value of the domain, or may not realize that even a good name can take years to sell to the right end-user. If this is you, then I highly recommend investing in DN Academy before investing in more domain names. It’s the best domain investor training available on the market.
Should I have been more patient?
I also believe people sometimes just get tired of waiting for a domain to sell and want to see some action. I have been tempted to do this and then I remind myself that there is nothing to lose by waiting until closer to the domain expiration date to liquidate.
Domain investing requires patience as many levels. First, it requires patience to wait for the right deals so you don’t start off by buying names that won’t sell. Next, and most importantly, it requires patience to hold on and keep renewing a domain waiting for the right buyer. And of course, waiting only makes sense when you know you have a solid domain name. There isn’t enough time left in history to wait for junk names to sell… they just won’t (but that’s a whole different article.)
Is it really going to sell for that much money?
Asking this question might put you at ease. Just because a domain is listed for a certain price, does not mean that it will sell for that price.
What I could have done to get more money for the domain name?
This is a loaded question and several responses come to mind.
If you have a domain that you could have done outbound marketing for such as an industry-dominating keyword dot com domain (i.e. automotivetubing.com) or a local keyword domain (phoenixazdentists.com) then you may want to ask yourself if someone was willing to do the work that you were not. For example, I just purchased a domain name for $100 that I will do outbound marketing for and it’s likely worth $3,000 or more. I enjoy doing outbound marketing because it’s a great opportunity to help companies that are unaware of how to acquire better domain names improve their online sales.
If you had offers on the domain name, that is an indication that you likely could have gotten more money. The more offers you had, the more likely it is that you could have gotten more money. Perhaps you need some sales training?
Another way to bring value to domain names is to build out a website. In doing so, you will likely improve the site’s online positioning, making it more desirable to a potential purchaser. In fact, I am going to build out my recent acquisition, and I have a pricing plan in place, to increase the price at various milestones, mostly related to how it ranks in Google (thankfully, SEO is a skill that I have.) I recommend getting a SiteGround web hosting account which makes it super easy to launch a WordPress website within minutes.
If the website was not listed as multiple domain aftermarket sites, you might have reached more potential buyers by making sure that it got more exposure.
Lastly, perhaps you could have gotten a higher wholesale price by using a wholesale domain listing site such as NameLiquidate.com or DNWE.com as these sites get lots of exposure to the domain investing community.
Be Happy For the New Buyer
This may sound weird or a little “kumbaya” but I am truly happy for the buyer of my domain name if they can get a good return on their investment. I recently unloaded a domain for the wholesale price of $10 and then I saw it listed for $1,500. I believe it is worth $1,500, I just wasn’t the right person to sell it. I realize that I cannot be an expert in every niche.
My sincere hope was that someone had a better way to sell what was a decent domain name and I am still rooting for him. I believe in wishing those in the domain investing business well because a win for a fellow domain investor is a win for the industry.
