Domain Aftermarket Sales Are Strong

I’ve just spent 10 days away in the USA, and during this time I sold a number of domains (14 in total). Plus I had many more enquiries that didn’t pan out. There must be something about travelling, because last time I went overseas, I had a cracker run of sales then! I wrote about that here.

Two of these recent sales were for decent 5 figure amounts (one of these was sold to a friend at NamesCon) – and the rest were in the 4 figure range.

Given that most offers generally come in by email, and because I mostly deal with Aussie buyers (given my portfolio currently consists of 99.5% .au domains), these emails generally come in during standard Aussie hours (say between 8am and 10pm).

Because I was in the USA (Nevada and California), there was an 18 hour time difference. So it was always a pleasure to wake up in the morning and see an offer or two in my mailbox. 😉

The Joys Of Technology

I again purchased a Telstra Travel Pass so I could send and receive text and voice messages at normal Australian rates. In addition, I had a small data allowance. The cost was $160 for the 10 days which was absolutely nothing in the scheme of things. What it delivered for me though was seriously invaluable.

One particular deal I remember fondly. I had just landed in San Francisco in the evening, and caught the BART train from the airport to Embarcadero Station in the city (Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area). It’s about a 30 minute journey which costs just over $10. Cheap and efficient.

Whilst on the train, I got out my laptop and hooked up a hotspot connection to my mobile. Checked emails and found confirmation of a deal I had been negotiating on. Did an invoice and fired it off. By the time I got to my hotel and checked mail again, I had confirmation that the invoice had been paid. How sweet is that. 🙂

Other Recent Sales

Generally speaking, I don’t do any outbound marketing these days. I simply rely on handling inbound enquiries.

The level of these has picked up substantially in the last quarter. I believe this is because more and more people / businesses are starting to understand the value of having a good domain name that is relevant to their business or occupation.

The other factor why I am getting more enquiries is (I believe) because of my portfolio. I have a lot of domains – but what has changed over the past year is that the quality of my portfolio has improved. Makes a huge difference.

My goal is to try and average at least one sale per day. Whether these are outright sales or payment plans is immaterial to me. Every deal is a good deal – and I’m a great believer that one has to continuously try and be creative. It’s all about win / win.

Whilst I said I don’t do any outbound marketing, there was one exception to this. Back in October, I offered a unique “try before you buy” arrangement. A few people took this up – and given that the 90 days has just expired, the final wash up was 11 domains sold (with a possibility of a 12th). Sure these weren’t enduser prices, but everyone is still happy. 🙂

Best wishes for your online success.