Make the most of 3 key sales channels

One of the best ways to increase your chances of a sale is maximising exposure to potential buyers, using channels freely available to you.

The tips in this article may be simple, but they’re also fundamental.

1 – Stick up a sign

Make sure that visitors to the domain know it’s for sale. This is so important, I really can’t stress it enough: put up a ‘for sale sign’!

When people are interested in a domain, one of the first things they’ll do is navigate to the URL, so they can see if it’s available or what it’s being used for… and whether it’s for sale.

My number one path for enquiries and sales is through the ‘make offer’ form on my parking pages. You can read more about parking (including the auDA policy requirements) in my recent article.

2 – Whois?

Make sure your whois contact details are correct, and use an email address that you check regularly. Enquiries from my whois contact details are a very small proportion of my overall enquiries, but it’s worth maximising every possible channel. I should also note that you’re required under auDA policy to maintain accurate whois details,  so it’s in your best interests anyway.

3 – Marketplaces

My sales are almost always done directly (not through a marketplace). There are two key reasons why I don’t use the available marketplaces more often:

1 – Wholesale buyers
Domainers aim to buy at wholesale prices (below market value) and sell at retail prices – after all, the difference between the two is how we make money!

Existing .au marketplaces predominantly attract wholesale buyers (i.e. other domainers!), which are not the people I’m looking for.

2 – Anonymous buyers
When a marketplace allows anonymous buyers (which is the case for almost all existing marketplaces), I lose key information that can help me in negotiations.

I could be negotiating with Microsoft or ‘Mike the domainer’, it’s very hard to know.

Putting aside the points above, it’s worth increasing your exposure to as many potential buyers as possible, so I still recommend listing your domains on at least one marketplace (keep an eye out for an innovative new player in this space! 😉 ).

I do sell some domains through marketplaces, particularly .com domains. As a case in point, I sold a .com domain through Sedo in the last couple of weeks. The current .au marketplaces also play a role in moving inventory that I’m happy to price lower (i.e. wholesale).

Why bother with all three?

The example below illustrates the importance of utilising all three channels:

For one of my recent .com.au sales ($x,xxx), the prospective buyer contacted me directly by email (so they used the whois information). However, they also mentioned the listing on Netfleet.com.au and it became clear that browsing the marketplace was what actually got them onto the domain. Ultimately, we closed the sale directly, but the marketplace listing and whois details led them to my door.