Why aren't we selling more domains

[JamesC]

I'm not complaining, it's an observation. When I speak to other domainers we always conclude that while we're delighted to hold positions in a lucrative market sales are, well, slightly disappointing.

Switched on people are building great businesses using stand out urls, so why isn't stock shifting faster?

Is it:-

1. There are less switched on people out there.
2. People don't trust people who own domain names and don't want to reward them.
3. People are jealous because they missed the bandwagon.
4. The industry isn't very good at making a business case so most entrepreneurs don't understand the possibilities.

It's most likely to be a combination of things; most things are.

Thoughts?

 

[stevebrowne]

I would say:

4 followed by 1

Most people who we would sell to for end-user level profits wouldn't consider 2 or 3. I don't think.

If there was a proper sales company that marketed names to the potentional endusers rather than simply parking and hoping they see it, or auctioning at an auction where the end users don't go, then things would be better.

 

[cm1975]

Could it be that our domains are not a good as we might hope?

Let me compare this to selling cars - There are other cars out there that may be cheaper, are more suited to someone's exact requirements or have been better serviced and maintained.

If you are using Acorn Domains, you are selling to like-minded people, so it would be like trying to sell a car to a used car salesman.

 

[JamesC]

Good point

"Most people who we would sell to for end-user level profits wouldn't consider 2 or 3. I don't think."

Yes, I agree with that.

 

[Edwin]

How about "5. It's actually quite tricky tracking down THE best candidate buyer(s) for a given domain name, AND persuading them that they really should buy one particular name."

Repeat the need to go through the above process for each of dozens, hundreds or thousands of names - each sale needs to be solicited manually if it's not as a result of a walk-in lead - and perhaps the pace of sales is less surprising.

 

[stevebrowne]

Indeed. I agree with #5 as well. I have a pair of domains that are PERFECT for one business and match their historic marketing efforts and their renewed marketing efforts. But they are not interested.

One question: Who could use this domain name: EthicalCosmetics(in com/ and uk)

Maybe I am too close to it, but there is one company that could easily take this and turn it into something globally massive.

 

[Takwa]

Maybe The Credit Crunch???

 

[JamesC]

How about "5. It's actually quite tricky tracking down THE best candidate buyer(s) for a given domain name, AND persuading them that they really should buy one particular name."

Repeat the need to go through the above process for each of dozens, hundreds or thousands of names - each sale needs to be solicited manually if it's not as a result of a walk-in lead - and perhaps the pace of sales is less surprising.

This implies that there isn't natural demand for what we're doing. If we believe that there's a case for having a good domain name then it's a question of education which comes back to point 4.

Why are there not more stories about domain names in the media? I got this one into the Financial Times a while ago and recommended SEDO. Shouldn't they have been the ones driving the pr?

 

[stevebrowne]

>>This implies that there isn't natural demand for what we're doing

Yes, but bear in mind that many of us were using the Internet 10+ years before most people "got it". We were the geeks. Of course, now the geeks are taking over in every area you can think of. TV, radio, fashion, movies, culture. Games consoles, mp3 players, having a website. They were all geeky things just a few years back, but now are cool.

I think with domains it's just that people haven't seen the light yet. But we're hoping they will at some point.

 

[accelerator]

JamesC - How many domains have you bought at a full market valuation? We all like picking up domains at great prices, but I expect less of us would contemplate picking up a quality domain at a full price and then attempting to get the investment back through running the website. Buying a good domain at full price takes a lot of commitment to a web venture and it's not that easy to justify the expenditure when you could use a self-branded non-generic. Yes it's often good business sense to buy a quality domain but you really do have to be sure of what you are doing in order to justify it.

 

[Paullas]

JamesC - How many domains have you bought at a full market valuation? We all like picking up domains at great prices, but I expect less of us would contemplate picking up a quality domain at a full price and then attempting to get the investment back through running the website. Buying a good domain at full price takes a lot of commitment to a web venture and it's not that easy to justify the expenditure when you could use a self-branded non-generic. Yes it's often good business sense to buy a quality domain but you really do have to be sure of what you are doing in order to justify it.

good point. but im sure there must be a uk company that can actively market and promote domains to end users. at the moment there is only sedo and lets be honest they are making alot of mistakes at the moment, so when someone search for buying a .co.uk domain and they get to acorn then they see the only company that sells domains is sedo and then reads all the posts here, dont you think that puts people off?

 

[Edwin]

It would need to be a completely different kind of company, maybe one built around a team experienced in cold calling and selling relatively high-ticket items to businesses. And that company would have to be super-selective about the domains it "repped" - hundreds or perhaps thousands, but never Sedo-like quantities.

GreatDomains.com tried and failed (to an extent) to go down the exclusivity route but again that was just a listing service - the whole proactive sales side of things was missing.

The hypothetical sales company should be able to combine:-
- Ability to research ALL the most likely purchasers for a given strong generic domain name
- Ability to approach (in a credible, professional way) these companies, either to engineer a straight-out sale or a bidding war (or any other type of sale structure)
- Ability to keep following up on "warm" leads until they become hot
- Ability to make a persuasive case for generic domains, and to do the hand-holding required to help typically non-techy decision makers understand domains and their benefits

And probably a dozen other skills besides. Basically a mix of the kind of people who sell huge ad campaigns to large businesses, with a bit of tech savvy thrown in.

Such a firm would probably need to take a 30-50% cut to make it worth their while, but if they could unlock the kind of real end-user prices the best domains SHOULD command then the pie would be big enough to allow this.

(Of course, no amount of polishing will make a bad apple - so-so-domain - into a prize fruit. So the hypothetical company will need to be ruthless about turning down 99% - or 99.9% or 99.99% - of the domains offered to it for representation.)

 

[JamesC]

JamesC - How many domains have you bought at a full market valuation?

I'm not sure whether that's a measure. I've sold a couple of dozen at what I'd consider market value. But we're the traders, I'm talking about end users. People who can buy a domain for £5k and turn it into a business worth millions.

 

[philiporchard]

Brokering Domains

I'm auctioning on Sedo at the moment, and happy with the service... but for good to outstanding domains, especially premium generics, there is a gap in the market for a professional personalised brokering service.

 

[aZooZa]

Edwin has it nailed. Amen.

 

[accelerator]

there is a gap in the market for a professional personalised brokering service.

I don't think there is a gap in the market. Maybe people here would like a personalised brokering service to exist, but if there was a gap in the market it would be filled, as if there was money to be made in this model, someone would be doing it, i.e. profitable gaps in markets tend to be filled. There are reasons why such a service does not exist, and it's mainly because you would need very specialist staff who would then figure out they could make more money by doing things on their own, so that's what ends up happening.

 

[GreyWing]

Only problem with proactive sales regime in the .co.uk market means that you could be left open to a DRS. We all know how crazy some decisions can be.

If your agent phones the wrong person, bingo and that could be the end of your name.

It's a tricky one!

 

[cav]

more effort required

Sometimes us domainers need to be more proactive in our business approach; we need to realise that end-users do not always coming knocking on our doors looking to buy a domain name.

We need to go actively chasing end-users and educate them on the availability of relevant domain names to their business and what value it can add.

It's not always easy money, sometimes we have to earn it.

 

[JamesC]

We need to be proactive

There's a good thought. There's nothing that an agent could do that I couldn't myself if I pulled my finger out.

 

[cav]

it does work

........I have become more proactive, put the hours in chasing end users and allthough 99% of the chasing will be dead ends, it is worth it when that 1% ends up in a good deal.......