Stop! Read this, before you delete your unwanted domains
Old, or unwanted domains are often the victim of over-zealous domain ‘housekeeping’ and can result in lost income opportunities.
When you decide to delete a domain from your portfolio and inform your current registrar, they will try to sell your domains at the best price possible before they reach their ’sell by’ date. If you don’t take action yourself, you might lose out on the profits from selling your domains to a new owner who can see the value in names which you no longer need.
However not all domains are worth the time it’ll take you to sell them. So, how do you tell which ones might be worth selling yourself?
Here’s a brief overview of what makes a domain valuable (if you no longer need it):
- 1-5 character domains (gtlds or cctlds) are always worth selling
- Domain names that contain only numbers (such as business telephone numbers, for example)
- Generic words in common usage (such as nouns, verbs, place names etc)
- Common first names and surnames
- Domains that are simple to spell and easy recognise
There are a bunch of other considerations when it comes to determining an accurate sales price for a domain, but these five points should help you on your way.
Yes, but is it worth the effort?
It’s easier than you think to sell a domain. Many reputable auction houses, such as www.sedo.com, www.flippa.com and www.buydomains.com make it simple. Once you have set up your account with them and specified your price threshold, they’ll do all the work to find you a buyer for your domain. When you get an offer, you’ll be notified by email and then you can decide to accept or reject each offer you get.
A word of warning
Don’t use an auction house that levies an ‘admin’ fee as well as the commission that all such sites will charge on successful sales. All of the reputable sites listed above only charge a ‘success’ fee (which is a percentage of the final sales price), but many Chinese domain brokers will charge you an upfront fee too!
Is it profitable?
Absolutely, at DotWhat we’ve seen helped a lot of clients spot the domains in their portfolio that were set for deletion, but were instead sold for upwards of USD10,000.
Good luck with trimming the fat on your domain portfolios, but look out for the domains that could be sold to generate a sizeable profit for very little effort.
Cheers,
Marcus Kocak