How To Buy A Domain Name
Here are some tips to pay the least amount for a domain as possible.
#1 Make a decent first offer, it does not have to be huge, thus showing your ‘total hand’, but letting the potential seller know you are serious is very important. They will ignore you otherwise.
#2 Be polite, most serious domain owners and/or domainers actually have incomes and trying to convince them that your $350 offer is a good one is a little short sighted. Treat the situation with some respect, or expect a big counter offer, or to be ignored.
#3 Be patient, good things come to those who wait and you never know when the potential seller may need some cashflow for a new purchase or web development. By keeping the door open you do a lot of favours for future deals and saving some money on your next domain name purchase.
#4 Be prepared to bargain, Rome wasn’t built in a day and most higher quality domain negotiations take time and perseverance. Don’t give up at the first hurdle!
#5 Work out what a domain is actually worth, value is in the eye of the beholder! Is the domain name replaceable for the amount you want to pay? Would you sell or resell for that same amount you want to offer? Just because someone is not using a name, don’t mean they don’t want it – I doubt you go around the beachfront trying to buy vacant land and getting annoyed because the owner won’t sell cheap because they are not ‘using it’.
#6 Don’t make Low Ball Domain Offers, receiving $50-500 offers on domains that are easily worth in excess of $2500 (even at wholesale domainer prices) will frustrate the seller, not only wasting their time, but also your time. Go too low and the counter offer will be high, but more frequently you won’t even get a response.
#7 The early bird catches the worm, good domain names continue to rise on value, even during economic downturns. If you get in first, not only will you pay less, you get appreciation on your side. Good domains sell fast and they are rarely as cheap as you want them to be. If they are cheap, don’t hesitate, snap it up fast!
#8 Happy buying, remember you are buying something that might well last forever and feed your children’s, children’s, children. Buy wise & be prepared to pay for the good names that will appreciate.
Check out the typical domain inquiry video below (click to view)!
Thanks to Bill for making it.
Our next post will be about how to buy a .au domain name, including the transfer process, how a typical sale works and also how to locate a potential seller and get to the owner when you’ve exhausted the regular avenues of contact.