Particularly .co.uk names reg'd speculatively on behalf of clients, undeveloped domains, no site, no traffic, names only.
What documents if any do I need, whats the easiest way to transfer ownsership to a buyer. Some are in my name, most are in the name of Ltd comapnies and sole traders.
How do I ensure the cleints get paid? How does the transaction/sale work?
Had a look at afternic etc but seems to be for domains with existing traffic/sites?
Are name only domains worth anything much, compared to a brochureware with PR3/4 & 30 uniques per day - i.e is it worth the effort putting something on it before selling
Thanks!
In terms of domains, prices vary hugely depending on the buyer. Someone might love a domain www.jkosdfhjkdshf.com and feel its worth $#*$!x amount while others wouldn't even pay the registration fee.
Often is very much worth putting a site on there and even pushing a few uniques through via another site. A domain with content and traffic (no matter how small) is worth more than one without.
Same goes for PR... alot of people will still buy a site based mainly on a good PR, while others (like me) feel this isnt as important anymore as it once was.
In terms of the transaction... its normally a case of you receiving the money before pushing the domain, it would be unwise to push it before the money comes though - no matter how good the buyers reputation. Some people do it simply by PayPal while others will only use Escrow.
.co.uk do sell well, but not aswell (generally) as the 'premium' extensions (.com, .net, .org) but they can still sell well.
Good places to sell are webmaster forums, Afternic, Sedo, Great Domains, etc. <snip>
- Goodluck in your sales :)
[edited by: Webwork at 2:19 pm (utc) on Sep. 10, 2005]
[edit reason] Tidying up [/edit]
you can read at afternic about escrow and such
The ease in transfering ownership depends on which registrar holds the names. My favorite is enom, if you have a enom account and i know your username, i can push (transfer) a name to your account in seconds
I transfered about a hundred names from my old registrar to enom just so i could list them at afternic and try to sell some, but i haven't sold any. It may be I'm to proud of them. Afternic has a list of recent sales and there are some impressive transactions. It's not uncommon to see one go for 30k and up every few weeks. But a whole lot of them only bring a few hundred.
I've been colecting names since 99 and want to weed out all but about 40 keepers. I don't look to hold names as an investment but only to develop, but then prices are going up and some folks do hold for an investment.
Hope it helps
When in doubt I use an escrow service, almost always Escrow.com. Payment is made into escrow before the domain is transferred. I've sent and I've received 5 figure payments without paperwork or escrow, depending on evidence of business reputation.
Trust your instincts and resolve your doubts. A phone call often works wonders. The more evidence I have that the buyer has been in business for awhile and values their reputation the easier it is to do business. The dodgier the buyer or seller the more likely I'll simply walk away and never look back.
Don't worry about putting web sites on them. Most of the domain sales web sites have a parking service where you can make money on your traffic while you are waiting for them to sell.
Just take the time to learn about the sales process. Most of the information can be found in the domain sales web sites FAQ.
Besides selling the domain, you can trade it, lease it or do a joint venture with another party.
