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Post by Vandelay on Feb 12, 2023 22:42:14 GMT
Bit of a random question, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience of owning and selling a domain?
A while ago, I set up a WordPress site and picked up a domain along with it. I occasionally did some posts there, but haven't been doing much of late. I've been getting a few emails recently from someone saying that they are from GoDaddy and that they have a client who is interested in buying my domain. I had about 2 or 3 emails initially, which I ignored assuming it to be some scam. The other day I had another email with an actual offer of $3,000. Checking a valuation site, the domain I own is actually worth about $1,500, so a $3,000 offer isn't completely out of the realms of being feasible if someone for whatever reason really wanted it.
Frustratingly, I can only find a phone number for GoDaddy, as I was hoping to email them directly with a copy of the email to find out if it was legititmate. The email address this came from was reply@mailmc.afternic.com, which seemed weird, but it does seem that a company called afternic is a domain auction site and does have affiliation with GoDaddy. Afternic does have a contact form on their website, but I haven't had a response yet and didn't even get an acknowledgement that the message was sent.
Has anyone owned a domain before and been approached like this for a purchase?
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Feb 13, 2023 8:58:08 GMT
If it's a .com domain, it's probably worth more than $3000 to somebody. I have not been approached by buyers, but I have approached other domain owners in this way. Personally, I wouldn't deal with domain auction sites out of principle, but if you do, I would probably demand more than 3k.
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Post by Vandelay on Feb 13, 2023 9:05:48 GMT
It's a .org site. Not sure how much that changes things. Can't remember why I got a .org site, but I assume .com wasn't available.
I've only spent probably no more than £100-150 on it over the 4 or 5 years I've had it. Sounds like picking up a couple of domains and sitting on them for a few years is a good investment!
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on Feb 13, 2023 9:34:42 GMT
Fwiw, Afternic is a genuine domain registrar and (re)seller and they do belong to GoDaddy, so it's probably legit.
No idea as to the value though.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Feb 13, 2023 9:58:26 GMT
Sounds like picking up a couple of domains and sitting on them for a few years is a good investment! Unfortunately, yes. It's like land ownership. There are a lot of assholes that quickly occupy lots of good domains whenever a new tld becomes available, but only sit on them and don't use them. There should be a law that unused domain names expire after a year.
I think .org domains are mostly used by government or non profit oriented organizations. Also, it's certainly not as crowded as .com namespace, so .org domains are probably worth quite a bit less in general. It's hard to judge the value without knowing the exact domain name, though.
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Post by Vandelay on Feb 13, 2023 10:29:38 GMT
I don't see a problem with saying the domain name. It's beyondthescreen.org.
I did a valuation on the GoDaddy site and it was around $1,200. Looking again, they have the .com one as about $1,800, which sounds like it might be quite low from what you are saying.
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Post by jimnastics on Feb 13, 2023 10:53:06 GMT
I don't see a problem with saying the domain name. It's beyondthescreen.org. I did a valuation on the GoDaddy site and it was around $1,200. Looking again, they have the .com one as about $1,800, which sounds like it might be quite low from what you are saying. I reckon there's a good chance it's these guys who've realised having a .us domain was a probably a bad idea:
I was going to say, if it was me, I'd bite their hand off at $3k if you have no need for the domain/site. However you should dig into this Frances Haugen and see how deep her pockets might be (obviously that#'s assuming it's her with the offer).
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Post by jimnastics on Feb 13, 2023 10:58:28 GMT
Sounds like picking up a couple of domains and sitting on them for a few years is a good investment! Unfortunately, yes. It's like land ownership. There are a lot of assholes that quickly occupy lots of good domains whenever a new tld becomes available, but only sit on them and don't use them. There should be a law that unused domain names expire after a year. That's absurd... it's just savvy investment in assets, like countless other free markets that exist. (disclaimer: I have a portfolio of 400+ .co.uk and .uk domain names) |
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Feb 13, 2023 11:51:45 GMT
I don't see a problem with saying the domain name. It's beyondthescreen.org. I did a valuation on the GoDaddy site and it was around $1,200. Looking again, they have the .com one as about $1,800, which sounds like it might be quite low from what you are saying. Sounds like a pretty niche domain name to me, so the offer is probably fair. That's absurd... it's just savvy investment in assets, like countless other free markets that exist. (disclaimer: I have a portfolio of 400+ .co.uk and .uk domain names) Yes, it's exactly like other problematic free markets like land and natural resources. |
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Post by Vandelay on Feb 13, 2023 11:54:35 GMT
I don't see a problem with saying the domain name. It's beyondthescreen.org. I did a valuation on the GoDaddy site and it was around $1,200. Looking again, they have the .com one as about $1,800, which sounds like it might be quite low from what you are saying. I reckon there's a good chance it's these guys who've realised having a .us domain was a probably a bad idea:
I was going to say, if it was me, I'd bite their hand off at $3k if you have no need for the domain/site. However you should dig into this Frances Haugen and see how deep her pockets might be (obviously that#'s assuming it's her with the offer).
Ah, interesting. Almost certainly is them. I actually have previously been approached by someone with an email address was from her organisation (funnily enough, they tracked me down to this forum when I ignored their initial email, as I had posted a link to my blog here). I didn't see what the connection with the organisation was at the time and wasn't sure why they would be interested in my domain. Previous offer was $1,000, so they have already increased it quite a bit. I was thinking of making a counter offer of making it £ instead of $, but no idea if that is too much of a cheeky ask for this domain. |
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Post by Vandelay on Feb 16, 2023 8:56:25 GMT
So, an update on this. I did go back to the person from GoDaddy that contacted me about this. The sale and transferring is all done through the GoDaddy website, so I feel happy proceeding with the sale. I gave the counter offer of £3,000 ($3,700) and they actually did accept it.
I've now accepted the offer through the website and setup the payment details. Just waiting for the buyer to confirm at their end and then can get everything transferred (as well as figuring out what I have to do on the Wordpress side of things to make that all happen).
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 16, 2023 8:59:00 GMT
Is it the .com owner scooping up all the variants?
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Post by Vandelay on Feb 16, 2023 9:22:59 GMT
Don't know who the buyer is as it has all been done through the GoDaddy broker. I expect it is who Jimnastics found though, as they approached me before.
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dam
New Member
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Post by dam on Feb 16, 2023 9:31:26 GMT
Nice one! Wish I could get an offer for some of my duff domains  Our best purchase was tracking down the mobile number of the kitchen fitter who owned our main product single word domain and offering him £200 for it, which he gladly accepted. |
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Post by freddiemercurystwin on Feb 16, 2023 19:16:02 GMT
Slightly off topic but I knew a guy who made his living by buying and selling phone numbers, apparently there are those that desire specific numbers a bit like the personalised number plate business, I never understood it, very odd.
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gray
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Post by gray on Feb 16, 2023 19:45:00 GMT
20 odd years ago I had a ridiculously "good" number when I worked for a mobile phone company, think along the lines of 07900 800001. Would get endless spam SMS and phone calls and you would end up repeating it 3 or 4 times when talking to companies. It wasn't worth the bother.
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