Five Reasons Why an End User May not be buying your domain name

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Domain - what domain name to choose

Many domain investors get frustrated when they feel they have the right domain for the right buyer yet cannot close a sale.

There can be many reasons why a prospect chooses not to buy what seems like a sure match.

1) Living inside the domaining bubble

Those who reside outside the domain industry do not have as much interest or passion about domains as you do. For many it is not the greatest thing they could do for their business, it is more a basic utility for them to be found on the net. Those inside the industry spend their days registering, bidding and discussing domain names. Conversations tend to focus on the importance of a domain name, you just have to realize everyone does not share that opinion.

2) Difference of opinion on quality

Sometimes you think a name is of far greater quality than the prospect does. Yes, if you own the non hyphenated version it is of higher quality than the hyphenated version currently in use. The prospect may think that is worth $100 while you feel it is worth $5,000.

Other times the name is not really as good as the domain owner thinks. Sometimes you are in love with a domain and tend to have a higher opinion of the name than anyone else.

3) Some see you as a squatter

No matter how good a generic, non tm infringing domain may actually be, some see you as a squatter, pirate, parasite and they will never buy the domain for anything other than the cost of registration fee.

4) Email communications are not connecting

You need to know who to contact when you do email marketing to try to sell your domain names. Some just send an email to info@company.com and wait for a reply.

These emails may go to spam or to a low – level employee that does not know what to do with such emails.

5) The Pitch

You may get the email to the correct person but your pitch is no good or not striking the right chord. You need to make sure you test different email templates.

You might want to consider using the phone if you feel you are better with live chat over email.

These are not the only reasons you may not get that sale but they are high on the list. Keep testing and documenting what does and does not work for you.

About Raymond Hackney

Raymond is a writer, domain trader and consultant based in Pennsylvania. Raymond is the founder of 3Character.com and TLDInvestors.com.

Comments

    • Domain says

      Everyone will have different expectations. Most domainers have expectations far below that of Rick or Mike or Frank. Hence they sell for much less than these guys would get for the same domain.

  6. John says

    Good post.

    And I’m still not getting site emails anymore. Something wrong at your end, my email is fine and not in any spam folder.

  7. Domainer says

    “Sometimes you are in love with a domain and tend to have a higher opinion of the name than anyone else.”

    Just last week, I said the same thing when I was talking to the Mercedes Benz dealer..
    I wanted to pay the same price that I could buy a 5 yr old Hyundai.
    They are all the same. A car is a car.
    🙂

    • Domainer says

      I totally disagree. Endusers just don’t know what the fair value is for a particular domain. They are fearful of making a mistake. And, they don’t know who to trust.

      That was what Monte was good at. Endusers trusted his opinion. Unfortunately, he is out of that part of the business. (I believe he still dabbles in it.)

  9. Trevor says

    Keep paying up in auctions suckers.

    You have no idea what holding costs, And renewal management come into play when it comes to cashflow.

    To many newbie domainers are making big mistakes, on the false hopes of Google end user searches.

  10. steve says

    Only endusers have purchased my domains in the last 6 years, and this includes startups to Fortune 50 companies.

    I tried outbound marketing via email and brokers, but I don’t own super premium domains like sky.com, insurance.com, smart.com, so it’s not easy selling something to someone who is not in a buying mood. If it’s a large corporation, and you reach the CMO, it still needs to get approved by the CEO

    I stopped contacting end-users, as I sold only 10 domains this way in the last 2 years,. I received an offer (fairly high) for a domain today via one of the well-known brokers.

    But of course, out of the hundreds of domains I have, this is one that’s in development. So, had to say “not interested.”

    • Raymond Hackney says

      Not high enough to consider another domain for development Steve ?

      Best of luck, either way.

  12. steve says

    @Ray

    I won a grant through IBM Watsom by building a virtual assistant prototype with this name — so it would have to be a high price.

    The one thing I’ve learned in domaining. If you’re a highly motivated seller, it’s hard to get a deal.

    You look at the experts who get maximum ROI — Mike Berkins, Rich, Michael Mann and I believe, Frank Schilling — they usually get what they want and they will decline offers that don’t meet their thresholds.

    That’s my philosophy now. If I don’t sell, no big deal.

  13. Surya says

    I think trust and negotiation skills are very important factor to close the deals.I still don’t know why but I have got emails from end user, and always ends up with no deals.. Buyers are only bargain and bargain again. I think next time I’ll forward all price quot emails to a broker and let them close the deal.

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