Selling Domain Names with a Listing Service

In the sections on monetizing domain names, you saw some of the basic ways to sell a domain name. You also learned that marketing domain names, while it increases your chances of selling, can put you at a disadvantage when it comes to pricing. This section will go into a little more detail on how to get the most from your domains and how to effectively market them without sounding desperate.

Domain Listing Services

Throughout this guide, you may have heard the words brokers, parking services, and domain listing services all used in conjunction with each other. That’s because most of them perform, essentially, the same function. Most parking services allow you to put a ‘for sale’ price on your domain name. Most domain listing services also provide parking services. And most brokers list the domains their clients are selling. But not all of them do all three and some of them only do one.

Most domainers use a service that both parks and lists their domains. There’s no reason to list a domain for a lengthy period of time and not park it somewhere where it can make money. Plus, the services that both list and park are by far the most popular for both buyers and sellers, so you’re more likely to find a buyer on such sites.
You’ll find a lot of domain listing services in the resources section of this site, along with a review of each. Some of them cater well to beginners, while some won’t even deal with beginners.

When listing a domain name, be careful not to ask for an unreasonable sum. A domain name with a market value of $1,000 isn’t going to get much serious attention if the listed price is $10,000. Prospects probably won’t even try to contact you. That being said, you don’t have to start with the market value. List your domains a few hundred dollars over to give you room to bargain.

Another fatal flaw is incrementally lowering the price every month. This is a great way to give any potential buyers the impression that you’re desperate to sell. If you see a domain’s listed price gradually being lowered, either the domain owner wasn’t sure what to set the initial price at (because of lack of industry experience and knowledge) or the owner is desperate to sell the domain. A potential buyer could simply wait for the domain name to drop to the $100 range and then make an offer for $50. Make sure you don’t make this mistake and end up devaluing your domains.

Most domain listing services offer the ability to use keywords or tags in the descriptions so that you can link the domain name to a specific industry or interest. When listing a generic name like carparts.com, keywords aren’t as necessary as the domain is self-explanatory. But, if you want to list a name like carburetorpieces.com, a good description and keyword tags would definitely help you find the right buyers. People looking for a domain name for their auto parts site might not have thought of searching for the term “carburetor”. This additional information helps those potential buyers find your domain.