Author Topic: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?  (Read 1197 times)

Nick_Miller

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1655
  • Location: A sprawling estate with one of those cool circular driveways in the front!
Random question I know.

GoDaddy emailed me with some message about one of my domain names being worth about $1,400.00. It's not a domain name I've really used, but I continue to keep it as a "what if" for one of my writing projects. I've never gotten an email like this from them before.

Is this just automated garbage? I'll dig into it a bit tonight, but just wanted to get a feel for whether these emails go out allllll the time and don't bear fruit.

2sk22

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1487
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2021, 03:03:06 PM »
I often get unsolicited offers for a relatively short .org domain that I registered about 20 years ago. I am actually using this domain for some hobby work so I have ignored all such solicitations.

There was an entertaining episode (episode 7) of the Reply All podcast about the market in domain names.

Nick_Miller

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1655
  • Location: A sprawling estate with one of those cool circular driveways in the front!
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2021, 06:49:20 AM »
So it turns out that GoDaddy owns another company that brokers domain name sales between third-parties (for a commission of course).

In my case, they would charge a 20% commission. So in theory, it's like what do I have to lose? You enter your asking price and then you give them a "wiggle room" option, authorizing them to negotiate down to that amount to get a sale done. Honestly, if I could sell the domain name for $1,400, or even $1,000, I probably would.

The rub is that they will attempt to upsell me on things like "premium placement" and other crap to attempt to "expedite" a transaction.

I honestly don't think my domain name is worth much, but it is short, and it's a .com, and I could see other applications for it. I might spend a few minutes on it this weekend just to learn more about the process (though I'm guessing it would take months for an actual offer).


RWD

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6526
  • Location: Arizona
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2021, 07:25:36 AM »
GoDaddy's appraisal tool values one of my domains at ~$1,100 (two short dictionary words, .com TLD). I put it up for auction on Sedo (at a non-refundable cost of ~$60), starting bid around $100. It received zero bids... So I think you can take GoDaddy's valuation with a heavy grain of salt.

ditheca

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 309
  • Age: 40
  • Location: ST GEORGE, UT
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2021, 08:46:17 AM »
My employer owns a three-letter .com. I received an unsolicited offer of $80,000 for it.

erutio

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 717
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2021, 08:50:16 AM »
My employer owns a three-letter .com. I received an unsolicited offer of $80,000 for it.

So...did you offer to buy it off your employer for $40,000?

Nick_Miller

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1655
  • Location: A sprawling estate with one of those cool circular driveways in the front!
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2021, 09:16:56 AM »
I would like to hear more too! Did it go anywhere?

markbike528CBX

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1899
  • Location: the Everbrown part of the Evergreen State (WA)
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2021, 03:27:02 PM »
For those of you who have lots of URLs, you might make a T-shirt out of it.

Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content webcomic has done so.
NSFW?   https://topatoco.com/collections/jeph-jacques/products/qc-urls-print

All the URLs on the list that I've tested, work, and redirect to www.questionablecontent.net

theoverlook

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 505
Re: Has anyone sold a domain name for far more than what you paid for it?
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2021, 02:55:24 PM »
I once sold a short .com from an abandoned project to a local company that had a similar name for $800. I would have given it to them but they opened with the lawyer guns blazing instead of a polite inquiry, so I charged them for it. It would probably be worth thousands nowadays! (5 letters.)

Side note, I had registered two domains for that project. On the other one, a different company called me about it and very politely asked what I was doing with it and I gave it to them for free. Don't open with the lawyer guns blazing, people.