If you think auctioning domains sounds like it’s worth a try, then your first step is to get set up at eBay.
1. Get Registered
To sell anything on eBay, registration is required. Registration is free, but there is a small fee to list items for sale. Buying is free, and can begin right away — and there are no eBay fees to buy, only to sell.
In order to sell, as of this writing, details of a credit card must be put on file with eBay. They then verify the credit card (as an anti-fraud precaution), but also to verify rights to the bank account that you, as the seller, have listed. Once verification is complete, you can start to list items for sale.
2. Do your Homework
After you’ve registered successfully, do a little research to find out where domains should be placed for sale. eBay has dozens of categories, and one is of course the Domain Names directory: .com Domain Listings, while the other is the Businesses for sale–> Websites section (if the domain being sold points to a developed site): Businesses for sale —-> Web sites.
Now, before you list any items, remember that eBay charges a percentage fee for listing items. Read thedetails of selling fees here.
eBay currently offers an ongoing promotion, as of this writing, in which people can list items in two categories for the price of one. Of course, the more categories in which you list an item, the better chance you’ll have to attract a wide, interested buyer audience. The two categories mentioned above are your best bets for selling a domain on eBay.
3. Choose your Listing Type
Next, to help you sell your domain, eBay provides you with different ways to list your auctions, in order to help maximize each auction’s exposure to targeted potential buyers.
Featured Listing
For a fee, eBay also offers listings in bold text, and special placement of your auctions at the tops of pages. This is called a Featured Listing, and it costs a total of US$49 to include your auction as a featured listing in both categories. This is a completely optional expense, and I personally use it mainly for domain names that I believe really have excellent sales potential. You can find the featured listing details here.
Premium Listing
There’s yet another type of featured listing called Premium Listing. Premium listings tend to bring in more bids at higher prices. Results of closed auctions prove it can be worth the fee.
Homepage Featured
Finally, there’s "Homepage Featured". I wouldn’t recommend that you choose this option. The cost is US$99, and your item will appear on the main ebay.com page. It’s expensive and a big risk if you have an auction that starts at US$1 and no one bids on it. A category feature will suffice, otherwise people will have to browse through 26+ pages of that category, and still may not see your listed domains.
Can a non-featured item be successful? Yes, it can. I sold the first site I mentioned above for US$50, but the second time I auctioned it I decided not to buy a feature listing, and thus paid only around US$4 for the sale. As for the second example, I listed that domain again 3 days after the original auction closed, and sold it for US$200.
4. Decide on the Auction Duration
The next choice you’ll need to make is the auction duration. As of now, 3, 5, and 7 days are free, while 10 days is not. I always use 7 day auctions, and so do most other sellers. So far, I personally haven’t seen a big difference in results between 7 and 10 day auctions, so I recommend using the 7 day option free of charge.
5. Get an Appraisal
Appraisal is an important factor in buying and selling a domain name. Whether the domain is a word in the dictionary, or has been made up, consider having a domain appraised by an appraisal authority. Domain appraisal authorities check out the domain name, the number of words in it, how many words like it appear in search engines, and consider other related factors to determine its monetary value. People tend to prefer domain names that have had an appraisal, to those domain names that don’t.
For example, I bought Want2Call.com more than a year ago at namebargain.com for US$12.99 per year, and sold it for a whopping US$460 — that was for the domain only, nothing else. There was no developed site attached to it, not even a single page: the domain name pointed to the name servers of the registrar (namebargain back then when it had the US$12 promotion).
I know what you’re thinking — ‘That’s a great profit!’ Well, it so happens that after the auction ended, the name was appraised for US$10,000. As of writing this, the current Want2Call.com owner has the domain up for sale, and they’re asking for a surprising sum. Even though I made a lot selling the domain after 1 year, I can’t help but feel I should have held onto it for a while longer.
If the domain name you’re offering for sale has been appraised, post a certificate picture at eBay. The appraisal doesn’t have to be from a well-recognized company, any will do. For example, in my last auction, I went over to SwiftAppraisal.com for free appraisal. The appraisal certificate isn’t required for the sale, but it seems to help a lot when it comes to getting the highest bid possible for your name.
BEWARE THE SCAM
Auctions are an excellent way to sell items, but there is one major downside: scams. Think they’re a rarity? Here are two examples from my own experience. First, one bidder placed a bid on a domain name of mine, and then emailed me saying not to leave a negative for them if they are "not able to pay." I emailed them back and asked if that was a joke. They never paid, and gave me a lame excuse. I ended up having to cancel their bid. Not only did I lose that auction with no bids, I lost the US$49 I put in to have it listed as a feature item.
In the second example, another auction ended with a winning bidder, but they never replied. I filed a NBP [Non-Paying Bidder] complaint with eBay, eBay contacted the bidder. They confirmed that the winning bidder’s email didn’t exist, and suspended his account. Again, I lost US$49.
ENSURING AUCTION SUCCESS
Here are a few hints based on my own experience.
Research is Key
Some items receive bids from multiple bidders while others receive only one bid from a single bidder — this is the norm. I suggest doing a little study on domain auctions to get the idea of what is common place. Also, I suggest that you go into the main domain name categories, and scroll down to see auctions that have attracted lots of bids (an auction’s number of bids is visible on the right side of the page). Once you spot an auction with lots of bids, click on it to read the details. Study it to ascertain how the author managed to attract bids and how he or she presented the information to appeal to the bidder. Believe me, if the potential target is not pleased, they will never bid.
Develop a MiniSite for your Domain
One way to make a domain look really good is to develop it into a small site. Even if this site receives virtually no traffic, it can wow interested buyers, who might buy the domain for hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. Remember, too, that the price a domain sells for will depend on the number and type of people who visit that particular auction — developing a small site can help you attract more buyers, and jack up your price! True – there are buyers who tend to look for domains attached to sites that already receive a fair amount of traffic, but there doesn’t seem to be huge demand of this on eBay, which makes it a great place to sell practically any domain.
For example, I personally bought the domain name http://www.insiderdvd.com from godaddy.com for US $8.95, developed it by affiliating it with a free store at vstore.com. The site had very few hits, but looked well developed, and I put it up for auction at eBay. The auction ended in seven days at a cool US $103.50 — not too shabby for my outlay of a mere US $8.95, plus the little work I put into it to make it more attractive to buyers.
Sell at the Right Time
Time is another factor that increases a domain name’s value. If a domain name has potential, stick with it. The longer you hold onto a domain, the more potential it will have when it’s offered for sale. If something can be built out of it, build it and then sell the domain.
What about a domain related to an upcoming event, or a year? If the value of a domain name is directly dependent upon a time frame, then think about selling it at the peak time, rather than holding onto it indefinitely. For example, if there’s a new movie coming out, and you have a domain name that’s related to it, selling it after a good 5 years won’t bring in much. Leverage the movie’s success, and market it right away. The hardest part will be deciding whether or not to sell it to the first or second bidder, or wait another day or two.
1. Get Registered
To sell anything on eBay, registration is required. Registration is free, but there is a small fee to list items for sale. Buying is free, and can begin right away — and there are no eBay fees to buy, only to sell.
In order to sell, as of this writing, details of a credit card must be put on file with eBay. They then verify the credit card (as an anti-fraud precaution), but also to verify rights to the bank account that you, as the seller, have listed. Once verification is complete, you can start to list items for sale.
2. Do your Homework
After you’ve registered successfully, do a little research to find out where domains should be placed for sale. eBay has dozens of categories, and one is of course the Domain Names directory: .com Domain Listings, while the other is the Businesses for sale–> Websites section (if the domain being sold points to a developed site): Businesses for sale —-> Web sites.
Now, before you list any items, remember that eBay charges a percentage fee for listing items. Read thedetails of selling fees here.
eBay currently offers an ongoing promotion, as of this writing, in which people can list items in two categories for the price of one. Of course, the more categories in which you list an item, the better chance you’ll have to attract a wide, interested buyer audience. The two categories mentioned above are your best bets for selling a domain on eBay.
3. Choose your Listing Type
Next, to help you sell your domain, eBay provides you with different ways to list your auctions, in order to help maximize each auction’s exposure to targeted potential buyers.
Featured Listing
For a fee, eBay also offers listings in bold text, and special placement of your auctions at the tops of pages. This is called a Featured Listing, and it costs a total of US$49 to include your auction as a featured listing in both categories. This is a completely optional expense, and I personally use it mainly for domain names that I believe really have excellent sales potential. You can find the featured listing details here.
Premium Listing
There’s yet another type of featured listing called Premium Listing. Premium listings tend to bring in more bids at higher prices. Results of closed auctions prove it can be worth the fee.
Homepage Featured
Finally, there’s "Homepage Featured". I wouldn’t recommend that you choose this option. The cost is US$99, and your item will appear on the main ebay.com page. It’s expensive and a big risk if you have an auction that starts at US$1 and no one bids on it. A category feature will suffice, otherwise people will have to browse through 26+ pages of that category, and still may not see your listed domains.
Can a non-featured item be successful? Yes, it can. I sold the first site I mentioned above for US$50, but the second time I auctioned it I decided not to buy a feature listing, and thus paid only around US$4 for the sale. As for the second example, I listed that domain again 3 days after the original auction closed, and sold it for US$200.
4. Decide on the Auction Duration
The next choice you’ll need to make is the auction duration. As of now, 3, 5, and 7 days are free, while 10 days is not. I always use 7 day auctions, and so do most other sellers. So far, I personally haven’t seen a big difference in results between 7 and 10 day auctions, so I recommend using the 7 day option free of charge.
5. Get an Appraisal
Appraisal is an important factor in buying and selling a domain name. Whether the domain is a word in the dictionary, or has been made up, consider having a domain appraised by an appraisal authority. Domain appraisal authorities check out the domain name, the number of words in it, how many words like it appear in search engines, and consider other related factors to determine its monetary value. People tend to prefer domain names that have had an appraisal, to those domain names that don’t.
For example, I bought Want2Call.com more than a year ago at namebargain.com for US$12.99 per year, and sold it for a whopping US$460 — that was for the domain only, nothing else. There was no developed site attached to it, not even a single page: the domain name pointed to the name servers of the registrar (namebargain back then when it had the US$12 promotion).
I know what you’re thinking — ‘That’s a great profit!’ Well, it so happens that after the auction ended, the name was appraised for US$10,000. As of writing this, the current Want2Call.com owner has the domain up for sale, and they’re asking for a surprising sum. Even though I made a lot selling the domain after 1 year, I can’t help but feel I should have held onto it for a while longer.
If the domain name you’re offering for sale has been appraised, post a certificate picture at eBay. The appraisal doesn’t have to be from a well-recognized company, any will do. For example, in my last auction, I went over to SwiftAppraisal.com for free appraisal. The appraisal certificate isn’t required for the sale, but it seems to help a lot when it comes to getting the highest bid possible for your name.
BEWARE THE SCAM
Auctions are an excellent way to sell items, but there is one major downside: scams. Think they’re a rarity? Here are two examples from my own experience. First, one bidder placed a bid on a domain name of mine, and then emailed me saying not to leave a negative for them if they are "not able to pay." I emailed them back and asked if that was a joke. They never paid, and gave me a lame excuse. I ended up having to cancel their bid. Not only did I lose that auction with no bids, I lost the US$49 I put in to have it listed as a feature item.
In the second example, another auction ended with a winning bidder, but they never replied. I filed a NBP [Non-Paying Bidder] complaint with eBay, eBay contacted the bidder. They confirmed that the winning bidder’s email didn’t exist, and suspended his account. Again, I lost US$49.
ENSURING AUCTION SUCCESS
Here are a few hints based on my own experience.
Research is Key
Some items receive bids from multiple bidders while others receive only one bid from a single bidder — this is the norm. I suggest doing a little study on domain auctions to get the idea of what is common place. Also, I suggest that you go into the main domain name categories, and scroll down to see auctions that have attracted lots of bids (an auction’s number of bids is visible on the right side of the page). Once you spot an auction with lots of bids, click on it to read the details. Study it to ascertain how the author managed to attract bids and how he or she presented the information to appeal to the bidder. Believe me, if the potential target is not pleased, they will never bid.
Develop a MiniSite for your Domain
One way to make a domain look really good is to develop it into a small site. Even if this site receives virtually no traffic, it can wow interested buyers, who might buy the domain for hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. Remember, too, that the price a domain sells for will depend on the number and type of people who visit that particular auction — developing a small site can help you attract more buyers, and jack up your price! True – there are buyers who tend to look for domains attached to sites that already receive a fair amount of traffic, but there doesn’t seem to be huge demand of this on eBay, which makes it a great place to sell practically any domain.
For example, I personally bought the domain name http://www.insiderdvd.com from godaddy.com for US $8.95, developed it by affiliating it with a free store at vstore.com. The site had very few hits, but looked well developed, and I put it up for auction at eBay. The auction ended in seven days at a cool US $103.50 — not too shabby for my outlay of a mere US $8.95, plus the little work I put into it to make it more attractive to buyers.
Sell at the Right Time
Time is another factor that increases a domain name’s value. If a domain name has potential, stick with it. The longer you hold onto a domain, the more potential it will have when it’s offered for sale. If something can be built out of it, build it and then sell the domain.
What about a domain related to an upcoming event, or a year? If the value of a domain name is directly dependent upon a time frame, then think about selling it at the peak time, rather than holding onto it indefinitely. For example, if there’s a new movie coming out, and you have a domain name that’s related to it, selling it after a good 5 years won’t bring in much. Leverage the movie’s success, and market it right away. The hardest part will be deciding whether or not to sell it to the first or second bidder, or wait another day or two.
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