Hi There, I wanted to share with you my recent experience of selling an unused domain name for a profit.
Around a year ago, I had purchased the domain AppStoreMonitor.com to build a saas product to monitor app store listing of any apps. Back then I had some extra time to work on this product. I started research and even wrote some code but due to other freelance project commitments, I was unable to continue work on this project. And the domain sat unused for about a year.
Until a few months ago, I had never even heard the term Domain Flipping, this is buying lucrative domain names and selling them for a profit. I read an article about domain flipping and wanted to try it myself with my unused domain names that included the above-mentioned one. This article I read guided me to list my domains on sites like Sedo, Flippa and other forums that are exclusive for buying and selling domain names.
Deciding on a reasonable price for these domains was quite difficult since I was new to this sort of hustle. But after a few trial and errors, I figured how to price them. After this point, it was the waiting game.
At last, after a few months of waiting for someone to contact me, I got just the email I wanted. Some random human on the internet emailed me, saying that they were interested in buying AppStoreMonitor.com. After a few email exchanges, we settled on a price and I sent a Paypal invoice. Then the transaction was settled and the transfer was made. All of this in less than a few hours. I now feel that the few months I waited was worth it.
As you may know, I am a Freelance Web & Mobile Developer offering software development services. Domain flipping for me is a whole different world of business. I want to explore what more I can do to better the sale of my domains in the future. I don't see myself living off of selling domains but no one says no to extra income by selling something they don't use.
If you have a domain setting unused, try to sell them. If you need any help do let me know, will try to help out.
And, that's all for now.
Top comments (5)
I'll be honest, domain flipping/squating to me is one of the bigger problems we need to fix with the Internet. I consider it extortion where you don't use or need a domain and charge thousands for it.
For example, I have a small business with a domain local to my country. At the time, there was another business with a ".com" domain. A few years later the business the website was down and the domain was near expiry. I went to buy it at expiry but couldn't for another month or so (in case the other person missed the payment). Instead, someone else managed to get hold of it (that is when you find out there are lists of recently expired domains that people pick up to, some with auto buying) with the sole purpose of selling.
Going to the domain, I am taken to a domain broker who after many messages said it would cost $8000USD. I tried another path, finding who owned it and after a few emails there, they said $5000USD. This is an insane price for something that would otherwise go for $10/year. That people do this, intentionally blocking people who have a need for something, with the sole purpose to make money is wrong. If they were actually using it, I would be fine with it but they aren't...
All that said, in your particular case, you weren't holding the domain for the sole purpose of flipping making most of what I said above a moot point. I do urge you not to sell domains in the future though because it just purpetuates this broken system.
I just needed to rant at what I consider a broken and flawed system. If I had the power to change it, I would in a heart beat.
Hi James, I agree with what you say but I have mixed opinions about this.
Reselling domain will continue as long as people are willing to offer huge sums of money. The price of domain is valued by how similar domains have been sold in the past. The prices will continue to increase just like the housing bubble, things will be back to normal when the bubble bursts.
financesonline.com/top-10-most-exp...
Domain flipping/squatting is very much like ticket scalping, it forces the price to go higher and for people to miss out because of timing, not because someone actually wanted/need the domain/ticket. This leads it to only the wealthy being able to afford it.
Unfortunately in terms of a bubble, I don't see a future where it bursts without regulation. ICANN and maintainers of TLDs need to allow the ability to "report" domains that are owned for the sole purpose of reselling after which go through a review process where ownership may be rescinded.
If the reselling of domains should remain allowed, it should be price capped to prevent the ability to profiteer on a mass scale - say 5-10x the yearly cost of the domain for that specific TLD, none of this thousands or millions of dollars.
Being able to report a domainname wouldn't work at all. Resellers would just put some arbitrary nonsense site up and claim it has a purpose, while also having huge "THIS DOMAIN IS FOR SALE" banners everywhere.
The pricecap is a good idea, though. If you ask me, the price should be capped to about 10 times the yearly cost and it should be illegal to make other payments for the domain beyond the official cap.
With your example of reporting not working - I would still see it work because a human on the other end would see said banners and use that itself as cause for termination. Even with that taken into account however, it does still have flaws because someone would still try to circumvent it any which way (eg. hide the banners depending on IP address, only post about the sale on the darknet etc).
With the price cap, yeah, I could get behind a price that is 10x of the yearly cost of a domain and it definitely should be illegal for "additional" payments. Probably if this was the approach to go, there should be official brokers (ones backed by the TLD registrar or ICANN themselves) which handle the transaction to prevent any funny business.