How do you find buyers?

[ehdonhon]

I'm really curious what the best strategies are for finding buyers? I know there are tons of ways to let buyers find you.. ebay, sedo, etc... But when you have a domain that you think would be great for a specific group of people, what's the best way of letting them know you have it?

Is it one of those things where you just have to build up contacts over time and then deal with the same group of people, or are there good ways to "cold sell" a domain name?

I've been taking domain names that I have and finding similar web sites out there and sending e-mails to the contact addresses for the other sites, but that usually produces no response. My guess is that since they don't recognize me, they assume I'm a spammer. How do I get past that?

All advice for this newbie appreciated!

[JEsports]

Best advice I can give is ... patience, patience, patience. If your domain name is specific to a particular group and is very good ... they will find it and make an offer if interested. Keep it parked for click revenue and stats in the meantime. If/and when your domain receives larges amounts of traffic, another idea is to forward your domain to that particular company. They will take notice as to where all the additional traffic is coming from and possibly make an offer once you remove the forwarding.

Good luck,

John

[nameplanet]

If you forward it to another company, could you get in trouble for that? Just curious.

[JEsports]

not if it the domain name is not a trademark issue or offensive I wouldnt think.

[chatcher]

Originally Posted by ehdonhon

I'm really curious what the best strategies are for finding buyers?

The most important rule is to make sure buyers can find you. Make sure the whois contact information is current, and that you read your email and answer your telephone. Spam filters on your email may save you time, but they can cost you money by hiding mail from potential buyers. You MAY want to put contact information or a contact form on the website associated with the domain, assuming you aren't using some kind of "for sale" mechanism like Sedo or Afternic. I have received many more inquiries from website visitors than from whois visitors (but the whois visitors are more likely to be serious).

When a potential buyer comes calling, you know they want the domain and, assuming you can agree on value, you're home free. When you go looking for a buyer, unless you're willing to accept a wholesale price, it's usually a much harder sell.

[seeker]

a little secret is to use the site's contact us email link and NOT the whois link (actually use both).
Many companies have an admin or a techie in the whois email. So when you send it there, they just throw it away, since most likely they dont own the company and wouldnt care less.
Now, If you redirect the traffic to their site, and the above scenario applies, then you still wont get a reply, since the techie wont care.
Its all about getting the the right person, the decision maker, not the webmaster.