DON'T open "Domains for sale" section to public ! - DNForum - Domain Sales, Domain Forum, Domain Appraisals, Domain Registrars

**beatz** · 05-04-2003, 09:50 AM

To open the for sale section for public is a bad idea.
Why?

First, what kind of prices would you put up?

Reseller prices like it mostly has been this way so far?
Retail?
Both?
Now, don't you think every potential retail buyer would pretend they're a reseller just to get your name for much less?
Sure they would.

Second, if the public/endusers are given the choice to sign up as silver member, would you really want them to read all our domainers "insider" stuff like for instance learn about the fact that there is such a thing like "reseller" and "retail" prices at all, like learn about dropservices etc.etc.

Result would be a very watered down board with semi-domainers, enduser buyers pretending they are domainers, you suddenly would find yourself discussing with people about domain strategies that have no clue about domains and so on and so on.

My point is, keep it a DISCUSSION forum, and don't try to make it into a public sale platform.Won't work.
You can't discuss "secrets" amongst domainers AND have it open for public at the same time.

Although i think platforms with 100's of names offered for sale don't work for the enduser anyway (just too confusing for most, see old/new Afternic, Greatdomains etc.) - if you feel the need to offer names for sale on a publically accessible platform, then at least do it on an additional linked page, or even a different site, like DNFsales.com or DNFnames.com or sumfin like that and put a link on DNforum.

I mean, hey if you don't manage to sell your names to enduser on your own, a section with 100's of names competing against your own will surely not raise the chances of a sale a lot.

In the end i think, (how) to sell your names to public/enduser is one's own challenge and job.

**GiantDomains** · 05-04-2003, 05:05 PM

What are you talking about? Expiring domains forum is viewable to gold and platinum only, the rest of the forum is viewable by guests. There is no need to keep it hidden now that Silver memberships are free.

**GT Web** · 05-04-2003, 07:41 PM

i agree w/ giant!

i say let goldies post there as well

**beatz** · 05-06-2003, 08:21 AM

Posted this on the 4th page of the auction thread already but thought it might get buried there, so:

"I dunno.

There seem to be quite some people that have the idea of regging names and selling them to resellers is a solid business plan.

Maybe someone should point out that this is a bad idea.

As the only way to make *real* money when it comes to resale is selling to ENDUSERS, as long as your names are not top-of-the-cream names that even sell for good profit to resellers.

So, as the auction so far has mainly been reseller to reseller, what do you expect?!

Of course prices are low as reseller wants to buy from reseller for dirt cheap only - normal.

Now, if you think the solution is to bring enduser/retail buyers to the forum - you are wrong.

First, this is a FORUM.

NOT a sales platform; as someone earlier already pointed out, the "for sale" section and the auction are just one of many sections, its not like DNF was built around those.

Second, as a serious seller, its your *own* duty to market your names to enduser buyers, not DNFs.If your not able to sell your names to enduser, better get out of the business or find a broker.

For instance, my chances are 1000% better to sell Casting.us by posting the name for sale on a model/casting forum than posting it here - now, you just CANT bring the right endusers here for that name as the RIGHT endusers(i.e. the ones that would pay most for the name) have no interest in domain forums; at least to improve my chances of selling the name HERE you would have to bring ALL those casting people that visit the casting boards to this place - at least, and thats just for *one* name.Impossible thing.

Third, on what basis do you wanna decide whats you asking price as soon as retail buyers have access to the for sale section and the auction?

Like, "$100 asking price for reseller, $1200 for retail, please identify yourself" ?

Ridiculous.

All in all, my point is, the idea of all you have to do to sell your names is sitting here waiting for the retail buyers to come(be redirected) here and theyll pick a name they like and thats it is just wishful thinking.

You have to do the work yourself.

Nature of the game.

Really,i could care less if retailers are brought to this place or not, as i always felt its part of *my* job, if not the most important one, to find enduser buyers *myself*.

Even more, i think the idea to bring retail buyers here could destroy the nature of what DNF was and is good for - that is exchanging info amongst DOMAINERS.

This is not afternic, you know.

Btw - i always said and still will say - AUCTIONS simply dont work for endusers for a dozen of reasons anyway.

Now if the new owners want to prove the opposite on the risk of destroying what DNF was made for actually, go on and try - youll see."

proproject · 05-10-2003, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by beatz
There seem to be quite some people that have the idea of regging names and selling them to resellers is a solid business plan.

Maybe someone should point out that this is a bad idea.

I agree, it is a bad idea in general. But for some, it should be a good idea. It is a good business plan if you have some competitive advantage (better information, better connections, better tools, better intuition, whatever) that makes you better at snapping up names than other resellers. We've had several names sell between resellers on our site.

**GiantDomains** · 05-10-2003, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by proproject

I agree, it is a bad idea in general.

Why?

**mole** · 05-10-2003, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GiantDomains
Why?

Intuition?

proproject · 05-10-2003, 02:58 PM

Why? Resellers buy at wholesale and sell at retail. That's simple (don't they wish, only compared to...). Having something to offer that is attractive to resellers is much more challenging.

**GiantDomains** · 05-10-2003, 04:24 PM

What does this have to do with letting guests view the forum

Silver (free members) could always view anyway.

**beatz** · 05-11-2003, 11:44 AM

What does it have to do with that ?

Well, simple.

A lot of the folks that are in favor of the idea of bringing "potential buyers" here are the ones that seem to have thought it would be easy to simply register some names and sell them to people (resellers) here - as if it would be soo easy to find unregged names that 1000+ active resellers havent thought of and seen already.

Now that these people are stuck as it just turns out to *not* be so easy for them to reg&sell, they think the solution to their dilemma would be DNF bringing them buyers as if the reason for the slow/low sales would solely be the absence of potential buyers when in fact its because of the low quality of names (hint: take a look at tonights auction list) - and/or the wrong business plan.

You see.

**GiantDomains** · 05-11-2003, 11:57 AM

I still don't get your arguement of "DON'T open Domains for sale section to public". If the forum is not viewable to guests, all they have to do is sign up for a free silver membership, then they can view. That's why the forum is viewable to guests.

**beatz** · 05-11-2003, 12:07 PM

Well the original topic was not even this thread but the proposal of *actively* bringing buyers here by whatever technique, be it redirecting traffic or whatever.

There indeed is a difference between guests that find their way to this place on their own or "buyers" that are *brought* here.

Also, it DOES make a big difference if someone has to sign up before or not; signing up is bad of course for a domain sales platform as it makes it more difficult for your potential buyer, BUT as this forum so far still is a forum and NOT a public sales platform, the signup thing is indeed good as it might keep the people away that are not *really* interested in domains or retailers pretending they are resellers and thus helps avoiding this place becoming a watered-down mixture of everything.

Banned: timechange.com · 05-11-2003, 03:15 PM

A lot of sellers that have interest in DNF are one-time opportunists, e.g. have abcdefg.com and want to sell it. They don't want to pay $50 for that benefit. But too bad

After all that's why there are at least two more free forums, DomainState and DomainGator.com

proproject · 05-11-2003, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by beatz
...signing up is bad of course for a domain sales platform as it makes it more difficult for your potential buyer...

This is not so clear, and the question might be relevant to DNF's For Sale forum. We (Afternic) think that requiring buyers to signup (have a billing relationship with the exchange, even if it is nominal) helps weed out nuisance offers and helps us authenticate members to each other, and no serious buyer has ever objected to a nominal fee for this purpose, as far as I know.