How about paid listings on DNF?

[NameMatters]

Greetings,

Not sure if this was discussed before..but as everyone here knows many members do not post the domains for sale here or any forum for that matter for the single fear of getting indexed by Google and other SEs.

How about creating a private sub forum for domain sales where the sellers can list domains for sale by paying a small fee (let's say $2 or $5 per domain) if they are assured of non-indexing/ privacy? I know there is an exclusive sales /private sales area for such sales but then again you are limiting the sellers/buyers in that section, that is probably why there are'nt many posts/sales there either..

It's like creating two different subforums for domain sales one is 'paid section' while the other one is free as always.

I personally will post 100-200 domains for sale in the next one month @ $5 per listing if a private sub forum is created where ALL members of DNF can access and buy or sell domains. I strongly believe that there are lot of members here who will post their domains for sale if it has some privacy. Ofcourse, we should continue allowing free posts as always. Paid posts can also generate good 'extra daily income' to the forum as well ;-).. Just an idea..

Any thoughts?

thanks,
Sai.

[TheLegendaryJP]

Good idea in theory... in theory.

[draggar]

While this isn't a bad suggestion there are ways around Google catching your domains:

domain(dot)com
domain,com
domain[dot]com
domain(.)com

As far as I know all of these variations are allowed in the post's title and in the post you can change them, just make sure it is 100% clear to everyone else what the domains are (don't replace O's with 0's, 1's with l's etc..).

While Google will still pickup on the domain w/o the TLD, it won't be picked up in searches for domain.com

[Stian]

While this isn't a bad suggestion there are ways around Google catching your domains:

domain(dot)com
domain,com
domain[dot]com
domain(.)com

As far as I know all of these variations are allowed in the post's title and in the post you can change them, just make sure it is 100% clear to everyone else what the domains are (don't replace O's with 0's, 1's with l's etc..).

While Google will still pickup on the domain w/o the TLD, it won't be picked up in searches for domain.com

Actually, this doesn't help either as Google is smart enough to see through these attempts of cloaking the domain name.

Example, I Google "Mafa.com":

#
#
Mafa (,) com - DNForum - Domain Sales, Domain Forum, Domain ...
5 posts
Mafa,com More than 14 years old CVCV.com. As premium as it gets, with repeating letter A's for increased memorability. The .net, .org, .us, .no, .nl, .
www.dnforum.com/f529/mafa-com-thread-341732.html - 85k - Cached - Similar pages
#
NamePros.Com - Need quick PayPal fix - Mafa,com | TTF,net | Titt,com
1 post - Last post: 18 Dec 2008
One domain sold. That's all I needed. Sale ended. Thank you all. Please register or log-in into NamePros to hide ads.
http://www.namepros.com/high-priced-...-mafa-com.html - 43k - Cached - Similar pages

both Mafa,com and even Mafa (,) com shows up as results when searching for Mafa.com. I believe the best (only) way is to use (dot), dot, [dot] etc.

If you want to be sure the domain name isn't indexed by search engines, make a .gif picture of the domain name and add it to your thread instead of typing the domain name. I'm not sure if DNF allows this any longer, but I've done it a couple of times in the past.

[draggar]

Then use domain(dot)com.

Seriously, I do think this is a good idea and the low price (<$10) might make it a rather active forum with good domains as opposed to people flooding it with attempts to hide Qzzyxvvlmp.com sales.

Let's see what the admin(s) say.

[TheLegendaryJP]

Or a new forum for TM's ! lol

[siteman]

Maybe admin can set the robot.txt to protect certain parts of the forum so that the search engines bots wont index the sales threads?

[GUA]

I agree. Google is a nightmare for me for various reasons... 'Deal at $5k.. but wait, you offered that for $50 last week' etc

[NameMatters]

In my opinion, there are LOT of buyers and sellers on DNF just that they are NOT posting..that is why you see all the garbage names (atleast 90% of them..sorry to say that).

One reason, exclusives are hanging in here because they don't want to lose their 'investment' in the fees that they have paid to DNF. So, they will probably be around here for life, which is really good btw..

New or non-exclusive members look around and get disappointed as they can't find any good names for sale. That is probably why not everyone of them wants to spend money to upgrade.

So, when you look at someone as "non-exclusive member", it doesn't mean that he or she can't afford to buy domains or spend money to upgrade his status on the forum to 'exclusive'. Imo, they will be motivated to upgrade their membership only if they see good names. They do know that, upgrading to 'exclusive status' only makes them look more serious!

So choice is clear..

Just my 2 cents..take it easy!

Btw, Google is lot cleverer than we think. So, there is no way to get privacy without going for private listings.

thanks,
Sai.

[nameadvertising.com]

Sai,
Who is the arbitrar of a good name? I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence, but the forum crowd is not the best place to determine which names are precious or valuable beyond the usual LLL, NNN and 1 worders.

I have had buyers come to me with details of a forum thread and arguing about pricing. Too bad. I really don't care if my name posted 8 months ago for $50 gets attention from a buyer. Either they want it or they don't.

If a good domain posted on the free thread is not sold, then it won't get any attention of a paid thread either. A good name should not be perceived to be valuable for where it is listed or who is selling it. And (merely) for traffic and ppc for that matter.

[NameMatters]

If a good domain posted on the free thread is not sold, then it won't get any attention of a paid thread either.

That is a BIG "IF" you are talking about here. Good names are not getting posted here because of the seller's fear , NOT because of the buyers fear of Google, most of the times...That is the whole point we are discussing!

So, this not about how a good name is valued at all. Bottomline is, if the seller thinks it's a good name, HE will not post it here due to fear of Google indexing it for life. If he fails to sell it, he is screwed by Google for ever.. That is the problem here we are talking about.

I can pay for 100 listings today @ $5 per listing and not worry about any unsold names getting exposed.

Hope that helps..

thanks,

[nameadvertising.com]

Hey Sai,
I am having a discussion and hope it does not come off as combative. No harm done in trying to have a paid listing. At least the thread will be selective.

But I never understood what is the fear in having Google indexing a sale thread. So what if it captures a sale price from yesterday or 8 months ago? Valuations never stay the same. It's like coming to a broker saying why don't you sell me a certain stock at levels 8 months ago.

In todays economy, I'd seriously wonder if anyone would even get to sell a Google indexed name priced for sale 12 months ago.

I think DCG should implement this suggestion. We won't know which direction it takes unless it is tried and tested. But, isn't the exclusive membership privy to this already in some form?

[Donald Aquilano]

It's an interesting idea.

[draggar]

But I never understood what is the fear in having Google indexing a sale thread. So what if it captures a sale price from yesterday or 8 months ago? Valuations never stay the same. It's like coming to a broker saying why don't you sell me a certain stock at levels 8 months ago.

In todays economy, I'd seriously wonder if anyone would even get to sell a Google indexed name priced for sale 12 months ago.

It's the fact that a savvy buyer may do a Google search, even as innocent as seeing how many results come up and then complain because the seller was asking a lot more now for what they were asking for a few months ago.

Perfect example - how much do you think the domain BarakObaba.com would have sold for 2 years ago? Not much, maybe a couple hundred. Then, he runs and gets the nod, this would put a huge boost on the domain's value and now that he's the president elect, it makes the value even higher (purely because of the demand).

If I had it all this time and tried to sell it for $250 a few years ago and now I'm asking $7500, someone may say "well, you were only asking $250 a few years ago, I'm not going to buy it for $7500. I'll make it worth your while and offer you $500..

People do this all the time, expecting sale prices months after the sales are over, demanding a sale price for something they bought months ago, etc.. (and yes, I spent many years in retail and I used to see this often).

I like this idea because
1) I think we would have higher quality names for sale since people don't like having these sales indexed plus people aren't going to pay to have low end domains being sold (it's not worth paying $10 to sell a domain for a reg fee).
2) Higher quality names, even in one forum, would mean more repeat visitors and more DNF sales.
3) Possible raised membership (assuming registered members become gold to post in the sales forums)
4) More revenue for DNF (I'm sure not a large amount) to help pay for improvements on the community, etc..

Note: This is assuming that all membership levels can post in this forum (as long as they pay the fee) and any membership level can respond.

I think the big question is: How much would people pay to not have your domain listed for sale (and not a % of the sale price).

$5? $10? $25? $50?

[biggedon]

Sai,
Who is the arbitrar of a good name? I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence, but the forum crowd is not the best place to determine which names are precious or valuable beyond the usual LLL, NNN and 1 worders.

I have had buyers come to me with details of a forum thread and arguing about pricing. Too bad. I really don't care if my name posted 8 months ago for $50 gets attention from a buyer. Either they want it or they don't.

If a good domain posted on the free thread is not sold, then it won't get any attention of a paid thread either. A good name should not be perceived to be valuable for where it is listed or who is selling it. And (merely) for traffic and ppc for that matter.

all good points and i feel the same about someone seeing an old post from 8 months back. if they don't want to buy...then move on

That is a BIG "IF" you are talking about here. Good names are not getting posted here because of the seller's fear , NOT because of the buyers fear of Google, most of the times...That is the whole point we are discussing!

So, this not about how a good name is valued at all. Bottomline is, if the seller thinks it's a good name, HE will not post it here due to fear of Google indexing it for life. If he fails to sell it, he is screwed by Google for ever.. That is the problem here we are talking about.

I can pay for 100 listings today @ $5 per listing and not worry about any unsold names getting exposed.

Hope that helps..

thanks,

Sai, i think those who don't post what you call good names, may not do so because of the lowball offers they get.

i recently saw member post a LL.com for sale and he asked for bids to start at 50k. in the thread "two" Exclusive members had posteds bids which were "half" the sellers minimum.

their lowball offers were subsequently deleted!

this is typical of some characters here who consistently post low offers in a thread, knowing that the seller won't go for it, but they just want their names to be seen. like i'll start you off with $1000 on a LLL.com thread.

if someone is watching who has some "good" names, do you think this is incentive for them to post theirs for sale?


so imo, the theory of google indexing is not that much of a deterent, more than the lowball offers that are being posted.

another thing to consider is, if we did have such a section, it won't make members offer more.


if you want to test, just take 1 or 2 of those 100 names you would list and post them in one of the current sections available now and see what you get.

i am not against having a non-indexed sales section, especially if it helps sales.

maybe then everyone would only post there and we wouldn't need all the other sections.

[NameMatters]

"well, you were only asking $250 a few years ago, I'm not going to buy it for $7500. I'll make it worth your while and offer you $500..

People do this all the time,

The fact here is, the seller don't have to even answer such a question like this if he would have posted the original sale in a non-indexing page!! because the buyer wouldn't even ask that question which is a lot better situation to deal with!

As far the fees, I think sellers will not mind $2 to $5 flat fee per domain posted. If he thinks it's not worth spending $2 on the domain , he will anyway use free posting area.

P.S. The rule here should be ALL members should be able to view the listings no matter what their membership status is..to increase the chances of selling unlike the exclusive sale area that we currently have. We should continue having this exclusive sale area as well..IF some exclusive member wants to sell to ONLY to an exclusive member then they can post it there though I don't believe anyone will restrict their buyers..

2) Higher quality names, even in one forum, would mean more repeat visitors and more DNF sales.

Very good point..

[jaydub]

Could be a good use for the DNF$ as well...give them some value

[acegoet]

Love the idea of using DNF for it or the low $$ fee. Always wondered what I was going to use the DNF for anyway.

[Carter]

In my opinion, there are LOT of buyers and sellers on DNF just that they are NOT posting..that is why you see all the garbage names (atleast 90% of them..sorry to say that).

One reason, exclusives are hanging in here because they don't want to lose their 'investment' in the fees that they have paid to DNF. So, they will probably be around here for life, which is really good btw..

New or non-exclusive members look around and get disappointed as they can't find any good names for sale. That is probably why not everyone of them wants to spend money to upgrade.

So, when you look at someone as "non-exclusive member", it doesn't mean that he or she can't afford to buy domains or spend money to upgrade his status on the forum to 'exclusive'. Imo, they will be motivated to upgrade their membership only if they see good names. They do know that, upgrading to 'exclusive status' only makes them look more serious!

So choice is clear..

Just my 2 cents..take it easy!

Btw, Google is lot cleverer than we think. So, there is no way to get privacy without going for private listings.

thanks,
Sai.

Agree 100% with you.

[draggar]

P.S. The rule here should be ALL members should be able to view the listings no matter what their membership status is..to increase the chances of selling unlike the exclusive sale area that we currently have. We should continue having this exclusive sale area as well..IF some exclusive member wants to sell to ONLY to an exclusive member then they can post it there though I don't believe anyone will restrict their buyers..

I agree - I think it should be a platinum level sales forum - platinum and exclusive members only can post but gold members (also) can respond (to the offers, that is).

People are mentioning the exclusive sales areas - don't forget there are two of these.

One is for exclusives to post and any membership level can view and respond to while the other only exclusive members can post, sell, reply, and view in. I am 99% sure the first one (anyone van view) is indexed by Google but the second one (exclusives only) is not indexed.