Renting out a domain name?

[karter9977]

Hey,

Has anyone here ever rented out a domain name to an enduser? I contacted an enduser to buy one of my domains and they are interested but they aren't interested in my price.

They asked me if I'd be willing to rent out the name for a 6 month period so that they can see if they want to pursue a full buyout (the name would remain under my control for these 6 months)

I'm not crazy about doing this but thinking it over it might work out for me, as if they start marketing the name and it catches on, they probably will have to buy it.

But then at the same time, what If I get another offer from a different enduser during those 6 months, I will probably have to turn it down.



Just wanted to get your thoughts on this.



Thanks
Steve

 

[Chuck]

I have read of some renting their names but am not really sure about the whole thing. If you can earn more cash than if it was just parked or nothing done with it, then why not!

I think Adam had some success with renting one of his xx.com's

 

[karter9977]

Thanks John.

The name earns about $8 a month at sedo lol. The rent would be high xxx per month for 6months, so it might be worth it.


Steve

 

[theinvestor]

Steve,

I did this for the first time this year. One year lease for the domain...it worked out. I still control the domain i just forwarded the domain to where they wanted. The only issue that exists if within that timeframe an end user comes along. In that case, make sure you state in your contract that if for any reason you are unable to complete the 6 month contract that you are allowed to cancel it and refund for the remaining months.

I didn't do this...but i figured nothing would come up.

BTW regarding Chuck's comment...only lease a domain if you're getting a significant amount more than parked revenue. In my case, it was getting zero revenue, so it was an easy decision.

 

[karter9977]

Theinvestor,

Thanks for the input. Ill make sure my contract states something to that affect.


Thanks again,

Steve

 

[RedTruck]

I've pointed to this blog before, but www.selfmademinds.com has a lot of discussion of domain leasing from folks who actually leased domains. It's a really good blog too.

 

[Chuck]

Steve,

BTW regarding Chuck's comment...only lease a domain if you're getting a significant amount more than parked revenue. In my case, it was getting zero revenue, so it was an easy decision.

Yeah if you aren't earning anything from it and someone wants to rent it, go for it!

 

[Acquisition]

Currently we are leasing out over a dozen dotcoms to various companies representing various industries. Each at over $1000 per month. Some of our leases are on multi-year contracts.

The good thing about leasing is many times the company you are leasing to will advertise their business, which means they will be advertising the website, which ultimately means free advertising for your domain name.

Hence a nice traffic spike at the end of the lease. So you get paid handsomely for the name on a month-to-month basis, you keep the name, and it gets higher traffic to boot (via free advertising that they will pay for).

There are a lot of good points (good advantages) to leasing/renting.