Selling yourname.com to end users

[Yogin]

I'm curious, do any of you have experience selling firstnamelastname.coms to the end user with that name? If the persons name were John Doe and you had JohnDoe.com.

Would love to hear your tips, experience, and thoughts.

 

[fpforum]

I think it's more common with just last names. I've got a few although I haven't sold any to end users at this point. FirstLastName.com is going to be pretty tricky. It's also gonna be hard to sell because your market is extremely limited.

 

[Yogin]

The one I have has about 1k people with that name. I figure someone will want to buy it for a solid price out of those.

 

[elevatoria]

Very few market but if someone is lucky it could be the name of someone that needs to have a web for the name. But it can be very difficult to get the end user since you are having very few end users.

 

[Jack Gordon]

I registered mine back around 1998, then let it drop a few years later when times got tough. Of course, one of the big guys picked it up on the drop.

When I was ready to buy it back a few years later, they demanded $1400.

I didn't even have a use for it, so I forgot about it for a while. When I came back around a few more years later, and nobody else had bought it, they quoted me $1300. I said forget it. Then the guy said wait, I can go down to $600.

I figured what the hell. I bought it back. I still don't have much use for it, lol. But it is back where it belongs.

 

[elevatoria]

Wow! wonderful story. because very few people are in need of it. This is why it is very necessary to reg/ buy liquid properties. Well , one day someone will ask for it. Good luck

 

[Jack Gordon]

Another story I just remembered... I own my brother's name as well. I picked it up for him and he kept some personal stuff on it for years.

He passed away a year ago. He had a pretty common name. After mourning, I decided to try to sell it for $500. I wasn't really needing the money, I just had no more use for the name and I thought it was be easy to find someone else with the name who would be happy to pay that.

I found about 50 professionals through google and linkedin with his name, put it on ebay and sent them each a short note with the link.

Surprisingly enough, I didn't get one nibble.

 

[elevatoria]

Another story I just remembered... I own my brother's name as well. I picked it up for him and he kept some personal stuff on it for years.

He passed away a year ago. He had a pretty common name. After mourning, I decided to try to sell it for $500. I wasn't really needing the money, I just had no more use for the name and I thought it was be easy to find someone else with the name who would be happy to pay that.

I found about 50 professionals through google and linkedin with his name, put it on ebay and sent them each a short note with the link.

Surprisingly enough, I didn't get one nibble.

can you imagine

 

[dee786]

what do you guys think of johnsmith.com?

 

[fm1234]

They're a tricky market. I owned many back many years ago, and what I found was that time canvassing was a waste -- but putting up a lowkey "Own Your Name" type of webpage with a simple contact form on it sold enough domains at good prices to make it worth it.

If you own a few, you could also set up a little database page with minimal effort using a branded domain "OwnYourself.net - Making the Internet Personal Since 2003" kind of thing, with a list of the names you have, and offer buyer's representation for people who are looking to acquire their name.com from an existing owner.

There are some real schmucks in that branch of the business, who do things like register FirstnameLastname.com then redirect it to a hardcore porn site. Selling a serving to handle communication and negotiation for stuff like that could make a nice little side revenue stream.


Frank

 

[ulterios]

There are some real schmucks in that branch of the business, who do things like register FirstnameLastname.com then redirect it to a hardcore porn site. Selling a serving to handle communication and negotiation for stuff like that could make a nice little side revenue stream.

Is it really worth it to those "schmucks" as you call them, to buy the names and redirect them to those types of sites? Are newly reg'd First/Last.com's getting enough traffic to make it worth it.

I would think it would be better to try to sell the names and get a bigger chunk of change if you can find a buyer.

 

[fm1234]

It's not for the traffic -- it's borderline extortion of people who see name in FirstnameLastname.com form pointing to porn.


Frank

 

[Theo]

Registering FirstNameLastName domains of famous people is a no-no. Just look up various UDRPs for Kardashians and Jenners, as an example.

 

[Mr. DeletedMr. Deleted is verified member.]

I think it's more common with just last names. I've got a few although I haven't sold any to end users at this point. FirstLastName.com is going to be pretty tricky. It's also gonna be hard to sell because your market is extremely limited.

Maybe you need to point it to "background check" content to get the buyer motivated.