Site development can easily be a negative for getting offers and sales

[David G]

There are some domain owners posting recently how they had no sales and wondering why? Sometimes they say how they should develop their names. But if sales are their primary goal it's a common misconception development can help sales somehow but the opposite is much more likely true. That's because with development someone interested in your domain will typein the name and see it's a developed site and quickly assume since there is an active site (even a minisite) it must not be for sale (especially at a reasonable price) and exit the page.

In fact, the potential buyer visiting the page may assume its not for sale so fast he may not notice a small domain for sale notice on the page (this also applies to parking pages but to to a much lesser degree). Even if he sees the for-sale notice or image he may be thinking the price will be too high based on your development expenses involved which he will not want to pay extra for. It's unlikely a buyer may realize it's a very low cost minisite or site you made yourself at no real cost, and will in all likelihood assume site development cost will be a factor in your expected price so he does not bother to inquire (and moves on to an alternative name or extension).

One more negative for development is the buyer may not like the way your development has branded the name if he had different branding in mind. These comments do not mean I am against development (the contrary is true) but only pointing out that assuming sales are your main goal there are significant domain marketing negatives involved with site development which can heavily impact offers and your potential to get domain name sales.

 

[DNB]

I think that just putting "This domain is for sale" in visible part of website will solve the problem.

 

[dcristo]

I disagree with you. The potential buyer would have to be an idiot to assume the domain is not for sale just because it happens to be developed. And if they had half a brain they would know development likely increases the value of the asset.

 

[Jeroen]

Many domain buyers are regular folks not into domains at all and often have no clue.

 

[dcristo]

Many domain buyers are regular folks not into domains at all and often have no clue.

As a seller it's in your best interests to inform the potential buyer about the increased value of the domain (if its developed).

The only disadvantage I could see with development is that if its fully fledged development, then it could take a lot of work to restructure the site for the end user.

That being said, if a lot of work went into development, it's likely earning a good income so selling the domain becomes less appealing anyway (since you'd prefer the passive income).

 

[Mark Talbot]

Any name I am selling, I make obvious its for sale.

If you are in the market for a truck, you go to a truck lot and look at stickers and signs on the window.

You dont look at trucks on the road with a full load of stuff in the back driving around with a little bumper sticker that says "this truck may be for sale".
Especially if you expect to be paying alot.