By: RH
There are a lot of places to sell your domain name, in this guide we will try to give you all the info you need to start listing your domains and giving them maximum exposure. We will also look at the pro's and con's of listing everywhere and what you need to keep in mind.
First on the list is Sedo. Sedo according to their website has more than 1 million member accounts from around the world, and trading domains in more than 20 languages, Sedo stands alone as the world's only global domain marketplace.
Opening an account is free and Sedo offers a parking service. Here is a look at their commission rates,
Sedo is truly a global marketplace and outsells everyone when it comes to country code domains. (New Domain Investor Alert) Make sure you understand there is a minimum fee of $50 for Category 1 extensions. They are, .ae, .aero, .ar, .arpa, .asia .at, .au, .be, .biz, .bz, .cc, .ch,.cm, .cn, .co, .com, .coop, .cx, .cz, .de, .dk, .edu, .es, .eu, .fi, .fm, .fr, .gb, .gs, .ht, .im., .in, .info, .int, .it, .jobs, .jp, .kr, .la, .li, .lu, .me, .mn, .mobi, .mu, .museum, .mx, .name, .net, .nl, .nz, .org, .pl, .pro, .se, .st, .tel, .tl, .to, .tv, .tw, .uk, .us, .vc, .vg, .ws, .xxx, .za. There is a $200 minimum fee for Category 2 which is every other tld. Sedo is not the place to sell low priced domains.
Once you list your domains in your account, you can categorize them and set a minimum offer and buy it now price. Setting a min offer can save you the time from dealing with lowballers. Some people want to see any offer including the Sedo minimum offer of $60. Others are offended and get visibly upset by a $60 offer and don't need their blood pressure going through the roof.
If you feel you can negotiate a $60 offer up to your desired asking price then leave it alone. If you think you might break a keyboard set your min at a price that you don't find insulting.
Sedo developed their MLS network to maximize your chances of selling through them.
Their parners include:
Afternic is owned by NameMedia and is a popular secondary market exchange.
When using Sedo and Afternic you will notice that they both like to tout themselves as the largest domain marketplace.
Afternic boasts over 90 network partners. Afternic has 5,607,165 domains for sale on their network.
Afternic like Sedo is now free to join. Afternic has two selling tiers which you can use to sell your domains.
Afternic explains it like this:
The DLS Network and the DLS Premium promotion. Both provide broad exposure, dedicated sales support and secure transactions. Upgrading to the DLS Premium promotion provides added exposure on 5 of the world's top 10 domain resellers — exposure you can only get through DLS — and unique instant transfer capabilities that help to drive sales by offering the buyer immediate use of purchased domains.
Sales commissions on Afternic are: 15% for the DLS Network and 20% for the DLS Premium promotion. Listed names parked with and sold through Afternic are eligible for a reduced sales commission of 10% for the DLS Network and 15% for the DLS Premium promotion. There is a $120 minimum commission for DLS Premium and a $60 minimum commission for DLS Network promotion. These reduced commissions are the industry's lowest and provide unmatched exposure — so you pay less for selling domain names faster!
A little bit of hyperbole there as Sedo offers competing commissio levels. Again for new domain investors this is not a place to sell low priced domains.
To get into the DLS Premium promotion, All names listed must be registered with Network Solutions, Register.com, Name.com, eNom, eNomCentral, EuroDNS, Moniker, TierraNet or BulkRegister. DLS Premium Promotion is available for .com, .net, .org, and .biz domain names only.
Afternic gives you the option to set a min price, reserve price, floor price and an asking price. Afternic may get an offer for a domain you do not have priced and they will ask you for a price. You can set a buy it now and a floor so they no where to negotiate.
(Editor comment) I had two offers over the last year I was not pleased in how they were handled. You don't always know how the negotiation is going on a name and personally I really don't want anyone negotiating my names but me. I did not like the process or how I was treated by Afternic from a communication stand point. So make sure you are aware that negotiations on a name may not be as fluid as you would like and call your rep at the beginning and get a feel from them how things will work.
Afternic like Sedo has a parking service, parking with them will save you money on names that sell there by 5 %.
BuyDomains does provide a place on their site where they will look for you to sell them your names. You simply fill out a form and give them a list of names. They are looking for wholesale pricing. Quoting $1000 for a name will most likely be a waste of your time. This is a way to move excess inventory. In the past I have sold names to them for $20 to $30. These were mostly two word .coms with some search volume that were commercial items. Do not send them your .tv or .me or anything else alt or exotic.
Here is the link to sell them your domains.
The world's largest registrar also has a robust secondary exchange.
Go Daddy Auctions® Pricing
We make selling domains easy and affordable. And
that means you make money, fast! Our commission fees are among the lowest
in the industry and our choice between Basic and Premium listings means your domain
WILL be found… at a price that works best for your budget.
Basic
List your domain in the categories that best describe its possible use.
We offer more than 200 categories to choose from!
 |
Annual Membership: | $4.99 | ||
|
Seller Fees: | 10% ($5 minimum) | ||
|
Buyer Fee: | None* | ||
|
Basic Listing: | Free! |
Premium
Want even more visibility for your domain? Have it featured on our
home page or listed near the top of a specific category. A Premium listing
means the most bang, and visibility, for your buck!
Offer / Counter Offer / Buy Now:
|
Home Page Featured | $19.99/listing See example | |
|
Category Featured | $9.99/listing See example | |
|
Buy Now Option | Free! See example | |
|
4 Additional Category Listings | $2.99/listing |
7-Day Public Auction:
|
Home Page Featured | $19.99/listing See example | |
|
Category Featured | $9.99/listing See example | |
|
4 Additional Category Listings | $2.99/listing | |
|
Reserve Pricing: | $4.99/listing |
You can sell domains at Go Daddy Auctions that are not registered at Go Daddy. If you sell a domain that sells for over $1000 the transaction is handled through Escrow.com. We emailed Go Daddy about this and this was their reply, "If a
domain sells for $1,000 or greater than payment processing is done
through escrow.com. Both parties to the sale will need to register and
the buyer makes payment. Once the domain has been moved to the buyer
then payment can be made to the seller.
There is a 10% commission paid by the seller and the escrow fees are part of that fee.
You will need to communicate with each other using the Email Buyer and Email Seller links in your Go Daddy Auction account."
Getting paid
The process is simple. The buyer pays for the domain name, and we verify the payment. If everything’s good and the domain name is unlocked, the domain name moves to the buyer and we initiate payment to the seller! All in 5 days.
Of course, not all domain names sold through Go Daddy Auctions are registered through Go Daddy. If that’s the case, they’re not eligible for our super simple change of account process, and still follow the original 20-day payout process.
Go Daddy Auctions are not the same as Go Daddy Premium Listings
Make sure you understand that even though its the same company, Go Daddy Premium Listings are an entirely different product.
Premium Listings are another way to get exposure for your domains. Key differences:
Must be regged at Go Daddy
Only Com/Net/Org/Co are accepted
30 % commission
Payment is made within 45 days after the last day of the month in which the sale occurred. Example: The Premium Listing sells on January 1. Payment for the sale is made by March 15.
The Australian based website best known for website sales also sells domains. Domains such as Admired.com and FurnishedRentals.com have sold on Flippa as domain only sales listings. Recently RomneyRyan.com was listed there but did not sell.
Flippa charges a success fee of 5 %. The success fee is their commission on a successful sale, and is charged to the seller when a website is sold.
This fee is 5% of the sale price, up to a maximum of $2000, and must be paid within 15 days. Naturally, if the sale fails to complete successfully and the seller files a dispute advising Flippa of that, the success fee is waived.
If you want to play China or you invest in numerical domains you should learn about 4.cn.
4.CN is the global and professional marketplace for buying and selling
domain names. We are also the leading domain auction platform and domain
escrow service provider in China, with more than 280,000 customers from
around the world and 1.6 million domains.
Our marketplace connects buyers and sellers making it simple for
individuals and companies to acquire the domain names they need for
their success and online presence.
4.cn could do a better job in communicating as their help center has been coming soon for a little while now. The site has certainly done some big deals in the numeric space.
Cax.com is the marketplace run by the owner of Domaining.com. If you are a Domaining.com member there is no need to create an account. You just sign in with your domaining.com account info.
The site has a neat feature in that you can get paid to send to auction. Here is an example with the listing for Nex.com.
Nex.com ... $55,000
17 years old domain listed by the owner Wei Yau 
(portfolio)
With a reserve price of $110,000
Submit a bid over $55,000 to send this domain to auction for 7 days.
Note: If the auction finish with the highest bid under the reserve
price then the domain will not be sold, except the seller decides to
accept the highest bid as sale price at the end of the auction.
Seller is offering a great incentive:
He'll reward you $2,200 minimum (2% of winning bid) if you send this domain to auction!
That you win the auction or no, you'll get paid when the sale transaction will be completed.
But only bid if you have a real buying interest because the seller
can during the auction decide to decrease his reserve price and you may
finish winning a domain you did not expect.
Listing your names at Cax.com is not free, its tied into your membership plan.
Advantages of each membership level
Level 1: Trader - $20 lifetime fee
- Appraise at no charge up to 25 domains daily at Valuate.com.
- Have up to 10 domains listed at the same time in our CAX.com marketplaces, 10% sales commission, escrow offered.
- Reference 1 domain at CAX.com having an external sale page (Sedo, Godaddy, Afternic, ...) and this way get extra exposure.
- Minimum level to bid or buy domains under $10K at CAX.com.
- Get a DomainPortfolio.com web page to can present all your domains for sale under the same roof.
- Create and park as much sale pages you want at SalePage.com - 2% sales commission only with escrow fee included.
- Receive if you want the popular daily domaining.com newsletter.
- FREE escrow at ECOP.com for sales under $250.
Level 2: Domainer
- $75/year
Same advantages as Level 1 plus the following:
- Have up to 1,000 domains listed at the same time in our CAX.com marketplaces, 9% sales commission, escrow offered.
- Minimum level to bid or buy domains over $10K at CAX.com.
- Reference up to 10 domains at CAX.com having an external sale page (Sedo, Godaddy, Afternic, ...) and this way get extra exposure.
- Get your custom DomainPortfolio.com web site, hosted with your own domain name, with your own header, ...
- Get your profile listed in Domainers.org guide and benefit of indexable links to your blog or site from pages having a strong Google Page Rank.
- FREE escrow at ECOP.com for sales under $500.
Level 3: Premium
- $200/year
Same advantages as Level 2 plus the following:
- List as much domains for sale you want in our CAX.com marketplaces, 8% sales commission, escrow offered.
- Reference up to 100 domains at CAX.com having an external sale page (Sedo, Godaddy, Afternic, ...) and this way get extra exposure.
- Exclusively access CAX.com new domain listings 1 day before the crowd (best deals are purchased at BIN the first day).
- Receive the Domaining.com newsletter before the crowd (so you can buy featured domains before the others).
- FREE escrow at ECOP.com for sales under $1,000.
Bido is a very busy site, there are a lot of things going on like the channel ticker, vote for profits and many other features to help you sell.
The Bido sales pitch to sellers:
Your auction is your event, assuring you of the maximum possible exposure for your domain name.
Bido typically shares the sales commission with the members of the Bido community who vote your item into auction through our Vote For Profits program. This incentive encourages people to eagerly look at your inventory and vote in favor of it, as well as market it to their peers to ensure it's moved through voting quickly, and do well in auction.
The unique design of the Bido platform provides liquidity. The sales ratio in 2009 was essentially one in three auctions completed with a sale. This ratio is attractive for sellers who would like to sell their inventory quickly.
Listing on Bido is absolutely free, there is typically no listing fee whatsoever. Bido receives 10%, 8%, 6%, or 2% of the sale amount (applies only to successful sales) as a sales commission for all auctioned domains, according to the following fee schedule. The commission is calculated as the exact percentage of the sale amount (there are no minimum commissions on your sales)
$38-$999 Bido receives 10% commission
$1000-$9999 Bido receives 8% commission
$10,000 and up Bido receives 6% commission
Bido Quotes is a program where Bido receives 2% commission
Aftermarket.com is owned by Thought Convergence, the same company who owns DomainTools.com and parking provider TrafficZ.com.
Aftermarket.com is the premier online marketplace for aftermarket domains. As an individual brand of Thought Convergence, Inc., Aftermarket.com is committed to offering the most advanced features in combination with a streamlined and intuitive user experience.
With industry-leading tools, Aftermarket.com is the go-to solution for your domain needs.
Aftermarket.com takes a 10% commission of the sale price for all transactions occurring within the Aftermarket.com marketplace.
Aftermarket.com takes a 15% commission of the sale price for all transactions occurring through Aftermarket.com broker assisted sales.
Aftermarket.com takes a 20% commission of the sale price for all transactions occurring through Aftermarket.com Brokerage.
Aftermarket.com takes a 15% commission of the sale price for all transactions occurring within Aftermarket.com Live Auction Events.
Featured listings cost $10.00 per domain.
Private auctions cost $20.00 per listing.
Aftermarket.com has membership tiers which consist of basic,verified and premium.
Just about everyone in the world is familiar with Ebay and yes people do sell domains there. A lot of listings are just outrageous but there are buyers who skim through there. If you have a good domain for sale at a reasonable price you can always try Ebay.
Here is the fee calculator for Ebay, Domain Names fall under Technology.
NameJet does allow some private sellers but you would need to contact them to get into the sellers program. People who do sell there have seen very good results. If you think you have the right portfolio it does not hurt to try.
Now we have written in this article that Sedo and Afternic are not the places to sell low priced domains. If you think you want to do that, you could try Bido or Ebay or you could focus on the two biggest domain forums on the net.
Namepros and DnForum.com provide a place where you can sell low priced domains and not have to pay any sales commission.
If you specialize in Adult Domains try gfy.com
Well that's it. Remember there is some overlap such as listing at Go Daddy and being in the Sedo MLS which will show your domains on Go Daddy because of their partnership.
Hope you find this useful and leave any comments or questions.
Many thanks for this helpful resource! I was not aware that afternic was now a free listing site
Posted by: Hyphen-Names | 09/03/2012 at 04:22 AM
Sedo sucks!
Posted by: Jay | 09/03/2012 at 05:02 AM
Wow what an article thank you.
Posted by: Scott the peanut guy | 09/03/2012 at 07:08 AM
I feel like I took a college course
Posted by: Dman | 09/03/2012 at 07:08 AM
Thank you, printed it out and bookmarked.
Posted by: Richard | 09/03/2012 at 07:09 AM
Best article I have ever read from a domain blog.
Posted by: Lisa Tott | 09/03/2012 at 07:12 AM
Whoa! I know that took some time to put together. Thanks man
Posted by: Jonathon | 09/03/2012 at 07:25 AM
I learned more about cax in this article than all the times on Domaining.com.
Had no idea about buy domains - thank you
Posted by: Fred | 09/03/2012 at 07:31 AM
Certainly the post of the year. Well done mate
Posted by: AJ | 09/03/2012 at 05:41 PM
Good info,but like to let you know that Name.com is not yet among the Sedo MLS network.Name.com is my registrar and they confirmed that to me after i sent them email as regards to that.
Posted by: Paul Omego | 09/04/2012 at 07:41 AM
Thank you to everyone for the kind comments. I hope it will be useful for many as a one stop resource for what they need info on.
Posted by: RH | 09/04/2012 at 09:57 AM
Paul I will ask Name.com because Sedo does include them on the website.
Posted by: RH | 09/04/2012 at 09:59 AM
How about ketmo.com and exdon.com ?
There was also one specialising in selling .tv domains but I forgot the name
Posted by: John | 09/04/2012 at 03:24 PM
This was a really helpful article. I'm very confused wit Sedo at the moment. i don't really understand their criteria for their 'greatdomains' auctions. Last month, i submitted a domain with a .com extension, it was rejected. this month, i submitted the .co.uk variant and it was accepted :/ anyway, back on topic, very nice article.
Posted by: Paul Orriss | 10/16/2012 at 12:22 PM
Thanks for the comment Paul, don't feel bad most do not understand the criteria, it seems there is no set standard for what gets into the auction and what does not. Many have expressed frustration with Sedo on auction criteria.
Posted by: RH | 10/16/2012 at 12:34 PM