Okay, every newbie goes through this dilemma and at some point of time asks this question. Although I have seen numerous answers being posted about this on forums like NamePros and DNForum, I would like to cover as much ground as possible here. Alright, you have a name now and you would like to get rid of it (uhm sell it) for a profit. Let us assume that the name in question has not been developed and marketed, and is being sold solely on its own worth. There are a few places where you can put your name up for sale, they are:
Domaining & Hosting Forums
Domaining forums like NamePros, DNForum, SitePoint, DigitalPoint, DomainState & WebHostingTalk. These forums have specific categories or sub-forums where you can sell put up your domains for sale. There are always some guidelines and Rules to do that. You can find them in the Sub-Forum’s as Announcements or Stickies (posts which are found on the absolute top of other threads) The sub forums can be named as below:
1. Domains for Sale (Fixed Price) – Where you need to specify a fixed price for the domain. If a buyer accepts the price you are committed to go through with the sale. You might also find the value specified like “Above $500″, “Below $100″ in these sub forums. You might also find the type specified (“upto 3 characters”, “upto 5 characters”, “dictionary domains” etc). All these categories are made to be able to sort the domains better based on their type and asking value. You can checkout this thread to see what kinds of types exist in the domaining world. You might need to list out the Domain Expiry Date, Registrar and Mode of Payment (please check the rules in the sticky and announcements for each sub forum)
2. Domains for Sale (Auctions) - You need to specify a time for the auction to run where the bidders would bid according to the increments mentioned. You would specify a bid starting price and a BIN price if need be. At the end of the stipulated time, whoever has the highest bid wins your domain and has to pay the winning bid to you. You are committed to go through with the sale at the end of the auction.
3. Domains for Sale (Make Offer) – Here you would ask for offers instead of putting up a fixed price. You can specify a range (xx – Two figures, xxx – Three figures and so on.) You can choose to sell if you like the offers made, but there is no compulsion.
4. Domains for Sale (Adult Domains) - You can specify all the adult niche domains. Most forums have a specific place like this to list out your adult domains for sale. This sub-forum can as a “Fixed price” or “Make Offer” forum.
5. Domains for Sale (Traffic Domains) - In a sub-forum of this type, you can list domains which have some traffic. Traffic and revenue earning domains can increase the worth a great deal. Any domain which is earning you revenue via parking or any other mode, can be listed here. There are some conventions like PPC, CTR etc you would need to be acquainted with.
6. Domains for Sale (Expiring / Dropping Soon) - In this category you can specify the domains you have which are expiring soon (in one month or lesser for most, but check with the sub-forum rules). This sub-forum can as a “Fixed price” or “Make Offer” forum.
7. Domains for Sale (IDN Domains) – IDN or Internationalized Domain Name is an Internet domain name that (potentially) contains non-ASCII characters. Such domain names could contain letters with diacritics, as required by many non-English languages, or characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese or Hindi.
However, the standard for domain names does not allow such characters, and much work has gone into finding a way to internationalize domain names into a standard ASCII format, thereby preserving the stability of the domain name system (as posted from Wikipedia).
This sub-forum can list out all the IDN names you might have for sale. You need to mention which language it is in and also show proof for the same. This sub-forum can as a “Fixed price” or “Make Offer” forum.
8. Domains for Sale (ccTLD Domains) – ccTLD or Country Code Top Level Domain is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country or a dependent territory. Some examples being .in, .co.uk, .us etc. You can check the Wikipedia link provided above to see what all ccTLD’s exist.
Some forums might also have sub categories for each individual ccTLD for clarity purpose. You need to post your ccTLD domain for sale in its respective sub category. This sub-forum can as a “Fixed price” or “Make Offer” forum.
9. Domains for Sale (Numeric Domains) – Numeric domains are those made up of ONLY numbers like 3234.com, 5362.net etc. You can list all your numeric domains for sale at this sub forum. This sub-forum can as a “Fixed price” or “Make Offer” forum.
10. Domains for Sale (Developed Domains or Domains with Websites) – These domains have been developed into websites. If you are selling a website along with the domain name, then this is the sub forum for you. You would need to list out various details like Domain Name, Website Description, Traffic Stats, Revenue Earned, Members (if applicable), Licenses accompanying (of softwares being used in the website) etc. The forum moderator may ask to verify the licenses accompanying the website. This sub-forum can as a “Fixed price” or “Make Offer” forum.
11. Domains for Sale (Brokerage) – This sub domain can act as a link in between you and brokers who might be interested to sell your domain. You can list your domain here along with optional stats like brokerage % being offered etc. all the above categories act as means to list out your domains in such a way that the prospective buyer has no difficulty finding the niche and type he is looking for.
Marketplaces
There are several marketplaces where you can list your domains for sale. Each marketplace has a different mode of selling and the terms and conditions vary. I will simply list out the most prominent ones. You should go to the respective links and check out the procedures listed by them:
I will review and list out the procedures of selling at these marketplaces soon in another post.
For now lets go ahead with other viable means of selling domains.
Online Wholesale Acquisitions & Brokerage
Some companies like NameMedia are always on the lookout for good deals. They are a wholesale domain acquisition company, looking to buy below wholesale value. If anyone’s looking to liquidate their assets, they do it for you, but at a below par price, which is understandable as they provide liquidity when needed.
If you think your name is generic enough and you wish to sell it off quickly, this is the route to take.
Another group is of big time domainers like Rick Latona. They have their sales newsletters where they would list your domain for sale. As they are well known in the business, they have a large reader base, and can often get away with good deals for you. But theres is a % cut they would charge. Looking at the high value they can get your domains, I think its justified. Another good option for you to take if your names dictate quality and genericness.
End User Search
We often ignore the most beneficial mode of selling our domains. Always remember that at the marketplaces and forums, mostly reseller are buying your domains. If you have purchased a domain from someone for $50 for example, dont expect it to sell for $500 at the same place. You need to look for a company / individual, who would use this domain as a personal / commercial website. This person is an end user for you.
Now the question arises, how do we search for end users? Following are some pointers on doing that:
1. Google Away: Search Google for the keywords / niches that belong to your domain name. See the websites listed. Focus only on the business websites which are direct end users / companies / individuals and NOT directories. We will check the directories later; for now just search for the listed websites. Look at the domains. Write down all those domains that pertain to your domains keywords / niche, but are way worse than the domain your selling.
We are basically looking for companies related to your domains niche, who have bad domain names for their websites. Write down all the names you can find. Also look for the advertisers putting up their ads on the keywords of your domain. These are usually the results you get on th eright site of the screen and with bold text. These advertisers are looking to promote and have the $$$ to do it. Perfect for an end user sale. Now go to a whois site like DomainTools and check out the whois of the domain. Note the email address and if possible the owners name.
Use this information to send a very formal email to this person explaining to him how your domain might be very useful for his business. List out all the positives like the Type-in traffic he would get, the memorability factor of the domain, the clarity and keyword value etc. If the letter part is confusing, send me a mail and I’ll send you some samples to work with.
Keep the value of your domain atleast 3x your reseller value. Actually do a little bit of study on how you can negotiate with the prospective buyer. You need to work on the price looking at the niche, the prospective buyer and the rarity of the domain.
2. Google Away 2 (Directories – Direct Calling) – While searching through Google you might find some online directories listing companies in the related niche. These companies might not yer have their own domain and a website on it. Here you need to be a little more pro-active to call them up and throw in a sales pitch. You might also want to send in a snail mail.
When calling, always explain a little about the purpose of call and ask to speak to a decision maker, be it the purchase head / technical head / general manager etc. In the end of the call dont forget to ask for their email for you to send in a formal proposal and write-up related to the prospective sale. We will talk about the sales pitch in one of the follow up post.
3. Associating with Development Companies / Developers – Couple of weeks ago, a known domainers across forums (at DNForum particularly) explained to me his technique of finding motivated end users. He actually has tied up with web developers and associated companies. These companies when get an order from a client for a certain website, refer to this domainer for domains. The domainer in turn, looks in his portfolio and then on forums for the domains in that particular niche and then sells it to these companies at a good profit. These companies in turn make profits by selling the domain for th ewebsite to the end users for a good margin. So its a win win for everybody, and the domainer gets a steady flow of business from these companies.
All you need to do here is contact your local web development companies. Go through the routine of explaining your motive and also get in touch with one of the decision makers. Send them a standard portfolio list you may have and offer your services. Once you get that first order in, its a cinch to do business.
5. Pro-Active Selling – Sometime ago one of the domainers wrote an article about how he found a good number of buyers at a flower show. What he did was build a flower shop portfolio and waited for a local upcoming flower show. The portfolio contained somewhat generic two word domains. They were all hand regged and related to the flower business. He printed some good colored pamphlets along with his business cards and went to the show. Here he approached various flower stalls and explained to them the worth of having an online website as a means to launching their business at a bigger scale. He also explained how it all worked and how they could get their websites developed.
At the end of the show, he carried home a good 7 orders for domains out of which 5 accompanied websites. Hows that for a little pro-active selling?
Basically, how and where to sell largely depends on what kind of domains you have, what is the estimated value, what market they represent, what is your investment base and what network of brokers you have. For me, selling has been largely associated with Forums or end users. I find that I dont get the asking value for my domains at the marketplaces. On top of that there is the selling fee which takes out a huge chunk out of your profits.
To wrap it up, wherever you intend to sell, be firm though realisctic with your pricing. Dont look to make huge profits in the reseller markets, unless your ready to sit on your domains and wait for their values to grow. With a bit of research and pro-active selling, you could actually be in the green with good end user sales 
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