Having just sold a .ORG domain for three times the amount of a recently acquired, aged .COM, I can honestly say: you can still get great domains at the forums.
Whether you’re after a brandable domain or a generic, domain forums such as DNForum and NamePros offer the opportunity to discover domain gems.
While most transactions occur in the open, many happen in private. Over the course of a dozen years, I’ve both acquired and sold domain names on forums, either via sales threads, or by establishing a private communication with the buyer, or the seller.
It is important to remember that dealing with fellow forum members should not be treated as a single transaction. One builds a trader’s reputation over time, and maintains good standing within the community. On this note, I’m very pleased to have been upgraded to Diamond at DNForum, and to a Pro member at NamePros. It softens the pill of being a senior member of either community!
I’ve found both forums to offer a quality platform for engaging in meaningful transactions, discussions – and the occasional temper-laden argument. 😉 Not two people share the same opinion over something as simple as domain valuation, so that’s to be expected.
It is true that domain forum members expect other members to keep prices lower than what they’d ask from an end-user. This is not necessarily the case, as many domain owners realize that there is no money to be made with domain flipping; they price their assets according to their true value. After all, a domain can be sold only once by its owner, who would like to maximize their ROI.
Still, I am amazed at the variety in pricing with regards to the TLDs involved; one would expect that a great, aged .COM would far surpass the value of a .ORG with an esoteric keyword.
However, this is the wonderful world of domaining we’re talking about, so anything is possible.
Was it health realted?
Merch – No. The .org was print/publishing related.
I would say: buy on forums, sell far away from them. Sell on forums ONLY if you had no luck with potential end users (and you actually contacted them) and you don’t want to wait for better offer at Sedo, GoDaddy, Afternic, on email etc.
“Still, I am amazed at the variety in pricing with regards to the TLDs involved; one would expect that a great, aged .COM would far surpass the value of a .ORG with an esoteric keyword.” This is a particularly keen observation as sellers need to get creative with their options to adequately get the best return for their time. Pricing, outreach tactics, and bargain purchases from the forums all contribute to that healthy margin domain investors love. Just as you mentioned that an opinion shouldn’t be formed from a single transaction with a domainer, neither should a single tactic encompass an entire domain investing strategy. Hopefully investors will get creative with different TLDs before throwing in the towel.
Great article. Thanks for the mention!