During lockdown, I had a vague plan to launch a blog. It never really happened, and I ended up with a domain name that I have no use for. It’s up for renewal, and as I see it, my options are:
- Let the domain name lapse.
- Renew it for another year on the vague chance I might use it for something. This isn’t a huge cost.
- Try and sell the domain name.
I like the idea of selling the domain, but I have no idea what’s involved. I’m not expecting to get a lot for it, but anything would be better than nothing, assuming there isn’t a huge amount of time / effort involved. If it’s a huge ballache, and assuming that I wouldn’t get that much for it, I might just opt to let it drop.
It might be worth adding that I found a couple of “value my domain name” websites, which gave wildly different estimates, so I’m assuming that any estimated value is likely to be suspect at best.
I’m just canvassing for opinions and knowledge at the moment - what’s the best approach to sell a domain name?
I’ve bought a lot of domain names in my 25 years as a web developer, probably over 100. Some for me, some for work, some for clients.
I’ve only ever sold one, for a client who was approached by someone who wanted it for their project. The client had bought the name some 20 years prior and pretty much stopped using it. The name was under my work account with NameCheap, and we just used their Marketplace to do the transaction after they had agreed upon a price.
All the other domain names I just let go of once they stopped being useful. It wasn’t worth the $10 a year or whatever to hold on to them.
Unless someone is specifically looking for your domain name, it’s not going to be worth anything. Especially if you just bought it a couple years ago, barring some recent event that has happened since then that makes it suddenly appealing (like WillSlapsChris.com or MurdaughMurders.net).
The easiest way to do it is to just use the domain selling/auction tools on your registrar’s site. If you like the tools on some other registrar better, first transfer your domain there and then use those tools.
Thanks @ZipperJJ, that’s helpful. The domain is with Hover at the moment - I’ll have a look at their tools.
About 20 years ago, I just happened to register a domain under my own name so my employer could use it for a small incident management program they had written. The company decided to drop the program as a product and took down everything on the site. Since I had prepaid the registration for five years, I kept it.
In 2011, I found that there was another unrelated company that had the same exact name as the software we had been selling. Perfect fit…companyname.com. They already had companyname.net, I think. I called them up to see if they were interested in buying the domain. All I planned to ask for was the exact amount of money I had paid to register the domain originally and maintain the registration over the years. I just wanted my $150 or so back.
The company I contacted were total a**holes about it. They were actually angry at me, as if I was trying to hold them up or something. After a couple calls with them, I wouldn’t have sold them the domain if they had offered me $2000.
The crazy market for reselling domain names is really/mostly a thing of the past.