How I Made $1000 From A Domain Without Selling It

In most cases, when I make make money with a domain name, it is the result of me buying the name at a relatively low price and then selling it for a higher one. However, today I want to tell the story on how I was able to make $1000 with a domain without having to sell it.

While I do think this is a rare case and most likely something that will never happen again, I do think that there are a couple of valuable lessons to be learned. And, if you enjoy making money with domains as much as I do, you might find the story somewhat interesting. So, let’s get to it.

What Happened

One Wednesday, late last summer, I got up early and began sending out emails to potential end users for a solar related domain that I had recently acquired. After sending out about ten emails, I received a reply back:

Wow, not what I was expecting. But I was intrigued. While I can not divulge what the domain was, I can say that it was a premium, three letter dot com.

Even though the domain was not something I was accustomed to dealing with, I went ahead and replied anyway, “Sure, do you have a price in mind?”

Well, needless to say, he had my full attention now. I stopped for a moment to laugh at the whole situation.

For one, I had no idea if this guy was legit. So I immediately checked the whoisof the name and it matched up with the guy’s name. So that at least checked out.

Second, here I was pitching a domain that I hoped to get $300-$500 for and I end up with this reply. A potential deal that could yield $20,000? Unreal.

And, finally, I knew that this domain was out of my league. It was obvious the domain was worth a lot of money, but over $100,000? I was not so sure. To make things more complicated, I had no idea who would buy this type of domain for that amount of money.

I decided to finish sending out the emails for the solar domain and then look into it further. “Ok, I will see what I can do,” I told him.

“Thanks. Have fun with it,” he replied.

What I Did

As soon as I got done sending out the emails, the first thing I did was start looking through three letter domain sales from the last couple of years at sites like NameBio.com and DNSalePrice.com. There were quite a few to look over, but I was still having a hard time determining whether the domain was worth over $100k.

As I mentioned this was a premium three letter dot com domain. We are not talking a name like jxq.com. That is a fine domain worth several thousand dollars. But the name this guy presented was all good letters and I knew it was worth a hefty amount. But how much, I just did not know.

Next, I looked on Google to see if there were any obvious potential end users for the domain. If I saw someone who looked like they might be interested, I figured I could maybe contact them to gauge their interest. Unfortunately, nothing stood out.

I was stumped and somewhat frustrated. Here I was with what seemed like a great opportunity, but frankly, I really had no idea what to do. I was overmatched and I needed help. After giving it much thought, I decided my best move was to reach out to a professional domain broker.

I had never dealt with a domain broker before, nor had I ever spoken to one. However, I was familiar with a few names from reading domain blogs and forums. I decided to do a little more research on them. And then, I would reach out to the one that seemed the most professional and trustworthy.

After concluding my research, I decided to contact the broker that I had selected and sent the following email:

Hello XXXXX,

This morning while reaching out to potential end users for a domain I own, I received a reply back from a gentleman who owns the domain name XXXXXX. He informed me that he is the owner of the domain and asked me if I would like to try and sell it for him. I told him I would look into it. He told me he is looking for offers over $100,000 and is willing to pay a 20% commission. He also said that he has received several offers in the $50,000 range.

I am contacting you because I know that you are a reputable domain broker and I don’t have the contacts, resources, or experience to sell a domain such as this one. I’m also not sure if this domain would fetch a price over $100,000. Thanks for your time.

Regards,
Alan Mero

The broker replied to me a couple of hours later. He informed me that he did think that he could sell the domain for that amount and asked me how I would like to proceed. At that point I decided it was best to hand it off from there. I sent him the domain owner’s contact information so that he could get in touch with him.

After I provided the broker the owner’s information, he told me that he would pay me a referral commission if he was able to sell the domain. While I did not request this, I had a feeling that if I chose a good broker, he would offer such a deal.

The Result

A week later, I saw the domain listed for sale for over $100,000 on a domain blog and a newsletter that I received. Wow, I thought to myself. A couple of weeks later, I saw the domain listed again, but with the price reduced. And, a couple of weeks after that, I saw the price reduced again.

After another month or so, I had pretty much forgotten about it. I had not seen the domain listed for sale anywhere and I had not heard back from the broker. When I checked the whois, it was still owned by the original owner. I figured that they just weren’t able to reach a deal. Oh well.

Later that winter, I received an unexpected email from the broker informing me that the domain had in fact been sold. The figure was below the original asking price, but a private deal had been reached.

The broker informed me of the commission that he received and told me that I was due a referral fee. I was then sent a Paypal payment for $1000.

What I Learned

So what did I learn from all of this? A couple of things. For one, take advantage of situations when they present themselves. I imagine some would have been more aggressive then I was and maybe have tried to sell the domain on their own.

However, as I mentioned, domains such as these usually take contacts and resources that domain investors on my level don’t normally have. I don’t have any regrets on how I handled it.

Also, try and do business with good people. The broker did not have to give me a commission or the more than fair percentage that he paid me.

But everything that I had read before and since then, it comes as no surprise that the broker handled the situation in such a professional manner. In the future, should another similar situation arise, I would definitely reach out to that broker again.


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