Andrew Miller should be well know to all domainers as Founder & President of InternetRealEstate.com
Over the years he has owned some gems of gems such as CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com, Luggage.com, Diamond.com, and beer.com, and still owns some of the best web properties like chocolate.com, Jeans.com, Patents.com, and Sweepstakes.com just to name a few.
I had a chat with Andrew the other day about another one of his projects SimpleDomains.com a site that lists some premium domain names for sale, and this is what he had to say:
Andrew give me an overview of SimpleDomains.com
“SimpleDomains.com owns a portfolio of intuitive, category specific dotcom domain names.”
“The company is in the business of selling domains to everyone from Fortune 500 companies,VC’s and Private Equity firm backed ventures, small businesses establishing themselves more nationally or globally online, to Entrepenurs.
“SimpleDomains.com has developed a reputation for selling its domains below fair market value,so buyers can immediately acquire an undervalued asset with resale value.”
We almost only sell to unsolicited buyers, usually end users. We do have a newsletter for those who subscribe, in which we make very special, one time offers on domains and groups of domains.
We also submit a handful of names to auctions where we have done very well.
How many domains do you have listed on the site and of those how many of are company owned?
“There are 750+ domains listed on SimpleDomains.com, 600 are company owned”
What is the price range of domain names listed on the site:
“”SimpleDomains has domains ranging from $3750 on the low end to $750,000 for Approvals.com”
How would someone go about listing a domain with you for sale and what are your fees and commissions?
“We do list domains owned by others as a broker but they must meet our very specific criteria of under fair market pricing, ,dotcom’s only, and intuitively representing an industry or category.”
“To list domain, go to SimpleDomains.com and submit your domain for review. We charge a small listing fee if accepted (annual) and 10 percent success fee on a sale.”
Andrew can you share some sales data from the site?
“”Our average sale is $16,255 to date with a high selling price of $72,000 and a low of $5000.””
“”We don’t share annual sales. They are strong. Our buyers always are happy and many have expressed “how fair we are”.””
I noticed you have a blog as part of the site?
Yes “I have a blog at SimpleDomains that has gotten a lot of traction and people really seem to enjoy my domain wisdom and real world examples and stories.”
“I highly suggest it.”
“Also people should sign up for the newsletter which has some awesome offers”
Thanks Andrew for your time.
What does it tell you when everyone is trying to sell?
To me is says, get out. The “money / parking / results of development” must be decreasing.
Oh yeah, Is there a mobile app. for that?
.
not so good: too high list price, too high final commission and .com-only
.
Not sure why this is news. Looks like below average domains at overblown prices.
yes, and at 10% commission it’s not cheap, like e.g. $75,000 to sell Approvals.com
but one advantage is that this services hasn’t million domains from which search the best one
Most are average and overpriced, but there are a few nice ones there.
Breaking
What domain sales site charges less than 10%?
Some are high as 20%
@MBH “What domain sales site charges less than 10%?”
e.g. my 100domainsclub.com
it’s final commission is 0% if the user links a personal page to sell a premium domain
but also eBay has lower fees
.
eBay is not equivalent to a site which only lists domains for sale, which is owned by a well known domain investor who has been involved of tens of millions of dollars of sales.
100domainsclub.com what is the highest price domain sold, the average price of domains sold and total dollar sales in 2010
agree, eBay isn’t the same, but many domains has been sold on it, saving money
about 100domainsclub.com it hasn’t a “total dollar sales in 2010” figure since it’s born just a few months ago to allow premium sellers to SAVE lots of money, but, it’s not yet widely know as the biggest domains selling sites
I believe that it’s best for sellers to pay a slightly higher listing fee but NO final commission
e.g. with a $500,000 domain
common selling sites: $50,000 commission
my selling site: only $999 if sold within 3 months …that are $49,001 saved… 🙂
Note on the prices. Some of the very high ones listed such as Approvals.com are a bit high, agree.We have been told by several end users/buyers that the prices they have paid have been very fair and many jave received offers well above. The Green names are very hot and 80 percent of the names are priced 40-70 percent below our actual sales price. Also, a quick reply to the comment about “everyone selling so must be time to get out”. Actually, these were bought as brands to resell at fair prices and get established companies brands and entrepenurs brands and addresses online. Always was the goal. We are very focused on domain development, with Internet Real Estate’s Chocolate.com, Sweepstakes.com (Joint Venture), Sportsfan.com(Joint Venture), Phone.com(shareholder) and others. As well as other businesses. Definitely a great time for domains. Read the SimpleDomains blog,would love comments.
He came in later to the game and paid top dollar for most his domains…he has to sell them high.
Nice names, hey if he can afford to wait for the big numbers than good for him. Time is one of those things you just can’t get enough of so when you have it take advantage. That is how a name that may only be 5 figs on the reseller market can ask big 6 figs and potentially get it.
As for commission rates, the best rate belongs to the best platform, be it 10-15-20%.
Look at it like Fort Lauderdale Beach. A guy buys up 3 adjoining lots and waits for the lots around him to renew the previously Howard Johnson and other two story hotel neighborhood with Ritz Carlton and W Hotels. Now his lot is the only one available between them after holding it strategically to be in this position. That’s what Andrew did.
With all due respect Owen that is a horrible example. All this names are for sale, he couldnt possibly wait for the entire ” beach ” to be sold out to capitalize, he over paid for most of what he bought to get in and well, ya just a horrid example.
Truth is, at this point for those, who have been around, with any common sense is that it is better to put indicative prices on domains (no matter how high) rather than hope/wait for some speculative inquiry…and waste time playing the “$100 offer from inquirer” dance…
As Domainers, one is always looking for a bargain or measuring by parking revenue and organic traffic, which IS the short end, 20 percent part of the 80/20 rule. 80 percent of the value in a great domain is the value to the end user. We don’t even care about,quote, or do anything with parking. And have never sold a domain based on it. The prices of the SimpleDomains names that you see are fractions of what 48 end users have paid in recent months. We are getting $14,000+ average per name. If you continue to measure the world by the short end/20 percent end of the stick, and use that to create valuation, you will continue to slow down the increasing value of domains, which are continuing to rise for end users. Domainers represent the “lowest common denominator” of the market. Take any name here. Say GreenScience.com for example. Parking revenue in 2009 was $3.54 for year. End user, doctor starting a exciting business, paid $20k for the domain. To him, its his online presence, address,brand, and its priceless if used right.
Good post Andrew. I deal with end users daily and totally agree with your comments.
I have said it many times – there is much more that goes into the potential value of a domain than just parking revenue.
Many domainers who only see domain value as a multiple of parking revenue are missing out.
Brad
A Look Inside Superstar MHB— that what I am waiting for.
I too want to be a Domaining Superstar someday when I grow up. I would knock all the bad Pigeons out of the way as I flew through the air with my cape flowing behind me.
Regrettably the doctor said I suffer from “Peter Pan Syndrome” and I will never grow up. Worse, the Pigeons are multiplying at some phenomenal rate and soon they will take over the world!
Considering that high ticket item collection is sold for a considerable sum, why paying any commission? Why would any business entity, and in particular an individual and small group, cannot do the wwork for a fraction of the commission.
@RL
as said my offer is “ZERO COMMISSIONS”
Hi. Good evening. If your average sell price is $14,000 for the domains I see on your website, I am an unknown billionaire.
Congrats on the ad.
You may have been told by a few buyers that prices were fair. But I wonder whether you hear from those who are horrified by the prices and walk away.
If you want to help entrepreneurs, how about leaving domains with their previous owners rather than buying them up and taking a huge cut for yourself.
Sa
“If you want to help entrepreneurs, how about leaving domains with their previous owners rather than buying them up and taking a huge cut for yourself.”
I think you do not understand the world of domains too well.
Most of the domains I acquire are either from drops, which are domains the former owners no longer wanted, didn’t pay the renewal fees and which their registrars released.
Domainers do do not “release” the domain from they’re old owners, registrars do and once a domain is released back into the pool of available domains, its a matter of seconds before the domain is re-registered.
The other way we acquire domains is to buy them from people wanting to sell.
yes, I’ve registered an interesting domain because the old owner hasn’t renewed it
I was referring to the model of simpledomains. I thought they bought domains from prior owners to sell on, rather than catch them in drops. But maybe I misunderstood.
Either way, it seems a stretch for them to claim to be helping entrepreneurs, while setting prices that many budding entrepreneurs will be unable to afford.
@ sa
Didn’t ya know that’s always the pitch (“helping entrepreneurs”)…?
The pricing model is always “what the market can bear”..
The low budget entrepreneurs and students are the ones who always seem to want my domains.
What needs to be understood in todays domain aftermarket is that “PPC rev” and traffic stats aren’t the only factors for domain appraisals. In fact, they’re probably low on on the list, unless the domain is an obvious “natural” pumping out 10k or more unique visitors. BUT, if that was the case, that domain would be out of the reach in COST for 99% of the businesses who would buy that domain.
However, as in the example of “greenscience.com” and thousands of other domain sales, the real DRAW to a domain is the ability to clearly brand the buyer’s prodservs. It doesn’t matter to the buyer regarding high PPC rev and traffic stats, that’s icing on the cake, and probably creates a lot of financial worry on their part because a PPC performing domain isn’t going to be cheap.
Nabbing the brand that describes the enduser’s prodservs is probably the main driving source behind most domain aftermarket sales today.