Domain name investors and speculators have in recent years been very active in buying and selling premium and brandable domain names. This increase in domain sales and transfers is largely due to the desire of both small and large businesses across the globe to have an online presence. This is also due to the fact that most Chinese businesses are embracing online activity to promote their businesses added to the fact that most people in developing countries who previously had limited internet access are now linked to the internet as a deliberate policy of their home governments and civil society organizations.

Before we list the 10 tips on how you can quickly sell your domain names, let us first give an overview of how the domain name industry works.

If you own a domain you wish to sell, you may have noticed that it may be taking you longer than necessary to sell. This may not be unconnected with the kind of inventory your domain name holds. Domain names that sell most often are one-word or two-word domain names. Long tail domain names with the relevant keyword can sell sometimes, but it is rare. Domain names with a .com extension are preferred by domain investors compared to other extensions such as .net, .org or .info. There is also the possibility that you may have listed a domain for sale yet unable to sell because potential buyers do not know how to contact you or may not even have an idea of how to evaluate the worth of your domain or its SEO value even when they come across it.

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It is therefore incumbent of the domain seller to smoothen the edges for the buyers so that you can quickly make a sale of your domain name. We shall now go on to explain the 10 tips you can adopt to quickly sell your domain name to potential buyers.

1. Sell your Domain Name on Domain Brokerage Sites: Websites such as Flippa, Sedo and Afternic are domain brokerage sites that bring buyers and sellers of domain names and websites together. You can list your domain names on this sites for a fee which may vary depending on the level of exposure you desire. A simple domain name listing on Flippa cost $9! You can upgrade your listing anytime you wish and there is an escrow payment system that protects both buyer and seller such that only when both parties have agreed that the transaction and transfer of the domain name has been concluded successfully that Flippa would release the money to the seller. On Flippa, there is the advantage over other domain name market places, whereby you can give a detailed description of your domain, its worth and its potential uses and advantages to the buyer. This feature can considerably enhance your ability to make a sale quickly.
2. Optimize the Domain Name’s Whois Record: Most domain name buyers type the domain name they desire into their web browsers and the results that is returned determines their next line of action. Most often, they go to the Whois record to check for the registrants contact addresses, domain expiry date and country of registration, e.t.c. This information is very important to any buyer and equally important to the seller since interests on his listed domain can only be made known to him when he is contacted by the potential buyer.

Optimizing the Whois record of your domain name is simple. All you need do is to include a ‘for sale’ inscription just beside your name such as ‘This domain name is for sale’ or ‘buy this domain now’. You may also use a custom business email address such as domainforsale@yourcompany.com. This would instantly confirm to the potential buyer that your domain is for sale prompting him or her to make contacts and inquiries.

3. Always Display a ‘For Sale’ Message on your Domain Name Home Page: Displaying a ‘for sale’ message on the landing page of your domain name would be a big boost in you making a sale quickly. This would instantly tell the visitor or potential buyer that your domain name is up for sale. Most importantly, the potential buyer can make an offer immediately even without leaving this landing page. Flippa offers this service to domain name sellers once they list their domain name on the site. All you need do is to point your domain to the Flippa free domain billboard using the Flippa name servers which are NS1.FLIPPA.COM and NS2.FLIPPA.COM

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4. Park your Domain Name at Marketplaces: An ambitious approach to selling your domain names quickly may be to park it at known domain parking marketplaces such as Domainsponsors or Smartname where it can be seen by thousands if not millions of potential buyers. You also stand a chance of monetizing your domain name while it is being parked through affiliate programs or Google adsense. The catch here is convenience. Ensure that where ever your domain name is located, it is easy for potential buyers to quickly make you an offer or purchase it without much inconvenience or time wasting.

5. Use Fixed Pricing to Sell Faster: When you set your domain name at a fixed price, you give several buyers the opportunity to close a deal quickly than they would have done if they were required to make an offer or wait for the listing to end. Although many have argued that the seller could miss numerous other potential buyers who may want to place a higher bid. But the truth is that willing and ready to pay buyer is much more important than a ‘potential’ buyer just making an offer. So if you are willing to take a less but sure and quick payment for your domain name rather than wait endlessly for bidders who may sometimes not be willing to make payments, then o for fixed pricing and close the deal much quickly. Moreover, you can always ask a buyer to make a higher offer once h or she contacts you regarding a domain name for sale.

6. Ensure you Have a Realistic Price Expectation for your Domain: When you price your domain, ensure you consider several factors such as its SEO value, keyword search frequency, expected buyers and domain age. This would guide you in setting a realistic price for your domain so that you do not put off a lot of potential buyers. Most importantly, domain name extensions of the .com format sell more and are priced higher compared to other extensions such as .net, .org or info. A regular one word or two-word .com domain name sells between $2000 and $5000.

7. Never Hide Under Whois Privacy: When you keep your domain name details private in Whois, then you are creating room for unnecessary suspicion by potential buyers and coupled with the fact that these buyers may not be able to reach you unless you have a landing page or you have parked it with your contact details clearly set.

8. Adopt Charm Pricing and Retail Psychology Techniques: Charm pricing simply means using a pricing system that appeals to the buyer psychologically where he or she feels some sense of savings while making a purchase. Retail psychologist agree that it is better to price service or product with some discounted value no matter how small such a ‘discount’ may seem. For instance, a domain name can be put up for sale for a price of $49.99 instead of $50. Some may argue that this difference may be very insignificant; however, considering the fact that most online payments are made via credit cards, $.01 can make a difference in the success of a purchase.

9. Always Respond Quickly to buyer Inquiries: The credibility of any business transaction can b measured by the swiftness and speed of the exchange of correspondence between a buyer and a seller. So for a sale to be successful and made quickly, domain name sellers must ensure they respond quickly to inquiries made by buyers. Most buyers may be put off when they need to wait for several days or even weeks for the seller to reply their messages and such a seller can lose out on a potential deal. When a seller is reputed to respond promptly to email inquiries, it can bolster the confidence of the buyer in going ahead with the transaction and even subsequent transactions and even make referrals which is all to the benefit of the seller.

10. List Your Domain Name on eBay Auctions: eBay is probably a platform where you can quickly sell your domain name. eBay is visited by millions of people on a monthly basis all looking for things to buy, exploring the site or trying to sell one thing or the other. As a free seller that has not been verified, you are restricted to just a sale of $500 per month. If your domain name cost around this figure and you are willing to abide by all other conditions set by eBay then you can head over, create an account and list your domain name in the domain auction section where potential buyers can make offers to you.