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I've started and been active in quite a few different businesses and industries in my life, but the domain business really mystifies me. The business I'm most experienced with is the debt recovery and collection business. I started a company called Credit Control Corporation in Virginia in 1973 and operated it for about 15 years when I sold it (note, it's still in business today generating 10M annually in commission/fee revenue). Not all, but most collection businesses operate on a "commission" and the last time I checked I think the "average" commission paid is around 30% of dollars collected, but the fee varied based on different criteria like the age of the debt, the amount/size of the debt and the kind of debt ie. medical, retail, financial.
Today I saw on NP where New.Life sold two domains in one day for $63,000 (Congrats New.Life if you're reading this.) The first domain he (his broker) sold for $38,000, and he paid Uniregistry a commission of 10% or $3,800. The second domain he sold for $25,000, and paid Afternic a commission of $4,000 or 16%. My initial thoughts to commissions like this are, wow that's really cheap, no wonder domainers/brokers only sell 1-2% of their portfolios annually, and why I'm reluctant to work with a broker at all.
Now more to the point, I'd gladly pay a commission of 25 to 50% of a domain sale "if" a broker could liquidate 5-10% of my domains annually. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me, if I were to list 10 food and beverage domains with a broker who understands that industry for them to sell one in ten. For example, I just registered a couple of domains; TopNotchWines.com (note that Elliot Silver owns a business called TopNotchDomains.com) I say this because I'm sure it will add credibility to my reputation here on NP for "crappy" domains, and shortly after I reg'd that, I reg'd TipsyLiquors.com because I always wanted to own a liquor store, and I know that's a pretty "catchy" name as well
My question is this, why aren't there any brokers in this industry who will go the extra mile to sell domains like I went the extra mile in the debt recovery business to collect my clients debts? My clients gladly paid me my commissions because they knew the alternative was little or nothing returns
Any brokers out there reading this, I want to hear from you. What gives??? Anyone else care to opine?
Today I saw on NP where New.Life sold two domains in one day for $63,000 (Congrats New.Life if you're reading this.) The first domain he (his broker) sold for $38,000, and he paid Uniregistry a commission of 10% or $3,800. The second domain he sold for $25,000, and paid Afternic a commission of $4,000 or 16%. My initial thoughts to commissions like this are, wow that's really cheap, no wonder domainers/brokers only sell 1-2% of their portfolios annually, and why I'm reluctant to work with a broker at all.
Now more to the point, I'd gladly pay a commission of 25 to 50% of a domain sale "if" a broker could liquidate 5-10% of my domains annually. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me, if I were to list 10 food and beverage domains with a broker who understands that industry for them to sell one in ten. For example, I just registered a couple of domains; TopNotchWines.com (note that Elliot Silver owns a business called TopNotchDomains.com) I say this because I'm sure it will add credibility to my reputation here on NP for "crappy" domains, and shortly after I reg'd that, I reg'd TipsyLiquors.com because I always wanted to own a liquor store, and I know that's a pretty "catchy" name as well
My question is this, why aren't there any brokers in this industry who will go the extra mile to sell domains like I went the extra mile in the debt recovery business to collect my clients debts? My clients gladly paid me my commissions because they knew the alternative was little or nothing returns
Any brokers out there reading this, I want to hear from you. What gives??? Anyone else care to opine?