So I completed my first sale on BrandBucket, still haven’t been paid yet but I will get to that.
I purchased a 29 domain portfolio of BB published names back on May 24, 2016. These were listed as a bulk listing on Namepros. I did not like or care about all 29 names, I figured I could keep the names I liked and sell the others on Namepros for more than what my average price per domain was on the bulk purchase.
The domain I really liked was the one that sold, Inteleca.com. This name was the best of the bunch in my opinion, although I have had others express their preference for some others in the portfolio.
I paid $1,500 for the portfolio, if I am to be honest, I immediately regretted that decision. With a cost average of $51.72 per domain, I did figure I could sell names I did not care for by auction on Namepros. I sold Phiona.com which went for more than double my cost average. I sold Pinqo.com for more than my cost average as well. Boomus.com went for 20% below that price, I sold a couple others in the $55 range.
Right around my purchase on Namepros the wholesale price started coming down for BB published names on Namepros.
It was once easy to sell for $80 to $100 but with so many NetFirms/Domain.com $1.99 registration specials, the market got flooded as many new investors with average to below average names were happy to get $13 for a BB approved (Not published) domain.
So onto the sale of Inteleca.com, it came about from nothing BrandBucket did, the buyer actually contacted me first.
I received an email and the buyer said he did a whois search and wanted to know if I owned the domain. I replied Yes. Another email followed up from the potential buyer that he was thinking of rebranding his company and of the few names being considered, the Inteleca name is one of the best. He asked if they do end up wanting to rebrand, are you negotiable on your asking price?
The person went on that the price listed on Inteleca.com was 66% above budget.
I did not reply to the second email, not that I was not going to, I wanted to think about my reply.
For me I was considering the following:
- It is my favorite name from the portfolio buy and I do like it.
- I have no problems holding this name, where many I want out as fast as they come in.
- What would my counter offer be ?
The first thing I did was contact BrandBucket and tell them to start the 30 day clock on Inteleca.com, I was removing it from the platform. I should have done this immediately and that laziness cost me money, as I will explain.
This took place on October 27. So now on Halloween I get an email from BrandBucket.
Hi Raymond,
We have a prospective buyer for Inteleca.com! However they are seeking a discounted price. While we believe the price to be fair the name has been listed for some time and this may be a good way to move it. Please let me know if you authorize any or none of the discounts below:
They were asking for a 10% discount.
So I got the buyer wanting a discount, BrandBucket now in the picture asking for a discount, and I am thinking, I stated the clock on removal.
So I am thinking about contacting BrandBucket and telling the rep, Christine, if I give a discount please ask Margot if she would like to pick that up ? Because I know who the buyer is, I have started the 30 days, and the sale is not coming about from any effort on BrandBucket’s part. The buyer did a whois lookup and emailed me.
Now I try to keep things amicable always, unless I feel someone is saying, I want to screw with you, then that’s another story.
So after deciding that holding up a buyer for 26 days might make them have second thoughts about a purchase, I tell Christine that I will accept the 10% discount.
She replies back with, Wanted to see if you authorize a 15% discount ? This would be the absolute final negotiation, please let me know!
My response was short, “Absolutely not!”
She replied back that was fine, and if I would still ok the 10% ?
I gave my word on the 10% so I am not going to back out of my word.
On November 4, I get an email that the domain sold.
There were a couple glitches with the transfer process, as this person wanted to transfer away, I asked Christine why they didn’t do escrow like Sedo ? Take a push of the name and then deal with their client, she said they do offer that, she said the buyer was insistent on transferring and not opening an account at Uniregistry.
Ok I get that.
Apparently there has been a glitch, when I look at Inteleca.com on Domain Tools, the reg date is in 2014. When you look on other whois sites, including ICANN, it says 1970.
Christine did a good job working with the buyer and the transfer finally went through.
She did say to me someone will contact you to request payment, and that was Friday morning, no one has contacted me and I guess the weekend is throwing things off.
So me being lazy and not removing Inteleca.com from BrandBucket in June, cost me $1,000. That is not open to interpretation from any BB loyalist, that’s a fact, the buyer did a whois search, emailed me and then once getting a reply to the first email but not the second, they chose to purchase on BrandBucket as that’s where the domain was pointed.
I would probably have gone $473 less in a direct deal and they would have saved a bit of cash.
This story underlines some of the conflicted thought you may have when listing on BrandBucket. Inteleca was a name I knew I never needed BrandBucket for, some of these misspelled repetitive names like Gopherr.com or Cuurvy.com maybe BrandBucket is the best route or the only route.
So my first deal with BrandBucket is done, hope you enjoyed the story, if it bored you I apologize.
Frank says
Thank you so much for the detailed negotiation, wish others would do that.
Looking at you Krell
You did throw money out the window by using them if I read everything correctly.
Bobby says
I knew that was one of the good ones that I sold you! Congrats!
Raymond Hackney says
Thanks Bobby, it was the whole reason for the purchase, I did not know you were beezy. Always knew you as Bobby on Twitter.
Joseph Peterson says
Offers trickle in all the time, with or without market-place listings. It’s frustrating when buyer and seller connect completely on their own, yet they’re prevented from doing business directly.
Seller loses 30%. Buyer pays about 50% extra. It’s a Lose-Lose scenario.
That’s not to say market places are cheating customers. Some offers arrive via the website where the domain is listed, in which case it’s only fair to pay a commission.
But mandatory exclusivity? For passive listings? And at double the cost of a broker who’s doing active outreach? It’s only fair to ask what percentage of BrandBucket sales would have occurred without BB in the picture.
Raymond Hackney says
Well I guess Joseph, I should have taken the chance on the 26 day wait, Like I said I knew who the buyer was before BrandBucket emailed me, I started the clock on removing the domain name.
I could have said, “Do you want to wait 26 days and save a bit of money ?”
I am the idiot on this sale.
Joseph Peterson says
No, I think you did right. It’s just an awkward position to be in.
Trying to be fair to BrandBucket’s exclusivity … and work with the buyer … and not lose out yourself in the process. It’s a lot to juggle.
Easier to negotiate when there are just 2 people involved. Once you’re looking out for the interests of a third person, things get complicated.
Usually it’s a broker in the middle who’s looking out for the interests of his client. What really sucks is when the seller does all the heavy lifting and has to safeguard a commission for a broker or market place who’s doing zilch.
It’s not something that can always be avoided. There was 1 time where I miscalculated a 30-day window with 1 broker. A second broker ended up selling the name on (I think it was) Day 28 because I gave it to him to soon after the first broker. So I swallowed my broccoli and paid each broker a 30% commission even though the first guy hadn’t done anything other than send 1 newsletter email.
Live and learn.
Simon T says
I reckon BB may have given you grief if you removed it and sold immediately, I believe they demand Whois inquiries to be passed on (from memory so could be wrong)
168 says
“BrandBucket prohibits email offers to buy or sell listed or brokered domains outside of the BrandBucket marketplace.”
I doubt any “buyer” would be held to the above rule. It would have been nice to hear your first email was to direct the buyer to BrandBucket. TLD, you agreed 🙂
What I hear from a lot of sellers is not acting in behalf of the seller yet asking for pro broker %, A dumbing down of domains value in general and by asking for even more of a discount for the buyer after you agreed to 10% ! I agree BrandBucket should reduce their % in a good faith effort to get it sold if the buyer want more.
Thanks for sharing,
Great domain. A REAL premium. Hope you got +++++ 🙂
Cheers
todd says
Congrats on the sale Ray. It’s possible that they emailed you first and never visited the name at BrandBucket but I seriously doubt it. If you’re going to spend $5,000 on a name and take the time to look up the whois then I can promise you they typed in the name and followed it to BB first before ever emailing you. This is why they asked for a discount in their first email because they already knew how much you were asking for it on BB.
I wonder if BrandBucket tracks names that are requested for removal to see if they sell after the 30 days is up. If it was my marketplace I would ban the seller if I noticed names being removed and then selling right after the 30 days was up. If my marketplace helped create the eyeballs to sell the name then I don’t think it would be a fair process to allow a seller to constantly have his names removed and then sold to skip the commission fee.
What are your thoughts on that?
Raymond Hackney says
Oh right it was direct navigation, he typed in the domain, saw the price, looked at whois and then emailed me.
Are you saying BB worked to earn that 30% ?
todd says
Absolutely not. You know I would never say that! 🙂
Lysted says
Interesting story to share. As as seller, we have to be accept the fact that the sale can originate from anywhere. Though one means may be less beneficial than other. Asking for 26 days wait would have made the buyer look at other options.
But glad, you could sell it in time!
Join Domains says
Names like cuurvy show the brandable market to be in trouble, how do crap names like that pass the radio test, at least you got a sale. Sometimes your instincts are the best tool
Xavier.xyz says
Misspelled words are a great option for startups that can’t afford 6 or 7 figure one word .com
Join Domains says
Lets just hope the new startup does not wish to advertise on the radio
Kevin M says
Congrats on the sale however it went down Ray!
Raymond Hackney says
Thanks Kevin.
Adam says
Nice sale Raymond. Appreciate you sharing all the details.
How long have you had domains on BB?
Raymond Hackney says
I opened an account years ago but did nothing. I listed PinkScarf.com on there which was a name I owned for a bit. I put that on there maybe Feb of 2016.
I purchased the portfolio in May 2016, those names had been listed awhile.
Xavier.xyz says
What, I think happened there is that the BUYER went on brandbucket and found the domain name then tried to contact you using your whois information to save some money. They didn’t get a response so they asked BrandBucket for a 10% discount then they tried to get it even cheaper.
This is a smart thing to do as a buyer.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
Congrats Raymond and thanks for sharing. Enjoying reading it and really happy for you 😀
I just don’t like BB mainly due to 2 reasons:
1) 30% commission which is too much.
2) Cannot price domain on our own with no restriction.
Raymond Hackney says
Thank you Abdul, yeah 30% is just too much in my opinion.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
Yeah, right.
For those 2 reasons I mentioned, I took off all my domains from BB.
Francois says
Brandbucket.com has been promoting your domain, not directly but through the constant marketing of the marketplace so your domain has been getting some extra exposure and increased sales chances. This has a cost and they deserve some commission even if in this case it appears the buyer found the domain directly. Now they should not charge you the full commission in this case. At Catchy.com when this happens 33% of our gross sales commission is reversed to the domain owner. An improvement they should consider.
Raymond Hackney says
That’s a cool feature Francois the 33% reversal. Thanks for mentioning that.
Eric Borgos says
I think you did the right thing by not waiting another 26 days for the listing to expire. It was too big a risk that the buyer would change their mind.
Nick says
The weirdest part of this story is that you agreed to a 10% discount. So weird.
Raymond Hackney says
Well Nick the BB price was much higher than a direct deal I would have done. The buyer was talking about a 66% discount in his email to me.
Tom says
I find it appalling that brand bucket wanted 10 percent discount from you then 15 percent.
I have dealt with this scenario many times in real estate, and I tell them the same thing always if you want a sale, you reduce your commission also.
When brwndbucket is charging 30 percent well they can walk it down to 25 percent to get the deal done.
To much knawwing at domainers, domains are getting pricey out there guys stop giving them away, and bidding them up in auctions.
Keith DeBoer says
Raymond, congrats on the sale!
In case anyone feels lightening could strike twice in the same place……….. Intelaca.com is currently available for hand registration.
Abdullah Abdullah says
Congrats Ray. However it happened, it is still a sale.
I was kinda surprised that thia was your first sale. I always thought you made many sales with BB.
Paul Hogg says
I’m the buyer if you want to ask me any questions. I wish you would have emailed me back to let me know there’s a 30 day removal window. I would have waited and bought it direct from you, so we both could have saved some money. I had to grab it and move onto the next project though.
This is an interesting morning now that I’m reading about my own transaction on the internet from the seller side…