Cleaning-Up When You Sell A Domain Name

Cleaning-Up When You Sell A Domain Name

If you are in the business of flipping domains, most seasoned domainers recommend that you get your names out there in front of buyers on the various platforms where you can list your domains for sale. I tend to agree with that strategy for most names that I am selling. 

However, when you do so, you need to remember to do some cleaning-up after selling a domain name and there are several reasons why. 

The most important reason is that all of these domain selling platforms require you to agree to their terms and conditions or terms of service or terms of use. The majority of these will have clauses that require you to provide accurate and complete information and to update and ensure that your information remains accurate and complete. Most require you to confirm or agree to the fact that you are the rightful owner of the listed domains. 

If you sell a domain name, you no longer own it and thereby have technically breached this agreement if you keep it listed in your account. 

I recently received an offer through one of these platforms and quickly realized that I had already sold the name but forgot to remove it from the platform. Luckily, after a moment of panic, I was able to refuse the offer and remove the name from my account. If I had the name listed as a fixed price and somebody agreed to purchase the name after I already sold it and therefore no longer owed it, I just might have gotten myself kicked out of that platform for breach of the agreement I made when I listed the name for a fixed price. Don’t let that happen to you.

Often times when I try to park a name that I have bought through the aftermarket, I have to verify ownership, as the name is “already listed under another account”. On some platforms, this is easy to rectify and on others, it is a little more difficult. Either way, this indicates to me that many domainers are guilty of not “cleaning-up” when they sell a domain name.

Speaking of parking, in the learning curve of not “cleaning-up” my own house along the way, I’ve come to learn that folks buying domain names also should do some cleaning up when they buy a domain name. After having a record month earlier this year selling several domain names, I realized a month after transferring the sold names that 1) I forgot to remove the names from the parking platform and 2) they were all still earning parking revenue, because the new owner did not update the nameservers, which were still pointing at the parking company. While some may try to ride this wave until the new owners wake-up and clean-up their act, such a practice not only does not seem ethical, but likely is a breach of your agreement, as previously discussed, and cause for termination. 

Be sure to remove the name from your own website, or list the name as sold, if you desire. If you have listed the name on domain forums, it makes sense to have those threads edited or closed to reflect the fact that you no longer own the name or that it is no longer for sale. It may save you the grief in knowing that somebody was willing to pay you 30 times what you sold it for!

Now I know you have likely been told to clean your room when you were growing-up. If you are married, you probably speak and hear a lot of the same today. Domaining is no different.  Stay organized, keep your records straight and most importantly, keep things up-to-date!

Vincent L. Jacques is the owner of Vins Domains, you can also follow him on Twitter.