Three Important Questions To Ask A Domain Broker

There are lots of great domain brokers out there and if you have some solid domains in your portfolio, most will happily take you on as a client. The problem is, only a fraction of the brokers out there are a good fit for the domain you’re selling and consequently the market you’re selling into. Like the real estate market I wouldn’t expect a broker that specializes is $500,000 single family homes to sell my $5M mansion and you should apply the same logic to finding a domain broker.

Myself, for example, I deal almost exclusively with startups and focus on deals in the low six-figure range with my median deal size being around $250k. I have never sold a domain for a million dollars and while I’m sure I could, it’s not my area of expertise. I also only work on the acquisition-side which means I don’t broker domains for people selling them, I focus specifically on people buying domains.

So while I would be your guy if you wanted to buy a domain for your startup, I would not be your guy if you were a big company looking to sell some larger names out of their portfolio. That’s why it’s so important to ask a prospective broker a few good questions not to find out if they’re a good broker, but to find-out if they have expertise in the area that you need it.

  1. What size deals do you usually do? This question is critical. If you have a domain that you want to sell for $500,000 but the broker has never done a deal over $50k before this might not be a perfect fit. Conversely if you want to sell a domain for $5,000, a broker that specializes in $500,000 deals probably won’t be able to give you the focus you’re looking for.
  2. Have you sold domains to any of the companies that could potentially buy my domain? This is an equally important question. If you’re trying to sell a credit domain to a company like Experian, having a broker that has worked with them before could be the difference between making the sale and, well, just trying to make contact.
  3. How many other domains are you brokering? If a broker is trying to sell too many names it could be easy for yours to get lost in the shuffle. Look for brokers that aren’t overloaded and be up-front about your expectations.

Take the time to learn more about the broker you’re thinking of hiring and make sure you find someone that is the right fit for you. Whether you’re a startup or small business looking for a domain or a domain owner looking to sell a domain there are great brokers out there for each of you, just make sure you ask the right questions so you find them.

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton