End-Users, The Holy Grail – But How Do You Find Them?

As Domainers I think we might use the term “end-users” more than just about anyone else on the planet. It is the Holy Grail of the industry, selling your domain names to an end-user that sees strong value in your name(s) for their business. While every Domainer wants to sell their domain names to end-users, in the end many give-up and sell at wholesale to another Domainer.

Of course some Domainers have a great track-record selling domains to end-users, Rick Schwartz is the first that comes to my mind. He really takes the time to find the right buyer for his domains and isn’t afraid to wait until he finds the best possible deal. Just look at Candy.com, wouldn’t most of us sell that name for 1 million bucks? Rick waited until he could find the perfect buyer, and sold $3 million dollars plus residuals.

Another great example is the Castello Brothers who have one of the best .COM portfolio’s out there and recently topped the DNJournal Sales list with Driven.com for $225,000. Like Rick, they also are in no rush to sell their names, they are focused on finding the right buyers that can pay what the names are worth. The Castello Brothers also do a great job building-out their domains and creating real living, breathing, category-defining, online brands.

So where’s the disconnect for the new or part-time Domainer? I think the disconnect is in the amount of time and energy it takes to put-together a major deal with an end-user. While it would be great to just email a few of the advertisers on Google and immediately find someone willing to pay top-dollar for your domain this usually isn’t the case.

Now – just to be clear, I am not an expert at selling domains to end-users. Monetization and passive income is where I put my energy. However, as a Domainer I am very interested in how the people who have been doing this full-time for a long time put together these deals.

Okay, now for the subject of my post – how to find end-users. This is more an open question to the Domaining world rather than anything I feel knowledgable enough to speak to. So as a blog reader I’ll ask you to put yourself in one of two categories:

  1. Someone with a proven track-record selling domains to end-users
  2. Someone who hasn’t had much experience selling domains to end-users

For those who have been successful – feel free to share what you think has allowed you to be successful. Feel free to also comment on where you think most people take a wrong turn.

For those who haven’t had much experience selling domains to end-users, tell us all what you’ve tried and the results you’ve had. The idea is simple – we can all learn from each other! So comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton