How I Landed My First Lease To Own Domain Name Sale And How YOU Can Too!

Selling domain names can be difficult. Actually, extremely difficult at times. Sometimes you have to run into the perfect buyer at the perfect time and agree on the perfect price. That’s a lot of perfects all in one sentence but it’s just to show how truly challenging it can be to land a domain deal.

I’ve sold several domain names over the years but one thing I had never done was work a lease to own type of domain name sale.

Are you familiar with this type of sale?

Basically you are giving the buyer an option to pay you monthly, every quarter, yearly etc for the right to own the domain name over time. Now I know you may be thinking…

“Why would I want to wait one year to get the payment in full for my domain name?”

Well, I would argue that it’s better to get some money slow throughout time than no money at all. Wouldn’t you agree? You see this is what happened to me and how I landed my first ever Lease To own domain name sale and how I think you can too.

First things first, I received an inquiry on one of my domain name landing pages.

*Quick Tip: If you are not parking your domain names or have some way to show they are up for sale, that’s your first mistake. Make sure potential buyers know they are in fact FOR SALE!

Typically if you have several domain names, you should receive some inquires from interested buyers every month or so. From here, I always follow up with the buyers, every single one of them. Unfortunately, not many people who show interest by filling out the “I am interested” form on your website or parking platform will ever answer you back. It’s just the way it is.

Some will, some won’t…so what.

Anyway, this particular buyer did not write me back for a few months but here is another learning lesson for you. Always follow up with anyone who has shown interest in any of your domain names. They say the “fortune” is in the follow up.

Now I don’t know if you’ll be making a fortune or not but in this case, it worked out for me quite well. Let me explain.

After a few months of not hearing back, I sent a follow up email asking if they were still interested in this domain name. Believe it or not, the buyer wrote back that they were in fact interested in the domain name.

Hooray for me! I finally got a response back. But now what do I do? A lot of individuals on the domaining forums say to NEVER say your price. Always have them say their offer first, then counter.

Well, I don’t roll like that. You see, If I own something such as a domain name I’m going to have a price in my head so the buyer knows what I am expecting. Not having a price is like going into a car shop looking to purchase a car but not seeing any prices at all on any cars. The car salesman just says “make an offer” on the car you want.

You have no idea what price range the dealership is looking for. Get my point?

Basically, listing prices has been working for me and what I do in my business. I don’t want to have the buyer have to guess what I want. I tell them. Plain and simple.

So the buyer asked the question. Here is how it went:

Buyer: How much?

Me: The current price for this domain name is $600.

Buyer: That is more than I can pay right now.

So at this point…I could either tell him sorry but that’s the price, beat it.

OR

I could figure out a way to make this work for him…plus I really wanted that $600!

Here is how the conversation continued:

Me: Would you be interested in a lease to own deal? You can make small monthly payments and own the domain outright once the payments are complete.

Buyer: That is absolutely something I would be interested in doing.

Me: If you can agree on 12 monthly payments of only $55, we can get this deal done as soon as today. I will still hold the domain name but direct the nameservers to wherever you wish. Once you make your last payment, I will transfer the domain name into your registrar of choice.

Buyer: Sounds great. Agreed.

That’s literally it.

That’s all I did. Nothing fancy, no gimmicks, no secrets. I just ASKED the buyer if a payment plan option was a better fit for them. If you also noticed, I actually sold it for more than $600. (12 month X $55 = $660).

From here, we decided to do the deal via PayPal and once per month, I would send him a PayPal invoice. Thankfully, the buyer paid on time each and ever month until he finally paid it in full and I transferred him the domain name.

One thing you have to understand is that even though we love domain names and we know their is a HUGE community that also loves buying and selling domain names, the average person has no idea our community exists. So sometimes, even asking $600 for a domain can be an exorbitant amount of money in one shot to them.

Maybe if we give them the opportunity to work out a smaller payment plan, it’s something they would be willing to further look into.

Is this something that you are incorporating in your business? If not, than the question I’m asking you right now is…why?

Summary

• Lease To own domain name sales can be great for both the buyer and seller.

• Make sure your domain names have a for sale sign on them when a visitor goes to your website.

• Follow up with every single interested person that has contacted you about your domain name.

• Figure out a way to work with the buyer. Paying small installment payments may be their only option.

• Know the price you want for your domain name. Don’t have the buyer guess and go back and forth with offers wasting each others time.

• There is no “secret” formula. Just ask if monthly or quarterly payments would work for them.