As you know, I have a small portfolio of premium domain names, specifically IDNs (get my free ebook here: IDN on Steroids).

Now, for personal reasons, I want to sell this portfolio rather than hold it for the long term.

So how do you sell premium domains, especially during the global economic crisis?

Forums

One way is forums. All domain forums such as DNForum and Namepros all have sales and auction sections. In my case, I am sticking to IDN specific forums such as IDN Channel, IDN Forums, DN Local and IDN Club.

You can offer a set price for sale but for a premium domain name, it is preferable to auction it off with a minimum reserve.

Auction Sites

Selling a domain is not a very efficient or liquid process. You can hardly call it “highly standardised”. Another way to sell a domain and try to reach a captive audience is to use an auction site such as Sedo or Snapnames. Currently, I am trying to sell via Snapnames because Sedo is not 100% IDN compatible.

For super high premium domains, there are also live auctions that get a lot of publicity and can see domains going for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Private Sale To End User

This is the most difficult and yet you can normally obtain the best prices too. It is much easier with standard (ascii) domains rather than IDN.

With IDN, my end users will be companies located in China and Japan. Unfortunately, I have no relevant language skills or local knowledge. This brings me on to…

Brokers

For a premium domain, why not give up 20% or more of the value if someone can help to sell it for you. There are some brokers in the ascii market but none or few in the IDN market because it is so young. This is ironic because I foresee a day when there will be many IDN brokers, specifically because they will have the local contacts necessary to make a sale with end users.

Maybe you’ve sold a premium domain name yourself? Care to share some tips and pointers with me and the readers of this blog? I’d love to hear from you.

source: www.profitswithchris.com