domain leasing

[findtim]

its not news its just me on this bandwagon again BUT i am doing a mountain of research and this concept is taking hold across the world.

chris asked for suggestions and i think this should be a new section to keep it all neat.

i've always said i'm in the internet "real estate" industry which may be for whatever i am offering but its all realestate.

so the question is WHYYYY do we sell domains ? lets look at the big guns of the workd, does trump sell? no, does westfield sell? no, does mcdonalds sell? no , they lease...

the owner of a mcdonalds store DOES NOT own the land beneath them, mcdonalds does.

forget google rankings, forget PPC, there are mountains of businesses out there still using traditional media and they need a memorable name eg: bondivet

as google heads down the path of PPC/place/+/ and whatever else is going to happen i think they have screwed up, ma pa in alstonville nsw don't give a shit, the local baker that owns alstonvillebakery.com.au and gets a mailing list and makes offers is going to completely go past google.

now if you own this domain then do you sell it? or do you lease it? as its like a shop front.

this is a really simple example of what i am talking about but you get my drift, i think ther is truly an energing market of leasing site in oz.

PLEASE let me know if anyone is doing it sussefully as i am actually having trouble finding anyone.

tim

 

[geodomains]

Well I've been leasing a few domains to blue chip companies successfully.

Can be done, but the domains would need to be quality for a company to even look at it.

Don

 

[smee]

I asked this very question some time back and a great response as always from the forum resident law expert -

http://www.dntrade.com.au/option-buy-right-use-t3474.html?p=24798#post24798

 

[snoopy]

The vast majority of buyers are not interested in leasing domains. Of the "small minority" most will want a buyout clause so it becomes a try before you buy or "I don't have the money right now thing".

It is not comparable to realestate because most people want control over their web presence. Apple can lease a store and then move down the track, losing a shop front and moving somewhere else is very different to lose your corporate name. If the lease ends the guy leasing is probably sunk in terms of that business.

Personally have a leased names to people on a few occasions, there needs to be compelling reason for it to work and there is lots of mines in the field - particularly handing non payment which tends to become a problem very quickly a lot of the time.

So to say "lease don't sell", that sounds great but you won't make much money because 99% of buyers won't have a bar of it.

 

[DavidL]

It is not comparable to realestate because most people want control over their web presence...

If you do compare it to real estate, you need to compare it with leasing a block of land to a commercial tenant.

No business is going to want to spend heaps building a shop that, when the lease is up, they can't take with them.

Building a website, brand and SEO authority on a particular domain is the (rough) equivalent.

 

[sydneyduo]

I'm also leasing a few domains - but agree it can be a challenge to find takers, and then to manage the payment.

Don, what were the important factors in place that enabled you to lease to blue chip companies (other than the domain name itself)?

For me, I found that if the site is already getting traffic and can divert targeted prospects to the client's main website - that would be of interest for them to lease.

As they just see it as one more of the marketing channels in their overall strategy

 

[geodomains]

For me, I found that if the site is already getting traffic and can divert targeted prospects to the client's main website - that would be of interest for them to lease.

Above and domain name and you have the answer.

Don

 

[findtim]

What about a short lease, say 3 years with option to buy at a pre approved price, and then they can do what they like, i guarantee myself some extra income on top of the domain price.

they may even choose to stay with my hosting and maintainence fee but they know they have the freedom to move on if they wish.

this is sounding like a win win.

opinions please and don't hold back

tim

 

[sydneyduo]

Hi Tim

I believe someone had tried this model before in the forum - lease to buy option

My take is it depends on the need of the prospect, hence good to have a few different options available when you negotiate with them... and test to see what works, and then stick to it

 

[findtim]

NOTE: this is a 2001 article.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-271438.html

please don't post back " yeh but thats p*^n so its different " as i know it is but it does show good domains can do it.

ohhh, did anyone bid on "F my wife" today ?

tim

 

[snoopy]

NOTE: this is a 2001 article.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-271438.html

please don't post back " yeh but thats p*^n so its different " as i know it is but it does show good domains can do it.

ohhh, did anyone bid on "F my wife" today ?

tim

If you have a names with significant type in traffic they can all be leased easily, but whether it will be better than parking is another thing entirely. Even parking companies would lease the lot. But this kind of deal is just someone monetizing the traffic by redirecting it etc.

Since he registered Smut.com, Koustas has gotten offers as high as $2 million to sell the domain name but figured he could make even more money by leasing it. It turned out he was right.

I sold smut.com.au for $500.

 

[helloworld]

A client was approached by the owner of computerrepairs.com.au (possibly comes here) to lease the domain. I think it was $50 a month, no charge until first page ranking.

I've been trying to do similar but still working on seo for many of them. I figure it's better to go in with a tonne of first page rankings immediately, less bad blood, more chance keeping them long term/value etc