Renting/Leasing Domain Names

[dnavatar]

Hi,

I have several domain names that I'd like to rent and not sell.
I have found several companies/sites that say they offer the service, but none of them seem to be serviced or still going, what ever it is they don't respond.

So if anyone knows of a place or site where I can successfully do this please let me know.

I've set up a quick site myself: ezydomainrentals.com to try and promote it myself but I don't have the marketing power alone to be able to promote it.

If anyone can help or wants to help promote the site or has any great ideas please let me know!

Thanks!

 

[Blue Wren]

Sounds like an idea. All the best. I'm not a fan of the domain you have used however.

 

[chris]

Hi, I'm not involved in leasing personally, but I think you have to have some very strong names for this to work. There are members here that have done this so they might be able to give you some advice.

As far as ideas, do you have any other names you're planning to add?

Cheers,
Chris

 

[snoopy]

I have several domain names that I'd like to rent and not sell.
I have found several companies/sites that say they offer the service, but none of them seem to be serviced or still going, what ever it is they don't respond.

I've never met a domainer who would rather sell their domains than lease them, but hardly anyone leases domains. As stated above typically the name must be very strong (unless it is a chicken feed lease amount), if the names are super strong the odds are still extremely low.

The companies who are involved with setting up leasing have done poorly and all they have ever been interested in is names with preexisting traffic, it is a (generally poor) alternative to parking. Companies have been trying this for at least 10 years with really nothing to show for it.

If you want to lease names that don't fit into that characteristic (traffic) then you are on your own. Leasing privately is certainly possible but really only viable when an agreement to sell can't be reached & the buyer is extremely motivated. Not many people want to lease a domains for the exact opposite reasons that domainers do want to lease them.

 

[morganp]

Kind of like saying.

Ive got a block of land, ill lease it to you if you build a house on it.

Doubt there would be many takers.

 

[Cooper Mills DomainLawyer]

I agree with the guys here, leasing is not particularly popular to third parties - unless someone has some limited campaign or use for a domain, it just doesn't make sense developing a site and not owning the domain it resolves from.

Most leasing is usually between related entities

 

[dnavatar]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the input/comments!

Blue Wren - Thanks. I'm happy to get a new name if anyone wanted to collaborate
(I presume its the "Ezy" part your referring to, it was one of few options, as all the domain names I wanted were taken/unaffordable )

Chris - Yep, I would certainly love to add more domain names to the list. I'd add anyone's domain for free as it would help build the site.

Snoopy - I completely agree. I'd ideally like to have the site only sell the best domains. Perhaps a split level, Premium Platinum Top Best Level with domains like sex.com etc and then still quality premium domain levels as the next level.
I would eventually be able to wean out the lesser quality domain names, so that it could become a quality site with only the best domains.
I think the companies that have tried before haven't put any real effort, time or resources into it for it to work.

Morganp - Thanks for the comment, but its more like, "I have a shop or office to lease would you like to lease it, put what you want in there."

Cooper Mills DomainLawyer - Thanks for your comment, I really have to disagree though. Renting domain names is very appealing to me as a third party. There have been a few occasions where I would have like that great domain (for various business ventures) but it was only available for sale and I couldn't afford it. But if it were available to rent, I could have afforded it, had a great company name with a great domain name.

Thanks again, sorry for my delayed response.

 

[johno69]

"I have a shop or office to lease would you like to lease it, put what you want in there."

You are only looking at it from a domain owners point of view. I'd be concerned that when I build something special on a domain, someone else can always rip it out from under me.

 

[morganp]

Morganp - Thanks for the comment, but its more like, "I have a shop or office to lease would you like to lease it, put what you want in there."

The problem with what you are saying is that its easy to relocate a physical business from shop to shop or office to office.

It is not easy to move a website from domain to domain.

What happens if you rent a domain and the person decides to sell or forgets to renew the domain? There goes all of you hard work.

I fail to see how renting a domain could work. Sorry

 

[snoopy]

I think the companies that have tried before haven't put any real effort, time or resources into it for it to work.

Millions has been spent trying to make it work. One company even got bought out by Ask.com, then the service was shuttered down the track.

http://domainnamewire.com/2009/01/22/iacs-ask-acquires-sendori/
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/06/20/traffic-beyond-pay-per-click/

(note the first two which were both domain leasing companies)

 

[dnavatar]

When you build a site you put it on web servers not on a domain.
So the owner of the domain isn't able to access your site what so ever. All the domain name owner does is re-direct (or "point") the domain name to (your) the requested servers.

(Also, I started the site because I am coming from both points of view. Yes, I have domain names I'd like to rent out, but it started because some domain names I've wanted have been unaffordable to purchase but would be ideal if I could rent them).

 

[DavidL]

Kind of like saying.

Ive got a block of land, ill lease it to you if you build a house on it.

but its more like, "I have a shop or office to lease would you like to lease it, put what you want in there.".

I'd suggest it's more like

'I have a block of land zoned for commercial use that you can lease to build a shop on, advertise the address everywhere and build up good will'

and if being cynical:

'Then once you're reliant on the address having sunk so much capital into it, I'll jack up the rent and/or sell it to you for an exhorbitant price'


Leasing doesn't work unless for a very narrow purpose or with a lease-to-buy option. Just not worth it for the lessee..

 

[dnavatar]

The problem with what you are saying is that its easy to relocate a physical business from shop to shop or office to office.

It is not easy to move a website from domain to domain.

What happens if you rent a domain and the person decides to sell or forgets to renew the domain? There goes all of you hard work.

I fail to see how renting a domain could work. Sorry

It's very easy to relocate a website to another domain name. All you do is point the new domain to your existing servers. I couldn't think of anything easier.

As for what happens if the person forgets to renew the domain - that would just be stipulated in the rental agreement, ideas like - the entity renting being cc'd in on renewal correspondence. You can get several reminders months in advance and if the renting entity noticed it not being renewed they could act on it.

 

[Mark]

Hi dnavatar

So you're hoping to approach the likes of Sex.com and offer to provide a platform for them to lease their domain?

I'm not a fan of leasing mostly for the points raised by others, but if you're going to go for it anyhow, I'd get a deal between landlord and tenant before even attempting to build a platform to offer the service.

Cheers
Mark

 

[acheeva]

imo....The only real hope is to totally de-risk the transaction for the end user (advertiser)

The domain owner needs to provide the domain & the site; therefore he is simply providing an exclusive advertising opportunity at a fixed, CPC or CPM rate

 

[snoopy]

Morganp - Thanks for the comment, but its more like, "I have a shop or office to lease would you like to lease it, put what you want in there."

It is very different to that, the web address also functions as a brand, goodwill is built up far more so than a street location. I can lease a shop and move a few doors down the street it won't be the end of the world versus building up a web address then needing to vacate it.

 

[dnavatar]

It is very different to that, the web address also functions as a brand, goodwill is built up far more so than a street location. I can lease a shop and move a few doors down the street it won't be the end of the world versus building up a web address then needing to vacate it.

The metaphor has become way to unattached.
If you built up an association with a web address and wanted to relocate then you would be wanting to relocate to another web address, i.e. another new domain.

 

[snoopy]

It's very easy to relocate a website to another domain name. All you do is point the new domain to your existing servers. I couldn't think of anything easier.

That is a bit like saying to a shop owner,

"It is easy to relocate your business, we'll just pick the business up with a crane and put it on the truck and drive it to an open field somewhere."

Its easy!

 

[dnavatar]

That is a bit like saying to a shop owner,

"It is easy to relocate your business, we'll just pick the business up with a crane and put it on the truck and drive it to an open field somewhere."

Its easy!

I think we should probably end the metaphors as that one is just ridiculous.
It's nothing like that what so ever.

Even IF it was, it wouldn't matter. Lifting up digital data and putting it somewhere is a whole lot lighter than a physical building. (But your not moving any data anyway, your just re-directing domain names to point to the data).

 

[snoopy]

I think we should probably end the metaphors as that one is just ridiculous.
It's nothing like that what so ever.

Even IF it was, it wouldn't matter. Lifting up digital data and putting it somewhere is a whole lot lighter than a physical building. (But your not moving any data anyway, your just re-directing domain names to point to the data).

The point is not the difficulty in moving a building (which people do quite regularly). The point is anything can be moved, but a business moved to an open field is going to lose all its customers. Your saying the content can be added to another name, great, but it has just lost its identity, there is going to be all sorts of issues from lost links, lost search engine positions, customers going to the old site, not knowing or being able to find the new site etc.