Domain name investors generally buy two types of domain names: domains that aren’t registered yet, and domain names to which other people have already laid a claim. Domains in the latter are considered to be on the domain name “aftermarket.”
It’s easy to register domains that no one has thought to register yet. Just go to Namecheap.com and register them for low prices.
But what about buying coveted aftermarket domains? These are harder to acquire. It often involves contacting domain name owners to see if they are willing to sell the domain name. It’s a time-consuming process that rarely results in a purchase.
Thankfully, there are some marketplaces that specialize in domainer-to-domainer sales. These marketplaces enable domain investors to buy domains from other investors at prices lower than what the sellers would want from a so-called “end user” (someone who wants to use the domain name for a website.)
Here are three marketplaces where you can buy domains at wholesale prices with an eye to selling them to end users at higher prices.
1. Domain Name Wholesale Exchange (DNWE)
DNWE is a marketplace where domain name investors offer their domain names to other domain investors at prices lower than they would sell them to end users. Sellers keep their domains listed at higher prices on end user marketplaces but offer them at the lower prices on DNWE.
Domain owners can list domains in both a curated and non-curated market. Domains in the curated market must pass DNWE’s review process; domains in the non-curated market don’t have listing criteria.
Buyers can sort domain names by registration date, domain extension, and other parameters. They can also export a list of domains to a .csv file to run an analysis using third-party tools.
Users can search the marketplace for new domains, and DNWE will also send alerts when domain names that meet a buyer’s criteria are listed in the curated marketplace.
The marketplace has an interesting model. Instead of paying commissions, buyers and sellers pay a subscription fee to participate. Buyers also pay a small escrow fee when they buy domains. This means that domain investors can sell unlimited domains during a year and pay only a small participation fee rather than giving a large portion of sales to the marketplace.
2. Squadhelp Wholesale Marketplace
Squadhelp is a crowdsourcing marketplace that helps companies pick company names and product names. A business explains what they or their product is about and the crowd suggests names.
Domain name owners can list their domains on Squadhelp in one of two ways. One, they can apply for a domain to be listed as a premium name that gets lots of exposure on the platform. Two, they can list domains without going through an approval process (but they get less exposure).
The premium domains are listed at prices that might be appealing to an actual business that wants to use the name. It can take a long time for the right end user to come along, though, and domain investors might be willing to sell a domain for less to another domain investor.
That’s where Squadhelp’s wholesale marketplace comes into play. The wholesale market lets sellers set a wholesale price for their domains. This wholesale price is only shown to qualified domain investors.
A domain investor can buy the domain at the wholesale price and then take over the seller’s premium listing, so they are assured that the domain can be sold as a premium domain on Squadhelp’s system. This is an added value to domain name investors.
Squadhelp only charges sellers a small fee to cover its credit card costs when domains sell on the wholesale marketplace.
3. NamePros
NamePros is a domain name forum where domain investors gather to talk strategy, gawk over recent sales, and buy and sell domains. It’s the largest domain name forum catering to domain name investors.
The forum offers many sub-forums for selling different types of domains, such as numeric, brandable, and traffic domains (those that get traffic from links, search engines, or type-ins). Sellers can list their domains at fixed prices, by auction, or simply request offers.
As a forum, it’s a bit less structured than the other wholesale marketplaces. Buyers and sellers need to handle the transactions themselves rather than using a marketplace transaction system. But it’s a great way to sell domains and doesn’t cost anything.
Even if they aren’t ready to buy or sell domains on NamePros, domainers should check out the forum to learn more about domain name investing.
Manage your new domains
Buying domain names on these wholesale markets can be fun. It can also help you understand which domains are selling and for what prices, which is helpful as you learn to become a better domain name investor.
And if you need to free up some cash, you can list your domains at wholesale prices on these platforms.
Regardless of where you buy domain names at wholesale, you need to manage your domain names at a registrar. You can transfer your new domain names to Namecheap for low prices.
Where to buy wholesale aftermarket domains .