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Selling My Domain With a Domain Broker
How Much Does a Domain Broker Charge?
What Can a Domain Broker Do For Me?
Can a Domain Broker Sell My Domain For $1 Million Or More?
If your domain name is worth $1 million or more, then yes – a good domain broker would be able to do just that. However, typically speaking, domain brokers aren’t miracle workers!
Who’s the Best Domain Broker?
Since most brokers only work on commission, they’re usually very selective about the domains they take on. Most brokers will be looking to work on domain names that have a good chance of selling for a high-five-figure fee or more. I’d recommend looking at the quality of work and references that each domain broker service can provide you, not just going with the cheapest domain broker.
Here, I’ve built a list of domain name brokers that you may wish to contact if you’re looking for a broker to sell your domain. Note that I do not endorse any domain brokerage company or domain broker services, and further due diligence should be performed by yourself before taking on any domain broker. The brokers are listed in alphabetical order.
Brannans
Brannans domain brokerage is owned and operated by David Clements, a domain broker, and serial entrepreneur. Aside from creating sites such as Cheesecake.com and Batteries.com, David has successfully brokered domains such as Ice.com, PK.com, and Digital.com. David achieved #6 in Escrow.com’s master of domains in 2019.
Website: Brannans.com
Buckley Media Group
Founded by Kate Buckley, Buckley Media Group primarily brokers one-word .COM domains. With 25 years of marketing and business development experience, Kate has successfully turned her hand to domain brokerage, producing sales for domains such as Chocolate.com, Rate.com, and Inspection.com
Website: BuckleyMedia.com
DomainBooth
DomainBooth, formerly known as Phenom and BQDN, is the current brand name for brokerage services offered by James Booth. Since 2015, James has focused on buying and selling liquid domain names (two, and three-letter .COM) as well as one-word .COM domains. Previous sales include Extend.com, IJ.com, and Pack.com. James achieved #2 on Escrow.com’s master of domains list 2020.
Website: DomainBooth.com
Evergreen
Evergreen domain brokerage is lead by Jen Sale and Adam Strong, two domain industry veterans that focus on one-word .COM domain names. In fact, they have built their own one-word .COM marketplace at 1word.com. Jen achieved 7th place in Escrow.com’s master of domains 2018.
Website: Evergreen.com
Giuseppe Graziano
If you have a liquid domain name that you wish to sell, consider Giuseppe Graziano. Giuseppe is truly an international broker as he has lived in 5 countries and speaks 5 languages. Giuseppe’s company focuses on short, liquid domain names. He achieved 3rd place in Escrow.com’s master of domains 2017.
Website: GGRG.com
Grit Brokerage
Founded by Brian Harbin in Florida, Grit Brokerage has a track record of producing five, six, and seven-figure sales. The company has sold countless .CO domains, but have also been responsible for some significant one-word .COM sales including Ice.com which sold for $3.5 million in 2018.
Website: GritBrokerage.com
Guta
Guta is a premium domain brokerage founded by George Hong. As one of the most trusted brokers amongst Chinese investors, George bridged the domain gap of east and west, facilitating millions of dollars worth of sales to China. Previous sales include Beijing.com, Bank.com, and DD.com. George ranked 1st in Escrow.com’s 2017 master of domains chart.
Website: Guta.com
Larry Fischer
Founder of GetYourDomain, Larry Fischer has specialized in domain names since 1997. He has participated in tens of millions of dollars worth of domain sales, yet few are publicly revealed. He has been involved in domain sales such as Chat.com, Home.com, and Messenger.com. Larry also co-founded parking company SmartName, which is now owned by GoDaddy.
Website: GetYourDomain.com
Lumis
Lumis is a group of seasoned domain professionals lead by brothers Hobi and Slade Michalec. Lumis has been involved in many high-value domain sales including Freedom.com and Gem.com. Lumis’ Hobi Michalec ranked as #7 in Escrow.com’s master of domains chart in 2020.
Website: Lumis.com
Media Options
Often cited as one of the leading domain brokerages, and for good reason. Founded in 2005 by Andrew Rosener, Media Options has sold well into the eight-figures worth of domains including X.com to Elon Musk, and other names including Zoom.com, Cut.com, and Author.com. Media Options’s Andrew Rosener has ranked as #1 in Escrow.com’s master of domains chart for both 2019 and 2020.
Website: MediaOptions.com
NameExperts
Founded by Joe Uddeme, NameExperts is a domain broker specializing mainly in one-word and short .COM domains. Joe has sold over $75 million worth of domains including 20.com and Storm.com. Joe ranked as #8 on Escrow.com’s master of domains chart for 2020.
Website: NameExperts.com
Prime Loyalty
Prime Loyalty is a brokerage company founded by Jeff Garbutt. With over 20 years experience, Prime Loyalty focuses on domain sales, acquisitions, and domain consultancy. As of writing, Prime Loyalty lists a number of one-word domains for sale including Bone.com, Acquisition.com, and Quantity.com.
Website: PrimeLoyalty.com
Saw.com
Founded in 2019, Saw.com is lead by two industry veterans, Jeff Gabriel and Amanda Waltz. Jeff is the broker responsible for selling Sex.com for $13 million in 2010, and has been a part of $400 million worth of sales.
Website: Saw.com
Sedo
Sedo is a domain name marketplace where buyers and sellers can go to deal domain names. However, they also operate a brokerage service lead by Dave Evanson. Dave has been responsible for sales such as RX.com, Give.com, and Christian.com.
Website: Sedo.com
VIP Brokerage
VIP Brokerage is a company managed by domain broker Mark Thomas, who has racked up several seven-figure sales including California.com ($3 million), 01.com ($1.82 million), and TM.com for $1.25 million. Mark’s company ranked number 9 on Escrow.com’s “Masters of Domains” for 2020.
Website: VIPBrokerage.com
How Do I Hire A Domain Broker?
Hiring a domain broker is a
How Do I Get Domain Broker Reviews?
Recent Domain Sales from Domain Name Brokers
It might help you to get a feel for what domain brokers can do by viewing some recent sales facilitated by domain name brokers. These sales are courtesy of the NameBio domain name database, and so are only as accurate as their records.
Note that many domain name brokers never disclose their sales, which can run into the millions or tens of millions of dollars. This is sometimes down to non-disclosure agreements, but are often due to the domain broker’s own policy on discretion.
Metaverse.io – brokered by Media Options for $175,000 in March 2021
Badger.com – brokered by Media Options for $300,000 in March 2021
Angel.com – brokered by Sedo’s Dave Evanson for $2 million in April 2021
Snappy.com – brokered by Larry Fischer for $415,000 in May 2021
Exodus.com – brokered by Media Options for $1,945,000 in May 2021
eBike.com – brokered by Buckley Media for $1,008,900 in June 2021
Meme.com – brokered by Brannans for $1,250,000 in June 2021
What About GoDaddy’s Domain Broker Service?
If you look through search engine listings for the term “domain brokerage”, or something similar, you’re very likely to see ads or links to GoDaddy’s domain broker service. Is it worth exploring?
Escrow.com’s Master Domain Brokers
Every year, leading escrow company Escrow.com releases its latest “Masters of Domains” list, a report showcasing the top ten highest-grossing users of the Escrow.com platform. The full top ten list for 2021 is shown below.
1st: Andrew Rosener, Media Options
2nd: Keith Richter, Lumis
3rd: Ryan McKegney, DomainAgents
4th: Jeffrey Gabriel, Saw.com
5th: Steve Miholovich, Name Arena
6th: James Booth, DomainBooth/MediaX
7th: Joe Uddeme, NameExperts
8th: Brent Oxley, Create.com
9th: Andy Booth, Booth.com
10th: Vince Harasymiak, Domain Capital
What If I Need Help Buying a Domain Name?
You’ll need a domain buyer broker. A domain buyer broker essentially helps an entrepreneur, startup, or established company to acquire a domain name. The broker will likely have significant experience working with domain names and can give advice and digital strategy input.
The domain buyer broker doesn’t represent a domain name seller, like most typical domain brokers. A domain buyer broker is employed by the buyer to help them buy one or more domain names within their budget. They should act with the buyer’s best interests in mind. That means no kickbacks or commissions from the domain seller for closing a domain sale at a certain price point, which has been known to happen.
A buyer broker can either go after a specific domain name or can suggest domain names to acquire, especially if the company or entrepreneur is in the very early stages of a project.
A domain buyer broker can help at several different stages throughout the lifecycle of a company:
- Initial branding: A domain buyer broker can advise on the naming of your company or brand with their advice influenced by the availability of certain domains within your budget. At this point, the buyer broker may also help to form a roadmap to determine a strategy for potentially upgrading that domain in the future.
- Domain acquisition: A buyer broker will be able to advise on the best course of action for a domain name acquisition. If there is a specific domain that the buyer is interested in, the broker will use their sleuthing techniques to track down the owner and attempt to negotiate an agreeable deal within the buyer’s budget. They will then work with the buyer until the domain is safely in their possession.
- Strategic domain purchases: If there are any domain names that aren’t vital to an existing company’s core digital strategy, but are desirable from an SEO viewpoint or get a significant amount of targeted web visitors, then a buyer broker will be able to help you acquire these domains.
- Upgrading: if you launched your company on the best domain you could get at the time, but you’re now in a position to spend more on a domain purchase, a buyer broker can help to acquire the best upgrade domain for your company. This can be especially useful as a buyer broker will usually
How much do domain buyer brokers charge? That’s a difficult question, as different buyer brokers often work on a number of different fee structures. The most common are:
- The flat-rate commission: Some buyer brokers charge a percentage commission based on the final purchase price of your domain. Let’s say you buy a domain through your broker for $100,000. If the flat-rate commission fee is 10%, then you’ll end up spending $110,000 (the domain purchase fee, plus the broker fee).
- The up-front fee: Buyer brokers may charge an initial retainer fee to work with you. This may be $500, or it may be more. In this scenario, you’ll also likely be charged a commission fee upon a successful purchase, too.
- Split the difference: This structure gives a real incentive to the broker to get you the lowest price possible. If you have agreed on a budget for a domain purchase with a buyer broker, the broker will use that budget as a basis for their commission fee. Let’s say you have a budget of $100,000, and the buyer broker manages to get the domain for $65,000. The buyer broker may ask for 15% of the difference between $100,000 and $65,000. In this case, that would be 15% of $35,000, which equals $5,250. The higher the purchase price, the less commission the broker makes. If the budget was $100,000 and the broker secures the name for $85,000, the broker would only make $2,250 in this scenario.
- The hybrid: Sometimes, a buyer broker may include an up-front fee, and propose a “split the difference” commission structure. This is known as the hybrid. If your budget is $100,000 for a domain, the broker may charge an initial $500 retainer fee, and then 15% of the difference between your budget and the purchase price.
Typically, buyer brokers are flexible with their fee structures, so they will find a way of structuring a fee that suits both parties.
I’ve prepared a full guide to domain buyer brokers specifically, with a couple of suggestions for companies that could potentially help you. That can be accessed here.