Dan.com takes a fresh approach to selling domain names

Domain name marketplace is trying to improve the process of buying and selling domain names.

If you aren’t happy with current domain name marketplaces, the simplest thing to do would be just to complain. On the other end of the spectrum, you could build your own competing domain name marketplace.

That’s exactly what the founders of Dan.com decided to do.

Co-founder Reza Sardeha explained that he was unhappy with existing marketplaces and wanted to come at domain selling from a fresh perspective.

“From a seller perspective, we wanted to make domain trading easier,” he said. “We wanted a platform that was solely based on selling, rather than monetizing. We really didn’t see anything out there that would allow you to become a good seller.”

When Dan launched in 2013, the company realized it needed to put much more focus on domain buyers.

“If you want to build a very liquid marketplace, you should start including the buyer side,” said Reza. “Without buyers you can have the most amazing domains, but you won’t sell them.”

So Dan worked to create a more transparent marketplace that would make buyers comfortable acquiring domains on the secondary market. 

For example, buyers can see the seller’s name or company name on the for sale landing page. The landers also include information about pricing and the process of acquiring the domain. While listing your name on the sales page and setting fixed prices is optional, Dan has data to back up the sales lift sellers get from adding these.

To get buyers to show up to the marketplace, Dan researched where businesses go when they need a company or product name. 

Since many of these users search for the name they’re interested in, Dan focused on SEO for its for sale landers. As a result, a quarter of all leads customers receive are the result of someone finding their “for sale” page through a search engine.

The landers also have a title tag noting the domain is for sale, as opposed to parked pages that promote the topic instead. In the future, sellers will have the option of including custom content, stats, payment options, etc. on the landing page. 

Dan is also innovating on the domain ownership transfer side. For some ccTLDs such as .nl, it can instantly transfer domains to its own registrar upon receipt of payment. This allows it to pay out sellers quickly.

Creating a marketplace is hard. It’s a chicken and egg problem. But Dan seems to be taking some innovative approaches and is a company to watch.

Source: https://domainnamewire.com/2016/02/29/49287/