I subscribe to all major domain newsletters, have been receiving them for a few years now. I even have a special folder in my email account for that and set up filters to skip the inbox and send them all there, so I can store them and review later. And lately, I’ve been doing just that – reviewing all the recent messages, hoping to find some bargains or at least some decent domains at somewhat fair prices. With no luck at all, no surprise there, however.

Domain newsletters aren’t for domainers! In fact, I doubt domainers even buy domains through newsletters at all. For high quality, generic domain prices are usually through the roof, higher than on the forum and higher than on auctions. For average, or mid-quality domain prices are also usually in the end-user levels, much higher than what any domain reseller would consider paying. Only affordable domains are.. well, the kind of domains I wouldn’t take for free.

Sure you can find some bargains or decent deals if you spend a lot of time looking through the emails, and in fact, I even bought a couple of domains, but the vast majority of domains in newsletters are priced for end-users, which is really strange – end users don’t subscribe to domain newsletters! They usually email you when they want your domain, or look it up on Sedo and make you an offer.

Newsletters must have terrible selling rates, much lower than auctions and other venues, it’s not uncommon to receive the same names in the email over and over again, with ever-falling prices. In fact, I’ve submitted some of my domains to newsletters on many occasions – those were good domains and I priced them fairly, but nothing ever sold. Newsletter owners would tell you they have extremely high selling rates to get you to subscribe and send them good names to sell. Obviously there is no way to check that, but one thing is certain – newsletters are extremely profitable for those who run them: not much is needed there, just send a newsletter with a bunch of domains and prices you’re given by domain owners every few days – and if a domain sells you get 10%. 10% is the norm in the industry for brokering: investigating, searching for all potential buyers, end-users, finding an actual buyer, negotiating a price, closing the deal; newsletter owners get the same % for just sending one email. Some domain newsletter owners only list their own names, while others only broker domains submitted to them. But everyone would usually accept good domains to a broker to their subscribers and why wouldn’t they? It’s easy money if it sells.

Still, feel like subscribing to some newsletters? Here are the most popular ones:

List of Trusted Brokers Online

Other newsletters which I haven’t yet subscribed to, but they seem rather popular as well:  MediaOptions.comLuxuryNames.comDomainAgency.com, MorganLinton.com

If you want more information on domain newsletters there are also some other posts (possibly outdated) on domain newsletters at Elliot’s, Nametalent, and DomainNameNews.

That’s about it. I’m sure there are others if you have one with over 500 subscribers let me know I’ll list it too.

12 Responses

  1. Do you know the circulation or number of ‘subscribers’ (spam list) of the newsletters in your list?

  2. Thanks for the mention in your post! Just to avoid confusion I do not sell domain names through my newsletter. My newsletter is published monthly and is focused on turning domain names into brands, startup companies, and some of the latest activities in the venture capital space.

    I highly recommend both Toby’s newsletter and Andrew’s Media Options newsletter

  3. Great article, thanks for sharing.

    I subscribed to a few of these newsletters and then unsubscribed since most of the prices were higher than even those an end user would pay, not exactly sterling material for a reseller.

    One request – please consider adding ‘share’ buttons to your blog like twitter / facebook, would make it much easier to share content from your blog.

  4. Hi Samit, good idea, just added a sharing button. I recall you had a newsletter as well a few years ago, what happened to it?

  5. It’s good to keep an eye on what’s happening on the domain market , if you have the resources and time you can get your hands on one of the most wanted domains and make it big , by reselling it or use it for yourself and developing something that could bring you big benefits .

  6. I also subscribed for so many newsletters..Thanks for giving Idea to Create a Mail Box Separately..

    Its a wonderful post..Its very very useful so many people who subscribed Newsletters,Offer letters etc…,

    ———————

    Stephen

  7. Domain resellers are a perfect example of the definition of the term reseller domains. Resellers are individuals or companies who act as agents for ICANN accredited registrars. They either sell for commission or to make a profit. Domain name resellers are companies or individuals selling their own domain names.

  8. Great insights, I’m still quite a newbie in domaining. Heard of domainate and dnjournal but haven’t heard of others yet. Thanks for the article! 🙂

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