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eBay Find: From $550 Acquisition to $10,000 Sale – With David Kelly

Usually only worthless domain names are found when searching on eBay. (At least that’s my experience.)

But David Kelly uses a secret tip to filter and find diamonds in the rough.

He shares that tip, as well as how he negotiated and purchased TopOffers.com for $550 – while normally the eBay platform only encourages you to just bid on stuff you want.

In addition, you’ll learn how Kelly both actively and passively markets his domains for sale, and how pricing it in one location led to this $10,000 sale.

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About the Interviewee

David Kelly
David Kelly
David Kelly is an entrepreneur and founder of OY! Domains.

Kelly has a degree in web design from the University of Lincoln in England. Prior to starting his own company, he worked in information technology and as an online learning systems developer and manager.

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https://www.domainsherpa.com/david-kelly-topoffers-flip/

On today’s Profitable Flip show, a return Sherpa turned a $550 purchase into a $10,000 sale in just 13 months. Want **ALL** of the details of how he did it? Stay tuned.

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Michael: Hey, Sherpa Network. Thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Michael Cyger and I’m the publisher of DomainSherpa.com, the website where you can learn how to become a successful domain name investor or entrepreneur directly from the experts. This is the show called Profitable Flips. In this series, I invite domain name investors to share all the details of how they bought low and sold high. Today, I’m pleased to welcome back to the show David Kelly, CEO of OY! Domains. Welcome back, David.

David: Hi, Mike. It’s great to be back.

Michael: You know, you made your debut on DomainSherpa back in February, 2016, when you did a tutorial on how to find and contact the right decision-makers at companies so you can proactively sell your domain names. People love that show. And if you’re watching this show and you haven’t seen that show, click on David’s profile link below this video on DomainSherpa and it’ll will bring you to his past shows. And in that tutorial, David shows you exactly how his six-step process was used to sell a $69 purchase of accessibilitytesting.com for $3,500. That was a great flip.

David: Yeah, it was. And I was really proud of that at the time and, yeah, hopefully the one that I get to share today will give you a bit more insights as well.

Michael: Yeah. Well, that’s even better. Today, we’re gonna be talking about another flip, one that earned you even a higher degree of profit and qualified for the Profitable Flip show. So let’s get into it, David. What was the domain name that you purchased that you recently flipped?

David: Yeah, so it was TopOffers.com.

Michael: TopOffers.com. Offers as in, you know, coupons, or discounts or something that’s a special. TopOffers.com, and how much did you pay for that?

David: So in pound sterling, it worked out about £440 which, I think, based on current conversions would be about $550, maybe.

Michael: Yeah, okay. So about $550, and we’re gonna find out where you bought it and all that sort of stuff, but let’s cut to the chase. What did you sell it for?

David: Ten k.

Michael: Ten thousand dollars. U.S. dollars, right? Roughly? Yeah, okay.

David: Yeah, that’s right.

Michael: And then what was the time period in-between buying it and selling it?

David: So, it was just over a year. I think if I worked out the dates before, it’s about 13 months.

Michael: About 13 months. So that’s a pretty phenomenal return on investment, $550 to $10,000. We’ll find out if, you know, there was Escrow involved, if you used Escrow and how much that cost all and that sort of stuff. But let’s start from the beginning. About 13 months ago, how did you come across TopOffers for sale?

David: It’s strange because, obviously, as I went though in my past video as well, I talked about expired domains and I still use that today. But this one that I found on eBay was one of these domains that is listed with like, you know, sometimes what you consider a ridiculous sort of “buy it now” price on there. But I liked the name and I reached out, and lucky enough to buy it. I’m happy to go into more detail about that.

Michael: That’s funny. I’ve heard of other people talking about finding great domains on eBay, and every time I go to eBay, all I see are just terrible, crappy domains. You know, .bizz, .net hyphens, just don’t even make any commercial sense.

David: You’re definitely right. Like 99.9% of the time, it’s exactly right. There are a couple of 4.letter .com, but they’re usually the lower-end of the spectrum. But I check it sporadically, sort of thing, and I have a look every now and again at some of the ones that are available just to see where we can find a potential deal. Because sometimes, in my experience of one’s on eBay is that they tend to just list them there and just wait for something to happen. They’re not really proactive on things, so sometimes you can get a better deal and work a negotiation better just by showing some interest.

Michael: Yeah. So you found it on eBay. Do you…and I should be fair to eBay. You know, when I go to NameJet or when I go to GoDaddy, I see a ton of terrible ones as well, but you can basically sort those by certain criteria. You can look at the ones that have more bids and let other people do the work for you. But at eBay, there’s no easy way to sort domain names that have value from those that don’t have value.

David: Suppose, a domain is listed for auction on there, if you’re using a desktop as opposed to mobile or cell app, you can actually sort by number of bids. So sometimes you can find some of the better ones, the ones that other people are bidding on that way. But in this example, it was one of those that I literally just trifled through some of the most expensive “buy it now” sort of prices and just worked through some pages until I found one that I thought was, you know, really catchy and stood out, which is the one I…

Michael: That’s a great tip. So was is it in auction starting at a dollar with no reserve, or did you contact the owner and make an offer to them?

David: No, it wasn’t an auction one. It was literally one that had, like, a “buy it now or make offer” option. And in this instance, I just contacted the buyer as opposed to submitting an offer, just to see whether we can work a deal on something.

Michael: And so, did you reach out to them with an initial offer? Did you reach out to them and say, “How flexible are you on the pricing?” and start to have a discussion or a negotiation with them?

David: Yeah. So it was the second point you just made, so it was, “What are you looking for for this?” Because I forget what price they initially wanted but I think it was like, about $5,000 or $6,000 they were looking for at the time, as a “buy it now” sort of price. And I just wanted to see what would be the best price that they were looking to sell at, if it was going to be a quick sale. And we had a bit of a to-and-fro in terms of the pricing, really.

Michael: Yeah. How did you get it down to $550? That seems like a pretty significant cut if he was looking for a $5,000 “buy it now” and you said, “Well, what are you looking for if it’s a quick sale?” and he came back and said, you know, $3,000, $2,000. How do you get him down $550?

David: Yeah. I think he was looking for $2,500 and, obviously, he was suggesting that obviously he’d paid more for it, you know, or he’d suggest or hinted at all these things. But I got the feeling from our conversation that he was looking for the cash. He seemed a bit…he sort of showed his cards a little bit, so I knew that I, essentially, could get a deal. Without making that sound malicious or anything like that, but I just saw an opportunity that I think that I could get a better deal than what they were offering, and I think that’s when I started proposing certain price points.

Michael: Yeah. It was a while ago. Do you remember what you started at? What price you started at?

David: Yeah. Because he was based in the U.K., I was saying something along the lines of that I could do, like, £350 or £300 at the time, which was about $400. And then eventually, we worked to deal where it worked out about £425 or so. I said, “Right, let’s do that price and I’ll literally send you the money now.” And we did it, as much as I don’t usually do this as a practice, but I did that transaction through Paypal. But I had to sort of…I did some due diligence on his eBay account to check whether he was sort of a worth trusting sort of member, and that was the only reason why I would’ve done that through that. Otherwise, I would have done it through Escrow, and I would encourage everyone else to do transactions through Escrow. But in order to get that deal done, I was willing to do a more convenient payment option for him so that we could get the deal done, ultimately.

Michael: Yeah, and done quickly if he was looking for the cash quickly.

David: Exactly, yeah.

Michael: So it sounds like a great negotiation. I searched on NameBio and I saw that TopOffers.com sold on Sedo for $2,179 on November 30th, 2012. So I believe that this person bought it for $2,179. And then if I look through the historical WHOIS on archive.org, I can see that it was an operational deals website where you could go and see great deals, great offers on products. It looks like maybe the website just didn’t work out. Did any of that come out when you were having discussions with him?

David: I think at the time, I saw a basic site that they’d set up but they hadn’t really populated it with anything. So they’d done the minimum sort of development with it. So that also gave me a hint that they might be looking to offload this just to retrieve some funds back, because he did let slip that he needed funds for a new business sort of operation or idea that he had. So he played into my hands a little bit in that case.

Michael: Yeah. It’s funny, I was just chatting with Shane Cultura on review that we taped before this, and we’re both reading a negotiation book called “Never Split The Difference” and how it encourages you to ask questions, open-ended questions, and learn more. Because the other person may tip their hand and give you some information about why they wanna sell, how motivated they are, things like that that can give you more insights into how much you should offer, or whether there are certain parameters that may make the deal go through faster. Like, “I will Paypal you the cash, even though that’s not something that I typically do, in order to get the deal done.” So, well done on that. So I went on to Google Adwords and searched for the number of times TopOffers.com is searched as a phrase, and it’s a very small amount. It’s like 200, 300 times a month, which is not even…it’s very, very long keyword. Why did you think that this was a good domain name to buy?

David: Well, first and foremost, I thought it was really catchy and it’s similar to what I mentioned in my previous video. When I look at a domain, I look at whether this domain could add value to a current business. Or does it appeal to me as a developer who wants to put in front as my brand, sort of thing? It really attracted me, it’s relatively short, it’s easy to remember, it’s easy to type. It has a bit of credibility to it, so particularly in a competitive space of, you know, vouchers, and deals, and offers and everything out there, I think it had that trustworthiness and credibility that could make it stand out from the crowd. And yeah, I just really liked the name. I really liked it when I first heard it. And as much as it was to pick up something off eBay, I knew that there was some assurance that I could recoup that because of its attractability in terms of its brandability.

Michael: And did you think that it was worth $10,000 when you bought it?

David: I thought it was a five-figure name, but before I price any of my names, I always do a bit of due diligence in terms of how I go about valuing my names. So I used like NameBio to look at comparable sort of sales. I looked up that…like for example, Mega Offers, I think that sold in 2011 or 2012, and that was like six and a half thousand dollars. And then I also looked at topdeals which was $40,000, but there was topvalue which was like $17,000. I knew it was sort of in-between there. My aim was always to try…I think it was worth $10,000, but I always, when I price my names, I price it slightly higher so I have a bit of room for negotiation to achieve what I want.

Michael: Yeah, great tactics. And that’s something that we’ve talked about on DomainSherpa a lot, is that you do to name buy or type in, you know, if you’re looking at TopOffers.com for example, go type in “top” as set the prefix. And then set dot com, and you can see all the sales that include top in it that are multiple words. And then you can likewise do the same for offers and you set it as a suffix and then .com., and you can look at all those. So, a great way to find comps, nicely done. So as soon as you own the domain name, David, what’s your tactical steps, what do you do to prepare it, to get it ready for sale?

David: Yeah. So I list it on all the domain marketplaces, so Sedo, Afternic, GoDaddy Auctions, Uniregistry, or it was previously DomainNameSales. I always list it there. I usually have a lower sort of minimum price but it’s always make offer. And then…

Michael: What do you set your minimum at, David?

David: So, previously, it’s been about $1,000 but in order to attract initial opening offers that can start negotiations at, I’ve recently reduced it to $250.

Michael: Okay. So minimum $250, no set price, make offer, list it on those major marketplaces, Afternic, which includes GoDaddy, Sedo, Uniregistry. Was there another one you mentioned? I think that was it.

David: GoDaddy, Sedo, Afternic, Uniregistry. Yeah, that’s right.

Michael: Okay, awesome. And then what do you do?

David: Yeah. I obviously have my own site which I know you link into, which is where I practically have build my own marketplace. And what I do is, I create, effectively, a products page within my WordPress site. I create a description around that. I also have links into Escrow that I’ve setup. So for example, it links into escrow.com so I create “buy it now” buttons through Escrow and get the links from there. I also have a make offer section on every domain name as well. So [inaudible 00:16:02] and what I do as soon as the domain’s in my account, I forward the domain to the page that I set up within my own site, so that I can handle my own leads. A reason why I’ve put it on the aftermarket as well, that if someone’s in the aftermarket and they search for it and find it, they can still make an offer through that platform. So I effectively try and widen my web to try and catch as many potential end-users or buyers for domains as possible.

Michael: Yeah, definitely. Great. So you get it up on all the marketplaces, you get it on your website. Do you measure the traffic at all? Is that something that you look for, you know, how many type-ins it receives? Or does that not matter to you?

David: So, previous to me forwarding my traffic to my actual page that I set up, I did use to have landers, landing pages, of which linked into Google Analytics and things like that. But also, now that I’ve moved it across, I still have Google Analytics on my main site so I can still see how many searches or how many people are coming through to that name. And then you can obviously, I’m sure you know Analytics yourself, you can sort of split by direct traffic or, you know, referral traffic through the site, etc. So you can sort of split that up.

Michael: Yeah, yeah. And so, from the date that you purchased the domain name until you received the inquiry that it actually sold for $10,000, David…love that mug.

David: Yeah, me too.

Michael: How many inquiries did you get on that domain name in-between?

David: So I did…using some of the steps that I mentioned in a previous video, I did do some outbound and did get a few offers through that. I think the highest I received for an outbound was about $3,000 or $4,000, which is not bad and it’s something that was worth considering at the time, but I knew it had value. I also received a few offers through aftermarkets. The highest on that was only about $2,500, $3000. I got a couple who’d make profits through my own site or my landers, like the landing pages, that was usually sort of local sort of offers.

Michael: So you got a decent number of inquiries. It sounds like you got at least a couple through the marketplaces and a couple through your own landing page.

David: Yeah, yeah. You know, three or four really credible sort of offers on that, and I know a number of your guests have mentioned this as well. When you start receiving a number of inquiries on something, it sort of validates the reason why you wanted to do, and it makes you sort of back up and justify your price point. Because you know it’s how it holds value and holds people’s interest, and that’s the reason why you can demand what you’re looking for on that name.

Michael: Yeah, definitely. You know, yesterday I got an inquiry for a domain name that I’ve had for three-plus years. Never once received an inquiry on it. I thought it was a great name, but clearly, I was one of the few. And so when the offer came in with an initial offer of $2,000, I’m like all over it. Eventually, we closed at $3,600 but, you know, I’m not asking for $10,000. And so, yeah, but if I were to have received 5 to 10 inquiries on the domain name between the time that I purchased it and 13 months later, that’s pretty indicative that the domain has value. So let’s talk about how that final inquiry came in. How did you receive that inquiry?

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Michael: So let’s talk about how that final inquiry came in. How did you receive that inquiry?

David: So, funny enough, it was through GoDaddy Auctions and their opening offer was $8,000.

Michael: Wow.

David: Yeah. The reason why I think they offered such a high amount, at least in an opening offer anyway, was I had a “buy it now” price on my own site of $12,995. It’s my belief that they went to the domain, saw the price point, maybe may or may not have trusted that, or they may thought they could get a better deal through negotiating through the aftermarket, which they kind of did in a way, they saved a bit of money. But yeah, the initial offer came through GoDaddy and, obviously, when you get that in, you…similar to your story you’ve just said, it spikes your interests and you go working on it from there.

Michael: Yeah. Whenever I get an offer in like that on a domain name that, you know, I didn’t pay very much, I’m like, “Who’s yanking my chain? Which one of my friends is trying to screw with me?” That didn’t run through your mind, though.

David: Well, in this case, I was reassured with some confidence that it was gonna be a valid sort of sale, because it’s through GoDaddy Auctions, and you need a GoDaddy account and you need an auctions membership. And in order to get that auctions membership, you need to have a validated card or a verified card against your accounts. So I knew if I accept it there and then, as per terms of the policy, they would recoup that money one way or other in, you know, 9 times out of 10. So I had a fair bit of confidence that at that point, you know, the sale would go through if I wanted it at that price.

Michael: At what point during those 13 months did you decide to set a “buy it now” price on your website for the domain name?

David: So, it was when I started pushing all my domains to the product page that I set up on my site. And I changed my strategy in terms of just, rather than having everything “make offer” to having a price point on it, because I was weighing up about whether I wanted to shift to an e-commerce model where people buy it directly down there, or whether…but more than anything, I was thinking to myself, “People like to know what ballpark figures of what they’d be wanting to looking to pay on things. And particularly people that want to move quickly, they don’t want to necessarily mess around with to-and-fro negotiations on something. You know, there are a lot of people that do do that, but I’ve sort of taken the position that I want to lay down my part and literally say, “This is where I believe the value is. I give you all the benefits and lay out all the benefits to you from a branding perspective, you know, etc.” And with that in mind, they know where they stand and if they want to talk to me, they can feel free to contact me, make an offer, or they can buy it directly there and then through the “buy it now” buttons that I’ve got set up and linked into escrow.com.

Michael: Yeah. So they chose, instead of going directly through your website to escrow.com, to go through the GoDaddy, which actually masks their identity, right?

David: It does, yeah. To us, anyway, yeah. To us, the seller, yeah.

Michael: Yeah. So they see the domain name listed there, they knew what you were asking, $12,995, on your own website. They made an offer of $8,000. That comes to you via email, and then you need to sign into your GoDaddy account and either accept it, counter it, or reject it. And I’m not even sure, can you type in a reply to the buyer or is it just, you can’t?

David: You can leave a comment, yeah. You can leave a comment.

Michael: And so how did you reply? Did you leave a comment or did you just counter?

David: So I obviously put the counter offer in and I specified that, because I was assuming, because that’s the value of the offer, that they had seen the value of the price point on my site. And I did say, “Thank you very much for your offer. In order for us to do…I’m happy to give you a little bit of a deal but, because of the commission involved, that I can’t sway too much from this. If you have any questions, you know, please let me know. I’d be happy to answer them.”

Michael: And what was your counter offer included with that comment?

David: So I think it was just below the original asking price on the thing. So it was like, about $12,500. So I was willing to give them a little bit of a discount in order to do that, because I didn’t want to push the boat too far or alienate the potential increase or counter offer, because I assumed they knew the value that I’ve placed of that through my site.

Michael: Right. And so you sent that off, that $12,500 counter with that comment, and what response did you receive?

David: About a couple of hours later, I didn’t receive a comment but I received a counter offer of $10,000.

Michael: And so it was a pretty quick negotiation, it sounds like.

David: Yeah, it was. Like, don’t get me wrong, I did try and squeeze out a little bit more. I did try to squeeze out, I think it was just over $11,000 as another counter offer, but they then just countered that with the same $10,000 offer again. And I was thinking to myself, it was just before Christmas, you know, “I’m happy with that amount. We’ve achieved something, let’s do it.” And I knew it was because of Christmas period, it was gonna take a little bit of time to just, you know, cross the t’s and dot the i’s, etc. I just thought, you know, “We’ve made a good markup on it.”

Michael: Definitely.

David: Rather than not hear anything back, maybe annoy the buyer, that potentially could risk the sale, I thought I’d take the offer.

Michael: Right. And you know, you’ve got somebody that’s interested right now, and if you delayed it, they might not be interested later. So they came in at $8000, you countered at $12,500, they countered at $10,000, you re-countered at $11,500. They re-countered again, just by simply typing in $10,000 and resending it to you, and you thought, “This is a good number, I’m gonna accept it.”

David: Yeah.

Michael: And then what happened from there to actually complete the transaction?

David: Soon after that, I received an email from an Afternic Escrow manager stating that…because, obviously, I knew that they were owned by the same company and they were all part of GoDaddy, etc. so I didn’t see it unusual. But the Afternic Escrow manager mentioned that the buyer is committed to purchasing the domain at that price, but would like to do it through Afternic as opposed to GoDaddy Auctions. And the reason why they gave that is that they wanted to pay by credit card, which is what Afternic allow for doing the Escrow sort of process rather than do it through the longer Escrow processes in GoDaddy Auctions.

Michael: Got it. And so you didn’t have any problem with that so you agreed to it?

David: No problem at all, no.

Michael: Yeah. And so I don’t think I’ve ever used the Escrow process at Afternic. Is it similar to escrow.com where it starts a transaction, they need to fund it, then once they’ve secured the money, then you push the domain to them?

David: Yeah. So the way it works is that they sort of manage it from the middle point out to…they speak with the seller and they speak with the buyer, rather than the buyer and seller coming together in the middle. So what they say is that, you know, “We’re working with the buyer to secure the funding now. Once we’ve secured the funding, you then transfer, you push the domain into their holding GoDaddy account. And then once payment’s been verified from the buyer, we then push the domain to them, and then the funds just get that last stage of verification, then they get released to you.” You generally find that their process is a little bit quicker than escrow.com’s because, I think it’s just that human element that’s involved in terms of ensuring that the asset gets transferred and the funds get pushed across. And it’s usually completed within a few days. It took a little bit longer because of the holidays, of course, but it was a fairly smooth process. I’ve made a sale through Afternic before and it was very quick in that instance, as well.

Michael: Nice. And so, you know, you had a lot of profit in your pocket. Did you treat yourself to anything special with the proceeds?

David: Well, I built up a little bit of savings, paid off a few things from Christmas which is always nice. Treated my girlfriend to a nice dinner. And to be honest, about 30% or 40% of it just goes straight back into the business because I’m very much…as I’m sure you will agree, I’m sure you tell your DN Academy members that it’s all about scaling up, leveling up. Once you’ve built something up, you then look for the next thing up and you reinvest, and then you sell that and then you keep moving things forward until you get to that top level. So my thoughts are that I want to invest in a lot more better-quality domains that potentially have a higher value to them. And we continue to grow for the business through that way.

Michael: Yeah, nice. Has this purchase changed your domain-investing strategy at all?

David: Not necessarily just this purchase, but when I did that original interview with accessibility testing, I saw a value in keyword-based domains and, like, geo+keyword sort of based-domains. And they do still hold value but not as much, in my opinion, as they had done previously because the big shift in how people interact with brands and how they work through things. And I think it’s to do with this shift in the use of mobile or cell phones, are becoming the most common way that people consume media these days, and with that it’s that speed, that catchiness to be able to get someone’s attention. And with that in mind, I’m looking more for brands. So if I was a start-up or if I was an established business that was looking to launch new products, service, etc,,I’d be looking for a catchy, snappy brand. So it falls into, I’m looking into things that you would consider brandables. Not the ones like where they’re made up words, for example, but where you’ve got, you know, one, two or even possibly three words that come together that work and make sense, whether they have adjectives in it in or, you know, right use of verbs as well. So during the process of, you know, I’d found that name, I was already shifting to that sort way of thinking, and that’s what I look…I’m quite picky when it comes to my domains because I tend to avoid the longer sort of keywords ones. I’m looking for more of a shorter, one, two words, you know, what I’d consider quality brands that I would want to add to my marketplace

Michael: Nice. That’s smart to be patient. So how many domains do you have in your portfolio right now? On OY! Domains, and people clearly go to OY!domains.com and take a look at those. But how many domains do you have in your portfolio and how do they roughly shake out by top-level domain?

David: Yeah. Sp I don’t have many by comparison to a lot of your guests. I’m operating on about 85 or 90. And on the actual OY! Domain site, it’s probably more 70, 75, because I do have a number of brands myself that I’ve developed out. And you know, some of the domains of mine sit under me, or have either been aligned for friends or other people to develop onto and stuff. But the way that they break down is, the majority is .com, .co.uk. I’ve got an io. I think I’ve got a biz and a couple of .nets and things. But ultimately, it’s mainly .com and that’s sort of my focus. I am gonna be looking at some one-word .co.uks and giving those a try, but I’m only looking for better quality ones because I think I can use a lot of the tips that I mentioned in my past video, and I think I can be more targeted with better quality domains for the U.K. market, for example. But my primary focus is .com because I think that’s where there’s gonna be a lot of continued value and growth in their use. And there’s going to be a lot more competition for those better quality names as well.

Michael: Yeah. And that’s phenomenal that you have 70 or 80 domain names because now it’s a manageable portfolio, that if you wanna shift your strategy slightly, like you just said you were going to do for 2017, and upgrade the brandables that you’re buying. You know, you don’t own 2,000 domains that you’ve picked over the years, and now you need to sort of move the aircraft carrier which is hard to do, you can’t turn on a dime, you’re much more flexible as you dial in your strategies and tactics. So that’s fantastic. And so you’re already off to a great start in 2017 with the two sales that you mentioned. How did you do in 2016? How many domains did you sell?

David: So I sold about 20 or so.

Michael: Twenty domains, wow. So that’s a great percentage. If you had 100 domains and you’ve sold 20, that’s a 20% sell-through rate, where most investors will have like a 2%, 3% sell-through rate.

David: Yeah, but I do need to admit that a majority of those were sort of what you consider wholesale but with the profit. So it’s almost like quick flips or liquidating some domains before they expired because I didn’t think they were all supportive ones.

Michael: Got you. So they weren’t all retail sales to end-users, like $2000, $3000, $10,000? Got it. How’d you end up doing revenue-wise? Was it a good year for OY! Domains?

David: It wasn’t a great year, but as something that supplements your income, it was like, I think, between $12,000 and $15,000. It’s not bad. It keeps you moving forward but, you know, I’ve got huge plans for 2017 and, obviously, as you mentioned, I’m off to a great start so far. And hopefully it continues, and I continue to grow a portfolio and keep expanding into better domains as well.

Michael: That’s fantastic. So if people wanna go check out your domain, they can go to OYdomains.com, and that’s where you have all of the domains that you’re offering for sale?

David: Yes, that’s right. Yeah.

Michael: Are you open to other investors making you offers on deals, and working more towards the wholesale rate rather than the retail rate?

David: I think it depends on the name, really. Like, if it’s one that I’ve… you know, like you gave an example before where if it’s one that you held a while but you’re not too sure. But at the end of the day, we’re all in the business to make some money and keep money moving. I’m very much an advocate for wanting to give people value because, by giving more than you’re taking, it’s one way to sort of complete a sale. But I think, particularly with fellow investors and domainers, if I can help them acquire an asset that then allows them to move something forward, I’m open to that. But it ultimately depends on the asset involved. Like, some of my better names I’m not necessarily gonna sell for a dime, if you know what I mean.

Michael: Definitely.

David: But that being said, I’m happy to give advice or guidance to anyone that sort of wants it in terms of their investment opportunities as well.

Michael: That’s very kind of you. What’s the best way for them to contact you?

David: They can either do it straight through the website or [email protected].

Michael: Awesome. All right, if you’ve watched this Profitable Flips show but you have additional questions, please post them in the comments below this video on DomainSherpa, and I’ll ask David to come back and answer as many as he can. I also encourage you, the person who’s watching this show, that’s watching David provide this information, get out from behind your computer, shoot David an email to [email protected], or just reach out and post a comment below this video saying you appreciate it. You can click the Twitter button and do that and recognize him across Twitter. All you have to do is say, “Thanks, David. I appreciate you telling your story about this domain name because it’s motivating or educational,” or whatever you feel like saying. It’s that easy. I’m gonna be the first to say thanks to David Kelly, CEO of OY! Domains. Thanks for coming on the DomainSherpa show again, sharing all the details of this profitable flip sale. And thanks again for being a DomainSherpa for others.

David: Thank you.

Michael: Thank you all for watching. We’ll see you next time.

Watch the full video at:
https://www.domainsherpa.com/david-kelly-topoffers-flip/

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34 Responses to “eBay Find: From $550 Acquisition to $10,000 Sale – With David Kelly”

  1. Musa bashir says:

    Thank you David, I just started in domain flipping this is very inspirational to me, much love.

  2. Marina says:

    David was really great partner to cooperate with. We`re happy with our purchasing and would like to thanks David for such great offer.

    1. David Kelly says:

      Hi Marina,

      Thanks for your kind words. I’m glad that you are happy with the domain and hope to work with you again in the future.

      Thanks

      David

  3. Domainer says:

    Geeat interview.
    Great flip!

  4. Eric Jenkins says:

    Great show guys……..Thanks!!!

  5. tldboss says:

    Thanks Michael and David for an informative interview

    Currently use uniregistry and efty landing pages. I will be listing all my domains on afternic going forward. I like your portfolio, it is awesome, good job

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thank you. Glad you enjoyed thevshow and took something away from it.

      David

  6. Carl says:

    Great show! Thanks guys! David, a quick question. How can you actually sort by number of
    bids on an Ebay auction? [I am using a desktop computer]. Appreciate your reply! Cheers

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thanks. If you select the auctions tab, then you can sort by most bids first using the dropdown.

      Hope this helps.

      David

      1. Carl says:

        Thanks David! :-)

  7. otar says:

    Hi David was great listening to you. What advise can you give on .co and .xyz domains? Are they worth investing in, pros cons? thanks

    1. David Kelly says:

      Hi Otar,

      If you are new to investing, I would suggest that you stick with .com to start with and learn the ropes using resources like Domain Sherpa where you can learn from others.

      I don’t invest in .co and .xyz myself. Looking at things from an attention and adoption point of view, I don’t see huge volume or end users using considering them as their main long term brand. If you do want to look at these extensions, I would suggest researching what is selling on these extensions using NameBio and devising your buying/ selling strategy from there.

      I hope this helps.

      Thanks

      David

  8. Matt says:

    Good job from a fellow Brit! David you seem like a really down to earth type of guy and it was refreshing to hear no bluster, just honesty in your negotiation, sales and goals.

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thanks Matt. Glad you enjoyed the interview.

  9. Great interview and I have sold a few brandables on ebay the past 2 years via make offer, starting to think you were the buyer. Best of luck and congrats on the flip!

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thank you. Very few gems on eBay these days, but sometimes you find some incredible ones.

  10. albert says:

    Congrats. on your flip and great interview.

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thank you Albert.

  11. Robert says:

    You can sometimes get lucky on the bay. I have come across some great deals on eBay over time with the right search and negotiation methods. Good luck to all. Thanks for the great interview.

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thank you Robert. I agree you can find rare gems there, but they are very rare.

  12. elevator says:

    Nice story, this is the kind of story needed as a domainer for moral boosting. Thanks to Mike and David. I wish you more sales and I also wished myself a good sales like yours. Cheers.

    I just wish to say I like your courage

    1. David Kelly says:

      Hi. Thank you for watching the show.

      Domain Sherpa is a great platform to constantly learn from. Practice what you learn and I’m sure you will be on here telling us your story of what you have sold.

      Thanks

      David

  13. Darko says:

    Great show! Thank you Michael and David!

    1. David Kelly says:

      Hi Darko. Thank you for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed it.

  14. Omar Rocwa says:

    Hey David…Nicely done, thanks for sharing.

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thanks Omar. Take care.

  15. Thanks Micheal and David ,nice to see a humble person explaining domaining in a relaxed way ,so all of us can follow it .
    I might send David my domain sale page later ,via his site to get his opinion.

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thanks Frank for the kind words. Please send me an email. I would be happy to take a look.

      Thanks

      David

  16. Niz says:

    Thanks Michael and David for a nice show, Kudos David.. That was a nice flip..

    1. David Kelly says:

      Thanks Niz. Glad you enjoyed the show.

  17. Andy McBean says:

    Great sale, David. Well done.

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