FAQs

domainAlot is a completely independent domain brokerage service. We allow domain owners (sellers) to list their domains for sale. As a broker, we do not own or have ownership to any of the domains that are listed on our site. We provide instead a service that facilitates the buying, leasing, or selling of domains by connecting the owner (seller) of each domain with a potential buyer or lessee.

Quite simply, none. At domainAlot.com, we think that broker service fees are an unacceptable practice. That leading domain registrars, such as GoDaddy, charge overly-inflated fees for contacting the domain owner to ask if the domain is for sale and "negotiate" a sales price is indefensible. Moreover, to then demand anything up to thirty-five percent (35%) commission on any eventual sale thereafter is precisely why we founded domainAlot.com. To offer buyers and sellers of domains, a better, fairer, and more transparent service.

No. At domainAlot.com we do not charge any commission to buyers or sellers of domains listed on our site, which makes domainAlot the ONLY domain marketplace that offers Zero (0%) Commission on domain sales and purchases.

At domainAlot.com there are no "membership" fees or hidden charges to be able to buy, sell, or lease a domain listed on our site. In fact, you don't even need to log in or have have registered an account to browse the domains in The Domain Marketplace.

Leasing a domain, or leasing a premium domain is a cost-effective alternative to domain ownership. Leasing offers several advantages over an outright purchase, especially for businesses and individuals who want to establish a strong online presence for a limited time, for example for a campaign or other limited service duration, or for those who wish to test-drive/ trial a suitable brand and domain while managing other financial and strategic priorities.

A domain, especially a premium domain, or ultra-premium domain, can be prohibitively expensive for startups or small businesses. Leasing a domain makes them affordable and allows businesses to allocate resources to other critical areas, such as marketing or product development, while still being able to benefit from the instant branding power and traffic gains of a Premium Domain and brand.

Yes. By leasing a domain, the lessee actually enjoys all of the benefits, including brand and domain use, as they would otherwise experience through ownership during the duration of their lease. In practice, the lessee is able to operate the domain in precisely the same way as they would under outright ownership, but without the responsibility of registrar renewal fees etc.

Leasing is particularly advantageous for businesses running temporary marketing campaigns, seasonal promotions, or short-term projects. A premium domain can significantly enhance the success of such initiatives without the need for a long-term commitment or the expense of outright purchase.

Leasing to own a domain, or Lease-To-Own as it is also more commonly referred, differs from domain leasing in that the lessee has opted, and/ or would prefer to acquire the domain outright, along with the responsibilities of actual domain ownership.

No. If the domain owner has chosen to list a domain for sale only, then the domain can only be purchased outright. However, if the domain owner has listed a domain for leasing only, or for both sale and leasing, then the domain is available to lease, which also includes the ability of lease to own. The lease to own option for any domain is offered within the Domain Leasing Agreement (DLA) so that the lessee of any specified domain has a reserved right to be able to exercise the Buy-Out option, should they wish to own the domain.

When you choose to lease a domain at domainAlot.com, you may choose from one of three options:

• One Year Lease (12 Months)
• Two Year Lease (24 Months)
• Three Year Lease (Thirty-Six Months)

Your Domain Leasing Agreement details the terms and conditions agreed between you (the lessee) and the domain owner (the lessor) and remains valid throughout the duration of the agreed leasing term. One condition of the agreement is the Buy-Out option. This means, that during your leasing period, you may choose to exercise the Buy-Out option and purchase the domain you have been leasing outright. Your right to purchase the domain is valid from the commencement of your lease and up until, but no later than, Fourteen Days (14 Days) from its expiration.

When a domain owner lists their domain for sale on domainAlot.com, they must submit an appraised value for the domain. An appraisal value is the perceived "worth" (or valuation) of the domain in today's current market. While this can be seen as a guide, the domain owner must themselves also submit the price at which they are willing to sell the domain. Once listed, these values are locked. Many domain owners are willing to sell their domain at a markedly lower rate than the appraisal value, while others choose to list their domains at a similar, if not identical value. The monthly leasing fee of any individual lease, including the enclosed Buy-Out option, is then based primarily upon this figure.

Having experienced at first-hand the frustration of using sites such as GoDaddy, Afternic, and Sedo to sell domains previously, and the enormous amounts of revenue that was lost in paying commissions for using these services, our founder established domainAlot.com with the intention of offering the market a simpler, fairer, and better domain brokerage service.

The single most important point for you as an owner trying to sell your domain is that domainAlot does not take any commission from the sale of your domain. That's ZERO Commission. Nothing. Which means when you sell your domain with domainAlot.com, you keep it all.

Absolutely. In addition to providing a no commission domain brokerage service, domainAlot does not imply any transaction fees to the seller from the sale of their domain. Meaning, the price you choose to list your domain for is the money you actually receive when you sell your domain, and not just a percentage or cut of it. The Escrow transaction fee for the sale and provision of escrow services is covered by the buyer.

We do, so you don't have to. When you list your domain, you are free to choose a background to accompany your domain name for listings in sections of the site such as The Domain Marketplace and Domain Search Results. This will also appear in the details page of your domain initially while our designers create a brand identity to help promote your domain for sale.

It's a great question, because historically people searching for domains had only two choices. Make an Offer to buy an already registered domain, or change their brand and preferred identity to use a domain name that was not yet registered. But a lot has changed in the domain world, and domain owners who might once have registered a domain in the hopes of selling it for a quick profit, find it increasingly difficult in a saturated market. There are, as example, over twenty-four million domains currently listed for sale on Sedo, and as annual renewal charges continue to rise, domain portfolios are becoming ever more expensive to maintain. Renting your unused domains, or leasing them, is an ideal way to generate passive income from your digital assets, as well as invite prospective buyers to try your domain before committing to greater investment.

You do. The important thing to remember is that your domain is your property. You control it, and every aspect of it while it is listed on domainAlot.com. You decide what you believe your domain is worth, and how long you are willing to lease it for, allowing you to stay in control of your domain portfolio. With that said, in order to standardise expectations from both domain owners (lessors) and lessees, we offer three options from which you can choose when listing your domain to lease:

• A minimum One Year Lease (12 Months)
• Two Year Lease (24 Months)
• A maximum Three Year Lease (Thirty-Six Months)

When listing your domain for lease, you simply choose the length you are willing to offer in your Domain Leasing Agreement (DLA).

Every Domain Leasing Agreement contains a Buy-Out option for the lessee, meaning that in so long as their lease is active and valid they can choose to purchase the domain outright from you for the outstanding, stipulated amount. The importance of setting a maximum leasing term is two-fold. On the one-hand, it provides security for the lessee, knowing that they can lease and renew their lease up to, but for no more than the maximum leasing term of three years, during which time they must either purchase the domain from you, or risk losing it to another lessee. For you (the lessor), once the lease has expired, you are free to adjust your pricing and either increase your expected payments or reduce them based upon market demand so that you can continue to meet expectations and generate income.

When you opt to lease your domain on domainAlot.com, you offer a potential lessee the ability to use your domain as if it were their own. However, the domain is your property, and it remains your property throughout the lease. The lessee is obliged to provide you with the required settings to update your Domain Name servers, such as A Records and MX Records etc. The lessee does not have access to the domain itself and cannot transfer it to their ownership or take it from the registrar with which you have registered it.

Escrow is a service that allows a neutral third-party to hold money, assets, or documents for two parties in a transaction until all conditions of the agreement are met. The service is typically common in real estate, where an escrow agent holds the buyer's deposit and funds, releasing them to the seller only when the sale is complete.

A domain name can be seen as digital real estate: the online home of a startup, business, or organisation, and just like physical property, premium domains can be highly valuable. We believe that buyers should have confidence that their purchases are truly secure, while sellers should know the transaction is covered without the risk of chargebacks. The use of credit cards and other payment services such as PayPal most certainly have their place in e-commerce for lower priced goods, but for digital properties such as web domains, where payment should be guaranteed before transfer commences, the use of escrow services ensures that both parties are protected through the transaction in a way that more traditional payment options simply cannot provide.

In a typical domain purchase situation:

• The buyer, decides to purchase a domain.
• The buyer makes the payment and awaits for the seller to commences the transfer process.
• The seller takes contact with the registrar and and requests the necessary Authorisation Codes (Auth/ EPP Codes) to unlock and release the domain.
• The buyer informs the seller that the domain is now able to be transferred and requests the Registrant, Administrator, Technical, and Billing contact details of the new owner (the buyer).
• Ownership of the domain has now been transferred to the new owner (the buyer), who may, for example, then decide to transfer the domain to a different registrar should they wish.

Yes, you need to create a FREE account at Escrow.com to buy or sell a domain at domainAlot.com because both buyers and sellers must agree to the terms of the platform that cover the transaction. domainAlot.com does not request, save, or store any financial information (including credit card or other details) from you. Instead, we partner with the world's largest and most trusted payment service for valuable items, Escrow.com, to securely manage the process of holding any funds connected to the buying, selling, or leasing of a domain, and for verification of the transaction.

Yes. A Domain Payment Plan (DPP) is a payment option for buyers to allow them to pay for a domain in smaller, more affordable payments over time.

Domains, most specially premium and ultra-premium domains can be expensive assets to acquire. For many new ventures and startup projects, investing heavily in the right brand and domain name is simply not possible due to other priorities and limitations with operating or initial investment capital. The ability to purchase the preferred brand and domain of choice through smaller, deferred payments is for many, a preferred and more affordable option, to ensure the best possible start and foundation for a new business to succeed.

In essence, the cost of the domain is split evenly across an agreed duration, for example, One Year (12 monthly payments). When you opt to purchase a domain using the Payment Plan option, you agree to make payment on the same day of each following month until the amount is paid in full.

When you complete your first payment, you will have full access to use of the domain, in much the same way as you would if you had chosen to lease the domain. However, paying for your domain over time means the current owner of the domain will continue to own the domain but is required to update all Domain Name server settings to your preferences to allow you to operate the domain for your needs. When final payment is received, the current domain owner (seller) must then transfer complete ownership of the domain to you, as they would otherwise have done had you chosen to purchase the domain outright.

No. domainAlot does not charge any fees or commission to domain owners for selling their domains. domainAlot charges a small listing fee for listing domains in order to cover operational expenses.

domainAlot.com is the only Commission-Free domain marketplace. This means, we do not take any commission from the sale of any domain using our site and services. In addition, we do not charge additional fees, or attempt to hide any additional costs such as marketplace or membership fees from our users. This is because domainAlot was founded on the principle of offering both domain owners and interested buyers, a fairer, more transparent platform in which they may conduct business safely, securely and achieve greatest return from their digital assets. In order to accomplish this, we decided upon a completely different and fairer system where the domain owner is charged a small fee to list their domain, rather than the other marketplaces and so called domain aftermarkets that choose to extract huge revenues from domain owners through exuberant commissions and fees in order to satisfy shareholders and profit margins.

domainAlot does not charge any fees to either the buyer or seller for the selling, purchasing, or transfer of a domain. Escrow.com charge a small transaction fee for the use of its escrow services and the security that they provide. The buyer of a domain is responsible for fees charged by Escrow.com for payment and the purchase of the domain.

No. When the seller transfers ownership of a domain to the buyer, they simply contact their registrar and request the necessary Authorisation Codes (Auth/ EPP Codes) to unlock the domain and update the relevant contact details to confirm new ownership. This process does not incur a fee or charge from the registrar, or ICANN, and no domain owner should ever accept a domain brokerage service that attempts to extract payment in order to transfer ownership of a domain.

In a typical domain purchase situation:

• The buyer, decides to purchase a domain.
• The buyer makes the payment and awaits for the seller to commences the transfer process.
• The seller takes contact with the registrar and request Authorisation Codes (Auth/ EPP Codes) to unlock and release the domain.
• The buyer informs the seller that the domain is now able to be transferred and requests the Registrant, Administrator, Technical, and Billing contact details of the new owner (the buyer).
• Ownership of the domain has now been transferred to the new owner (the buyer).

This process is using speedy and reliant upon your communication with the seller. Naturally, it is in the seller's best interest to contact their registrar and request the necessary Authorisation Codes to unlock and release the domain for transfer in order to complete the Escrow payment. Typically, this is achieved within 5-7 business days. In addition, domainAlot sends a courtesy reminder to the seller once their domain has been sold to request the codes necessary to facilitate the transfer.

Once ownership of the domain has been transferred to you, you may log into the domain registrar and update any and all aspects of the domain, including Domain Name servers to meet your preferences.

Once ownership of a domain has been transferred to you, a 60-day automatic domain lock is imposed upon your domain. This is a security feature mandated by ICANN that prevents a domain name from being transferred to a new registrar for 60 days after specific events, like its initial registration or a change to the registrant's contact information. This lock protects against unauthorised transfers and hijacking, and it is automatically removed by the registry after the 60-day period expires. Once the lock has expired, to transfer your newly purchased domain to your preferred registrar, you may request transfer from your preferred registrar's web site. Typically you will find this function clearly marked as "Transfer Your Domains" as one of the foremost functions on their homepage and menus. By selecting transfer, your registrar will request a one-time payment, and that you provide the necessary Authorisation Codes (Auth/ EPP Codes) to unlock and release the domain from the current registrar.