Buying A Domain

domainAlot is a 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, there are 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 a twenty percent (20%) commission on any eventual sale, 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.

No. 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 Marketplace.

When the owner of a domain chooses to use domainAlot to list their property, they must decide what they wish to do. Domain owners can choose to list they domain in three (3) differing ways.

  • For Sale Only
  • For Lease Only
  • For Both Sale and Leasing

Sellers who opt to list their domain for both sale and leasing must accept the first offer they receive, whether it be for selling the domain outright, or for leasing it for the requested period of time.

No, there is no need. As a broker, domainAlot manages the sale and acquisition of all domains listed on our site. By simply pressing the "Buy it Now with Escrow" button, you will be transferred to the payment page to secure your domain

Once a domain is purchased, Escrow.com will contact us to confirm that payment has been made. We immediately remove the domain from our listings and marketplace to prevent duplicate purchases. domainAlot will then contact the buyer (you) directly to remind you of your three (3) day inspection period as well as contact the seller and confirm the release of the domain from the current registrar to enable transfer and provide the necessary authentication codes.

We partner exclusively with Escrow.com to ensure that both the buyer and the seller are protected through an escrow service that only releases payment once inspection of the domain is complete and transfer has been made to provide peace of mind for both parties.

domainAlot offers buyers a three (3) day inspection period by default. The buyer is given this time to cancel the agreement and reverse the transaction if they feel the purchase no longer aligns with their needs.

Absolutely, provided both the buyer and seller are agreed. Once a domain is purchased, domainAlot will contact both the buyer and seller and request they log into their respective accounts to confirm the inspection period. Should both parties wish to proceed immediately, domainAlot can negate the inspection period and expedite the transfer at once.

While transferring a domain can typically be achieved within five to seven (5-7) days, it is ultimately dependent upon the target registrar. The process, however, can be much quicker if both parties are timely in approving their registrar requests. Delays may occur if there are issues with domain locks or issuing authentication codes by the exiting registrar, and domainAlot will advise the buyer when and wherever possible to follow the specific guidelines to ensure a smooth transfer.

Yes. In order to avoid confusion or currency fluctuations, all domains offered by domainAlot.com are priced in USD only.

Certainly. Escrow.com allows payments to be made by PayPal and any major Credit Card (including Visa, MasterCard, AMEX) for purchases under $5,000.00 USD. Please note, additional fees are incurred when using third-party payment systems such as PayPal and credit card processing.

Domains that are listed and valued above $5,000.00 USD can only be purchased through direct payment from your banking institution (Wire Transfer).

domainAlot does not charge any fees to the buyer for the purchasing of a domain. Escrow.com charge a transaction fee for the use of its escrow services and the security that they provide. The buyer (you) are responsible for fees charged by Escrow.com for payment and the purchase of the domain.

Escrow.com charges a fee (2.6%) based upon the transaction amount. The minimum Standard Fee is $50 USD for Wire Transfers made in the value of $0 - $5,000 USD. Escrow.com provides a reduced transaction fee at various levels dependent upon the value of the purchase. For example, 2.4% for transactions made between $5,000 - $50,000 USD.

 

Leasing A Domain

Leasing a Premium Domain is an 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 while managing financial and strategic priorities.

A Premium Domain can be prohibitively expensive for startups or small businesses. Leasing allows businesses to allocate resources to other critical areas, such as marketing or product development, while still benefiting from the branding power of a Premium Domain.

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.

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 purchase.

Many domain owners see the long-term value of their investment. Leasing a Premium Domain, especially one that is not currently in use, can be an ideal way for domain owners to generate passive income while maintaining their portfolio.

The minimum term for leasing a domain through domainAlot.com is twelve (12) months.

Of course. We offer several leasing options (Leasing Plans), including twelve months (1 year), twenty-four months (2 years), thirty-six months (3 years), and sixty months (5 years).

When the owner of a domain chooses domainAlot.com to list their property, they are presented with three (3) options for listing their domains.

  • For Sale Only
  • For Lease Only
  • For Both Sale and Leasing

This means that while we encourage all sellers to consider leasing their domains in addition, not all domains on domainAlot.com are available for leasing.

There are several ways to determine if the Premium Domain you desire can be leased.

  • The latest listed domains that can be leased appear on our HomePage. To lease one of these domains, simply select the "Lease it Now" button beneath the domain.
  • In The Marketplace all our available domains are listed. Rolling your mouse over any domain name will reveal if the domain is available for lease.
  • When you search for a domain, you can choose several criteria to filter your results, such as "Available to Lease."
  • All domains listed at domainAlot.com have a Landing/ Parked Page. This is to ensure if any user goes directly to the domain, for example, http://www.avancell.com, they are able to read about the domain as well as purchase the domain directly, and/ or learn more about leasing the domain if the seller has also opted to include leasing as an option.

If your lease expires, then the DNS (Domain Name Server) settings of the domain that point to your web pages, email host etc., are reset to the sellers default settings.

Yes, of course. Every Leasing Plan contains a Buyout Option that grants the lessee an exclusive right to purchase the domain at any time while their remains active.

The agreed Buyout price is dependent upon several factors, including the duration of the Leasing Plan and the sellers agreed valuation of the domain at the time of listing. The specific Buyout price for any domain is included in the Leasing Plan Agreement for the specific domain being leased.

It is possible, but the seller's commitment and guarantee for the domain expires once your Leasing Plan has ended. This means that it is entirely up to the seller to choose whether to list their domain again and to set the price they feel is appropriate for either selling or leasing the domain once more. Because of this uncertainty, we always recommend any lessee to consider extending their lease by another twelve (12) months before their current lease expires to ensure continued use of the domain on the terms and conditions already set in the Leasing Plan.

 

Selling A Domain

domainAlot.com is a new company, formed recently in November 2024.

Having experienced at first-hand the frustration of using sites such as GoDaddy, NameCheap, and Sedo to try to sell and purchase Premium Domains, our founder established domainAlot.com with the intention of offering the market a simpler 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.

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. That means the price you choose to list your domain for is the money you receive when you sell your domain. The Escrow transaction fee for the sale and provision of escrow services is covered by the buyer.

Absolutely. In fact, we openly encourage it. Because we are not reliant upon commission from the sale of domains, we do not need to place restrictions, such as exclusivity, on sellers. While many domain platform and brokerage services will not allow you to list your domain with others if you are actively listing with them, we feel that this is a counter-productive approach to helping sellers sell their domains.

Unlike large registrars with substantial operating overheads, we are small, and being small offers us a number of advantages in providing a domain brokerage service.

  • We don't need to charge brokerage service fees.
  • We don't need to charge commissions of twenty percent (20%), twenty five percent (25%) or more for the successful sale of domains listed on our site.
  • We don't need to charge "membership" fees for auctions or annual fees to access The Marketplace.
  • We don't need to justify various commission models based upon the parking of your domain against our pages, because there are no commission fees at domainAlot.com.

At domainAlot.com, our operating costs are small. Small enough in fact to be covered by a single fee based upon the duration that sellers wish to list their domains with us.

We provide sellers with four (4) alternative timeframes for listing their domain that determines their total fee.

  • Thirty (30) day listing for $4.99 USD.
  • Ninety (90) day listing for $9.99 USD.
  • One hundred and eighty (180) day listing for $14.99 USD.
  • Indefinite (list until sold) for $19.99 USD.

No. Your listing fee is determined by the duration you wish your domain to be publicly listed on domainAlot.com. When you list your domain, you can choose to:

  • Sell Only
  • Lease Only
  • Offer your domain for both Sale and Leasing

Once you have have successfully completed the details of your domain listing, your domain will be available for sale, leasing, or both, depending upon your selected preferences.

In short, commissions can be misleading. Not only that, when it comes to the value of Premium Domains, any commission that you would otherwise pay could easily represent a sizeable loss in your return on investment.

Certainly. As an example, imagine you opt to list your domain for sale at GoDaddy.com for $1000 USD. In addition to the annual membership fee you must pay in order to be able to list your domain ($4.99 plus taxes), you would lose a further $250 in commission (Standard 25% commission rate), leaving you with less than $745.

Now, consider selling the same domain on domainAlot.com, and listing your domain for just thirty (30) days. You domain listing fee is $5 with no commission to pay for sale. Meaning you earn $995 USD. That's $250 USD more in your bank account for selling the same domain at the same price but on domainAlot.com instead.

When you consider that a large number of Premium Domains are valued at more than $1000 USD, the amount of money you earn on domainAlot.com, by not losing it to sale commissions, can quickly grow and multiply to become considerable.

We believe in fairness to all. Domain Auctions have a tendency to leave either the buyer or seller disappointed, and more often than not, frustrated. An auction, by definition, attempts to gain the highest possible price for a listed item, and while this can be beneficial for the seller, after auction sale and commission fees have been deducted, the seller is often left with less than he or she would otherwise earn from a straight forward sale. The buyer, having competed in multiple bidding rounds, is left equally frustrated, having now acquired a domain for more than it's actual worth. In fact, the only real winner in a Domain Auction is the provider of the service itself, who gains revenue through a model that offers little to no benefit to either the seller or buyer.

In addition, the majority of actual buyers needing a Premium Domain for their business, startup, or campaign project, are not willing to wait several months for a Domain Auction to complete, and more often than not, select the "Buy it Now" button. By focusing on the needs of the buyer, and maximising the return to the seller, we believe that our domain brokerage model represents a better, fairer option for all.

If you haven't already established an account, select Log In from the top-right corner to create your account and submit your details. domainAlot.com does not require, and will not request that you register any financial information with us. Once your account is verified, you may begin to list your domain(s) for sale, lease, or both.

There are multiple methods to determine the Appraisal Value of a domain. Many sellers take advantage of various valuation tools available online, opting to use several and determine the Appraisal Value as the median. This is often a more reliable starting point than simply stating the value that you believe the domain should be worth. Ultimately, the value of a domain is determined by the market and the expectations of the market, so if your ambition is to sell a domain from your portfolio, it is often better to be realistic in respect to the domain's actual perceived value.

Absolutely. Your domain is your property, and we cannot do more than advise you of best practices in an effort to help you realise your goal. For example, we always recommend to offer any domain below the Appraisal Value, simply because it would be speculative to expect anyone to pay more than the perceived value of the domain.

When your domain is sold, you will receive a notification from Escrow.com informing you that a payment has been made. At this point, the domain is removed from our listing to prevent duplicate purchases, and the inspection period of three (3) days begins. The inspection period provides the buyer with the added security of being able to cancel the sale should the domain no longer meet their needs. However, should you and the buyer agree, domainAlot can negate the inspection period and the transfer can commence without delay. In such event, domainAlot will request that you unlock (if locked) the domain with your registrar and update your domain listing with your valid Transfer Authentication Codes.

If the buyer cancels the sale within the inspection period, then that sale is reversed and your domain is republished.

From time to time, a buyer's requirements can change, and unforeseen circumstances might force the need to cancel a sale. However, if a buyer cancels three (3) or more sales within a calendar year then their profile is suspended in order to prevent misuse of our services.

Once your domain is listed, all details of the domain, including your asking price, are locked until either the domain is sold/ leased, or the listing expires. This is to allow domainAlot to remain fair and transparent to all, and prevent potential misuse. For example, a buyer from attempting to negotiate the asking price, or a seller attempting to increase their price based upon response.

Before you commit to listing your domain with domainAlot.com, you agree to our Terms of Service which stipulate that a seller may not cancel their listing once the listing is active. This is to prevent misuse and ensure best possible service. Naturally, if your domain remains unsold and/ or awaiting lease (if you listed your domain with the option to lease), then once your domain listing has expired you are free to update/ alter/ and/ or otherwise revise the details of your listing before listing the domain once more.

Absolutely. You can republish expired domains with a single click, should you wish to keep the existing details of your listing, or opt to update the details of your domain should you wish to revise characteristics such as asking price.