Purchasing a Domain Name Privately? Five Things You Need to Know First

Domain names are like real estate on speed. The rate of returns on really good domain names are unbelievable. A domain name worth $5k one week can be monetized and flipped for $20k the next week.

But be careful. There are plenty of pitfalls out there, and plenty of people looking to take advantage of your newfound enthusiasm. Here is a simple list of five things that can make the domain name buying process a little bit smoother:

1. Is the seller reputable? If you are buying from a forum such as Digital Point, then the buyer will have an Itrader rating, which works just like a seller's rating on Ebay. If the seller does not have a long history of selling domains, or has some negatives in his Itrader rating, then be careful. You should also do a Google on their user name and scan through any recent posts that they have made on the forums. You may see something that will be a red flag.

2. Prove yourself to be reputable. If you are new and don't have a history of successfully buying domains, then the seller will be afraid of dealing with you. Offer us as much information as you can, including your private email address, a phone number that they can contact you at, etc. A five minute phone call will go a long way to persuading the seller that they can deal with you. You need to establish a reputation for yourself before people will deal with you.

3. What is the true page rank of the domain? It is so easy to fake page rank. You may think that you are getting a great deal by buying that $500 domain with a page rank of 6. However, it may be that the domain's page rank has been faked. To check the true page rank, you need to head on over to Verify Google Page Rank and enter the domain name that you are thinking of buying. If the page rank is fake, it will tell you and list the domain name that the faked domain is drawing the page rank from.

4. What kind of payments does the seller accept? You want to avoid payments that don't leave you with an easy way of getting your money back if you are ripped off. Avoid Western Union and money order payments. Try to deal exclusively through Paypal, as you will be able to get your money back if you are ripped off.

5. How will the domain name be transferred? What domain service is the domain registered through? If you have a Godaddy account and the seller has a Namecheap account, then how will this work? Make sure that both you and the seller have contacted your respective domain name hosts to make sure that the transfer will be smooth.

Filed under: Making Money Online | General Knowledge