How to Sell a Domain Name: Pricing, Listing, and Getting Paid

Not every domain is worth listing. Before you spend time on it, do an honest assessment, and do the arithmetic: every year you hold a name you pay its renewal, about USD 11 for a .com at Porkbun on 16 October 2026, whether or not anyone wants it.

Signs a domain has real value:

• Short. Fewer characters means fewer typos and more buyers.
• A mainstream extension. .com has the deepest resale market; country codes such as .de, .co.uk or .no have value in their own markets; most new extensions have thin resale markets.
• Commercial words. Words businesses use to describe what they sell ("insurance", "hotel", "pizza") have buyers.
• Brandable. Short, easy to say and spell, distinctive.
• A clear end user. A city-plus-service name such as lisbonplumber.com has an obvious type of buyer.
• Existing traffic or links. If it gets visitors or has links from real sites, that adds value. Check links with a tool such as Ahrefs or Moz.

Signs it probably is not worth selling:

• Long, generic phrases.
• Hyphens or digits, which have to be explained every time the name is spoken.
• A misspelling of a famous brand, which invites a UDRP complaint rather than a sale; UDRP disputes explained covers why.
• A phrase nobody would type and no business would want.

Calibrate your expectations. The public record of big sales is the top of a pyramid. DN Journal's 2026 year-to-date chart, read on 16 October 2026, needed a reported sale of at least USD 95,000 to make its top 100, and most saleable names sell for far less and far more slowly. If a name has no plausible buyer, letting it expire is cheaper than renewing it indefinitely.

Price on evidence, not on what you paid or what you hope for.

Method 1: comparable sales

NameBio (namebio.com) is a public database of reported domain sales and the most useful pricing tool most sellers have.

1. Search for names like yours: same kind of word, similar length, same extension.
2. Filter to recent sales, ideally the last one or two years.
3. Note the range, not the single best sale. Three comparables that sold between two figures give you a range, not a price.

Remember that a sales database shows names that sold, not the far larger number that did not.

Method 2: automated appraisals

Tools such as GoDaddy's domain appraisal and Estibot produce an instant estimate from comparable sales, keyword data and length. They often disagree with each other, which tells you how much weight to give them: use them as a check on the order of magnitude, never as the price.

Method 3: the market's ceiling

For context at the very top, DN Journal's 2026 chart, read on 16 October 2026, was headed by AI.com at a reported USD 70,000,000, and its first 100 entries were 54 .com and 36 .ai names. Useful for perspective; useless as a comparable for an ordinary name.

From a range to an asking price:

Decide two numbers before you list: the floor you will accept, written down, and an asking price at the top of your comparable range that leaves room to negotiate. Then work out what each nets after commission. At a marketplace commission of 15%, a USD 3,000 sale nets USD 2,550 and a USD 2,000 sale nets USD 1,700; set the floor on the net figure, not the headline one.

Most marketplaces allow non-exclusive listings, so you can list in more than one place. Read each platform's current fee page before you list, because commissions vary by listing type and change.

Sedo (sedo.com)

• Commission: Sedo's seller page, read on 16 October 2026, describes a commission "from 10% up to a maximum of 20%", explains that sales through its SedoMLS partner network carry 20% rather than 15%, and offers a transfer service at 3% for deals agreed outside its marketplace.
• Audience: Large and international; Sedo states it has 3 million customers from more than 150 countries.
• Features: Free listing, Buy Now and Make Offer listings, auctions, a sales landing page for the domain, and its Transfer Service, under which the buyer does not take over the domain until the purchase price has been paid.
• Best for: International buyers, country-code domains and mid-range names.

Afternic (afternic.com, part of GoDaddy)

• Commission: According to GoDaddy's help centre when we last read it, a flat 15% when the domain uses GoDaddy-brand aftermarket nameservers and 25% otherwise, plus 5% when the optional Afternic Boost is active, with a USD 15 minimum per sale. GoDaddy's pages refused our automated reads on 16 October 2026, so confirm the current rates there.
• Distribution: GoDaddy says Afternic listings appear across more than 100 registrar and reseller websites, so a buyer can find your name where they search for domains.
• Features: Payment and transfer through its Transaction Assurance process, and For Sale landing pages for eligible names.
• Best for: .com names you want in front of buyers searching at registrars.

What happened to Dan.com?

Dan.com no longer operates. GoDaddy moved its users to Afternic and Dan.com shut down on 27 June 2025, as reported by Domain Investing and Domain Name Wire. Ignore older guides that still recommend it.

Spaceship and Atom

Both appear frequently as venues in the 2026 public sales record: counting the venue named on each entry of DN Journal's top 100 (read on 16 October 2026), Spaceship was named on at least 26 and Atom on at least 13. Check each one's seller terms if your name fits the kind of names they sell.

Flippa (flippa.com)

Suited to domains sold together with a website, traffic or revenue rather than bare names. Check its current listing and success fees on its own pricing page.

A for-sale page on the domain itself

Point the domain at a sales landing page (Sedo and Afternic both offer one) so anyone who types it in sees that it is for sale and how to buy or make an offer.

You can show a fixed "Buy Now" price, ask for offers, or both.

Make Offer (no visible price)

Use it when the name could be worth very different amounts to different buyers, or when you genuinely do not know its value. It filters out casual browsers, but it also creates friction, attracts low opening offers and takes longer. Do not take a low offer personally; counter with your real price.

Fixed price (Buy Now)

Use it for lower and mid-range names where buyers want a quick, simple purchase, or when you hold many names and cannot negotiate each one. You may leave money on the table, but you sell faster.

The hybrid: Buy Now plus a minimum offer

Many platforms, including Afternic, let you show a Buy Now price and accept offers above a minimum:

1. Set the Buy Now price at the top of your comparable range.
2. Set the minimum offer at your written floor.
3. A Buy Now sale gives you the asking price; an offer above the floor starts a negotiation.

Worked example: you would like USD 3,000 and will not accept less than USD 1,500. List at USD 4,500 Buy Now with a USD 1,500 minimum offer. An offer of USD 2,000 is above your floor, so counter at USD 3,500 and negotiate from there. Whatever you agree, check the net figure after commission against your floor before you accept.

Anchoring: the first number in a negotiation tends to pull the outcome towards it, which is why your listed price matters. Anchor high, but within your comparables; an absurd price ends conversations rather than starting them.

Most listings are a name and a price. A good one tells the buyer why the name suits them and why the price is fair.

What to include:

• The domain name as the title. No "Act fast!!!".
• The facts: length, extension, registration date (visible in a WHOIS lookup), and the type of name: keyword, brandable, acronym, geographic.
• Use cases: two or three specific kinds of business that would use it.
• Comparable sales: two or three real sales from NameBio with dates and sources, so the price is visibly based on the market.
• Traffic or links, if real: only what you can show.

A template, to fill with your own verified data:

---

[yourname].com

[One sentence on what the name is and who it suits.]

• [N] characters, .com, registered since [year]
• [Main keyword], [what the keyword describes]
• [Traffic figure from your analytics, if any]

Ideal for: [three specific types of buyer].

Comparable sales: [name] for [price] ([source], [date]); [name] for [price] ([source], [date]).

Price: [Buy Now price] | Offers considered above [minimum]

---

Fill every bracket from a source you can show a buyer. A number you cannot back up is the fastest way to lose credibility with the buyers worth having.

What to leave out: unsupported value claims ("worth USD 100,000"), urgency ("must sell fast"), hyperbole and walls of text. Keep it to a short, scannable block.

Once you have agreed a price, the order of events matters more than anything else.

Never transfer the domain before the money is secured. Not on trust, not for a "test", not for any story. A domain transferred before payment is very hard to recover.

Option 1: the marketplace's own process. If the sale happened on a marketplace, use its payment and transfer process: Afternic's Transaction Assurance transfers the name and pays you, minus commission, once delivery completes; Sedo's Transfer Service collects the payment and the buyer does not take over the domain until the price has been paid.

Option 2: a licensed escrow service you choose. For a private deal, use an escrow service that handles domain names, chosen by you, not suggested by the buyer:

1. Agree the price, who pays the escrow fee and the inspection period.
2. The buyer pays the escrow service, which holds the funds.
3. The escrow service confirms to you that the funds are secured.
4. You transfer the domain.
5. The buyer confirms receipt.
6. The escrow service releases the funds to you.

Check the current fee on the escrow provider's own calculator before you agree who pays it.

The transfer itself:

1. Unlock the domain at your registrar and remove the transfer lock.
2. Turn off DNSSEC if it is on, so the site keeps working while it moves.
3. Get the authorisation (EPP) code. On Namecheap it is under Domain List, Manage, Sharing and Transfer. ICANN's Transfer Policy requires a registrar to provide it, and remove the lock, within five calendar days of your request if you cannot do both yourself.
4. Send the code through the escrow service or marketplace.
5. Approve the transfer email from your registrar. Under the Transfer Policy, if the losing registrar does not respond within five calendar days the transfer is approved by default, so most transfers finish within about a week, and sooner if you approve promptly.
6. Confirm the domain has arrived in the buyer's account before funds are released.

Do not change the registrant details first. Changing the registrant's name, organisation or email normally triggers a 60-day transfer lock; the 60-day lock explained covers it. Transfer first, and let the buyer change the details afterwards.

Payment red flags: cheques, overpayments with a request to refund the difference, a buyer who wants the domain first "to check it works", and any pressure to skip escrow. The journal guide to selling a domain safely covers these scams in more detail.

Selling a country-code domain follows the same steps, but the registry's rules decide who may buy it and how the transfer works. Each country-code registry publishes its own policy, so read the registry's page, not a reseller's summary.

Who may hold the name. Some country codes are open to anyone; others restrict holders by residence, citizenship or company registration. Check the buyer's eligibility before you negotiate, because an ineligible buyer cannot complete the purchase.

How the transfer works. Some registries treat a sale as a transfer of the existing registration; others end the old registration and create a new one for the buyer.

Example: .no (Norway). Norid's domain name policy, read on 16 October 2026, sets both points out clearly:

• Eligibility. An organisation must be registered in Norway's Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities and may hold up to 100 names directly under .no. A private individual must be over 18, registered in the Norwegian National Population Register with a Norwegian national identity number, and have a Norwegian postal address, and may hold up to five names directly under .no. A foreign buyer without a Norwegian organisation therefore cannot hold the name directly.
• The sale itself. Section 11 says a transfer between two subscribers means discontinuing the existing subscription and setting up a new one for the new subscriber, on condition that the new subscriber meets the policy, the existing subscription has not expired, and the current subscriber agrees to surrender the name. The new subscription runs from the date Norid assigns the name, which becomes its new registration date.

Pricing a country-code name. The buyer pool is the businesses and people of that market, so comparables from the same extension matter more than .com comparables. Public sales data for smaller country codes is thin; local registrar marketplaces and classified sites in that country can be better places to list than international marketplaces.

Tax. A domain sale is usually taxable, and the treatment depends on where you live and how often you sell. Keep records of every registration, renewal, commission and sale, and ask an accountant in your own country.

For the wider choice of extension, the ccTLD guide explains when a country code is worth having in the first place.