How to Resell Domain Names and Make Money

Several of the large domain name registrars allow individuals or small businesses to buy domain names and then re-sell them to other customers. You're not buying specific domain names and trying to sell those domain names. Instead, you buy a package that guarantees you a lower price from the domain name registrar. Often times, the domain name registrar provides a template website for you to use so you can become your own domain name registrar and sell those domain names at a higher price and make your commission.

For example, let's say you become a domain name reseller for eNom. They set your domain price at $9.95 per year for a .com domain name. If you sell domain names at $15.95 (your retail price), you'll have to pay $9.95 to register the domain, $0.95 as a "merchant service fee", and then an additional $0.47 (3% of your retail price) as a "Merchant services convinience online access fee." Bottom line is that you make $4.58 as your net commission from the sale of one domain name.

Depending on how many domain names you can sell and how much you're willing to pay upfront as a set-up cost to be a domain reseller, you can get different rates to buy your domain names.

In the eNom example, in order to get your domain name price at $9.95, you would need to pay $495 in set up fees. If you wanted to sell eNom domain names without a setup fee, the domain name price that you would get is $10.95 per year which eats into your commission.

On the other hand, you could pay a larger set up fee like $995 and get a domain name price of $8.95 per year for a .com domain name. If you were willing to pay $1595 in set up fees, you could get a .com pricing of $7.95 per year. You get the idea.

To put this all in perspective. eNom allows their power resellers to buy .com domain names at $7.95 per year. If you wanted to buy a domain name from eNom directly, you have to go to their eNom Central website which sells .com domain names at $29.95 per year. This suggests that eNom is making over $20 commission on the sale of their domain names.

Would you be able to sell .com domain names at $29.95 per year? Probably not. There are several good domain name registrars out there that sell .com domain names at $10 per year including domain name privacy registration. You just need to know where to look.

As an interesting side note, eNom advertises on their reseller FAQ page that they never solicit your retail customer and that all tools and email communications are private labeled with your company name. The fact that they need to state this information on their website raises some questions about what the other domain name registrars are doing. As always with domain names, buyer beware.