Hi, fellow hosts. Wow, it has been a long time! Can you take a minute to toss in your two-cents on something interesting? I was just approached by a website domain broker who wants to buy my (inactive) website domain that I purchased years ago when I was deep into Airbnb hosting. I never used the domain or built a website for it. But I kept it, just in case the Airbnb hosting (or consulting) inspiration hit me again. I suspect it’s worth more than the appraisals show and don’t want to miss a good opportunity. Getting to the point: Would you help me get a sense of the value of YOUR FAVORITE domain to YOU, as an Airbnb host? Theoretically, what dollar range would YOU find reasonable – not for this domain particularly – but for a .com domain that was exactly the name of your business? I promise I’m not selling domains for a business or trying to sell you one, so please don’t flag me as a marketer/promoter. I actually have never in my life been approached by a domain broker or sold a domain. I’m just trying to make sure I don’t sell myself short in this situation, so I’m doing my due diligence. If the post isn’t welcome, let me know, and I’ll remove it.
He’s not a “broker” if he’s buying and reselling domains, he’s a flipper, just like someone who flips houses, buying cheap, painting, and selling for more. Generally speaking, in the brokering field, a broker is an agent, not a reseller. An honest broker would offer to sell it for you so they could earn a commission.
My advice would be to do what I always do when approached by someone who wants to make money from something I own: do some research, and check with other brokers or potential buyers, and get an appraisal from an expert.
I suppose you already know there is a bnb at www.thequeenbnb.com and a woman who calls herself Queen Bnb at www.theofficalqueenbnb.com.
Perhaps either of those businesses are trying to buy it to simplify their domain, the person who approached you is going to resell it to them once they buy it from you, or the active businesses will just kill use it for a redirect to prevent missed searches. If you want to sell it, I’d go to both companies and ask them to buy it direct. Use that as a data point. But reality is, if it’s sitting, you still have to pay periodically and it’s not making you money. Why keep it in that case.
Always a tricky one. I’d be surprised if there were a lot of $$$ in it.
Google domain brokers and list it with one of them. Thank your enquirer and direct them to the site where you have listed it.
You need to use a reputable big domain broker to manage the transfer in my opinion.
Go to the GoDaddy website and search for your domain name. Once the search is complete, you’ll see a “your domain is worth $$XXX” notice and you can get a good idea of the market value.
IF you want to sell that domain, your starting price including any commission or fees bottom line is the GoDaddy price.
Don’t put it through a broker or GoDaddy’s brokerage. The fees are absurd.
BTW, last year one of my long-term website clients (21 years) sold his domain for the godaddy price. He was approached by a businessman whose company had the same name, but 3 states over. We called several businesses with the same name and offered up the domain in a bidding war. Waste of time - guy #1 had the best deal.
So you could put it on a FB group and take offers. 
Thank you, everyone, for your helpful tips. I didn’t want to make my post overly long, so I didn’t fully explain that I had already priced it with appraisal services, and read about domain valuation, and made a list of businesses using the name, and so on. The question I’d love to have answered, here, is the next step in my research: find out how other Airbnb hosts might value a domain that contained the name of their business. It would be helpful to me if folks were to respond with a dollar amount. Not a dollar amount for my website. A dollar amount that you would pay for a domain with the name of YOUR business, exactly as it is right now. So, if your Airbnb business is called “BillyBnb,” how much would you pay for the domain, “www.billybnb.com”?
Ok I’ll answer, just so you know I heard your question and gave it some thought.
It would not be of any value to me.
I hear you, Mica. I’m sure that’s true for a lot of people, especially if they don’t use a formal business name for their operation. I don’t have a sense of how many Airbnb hosts name their businesses. My next step will be to contact the companies/websites that use the name (per someone else’s suggestion). Thanks for weighing in.
Yes, excellent suggestion.
Thank you: exactly. This IS part of my research. Immediately after receiving the email from the so-called broker, I spent hours reading about domain valuation. I used every free domain appraisal service I could find and wrote down each one’s appraisal. I did a Google search on the words in the domain to see how many businesses and soloists were using the name, and whether anyone owned the .org, .net, etc (and bought them). I checked whether it was trademarked. Then, I thought, I should do a random check of how much other Airbnb hosts would be willing to pay for a domain that matched their business name. That’s why I made a post here. 
I think you’re right: he’s pretending to be a broker, but he’s a flipper. He is reasonably certain he could resell it.
Thank you. GoDaddy valued it at around $1,300, two other appraisal sites valued it at $2,500, and one valued it at $100. The appraisal services are based on algorithms that measure things like when the domain was first purchased, and past web traffic to the site (if there is one). They don’t gather information like the fact that at least half a dozen vacation rental companies or soloists are using the name, and some have branded it, and that Airbnb is about to end its Associates program, for example. With domains, context is everything. Thank you for the warning about the GoDaddy brokers - I was considering calling them. I hadn’t considered offering it on a FB group and taking offers. That would be like a targeted auction. It might merit a Facebook Live Auction or a TikTok. LOL.
Yes, that’s my thinking, too (contact the businesses). But, first, I wanted to find out, generally, what other Airbnb hosts who have named their businesses might be willing to pay for a domain that bore their business name.
First, this sounds like a sales pitch. Are you a domain reseller or broker or want to become one? You’re starting to sound like you’re phishing.
IF I could get my domain name, I’d pay whatever namecheap.com had it for sale, should I care enough about a domain name.
I’ve been in this business for a long, long time and have seen search engines using alphabetical DMOZ listings so we named our company starting with “A.” Nowadays, it’s more important to do the Organic SEO and any targeted paid Google ads campaigns. Also, get your Google business listing up and running. There are myriad things that a professional web development and interactive agency can do to make sure that without the exact domain name, you can still drive business.
I’m afraid the only answer is IT DEPENDS! If I was a brand new company and was sure I’d use the domain for a long time then I’d pay something, IF it matched my name exactly and all other top level domains with that name were taken.
If I made my life selling and buying domains on the remarket, I might pay something.
If I was already in business and successful, then I’d pay nothing.
One other option is to invite those who you think are interested to submit a blind bid and tell them you’ll sell to the highest bid, and then really sell it and forget about it.
Sorry, do not understand. Why would MY thoughts on a domain name important to ME have anything to do with how to value YOURS? The proper thing to ask is ‘how do I find out the best price for my domain for sale’? Anything else is either emotional (never a good reason to buy or sell) or this is a passive agreessive (?) way to promote your consultant business…
She answered this in the OP:
If you are interested in what she does promote it’s in her link which is in her forum profile:
In addition, she is a longtime member of the forum although she hasn’t posted in awhile because she quit hosting.
OK so she’s doing market research here for her consulting business, which is something that happens often. She wasn’t particularly transparent about that.
As to someone else’s point - why would my opinion of a domain’s worth TO ME matter to her? It’s an arbitrary market force.
She’s already pointed out that she did research to find differing prices on different sites and the price points are all over the map.
I’ve been doing this for a long time, like Amy has, and domain prices are like anything else - they’re worth what the person is willing to pay.
I’d get a domain for LittlePinkBeachHouse.com, but it’s taken and they’re not doing anything with it yet the price is silly. Besides, Organic SEO and a good marketing strategy are more important than the domain name, although that does help greatly, too.
Direct websites aren’t worth a lot (at least today) to most owners of single properties. AirBnB and Vrbo get lots of traffic, and a small (almost micro) business can’t afford the cost and time to purchase, set up and maintain an individual website when it won’t generate a lot of traffic.
My answer to your question: $99. It was an available name when we bought it. I can’t answer how much we would have been willing to pay because we never had to figure that out.
Thank you, CASailingLady. It has been a looooooong time, and though I’ve followed the forum, I didn’t see the notification that you had replied, so my apologies for the delay. I did as you suggested, made the broker an offer, and never heard back. I guess a lot of people inquire about a domain through a broker just to get ballpark estimates. The lady I suspect was inquiring (because she has a business name identical to the domain that was inquired about) now has a domain called "official(my domain name), so if that’s her, she decided it wasn’t worth it. Thanks for the advice on not selling it through a domain broker, and the note that the bidding war was a waste of time. Like this group, the Facebook groups don’t allow promotion (which is why I haven’t listed it for sale here or included the name of the domain or a link to it). But thank you very much for taking my message at face value and for defending my post from the inaccurate & vaguely hostile comments from another group member. As you mentioned below, I’ve closed my Airbnbs, though I remain in this group because I want to loosely maintain my connection to the hosts I befriended, here, and keep up with the industry. I occasionally rent a room and sometimes consider getting back into Airbnb as a side-gig. Anyway, thank you very much for being among those members who keep this forum friendly, welcoming, and mutually supportive. It’s what I loved about this forum when I was an active host and why I’ll rely on it, again, when I host in the future. Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season!
Thank you, PitonView. That’s helpful. Since folks have now multiple times had a broker contact me about the domain in question, and since I had no idea how to value it, this question (and your answer) helps me understand more about the context for figuring that out. The domain appraisal sites are based on factors they can measure in their algorithm, but they don’t include any industry-specific context, like what you pointed out: that hardly any hosts really need or want their own website because VRBO, Airbnb, etc., suffice. I’m still thinking of using my domain to offer Airbnb hosting consulting – because I was a Superhost immediately and without interruption, with 5-star reviews and rapid growth of my hosting business – for 10 years. But it’s not my main business, and my main business is keeping me busy, so that’s more a back-burner possibility, and not worth holding onto a domain that someone else wants, needs, and is willing to buy (depending on for how much). I quoted high the first couple of times (because, who doesn’t want an unexpected bonanza if they can get it), but if they call again, I’ll quote lower. Anyway, thanks for helping me think this through! Happy Holidays!