Good question... I dunno what is the answer to your question. I'll do some research and get back to you if I got an anything. You should email the people at Godaddy as they probably could assist you..

I got very good results when I send a mail informing about a ongoing auction, and not just "the HostGator is for sale - interested ?"..

Try to ceate a need of "act now or gone forever" in the buyer without saying it explicitly. Informing about a ongoing auction seems a good reason to react for most pot. buyers..

I got aprox. 20%-40% response depending on the name using this tactics...

Great point nRnF. So do you also make the HostGator redirect temporarily to the auction so that all you have to tell them is the domain, instead of an address to the auction as well?..

Depending on the HostGator name and type of business involved.

The webmaster is the wrong person to contact..

I find the best method of direct marketing is to contact the.

Advertising manager or business manager..

Larger businesses usually treat additional websites and domains as essential Marketing or advertising expenses..

The geeky Webmasters tend to think "we have one name ,why do we need more"..

Even in one man businesses , advertising and marketing is often the owner's accountant's responsibility ,.

The actual website may have been done by the owner's brother-in-law's spotty 14year old son (Probably a NPer.

)..

Plus if possible send a.

REAL snail mail letter.

Addressed to the actual person,.

Not an email that is just like all the others consigned to the SPAM Bucket.

After a cursory glance,if read at all..

How do you find out the person you need to send to??.

Easy ,ring the company and ask..

Simple as that , exactly what salesmen did before computers and email...

Shure I do redirect, as any "accidental" visitor is also a potential buyer..

Thanks barefoottech and all..

It seems I need to spend more time offline..

I seem to get a 10% response over ~100 different domains I've tried this for... not a good return. Maybe I should word my emails differently. The 10% who responded... 3 turned into sales (but big enough to pay for all 100+ names I reg'd)...

I would have thought that a 10% initial response in any form of advertising, was pretty good......

Indeed a 10% turn around is good for a response to most advertising campaings..

"Domain For Sale" spam is worse than the "Is Your HostGator For Sale" spam...

You hit the nail on the head. I would say 95% of the HostGator related emails I receive are spam. If you are looking for a better success rate, you need to make sure all your emails are, or at least seem unique. I typically receive around a 5% response on HostGator related emails, with only 1%, if that, resulting in sales. I have basically given up on this approach, and just try to sell them the traditional methods..

Tom..