At BrandBucket, we’re committed to creating a professional, secure, high-quality marketplace for buying and selling domain names. We ask that you review our terms of use. Below is a summary of our guidelines for listing domains for sale on BrandBucket.

You Must Be the Legal Owner

You must legally own the domain name, and the domain must be free from legal disputes or ownership challenges.

Before listing, it's your responsibility to ensure the domain does not infringe on any trademarks or intellectual property rights. If a legal issue arises, you must remove the domain until resolved.

Domain Ownership Must Be Verified

To publish a domain on BrandBucket, you must:

• Point your domain to the nameservers provided by BrandBucket
• Keep those nameservers unchanged during the listing period

Any change to DNS settings may result in your domain being removed.

Removing a Domain from BrandBucket

You may request to remove a domain at any time with a 30-day notice unless:

• There is an ongoing transaction or dispute
• The domain is under a lease-to-own agreement

Domains during the 30 days should remain published, and the DNS settings should not change.

Exclusive Listings Only

All domains listed on BrandBucket must be exclusive to our platform. If your domain is found elsewhere, it may be removed, and your account could be suspended.

This means:

• You cannot list the same domain for sale on other marketplaces or websites.
• You cannot solicit off-platform sales using BrandBucket’s tools or user data.

If you complete a sale outside BrandBucket (against our terms), you are still required to pay the full commission to BrandBucket. Failure to report or pay may result in account cancellation.

BrandBucket May Promote Your Domains Elsewhere

By listing with BrandBucket, you permit us to promote your domains on third-party marketplaces, affiliate websites, and partner platforms. You’ll still receive your full in-pocket payout if a sale is completed through these channels.

No Listing Changes During Negotiation

Once a buyer makes an offer or negotiation begins:

• You may not increase the price or remove add-ons (such as logos) for at least 2 weeks.
• If requested, you must restore the listing to its previous state.

Violations may lead to account suspension.

You Must Complete Accepted Transactions

If your domain sells, you are required to complete the transaction in a timely manner. Sellers who are unresponsive, delay delivery, or refuse to complete a sale may lose access to their account.

Keep Your Information and Listings Updated

You are responsible for:

• Keeping your personal and contact information current
• Removing expired domains
• Immediately removing domains that may violate legal rights or receive a warning

Lease-to-Own Terms

For lease-to-own deals:

• The domain must be transferred to BrandBucket for the duration of the lease
• The standard commission fees apply to the base price of the domain. Any additional lease-to-own fees paid by the buyer are split 50/50 between you and BrandBucket.

Domain Transfers and Payouts

After a sale:

• You must transfer the domain to BrandBucket promptly
• Payouts are issued 5 business days after you are notified of the sale or after a successful transfer to the buyer, whichever comes first. Lease installments are paid out 5 business days after the buyer's payment clears.
• You are responsible for choosing a payout method and covering any associated fees.

Do Not Publish Sales Info Without Permission

Do not share sales data, especially price, on third-party platforms without BrandBucket’s written approval. We reserve the right to keep this information private for buyer confidentiality.

Violations and Enforcement

If you break the rules or put buyers at risk, BrandBucket may:

• Remove your listings
• Suspend or cancel your account
• Hold payments or freeze transactions in cases of fraud, disputes, or suspicious activity
• We may also deduct penalties and fees from any payouts if your account is closed due to violations.

To report a seller violation, email info@brandbucket.com. Due to our privacy policy, we cannot disclose investigation outcomes.

To accept or not accept a domain is often a tough decision. Many outstanding and "brandable" names are submitted, but because we try to keep the marketplace small enough for a single buyer to browse in an evening, we've created some basic guidelines:

We are looking primarily for non-keyword, short and catchy names. For these types of names, we mainly focus on

• If the name is based on a dictionary word -- and sounds the same as that word -- it should have no more than one spelling variation or "error" away from the original word. This makes it easy to explain to customers. For example, Digg is "dig with two g's".
• Pronunciation should be straightforward.
• Spelling should be as expected.
  • Ask your friends to spell your name -- can they get it in one or two tries?
  • Is the same vowel being used for two different sounds, or is the same sound represented by two different vowels (for example, the 'ee' sound can be an 'e' or an 'i')?
• If the name has a keyword or root word, it should apply to a popular industry or be broad enough to apply to several different business types.
• There should be no more than three syllables.

We also like domains with keywords that are either single or double keywords. For two-word (compound) names, we're looking for:

• Both words should be spelled fully and correctly.
• The words should have something in common or a linguistic connection (same first letter, same vowel sound, etc.). They can also be a common phrase or play on a common phrase.
• One (or both) of the words should relate to a popular industry or be broad enough to apply to many industries.

We currently take the following extensions: .com, .io, .ly, .ai, and .gg.

Things we avoid:

• Numbers or hyphens
• Keyword combinations over two words
• Very long names
• Prefixes like 'a', 'the', or 'my'
• Suffixes/endings like 'app', 'biz', or 'inc'
• Plurals, except in some rare cases where a domain would make a clever consumer product name (not a company name).

Ultimately, the decision to accept a name is based on our team's combined experience (over 30 years) in naming companies and products and our founder's background in linguistic studies and foreign languages.

• First, sign up for an account here: https://www.brandbucket.com/user/register/domain_owner.
• Under the Domains area, click on the green "Add domains" button
• Enter your domains and follow the instructions on that page.
• You will receive an email confirmation, so please check your inbox to confirm that your names were submitted.

Please note that we only list domains that are a good match for our portfolio, and you can find some information about the type of names we seek and approve on this page.

We charge a $1 fee per domain appraisal. This is paid at the time of submission. You can purchase credits to cover these fees via PayPal or credit card from within your account admin area. Please note there are no future fees for listing the domain for sale.

BrandBucket takes a consignment fee of the selling price. This does not affect the bottom line "in your pocket" price that you want to get for your domain. You can easily see the "in your pocket" amount when pricing a domain within your admin area. The BrandBucket fee is:

• 30% for names below $10,000 USD
• 25% for names between $10,000 USD and $50,000 USD
• 20% for names between $50,000 USD and $100,000 USD
• 15% for names above $100,000 USD.

No. BrandBucket covers the logo fee paid to the designer. However, we previously requested that all names have a post-sale award paid to the logo designer when the name sells. This used to be between $100 to $500 USD and selected by the sellers. Starting on April 1st, 2019, sellers pushing domain names forward for listing will no longer be asked to choose a post-sale design award. However, any domain name with a publishing date before April 1st, 2019, will still have the original post-sale logo award (this includes currently published names and any previously published names that are re-published after April 1st, 2019). You can email us to check whether your names fall within this category.

In general, we prefer that the logo designers in our community create a logo for all domains submitted to us. However, if you are a professional designer with a strong logo design portfolio, we can consider you to join the community, and then you'll be able to upload your own logos for your domain names.

If you haven't registered as a domain owner, please visit this page for info and sign up: https://www.brandbucket.com/domain-owners.

Then you can email info @ BrandBucket dot com with your design portfolio URL and ask to be considered to join the designer community as a domain owner. If approved, we'll upgrade your account to be both a logo designer and a domain owner. You'll then be able to upload your logos if your domains are accepted for listing.

BrandBucket offers payouts using PayPal, Payoneer, Wise or BitPay. The options are available to you under your Account page once logged in.

• For PayPal, you must connect to a live account by following the link on your account page and logging into PayPal.
• For Payoneer, you will be asked to either create an account or log into your existing Payoneer account using the link provided on your account page.
• For Wise, you must fill out the form on your account page with your bank account details exactly as they appear directly from your Bank or Wise bank account.
• For BitPay, you will need to click on the link we provide on your account page, and you will receive info on the following steps to the email address associated with your BrandBucket account, but you can then opt to use a different email if you wish. BitPay helps BrandBucket with KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements, so you will go through a verification process after receiving the invitation. So please have your identification document and camera on hand for a selfie.

Please note that you can select only one payout method and switch to another if your balance is $0. Please email our support team to change payout methods if your balance exceeds $0.

Accessing Payment Report

Log into your account and click on Balance Report to see the following:

• All Payments - This lists all your payments in three statuses: Escrow, Due, and Paid. You will also see the date of each payment request if it was made.
• Escrow - This lists all names that are still currently in escrow. Funds cannot be dispersed while in escrow and can only be requested when due.
• Due - This lists all names that have completed escrow, and funds are now available to be requested.
• Paid - This contains a list of all names whose funds have been paid and each payment request date.

Please note for payments on sold names; there is a minimum 5-day waiting period for the payment to become available after the name is sold.

Requesting a Payment

• Click on the “Request Payment” button within your Balance Report.
• This next screen will show you all the names and their associated funds that are available to be withdrawn.
• Select the names you wish to be paid for using the checkmarks, then click “Continue”.
• The final screen will confirm the requested amount and any fees associated with the transaction.
• After completing a payment request, you will receive an email confirmation from BrandBucket and a separate email from PayPal, Payoneer, or BitPay within a few hours. Please note that Wise does not send confirmation emails.

Payout Fees

PayPal - Located in the United States

• For payments under $500 there is a $1 fee
• For payments over $500 there is no fee.

PayPal - Located outside of the United States

• For payments under $500 the fee is 2% of the total.
• For payments over $500 the fee is 2% of the total minus $3.

Payoneer - Worldwide

• For payments under $500 a $3 fee is charged.
• For payments over $500 there is no fee.

Wise

• BrandBucket transfers the amount in USD and does not charge fees for processing payouts via Wise. However, you are responsible for any fees that Wise charges.

BitPay - Worldwide

• For all payments, there is a 1% processing fee.

Please complete the following steps if you're happy with our evaluation and want to publish your names for sale on BrandBucket.

1. Validate the DNS

You need to edit the domain nameservers to confirm you own the name and direct the domain to our site. Go to your domain's registrar and log in. Within your registrar's control panel, edit the nameservers for your domain. You should set the first and second nameservers to NS1.BRANDBUCKET.COM and NS2.BRANDBUCKET.COM and leave the third and fourth nameservers blank.

2. Push Names to Publishing

Log in to your BrandBucket account, go to the "Domains" page, and click on the "Appraised" tab. Select the accepted name(s) you wish to publish and click the "Publish" button in the right sidebar. If the DNS validation is set up correctly, you will see a message that your domain has been validated, but note that it may take up to 24 hours for your DNS to propagate correctly.

3. Approve the Price

Once the validation is complete, your domain name is moved to the Editorial phase of the listing process, where each name will receive a description and a logo.

Here you can optionally increase our suggested price by up to 20%. Please note that any price changes you apply to your names will lock the price for the next 30 days.

And you're done! You will get notified via email once the name is live on the marketplace.

When listing a domain name at BrandBucket, we ask you to redirect the domain name to our website. This allows us to verify that you own the domain name and allows us to capture all traffic to this domain name on a buy-now page on our website.

Yes, it is 100% mandatory. This will allow visitors to your site to know it is for sale on BrandBucket at the listed price.

After your domain submission has been approved and you've paid your listing fee, we ask that you verify your domain ownership by forwarding (or redirecting) your domain name to your BrandBucket sales page. This is done by changing the nameservers.

Validate DNS by Changing Nameservers

You must edit the nameservers for your domain within your registrar's control panel. You should set the first and second nameservers to NS1.BRANDBUCKET.COM and NS2.BRANDBUCKET.COM, and it is important to leave the third and fourth nameservers blank. These changes may take up to an hour to propagate through the web.

If you'd like to adjust the pricing of a name on the marketplace, you can easily modify it by 20% using the BrandBucket Pricing Manager, either in bulk or individually. The price you set should be the amount you are OK receiving, also called the “floor” on other marketplaces. BrandBucket has built buyer loyalty because we do not inflate pricing with the expectation of negotiating down from the listed price, so please price accordingly.

Adjusting Domain Prices

1. In the "Domains" area, click on the "Published" tab.
2. Select a name or multiple you wish to update.
3. Use the percentages in the right sidebar to adjust the price.
4. The prices will adjust accordingly, and if you make a mistake, you can edit the percentage again.
5. Click "Save" to lock your price.

Some things to note:

• Since the average time from the first visit to purchase is about 3 weeks, any domain price changes will lock the price for a minimum of 30 days.
• We also honor the published price of a domain for 7 days from the date a customer inquires about a specific name.
• You can set all domains at BrandBucket’s suggested price or up to 20% higher.
• We understand market trends change, so if you would like to have your name reevaluated above 20%, you can discuss this with our team at any time.
• We don't allow dropping the price below our suggested price, as we have no historical evidence that a lower price helps a name sell more quickly.
• We send out an email reminder every 90 days, encouraging our sellers to revisit the prices of their published domain name inventory. This gives us a current view of your sales strategy to communicate with potential buyers effectively.

Once your names are pointing to BrandBucket and published, you can easily view the traffic statistics of each domain name. These stats include unique visits to a landing page (direct type-in traffic) and impressions on a landing page (number of times a name appeared on a related domain name landing page).

To view traffic stats, log in to your account and visit the Dashboard.

Yes, our goal is to sell your name successfully. Our marketing and sales tactics focus on getting as many eyes on your domain names as possible. We promote your names on third-party partner sites, advertise on third-party websites and social platforms, and cross-promote within BrandBucket's website. We also have tight connections with domain brokers, naming agencies, and branding consultants.

Our sales team also focuses on outbound marketing, specifically for high-value names.

No, by accepting to list your name at BrandBucket, you agree to retain BrandBucket as the exclusive seller for the duration this domain name is listed on the marketplace. BrandBucket will promote your names on your behalf on other marketplaces, and you may be asked to remove your names from your accounts on these marketplaces.

You may occasionally receive an email notification that one of your domain names published on BrandBucket is also listed for sale on another marketplace.

If you listed the name for sale: Please log in to your account on the other marketplace and remove or delete the listing.

If you did not list the name for sale (the name is possibly under a previous owner's account), you will need to submit a support request to the marketplace asking for the names to be removed or deleted. You should submit the request from the email address listed on the domain name's WHOIS record to verify that you are the owner. Below are links to the support centers of a few marketplaces:

• Sedo.com
• Afternic.com

Every name is reviewed by multiple people with many years of experience in the domain name space, but our vetting process is by no means error-free. If you feel we undervalued your name, you can always request we take another look by submitting a Reconsideration Request.

Reconsideration requests allow you to appeal our decision. You may appeal an unaccepted name or the price of an accepted name. No charge is associated with the appeal, though we limit this to one daily request per account. Please note that we only accept appeals on registered names.

Appealing Rejected Domains

1. Under the “Domains” area within your account, select the "Declined" tab, then the domain name, and finally, the "Appeal" button in the right sidebar.
2. Please include any notes you may have to help our team re-evaluate the name.
3. Click the "Appeal" button to submit your appeal.

Appealing Domain Pricing

1. Under the “Domains” area within your account, select the "Appraised" tab, then the domain name, and finally, the "Appeal" button in the right sidebar.
2. Please include any notes you may have to help our team re-evaluate the name.
3. Click on the "Appeal" Button and follow the instructions.

We recommend you provide as many details as possible when submitting an appeal so our team can properly consider all the details.

The BrandBucket lease-to-own program allows you to sell your domain names in installments. During checkout, the buyer selects the lease-to-own option and pays for a domain name over 12 months or 24 months for domains over $120,000. BrandBucket keeps the domain name in an escrow account during the lease until the full payment is made, at which point it is transferred to the buyer.

You can turn on the lease-to-own program for your domains directly from your account settings page. Please note that you can only enable the program on all names, not a select few. The program is eligible at the time of publication for names currently registered at GoDaddy, Dynadot, and Namesilo. Names at other registers are eligible after 60 days of publication if they have not moved registrars in the last 60 days.

Yes. The buyer will be charged a setup fee of 5% of the domain name's price, which is added to the first payment. Future payments include a fee on a sliding scale starting at 15% and dropping to 5%, depending on the domain's price. The payout of these fees is split between BrandBucket and the seller 50/50. The fees help offset operational costs and entice the buyer to purchase the name in full as soon as possible.

BrandBucket charges the same commission on leased names as buy-it-now sales.

Similar to a regular purchase, the funds will be available in your BrandBucket account within a few days of payment.

If a credit card payment fails or a wire transfer/bitcoin payment is delayed in arriving, we will continue to reach out to the buyer with alternative payment methods. If payment is not received within our 30-day grace period, we will cancel the lease, and the domain will be returned to the seller's registrar account and made available for sale on BrandBucket again.

Yes. Since BrandBucket acts as an intermediary between the seller and the buyer, the domain name must be transferred to a BrandBucket escrow account for the duration of the lease.

If the buyer wishes to cancel the lease, the name will be transferred back to the seller's registrar account and again published for sale on BrandBucket.