Also called broker fee · broker commission
Brokerage commission, explained
On a sell-side deal the owner pays, and the commission is typically deducted from the proceeds when escrow releases the funds. Published rates at large platforms sit in the mid-teens to 20 percent: Sedo charges 15 percent for its exclusive seller brokerage, while GoDaddy's and Sedo's buy-side broker services each charge the buyer a non-refundable upfront fee plus 20 percent of the purchase price. Independent brokers set their own terms, and many take only names they expect to sell at meaningful prices; Sedo, for one, sets minimum criteria for the names it will market.
Price in net terms. An offer is not what you receive; subtract the commission, and any escrow fee you agreed to pay, before you accept. Read the agreement for exclusivity, its length, and any tail clause that owes commission on a later sale to a buyer the broker introduced. The common mistake is signing an exclusive with no end date, which ties the name to one channel indefinitely. Judge a broker by the buyers it can reach, not by the price it promises.
Example. If a broker on a 15 percent commission closes a sale in the low five figures, the seller receives the price minus that commission and any escrow fee the seller agreed to cover.
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Education, not financial, legal or tax advice. Domain investing is speculative and most domain names never sell. Read the disclaimer.