Jeff Gabriel is the founder of Saw.com and he was kind enough to take some time to answer some questions about:
- himself,
- Saw.com
- and even onchain domains. I hope you enjoy.
Q1) Many people in the industry know you Jeff. But for those newer to domaining can you give us a bit about how you got your start in the domain industry?
Jeff) I began my sales career in the mortgage industry and later transitioned into presenting recruitment services. Which involved in-person pitches to HR departments. Like many, I was laid off during the 2009 financial crisis. This led me to a new opportunity at Sedo, where I discovered the domain industry.
While at Sedo, I facilitated the sales of high-profile domains like Sex.com, Server.com, Poker.org, OMG.com, and many more. From there, I co-founded DomainAdvisors (later Igloo) with two partners before moving to the Cayman Islands to join DomainNameSales/Uniregistry. Over seven years, we built the sales team from just four people to fifty, driving over $500 million in domain sales.
After that, I launched Saw.com, where we’re now celebrating our five-year anniversary. Since opening our doors, we’ve completed over $60 million in domain sales—and we’re just getting cooking.
Q2) What inspired you to start Saw.com?
Jeff) I always had the urge and desire to start my own business, but for one reason or another. When I was about to make the leap and start my own business, an opportunity that made sense to go for came along.
So, When I left mortgages, I actually had just gotten my license to start my own mortgage company. When I left Sedo, my initial plan was to go on my own, but I began Igloo/DomainAdvisors instead. And then Frank Schilling allowed me to help him build DomainNameSales/Uniregistry from the ground up.
After being there for almost seven years and about to turn 40, it was now or never. And it was time to go off on my own and see what I could do. The timing was right for me.
Q3) With all your years of experience in sales what is most vital in a sales lander and what is not actually needed or might be a detriment?
Jeff) First and foremost, the goal of a sales lander should be to collect the buyer’s information.
You can qualify, present to, inform, and offer terms after the fact. It does not all have to happen at the same time. If your lander is confusing, overwhelming, hard to understand, or loads slowly, the buyer might get frustrated and leave.
A secondary priority should be getting the buyer to write a message. The message from the lander is a big tell. You can quickly qualify buyers by reading the message and looking at their initial offer. Everything else is tertiary.
Q4) Can you tell us all the payment methods accepted at Saw.com, do you offer an ability to pay in Crypto?
Jeff) We use Stripe as our payment processor, and they accept countless payment methods, including Alipay, Apple Pay, Visa, Mastercard, Amex, CashApp, and numerous other regional forms of payment. As for crypto, we are signed up with Bitpay, and we accept PayPal.
We will be releasing all of these payment methods during checkout very soon, but any of them can be requested.
Q5) There has been a lot of talk about bringing domain names Onchain, do you see that as the future of domain names?
Jeff) Domains being on-chain is a better technology and a better process than what we have now, but the reality is I CANN has a system that has worked for over 30 years. And the benefits of domains being on chain are not exponentially better, so I cannot see a strong enough argument for that to happen today.
If it were to happen, we would need to see at least one of the leading browsers acknowledge and resolve Web3names without requiring users to download an extra third party browser extension. Until that happens, I don’t see it having the adoption that would tip the scales for ICANN to consider making a change.
I have also found that when speaking to people who are bullish on Web3, the first thing they say is about connecting the Web3 name to Web2. In my opinion, we will not see the status quo change until we naturally see the opposite behavior happening—not pressure from the Web3 community but from the general public.
Q6) If I decide to let a Saw.com broker handle my lead, will they provide detailed info on the negotiations?
Jeff) We recently released a new feature on our marketplace, which allows domain sellers to see what is happening with all of their leads.
Every step is logged, and the seller can see what the Broker is doing on each lead and what is happening. The seller can also ask questions or give feedback regularly. We also allow our clients to see the buyer’s information. This allows them to understand who is inquiring and how to price the domain or approach the opportunity.
Q7) Why should domain investors use Saw.com?
Jeff) Every member of our sales team earns income exclusively through domain brokering.
- We aren’t domainers or web designers
- We are dedicated, full-time Brokers,
each with over a decade of experience honing our craft. As a tight-knit team, we actively share ideas, insights, and strategies, working together to overcome challenges and achieve success for our customers.
This collaborative approach has driven extraordinary results, contributing
- to over $550 million in total sales
- and an impressive 405 transactions
completed in 2024 alone. We are very confident that we can help even the largest domain investors in our space with their portfolios. All we ask is just to give us a shot!
