This Domain Is For Sale WP Plugin Documentation

1. Requirements

  • PHP 5.6 or higher.
  • PHP GD Graphics Library (just for the image CAPTCHA).

2. Installation

  1. Login to your WordPress administration back-end.
  2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New, click the Browse button.
  3. Unzip the downloaded package and select the TO_UPLOAD.zip file for upload.
  4. Once completed, either click the Activate this plugin link on that page or go back to the plugins page, find the "This Domain is For Sale" plugin and click its Activate link.

2.1 Escrow payments

Once you had the Escrow payments plugin enabled:

  1. Make sure you have set a "Fixed price" for your domain.

    You may do so through Domain For Sale → Configuration → Add → desired domain name → Add\Edit → Bidding (tab) → Price → Override the default.

  2. Navigate to Domain For Sale → Configuration → Payment, add your Escrow.com™ API credentials.

  3. You may need to clear the cache once:Domain For Sale (toolbar menu) → Clear cache for all domains

2.2 Quick Configuration

Please do not hesitate to contact /support if you have had any questions or difficulties setting up your plugin.

  1. Adding your domains: (If you are selling just 1 domain you can skip to the next step).

    Login to WordPress back-end, navigate to Domain For Sale → Domains → Import; on that page enter a plain-text list of your domains, choose their relation to the WP domain, and then click the "Import" button.

  2. Install a theme: This plugin works with any WordPress theme; it has several widgets, shortcodes, and the popular page builder plugin "WPBakey Visual Composer" is also supported. Nevertheless, if you want to have a beautiful landing page in a minute, you should try themes that are made for this plugin.
    You can either install our free theme or use our more advanced "Domain" theme.

  3. Remove sample content: Upon installation of WordPress some sample content gets created to demonstrate different WordPress features, it includes a post, a comment, a page, and some widgets.
    You may want to remove or "unpublish" these before moving on.

    If you are going to use our beautiful "Domain" theme, you may keep the sample page to use it as your front page. If you've already purchased and installed the "Domain" theme you should do the following to setup the front page:

    1. Edit the "Sample Page" through WP back-end → Pages.
    2. Change the title of the page to "Domains For Sale" or the title of your choosing.
      There is a small text field for the URL alias right beneath the Title field, just remove the text inside it, and WordPress will automatically add your new title to that.
    3. Remove the sample text in the editor.
    4. Change the "Template" (on the right sidebar) from "Default" to "Front Page" then save (update or publish) the page.
    5. Go to Settings -> Reading -> Front page displays, select the "Static" option and then your "Domain Names For Sale" page then save the configuration.
  4. Selling your primary domain?
    If you are selling multiple domains, you should exclude your primary domain from sales. To do so navigate to Domain For Sale -> Configuration -> Advanced and check "The main domain is not for sale" then save the configuration.
  5. Change the default "example.com is for sale" title:
    By default, the title of your landing page(s) is "example.com is for sale." You can change that by editing the "Title" setting at Domain For Sale → Configuration → General. If you want to change it for a specific domain, there are two extra steps:
    1. Click the "Add" button at the top of the Configuration page.
    2. Select the domain, you will see a new configuration page, find the "Title" setting.
    3. Change it to "Override the default" - enter your awesome title and save the configuration.
    Please note, when the main domain does not have a custom title and is set to "not for sale" (explained above),the plugin will automatically use the "WordPress site title" (WP back-end → Settings → General). The same counts for the "Description" and "<meta> Description" settings of the main domain. If you want to take full control of the site title on your main domain it's a good idea to add a custom title for it.
  6. Description & Tags: You may want to repeat the above step for the Description, <meta> Description, and Tags settings. It'll very much positively affect your SEO, to have domain-specific content. If you are using the "Domain" you may want to add some images per domain too.
  7. Fixed price?
    If you want to sell your domains faster, you may want to add a fixed price. You can do that through Domain For Sale -> Configuration -> Bidding. There are many more options there such as setting a bidding end date and changing the currency.
  8. Add domain rewrites: Last but not least, you may want to make your domain names stand out more by adding domain rewrites especially if they include multiple keywords, such as wordpress.com which can be rewritten as WordPress.com, or WordPress.Com.
    In order to add rewrites, navigate to Domain For Sale → Configuration → Add, select a domain, find the Domain Rewrite and change it to Override the default, now type the rewrite (e.g. WordPress) and save the configuration - You can skip the extension so both "WordPress" and "WordPress.Com" would work.
    If you are going to add more just click the "Add More" button at the top of the page to get back to the list of your domains.

Ok, that's about it! Your landing pages should be ready now. You can continue exploring the Configuration page - there are so many many features there - or you can start doing marketing right away through social media, forums, etc.

2.3 Automatic updates

Before you begin: If you have either modified the plugin (and\or the theme) or if you have received a customized version from us, please contact support via htmlpie.com/supportbefore attempting an update.

Your activation key: Automatic updates require an activation key, please visit htmlpie.com/register to register your copy and receive your activation key - It's a small random string.

Follow these steps once you had the key:

  1. Login to your WordPress administration back-end.
  2. Go to Domain For Sale → Configuration → Maintenance.
  3. Enter your activation key & enable the automatic updates.
  4. Save the configuration and you're done!

Now, every time there is an update available your WordPress will take care of it just like it takes care of updates for free plugins and the WordPress core.

2.4 Manual updates

Before you begin: If you have either modified the plugin (and\or a theme) or received a customized version from us, please contact us via htmlpie.com/supportbefore attempting an update.

If you've purchased this plugin via HTMLPIE.COM you will receive updates via e-mail, other customers should download the latest version from the marketplace they have purchased the plugin from.

Once you had the latest version of the plugin, follow these steps to manually update your plugin:

  1. Login to your WordPress administration back-end and go to the Plugins page, find the "This Domain is For Sale" plugin, click its "Deactivate" link.
  2. Using a FTP client, or a Web-based tool like cPanel, create a backup of the plugin folder at /wp-content/plugins/this-domain-is-for-sale or your whole WordPress (especially if you have translation files under /this-domain-is-for-sale/languages or /wp-content/languages),then delete the entire /this-domain-is-for-sale folder.
    (Never use the "Delete" link of the Plugins page! it will delete your offers, statistics, configuration etc)
  3. Unzip the TO_UPLOAD.zip file (inside the downloaded ZIP package) and upload the /this-domain-is-for-sale directory to the /wp-content/plugins
  4. Go back to the Plugins page, click the Activate link of the "This Domain is For Sale" plugin and you are done!

2.4 Parking your domains

You can skip this section if you only have one domain to sell or if you are not willing to park your domains.

What does it mean to park a domain?
Let's say example.net is parked on example.com, when you visit http://example.net/, you will see the website of the http://example.com/ while the domain name in the address bar of your Web browser is still example.net - otherwise, it is just a "redirection".

How would you park a domain?
First of all, you need to make sure all your domains have the same DNS. For example, if example.com has ns1.godaddy.com & ns2.godaddy.com as its DNS then the example.net also needs to have ns1.godaddy.com & ns2.godaddy.com to be parked on example.com; otherwise, you have to edit its DNS and wait up to 72 hours for them to be updated worldwide.

The next step is to add the domain to your host. There's no universal way of doing this. It depends on your website control panel software, you should check with your host to see how it is done. If you are using cPanel you should just go to the "Aliases" page to enter the domain you are about to park and click the "Add Domain" button and that's it - In older versions of cPanel the page is called "Parked Domains". In other control panels such as Plesk, DirectAdmin, etc, the same procedure happens, but it might be under a different name such as "Domain Pointers."

3. Troubleshooting

I have enabled the image CAPTCHA but I cannot see it:
Make sure "PHP GD library" is installed on your Web server.
I'm not receiving any e-mail!
Make sure you have entered a correct e-mail address in the configuration form and that those emails did not end up in the Spam box of your e-mail. Additionally, you can enable SMTP authentication too.
All I see is a blank page?
Open your wp-config.php (usually at /public_html) and change the value for "WP_DEBUG" to "true", save the file and refresh the page, if you can see some server errors and you have no idea how to deal with them you should contact our support.
I cannot update my plugin.
Please make sure you have entered your activation key at Domain For Sale → Configuration → Maintenance and have "Automatic updates" enabled too.

If none of the above could help contact us through htmlpie.com/support and we'll be there in a jiffy :)

4. Frequently Asked Questions

4.1 Is it possible to park domains on an add-on domain?

Technically speaking, yes it is possible but it depends on your Web server software too, you can contact us - or your Web host - if you need help with it.

4.2 How to add a PayPal button to the form?

Using plain PayPal buttons for this purpose is not recommended as any payment made through PayPal can be cancelled within 45 days. Most of our customers use escrow services, such as Escrow.com as they are safe, secure, and made entirely for this purpose. We recommend you to use them too. If you are selling your domains for a fixed price you can create payment "cms_buttons" for your domains on the Escrow.com and place the HTML code they'll provide using the "Custom HTML code" widget of our plugin - just copy the code and paste it to Domain For Sale → Configuration → Custom HTML code.

4.3 How to add domain-specific CSS?

You should use a special class name that is domain-specific, like this:

body.difs_domain_example_com a { color: #0000ee; }

You can use free plugins such as "Custom CSS & JS" to add your own CSS/JS code.

4.4 How to redirect parked domains to a page other than the front page?

Create or edit the .htaccess file in the root directory (usually /public_html) and add the following code replacing the /index.php?page_id=1 with the destination (index.php is necessary),and also of course replace the example.net domains with the parked domains you wish to redirect - the last one ends with just [NC], while all the rest have [OR,NC].

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}^example1.net$ [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}^example2.net$ [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}^example3.net$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING}^$
RewriteRule ^$ /index.php?page_id=1 [R=301,L]

Please note, for the above sample to work properly, your WordPress Address and Site Address settings under Settings → General should not have any www. prefix.

4.5 How to have more statistics?

This plugin provides a bunch of useful statistics that should be enough to know what is going on with your domains etc. If you need detailed statistics such as visitors' geographical diversity, device usage, etc. you can easily add Matomo to your website by following these steps.

  1. Download Matomo (previously Piwik) (https://matomo.org/) and install it at http://example.com/matomo for example.
  2. Use your primary domain name in the primary configuration wizard.
  3. Login to your Matomo administration back-end.
  4. Go to the Settings page by clicking your user name at the top right.
  5. Click the Tracking Code menu on the left.
  6. Check the Prepend the site domain to the page title when tracking (very important!)
  7. Copy the JavaScript Tracking Code and paste it somewhere before </body> in the footer.php of your theme.
  8. Wait for some visitors :)
  9. Go to the Matomo Dashboard (or login to Matomo)
  10. Navigate to Page Titles under the Actions tab, this is where you will see visit statistics per parked domains; the other tabs will tell you about browser, device usage, etc.

Do you know a WordPress plugin and\or software that can be used alongside this plugin to provide better domain-specific statistics? Please let us know about it!

4.6 Does it matter on which domain I'm putting my WordPress?

Not really but bear in mind your visitors can always find out the domain name which the WordPress is installed on by simply viewing the "source code" of the page.

4.7 How can I sell my domains fast?

Add fixed prices for your domains and invest more on social media, use "hashtags" such as #DomainNames, #DomainName, #Domains, for example, #LLLL for four-letters domains, etc.

5. Administration

The administration back-end of this plugin consists of several pages which provide you with almost everything you need to have a successful domain business, below we will explain what you should know about these pages.

5.1 Offers page

The Offers page provides a list of all offers made on all your domain names.

Filters:

Offers can be filtered by month, domain name and extensions using the lists at the top of the table and by clicking the email & IP addresses, domain names, referrers (if one exists),and dates (which filters by day) in the table.

Currencies:

If you have a domain name for a particular country that does not do business in US dollars, you can easily set the currency for the domain to other major world currencies.

Each day, the plugin connects to the European Central Bank website and retrieves the latest exchange rates for different currencies. All you have to do is to hover your mouse over the offers in currencies other than USD to see their estimated value! No need to go to google.com or xe.com every time to just check the USD value. :)

Referrer:

The Referrer column has two specific, almost unrelated jobs. Firstly, you should know that you can provide custom referring links such as "http://example.com/?difs_ref=Andy" to anybody (they do not need a user account) so that they can refer bidders to your website.

Second; there is the referring URL - this is the URL that brought the bidder to your domain, let's say "http://example.com/blog/these-fantastic-domains-are-up-for-sale-hurry-up". You can use this information to find out where the traffic to your domains comes from. You can use statistics plugins as well (most web hosts offer AwStats, which is awesome) however those statistics cannot tell you which offer was made as a result of which backlink, the referrer column does that! :)

CSV download:

A CSV export of the offers allows you to bring your data to spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc.

5.2 Domains page

This page contains a list of your domains.

Import:

You can either import a list of your domains via the "Import" form or wait for the Domains page to get populated automatically using the offers data (takes some time, depending on how fast each domain receives its first offer).

Highest Offer:

The highest offer for each domain name is calculated based on the estimated value of the offer in USD, and as currencies are automatically converted using current daily exchange rates, you can hover over each number to view the value converted to USD.

Registration & expiration dates:

The registration and expiration dates of domain names with TLDs that has publicly-accessible WHOIS services are added to the Domains page automatically. In addition, there are expiration warnings in the form of a label for the domain name and color change of the expiration date.

5.3 Statistics page

This page provides eight charts, probably enough to know what is going on but if you need more please read section 4.5 for how you can setup Matomo.

5.4 Shortcodes page

Contains a list of the available plugin Shortcodes together with descriptions for each parameter.

Please note, instead of Shortcodes you can use widgets or drag & drop page builder plugins such as WPBakery Visual Composer or SiteOrigin Panels.

5.5 Configuration page

This is probably the best part of this plugin, but you can probably just skip the lines below as all the settings on that page are self-explanatory too :)

Domain rewrite

Some domain names consist of more than one keyword, such as wordpress.org, it'd be useful to "camel-case" such names in order to ensure keywords are easily identifiable, like WordPress.org :)

Title

As the name implies, this option defines a title for your landing pages.
%domain% can be used as a token for the domain name, and you should leave this field empty if you prefer a dynamic title for the form, like "example.com Is for sale" (with "Is for sale" part being a translatable string, but if you customize the Title it won't be translatable).
Starting from v2.4, a new token was added, %domain_html%, which prints domain name wrapped in HTML so that it can be styled using CSS.

Description

You can put details about the history of the domain name and such; the %domain% token can be used in this field as well.
Starting from v2.4, a new token was added, %domain_html%, which prints domain name wrapped in HTML so that it can be styled using CSS.

Description <meta> tag

As the name implies, a description <meta> tag can be added (obviously to the <head>) using this feature.
Please read this article for how you can write a proper <meta> description: https://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description

Tags

Allows you to mark or classify your domains with tags.

Logo

Starting from v2.4, each domain can have a logo.

Domain facts

Adds several useful statistics about the domain, such as age, offer count, highest offer, etc.

The main domain is not for sale

By enabling this option the following widgets will be made hidden on your main domain:
Domain facts, Fixed price, All in one (except its domain list, search, and filters),Form, and Starting price.
These widgets however will stay the same: Title, Description, Tags, Search, Filters, Domain name, Custom HTML, Logo, Portfolio (domain list),Status.

Add name, phone, and comment

With these options enabled, bidders will be able to provide their name and phone number, and possibly write a few lines about their offer.
Please note, "comment" here is not the same thing as a WordPress post comment, it's just a private message sent to you, invisible to public.

Redirect on successful bid submission

Redirects the bidder once the form is submitted; use with caution!

Form route

By default, the form is located on the front page but if it is not located there for whatever reason, you can enter the URL of the page that contains the form so that domain name links from the domain list, form titles, and so on will lead to that URL instead of the front page.

Portfolio route

By default, the portfolio is located on the front page but if it is not located there for whatever reason, you can enter the URL to the page that contains the portfolio so that the search and filters widgets will redirect to that URL once submitted.

Custom HTML

Use this option to add JavaScript snippets, or Escrow.com buttons, etc.

Cron jobs

In order to calculate the domain "age" a WHOIS request has to be made for each domain name to get its registration and expiration dates, this is done in several Cron jobs.

E-mail each offer to the domain owner

Receive an email notification for each offer.

Custom "From:" Address

Please use this option only if you are sure of what you are doing!

By default, all the e-mails sent through your form use sender's e-mail address as the "From:" in the header of the e-mail(it requires your server to allow "relaying"),using this option you can set a different e-mail address for the "From:".

Sending e-mails without relaying

When a script hosted on your own site sends you an e-mail, the sender's e-mail address will be used as the "From:" address even though the e-mail has not actually been sent through the sender's e-mail server, this action is known as "relaying".

In order to minimize Spam, Phishing, online fraud, and so on and so forth many services, like DreamHost, iPage, GoDaddy, etc. either disable or limit the "relaying" feature, and require you to set the "From:" address of the e-mails you send from your own site to a trusted e-mail address; for example, one that you can use SMTP authentication with or one that belongs to your own site (for example contact@example.com if your site is example.com). By enabling this feature, the plugin looks at the e-mail addresses of the sender and recipient, the "Mail" and the "Custom From: Address" options, and decides what is best to be used as the "From:" address.

Please enable this option only if your server does not allow "relaying" or limits it to a very few email per hour or per day.

E-mail format

Most of the e-mails you receive every day have HTML tags in them, but due to security concerns this plugin does not allow HTML elements in the e-mails and sends them in "plain text" by default. This option allows you to change that and allow HTML.

E-mail verification

Sends a link to the bidders asking them to click it to verify their e-mail address.

Notifications for e-mail verifications

Sends an e-mail to the domain owner notifying them of verification of bidder's e-mail address.

SMTP Settings

This plugin supports SMTP, the details for which can be provided in this section.

Portfolio

You can either add a list of your domains manually or enable automatic population of the domain list using domains added to the "Domains" page.
There are also other options like inclusion of price, tags, etc and a domain list filter and so on and so forth.

Price

How do you want to sell your domain(s),to the highest price or a fixed-price? This is where you choose that.

Currency

This plugin automatically converts non-USD currencies to USD, so for example if you hover your mouse over a price in the Offers table that is in GBP you'll see how much it actually is worth in USD.

Starting price

Sets a minimum limit for offers. Obviously, not useful when "Fixed price" option is selected for the "Price" option.

Follow the highest offer for the starting price

Uses the highest offer for the domain instead of the starting price option.

Set an end date

Limits the bidding time; displays a message to the visitors when the time is past.

Status

"Open" to visitors and their offers.
"Closed", as in temporarily not accepting offers
"Sold" as in sold :)

CAPTCHA type

This plugin has an anti-Spam flood protection that blocks repetitive form submissions, but in addition to that, it offers two types of CAPTCHA solutions, the well-known and indeed cumbersome image CAPTCHA, and the totally invisible Honey-pot CAPTCHA.

E-mail and IP address blacklists

As the name implies you can blacklist e-mail and IP addresses by filling these two boxes.

Please note, IP blacklist feature is not meant to stop DDoS attacks, besides this blacklist does not cover your whole WordPress site, only the form this plugin provides.

Force this status to all the domains regardless of their own status

This is actually the only setting which cannot be configured on a per-domain basis, unlike all the rest.

This option let's you declare all the inventory of your domains as "Closed" (when there is a wholesale offer for example) or "Sold" and so on, it overrides the domain-level configurations of the "Status" setting; use with caution!

Offer pruning

Automatically prunes old offers.

Automatic updates

Register your copy via htmlpie.com/register using your purchase code to let WordPress update this plugin just like it updates free plugins hosted on WordPress.org.

Any questions?