How many domain names should I buy?

[andrew111]

I joined yesterday the forum, but I've read many topics here on Namepros before deciding to do so.

I would like to classify the domaining community into 4 major categories: newbies, 0-3 years of experience in domaining, professionals - 3-5 years, experts - 5-10 years, and veterans - 10+ years. This being said, I'd like to know for each category the percentage of sales against the remaining portfolio. That is because I don't know how many domain names I should buy to start with.

Also, it could be an interesting fact that the members of this forum could provide their age in this industry and the return of investment which they gathered along.

Let's start the evaluation.

 

[salm81]

Hi I'm not that expert but I bought couple of domains a ~two years ago and last year , I bought ti for dferent reasons (making PNB) which didn't goes well and result were not good . i spend ~300$ on first domains list I bought fro Godaddy Aucation , and spend $290 on nexet year and dose domains are still hard to sell for me .
For brands it's deffrent story I thing it's matter of luck somethimes and good catch .
I think most people here are using automatic tools to filter hug number of droped domain and then what domain worth to buy .

 

[cocaseco]

There are no right answers. There is no magic number of domains to buy. There are
"Veterans" who own just a handful of names, and "newbies" who own hundreds, perhaps thousands. If you are seriously going to be into domains for the long run, you should invest in the best names you can without putting your ability to pay the rent in jeopardy. Buying better quality of names will make for a quicker sales cycle, but you might only be able to afford one or two names. You could by 100 hand regs and maybe sell a few, but in general it will take awhile. Sometimes it takes years to sell a name. If you see a name that you like and looks good based on your research, buy it.

I doubt anyone is going to provide you with their own profit margins, or any substantial financial data.

 

[aramyus]

More important than the number of domains is to have a positive cash flow every year. Let say you buy 5/10 domains for ~ 500$ (your initial investment). Don't buy anymore domains until you have sold a few of them.

One more tips: don't buy domains at reg fee, but rather at moderate price auctions.

 

[andrew111]

Thank you, cocaseco, moderation, gut feeling e.g. good skills and luck in detecting better and better names.

aramyus, do you mean planning a sort of yearly balance? I find it very hard to predict such thing right now.
I don't know how to budget this stuff since I have no prior experience. I don't even know how much a domain name should be priced.

I love brandables and I'm still studying the auctioning procedures. Also, I don't understand the rage against handregs.

 

[aramyus]

aramyus, do you mean planning a sort of yearly balance?

I suggest you start with a modest initial investment (500$ for example) and you do NOT buy long-term speculative domains nor reg-fee domains (at least for a while).

Before buying a domain, make sure you have ideas of whom and how you are going to sell it.

As soon as you buy it, try to sell it quickly (with a profit). Of course, you may not be able to sell all your domains with a profit, but refrain from buying more than your initial investment until you have a positive cash flow (with my example it means you will never have risked more than 500$)

When you get more experienced in appraising and selling, you can try more risky investments.

There is a risk with brandable domains because there are zillions of decent domains available for reg-fee. That's 100s times more than the number of new ventures created each year. Your chances to sell a brandable are rather small unless you know what you are doing. I've checked BB for a few months and I can see that most of them remain unsold for months. It does not mean that they don't sell a few, but in percentage it remains a small fraction of their portfolio. I'd bet most of those they sold have changed hands a few times.

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

It's more a thing of quality than a thing of quantity.
The better the name/s, the better the game/s.
It's allways good to remember the saying 'less is more' (even this saying is relative).
And of course it depends on your financial situation, time and your willingness to invest with risk.

 

[anon22339]

Skip domain names entirely. Invest in precious metals, oil, and gas. These are all at record lows right now. Buy them low, sell them high later.

 

[Dominic Belley]

The quantity is irrelevent.

From my own experience (7 months), I think as a beginner I would advise you to "play" with liquid domains only at this time. Currently 4L and 6N could be a good affordable starting point.

The positive side is that you will not have to search for the buyers. The buyers will come to you. Your money won't be committed for long, you can make small profits frequently and redo the pattern again.

Not only it will slowly increase your bankroll, it will also quickly give you the feel of buying/selling domains, interacting with others, make contacts and build your reputation. It will also give you the chance to get more familiar with the different registrars, the how-to transfer domains, PayPal, Escrow, etc. All the components we use daily.

I think for the first months this is a good strategy. Then you can experiment other strategies for less liquid domains.

I wish you success!

 

[biggie]

The quantity is irrelevant.

Hi

in contrast, the quantity is relevant, from a management and a profit standpoint.

the quantity of names you have to renew, quantity of names that earn revenue and quantity of names that have received offers in the past, can all be a note of consideration, when deciding whether to accept an offer or not on a specific domain within that portfolio.

that is what builds leverage.

I started with $500 credit card/ in 2002. hand-registering domains, buying from other resellers, backordering, and purchasing domains that earn parking income.

quick profits are cool for experience, but waiting for right offers often yields highest returns.


stick with .com

imo...

 

[andrew111]

So far, my list goes like this:

1. moderation and patience - thanks to cocaseco, biggie
2. fixed budget and positive cashflow - thanks to aramyus
3. fewer handregs or brandables - thanks to aramyus
4. quality, no quantity - thanks to kingof.top
5. more contacts - thanks to DoumB21
6. quick flips - thanks to aramyus, biggie
7. stick with .com - thanks to biggie

 

[Branded Domains]

Quality domains with $1000 to invest...go for quality than quantity...

 

[infosec3]

Quality must be the main focus. I know veteran domain investors who never go beyond 300 names in their portfolio and focus on quality, making a decent amount of income.

The key is to know what quality is or if the business is profitable. Even if the names your own are not really high or medium quality names, you should consider whether it is worth owning them.

As others have said, there can't be a magic number of names. The question is, What am I doing with the ones (few or many) I have?