discuss Your HAND REGD & DROPPED DOMAINS success stories!

[NameOmnia]

Hi all

the purpose of this thread, as the title says, is to share with each other our hand regd and dropped domains success stories.

We debated a gazillion times about the viability and the profitability of the expired domains and I think it will be useful for everyone ( especially for those who are new in this industry ) to see how many of us made some money by selling a domain that we hand registered or that was a dropped.

I ask you not to be cryptic though, so please say what the name/s was/were ( maybe hide some characters if you need to ), if it/they was/were hand regd, a dropped, GD closeout etc and the selling price.

I really look forward to seeing your success stories guys & gals!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

Sara

 

[McDuke]

2x post

 

[NameOmnia]

Guys please, if you can, write the names or the niche.
It is not helpful for anyone otherwise.

 

[Soofi]

Here is my success story about a backordered domain name where there were only 2 bidders in the dropcatching auction and no one else thought of it worthy a penny. Repost from Report Completed Domain Name Sales thread.

Hack/NYC.com $895 (via DNS)

Purchased a month ago through DropCatching auction for $60. Second bidder went upto $40 and caved out once he/she saw that I was not stopping.

Received an offer of $100 through DNS lander stating "I want to buy the domain if your not using it for promotion of OWASP Foundation (owasp/org) educational events."

Required liquidity, and felt like doing a good deed with a low asking price hence quoted "For non profit, we can offer this domain to them at a reasonably discounted price of $895." Otherwise, I had been quoting high 4-5 figure asking price lately without any sale

As soon as I quoted my price, DNS broker initiated an escrow transaction which means buyer (proactiverisk.com on behalf of charity org) had already given some sort of offer range to the broker to work upon.

Broker also mentioned in an email to buyer "I was able to get your offer of $895 USD accepted", which definitely indicates that I left some money on table but whatever it is worth, I am satisfied for whatever it sold for.

P.S. Sara we need members to share full blown stories of their sales or otherwise you lose the charm of the thread!

 

[NameOmnia]

P.S. Sara we need members to share full blown stories of their sales or otherwise you lose the charm of the thread!

I do agree with you and I have asked anyone to do so but so many here seem to work for CIA..

 

[Soofi]

I do agree with you and I have asked anyone to do so but so many here seem to work for CIA..

In that case, you should mention proper details about the thread and whosoever doesnt follow, report their posts whatsoever.

Good luck!

 

[DomainGnome]

POS? Point of Sale? Piece of ___?

Yes, Point of Sale, but the other was very funny, didn't think of that when I abbreviated!

I know that some are eager to hear the whole story, but perhaps I speak for more than myself when I say it is difficult because I wish to give some degree of anonymity to the buyer so soon after the sale. Since it was a private sale self-brokered through a lead on DNS, and not through one of the usual marketplaces, it will not be reported. However, I think it demonstrates that hand-reg'd domains, especially those taken at the onset of a new or changing technology, can have a good potential for sale down the road.

 

[Soofi]

Trends definitely work on hand-reg's bud

Yes, Point of Sale, but the other was very funny, didn't think of that when I abbreviated!

I know that some are eager to hear the whole story, but perhaps I speak for more than myself when I say it is difficult because I wish to give some degree of anonymity to the buyer so soon after the sale. Since it was a private sale self-brokered through a lead on DNS, and not through one of the usual marketplaces, it will not be reported. However, I think it demonstrates that hand-reg'd domains, especially those taken at the onset of a new or changing technology, can have a good potential for sale down the road.

 

[xtremex]

Great Stories. Really Inspiring

Your sales gives me the insight that domain which are in demand are still in dropped/ expiring domains list. but you guys could see the potential of that domains. May be me itself saw that domains in the list, which you were hand regged and sold for hundreds or thousands.

Friends can you give us few tips, how to choose the domain or what are the factors in selecting domains? and ofcourse how are you selling most of your domains?( most important ).
Listing in any market place or contacting end users?

 

[NameOmnia]

Personally I have my domains listed in more that one marketplace and for many of my sales I have been contacted by the buyer.

 

[Soofi]

Well, for most of your names, buyer may not come through so you will have to reach out as well, to gage interest in your not-so-wanted names.

I did exactly the same with one of the names that I picked up from this forum for around a buck and with about 10-15 end user emails through Google/LinkedIn etc, I was able to sell it for $250. I shall announce the name and negotiation process once deal closes!

 

[NameOmnia]

Don't let the thread die guys...come on don't be shy!

 

[discobull]

Just closed my first deal of the year. It's a Chinese domain that I sold via direct contact from the buyer for $1,800 and purchased for $14 via godaddy expired auctions. It's in escrow at dn.com and fully paid for, but since dn.com is now closed for the weekend the deal won't complete until Monday. I'll publish the name once the buyer takes possession.

Happy New Year to everyone!

 

[cloudguy]

Where is DN.com based. Is it a chinese platform? I've never used them so i wonder how does it work when they send funds via international wire transfer to Europe. Please share if someone used them from Europe.

 

[discobull]

Where is DN.com based. Is it a chinese platform? I've never used them so i wonder how does it work when they send funds via international wire transfer to Europe. Please share if someone used them from Europe.

Yes, they're based in China. They're the same company as 4.cn. I use them for Chinese customers because it's apparently difficult for them to pay in USD. With DN.com the customer pays in RMB, but I get paid in US dollars. DN.com pays me via wire to my US bank account, and I assume the process is the same for Europe. It takes a couple of days to receive the money and DN.com deducts a wiring fee to send funds ( $18 to the US ).

 

[Miks]

Have sold a lot of hand reg, and picked up from expired .co.uk cannot revel many of them due to agreement I had with buyers or so, but here is one small example I will share.

Hand registered MediaMind.co.uk in May last year, and sold it two weeks later for £ 50, guess name is worth much more as buyer was not end user and probably will make huge profit later on, but I needed money at the time and actually managed to register many more domains I kept on selling true the last year.

Personally every single domains I have had so far been found between expired domains or been hand registered and I have been making 3 - 5 sales every month, ever since I got in the game, in $ xx - $ xxx region.

Plus some domains I am looking to sell again actually make decant revenue parking too, so for me it has been - Win : Win..

Started domaining beginning of last year with $ 10 budget now I have close to 100 names and I manage to earn decant $ xxx revenue on a side.

Looking to step it up in 2015 and get into .com game more and hopefully make my first $ xxxx sale!

Let me just say this is great thread, great inspiration and keep it up guys and I wish luck for everybody in 2015!

 

[NameOmnia]

So far over 83% of voters think hand registered and dropped domains are a viable business to pursue...

We can't wait to read some more success stories.

 

[discobull]

Yes, they're based in China. They're the same company as 4.cn. I use them for Chinese customers because it's apparently difficult for them to pay in USD. With DN.com the customer pays in RMB, but I get paid in US dollars. DN.com pays me via wire to my US bank account, and I assume the process is the same for Europe. It takes a couple of days to receive the money and DN.com deducts a wiring fee to send funds ( $18 to the US ).

Ok, the domain transfer completed successfully. The domain in question was B o c a i G o n g s i ( dot ) com . As I recall, when I initially purchased it the translator was telling me that this was Chinese for "bookie" or "bookmaker", but when I looked it up just now google is now saying it means either "spinach company" or "betting company". It's obviously a very versatile domain.

 

[Kate]

So far over 83% of voters think hand registered and dropped domains are a viable business to pursue...

I think you can still catch a good dropped domain on the occasion, that was overlooked by others. This is true in ccTLDs also, especially when droplists are not publicly available (less competition, fewer eyeballs).
What is not viable in 2014 imho is relying 100% on handregged domains.

 

[nomen]

What is not viable in 2014 imho is relying 100% on handregged domains.

Maybe, maybe not...

However, I bought my last aftermarket domain about a year ago and have sold since a ton of hand regs (okay, not a ton, but around 20 or so). In 2013 I sold over 30. All decent sales. And I would have sold even more had I not screwed up a couple of make offer negotiations. With ZERO outbound marketing. And I've never had more than 250 domains.

But yes. As I want step up my game, I will look into aftermarket domains again this year. And definitely gonna start buying more ccTLDs and more non-English names as I feel more comfortable doing it now. And definitely start doing outbound marketing even though I hate it.

One thing about my hand regs: I'm very disciplined and do a freaking s#/% ton of whois look ups per day. And even more research. Which of course takes a lot of time. A LOT of time. But I love it.

In the end, I'd say you're right. Not that it can't be done but it's extremely time consuming and probably just not the best strategy. As I look further, mixing aftermarket and hand regs seems like the best alternative for me.

 

[SlimPickins]

bought a domain on GD expiring auctions 2 years ago for $21 (C#!#J#!#Automotive) and sold it for 1600 euros (approx $2K) on Sedo a few weeks ago. Funny thing is I had already, at least twice, reached out to the eventual buyer with a buy now price considerably lower but never heard back. I had contacted a few other possible buyers and almost sold it for $150 but the buyer backed out and I attempted to sell it for < $50 here on NP a few times too. But, glad it didn't sell and eventually the buyer made a 1000 euro offer on sedo that was already a great offer... I could see they were just recently registered on sedo and their country of origin matched what I assumed the likely best buyer would be... so I countered with 1600 euros and they accepted. Some people might say "hey they offered 1000, why counter so low?!" but I was already happy with the ROI, didn't want to risk it being "cheaper'" to just pursue the domain with a lawyer instead of paying some outlandish price and quite simply didn't want to blow the sale.

A few years ago I had a company reach out via a domain registrar broker with a $1K offer on one of my better domains which had whois privacy and I was developing (really) and did NOT want to sell (unless an absolute ridiculous to refuse offer came in) and I answered as such. A few days later they reached out through ANOTHER broker AT the registrar the domain was at (who could obviously reach out to me directly) but with the same 1K offer. I again refused. Then a week later I received an email from a domain lawyer representing the still not known company asking if the domain is for sale..... In all of this they never asked "how much would it take?" or raised their offer. And, AFTER they filed a TM on the domain term I was able to figure out who they were and they DEFINITELY could have afforded a much higher offer but, despite going through 2 brokers, an expensive lawyer and registering the TMs they did not.... which showed me that even BIG companies sometimes make their best offer straight off and it either is accepted or not but they are not necessarily going to reach deep in the pockets to "make it happen" no matter what.

So, with this sale I decided the roi was good enough, with no legal risk, and I helped do my part to show that not all domainers are unreasonable blood suckers but rather CAN also be reasonable in pricing

great thread and nice shares of success so far!

 

[onebrand.co]

To be perfectly honest, I totally bungled my way into a sale with respect to that cloud domain. When I first found it, I saw $ signs because the domain was a perfect match for offerings by some big players ( eg Unisys ). So I sent out a mailing to a dozen large corporations and waited for the money to come pouring in, but I got a big 0 instead. I then sent out a second mailing to a bunch of mid sized companies, but the results were the same: zippo. Feeling disheartened, I listed it as a GD premium in the low $2k range which also yielded nothing. Eventually the domain expired and I was struggling to decide whether to renew it or not. By the time I made a decision to keep it, I would have had to pay GD an $80 penalty to hang on to it, so I just moved it elsewhere. The problem is that I totally forgot to relist it for sale after moving it. I even forgot to change the nameservers, so the domain was pointing nowhere. A month later I got an email from the buyer who had looked up my whois info and when I saw that the email was coming from a company with a strong 2 character dot com, I figured they must have deep pockets so the price immediately went up to $10k. They countered with $7k, to which I hemmed and hawed a bit before finally accepting. Essentially, this was a case where my incompetence paid off.

Nice..."Essentially, this was a case where my incompetence paid off."...this phrase is pleasant to ears :D

 

[Mohammad]

I have sold over $10k this year in hand regged domains, all in one niche.

Where did you sell them?

 

[StoneRoses]

Where did you sell them?

3 on Godaddy 1 on Afternic

 

[Ian Goh]

Handreg Free-backup/com 27 days ago from a deleted list.

Saw that freebackup.com sold for 45k, thought maybe the hyphen version has some value.

Listed on flippa and sold for $56

 

[NameOmnia]

Well done!
Success is built upon numerous small steps
..and hopefully some big ones!