discuss It has come to my attention

[Want2learn]

The consensus is stop hand registering names! I just read 99% of hand regs are worthless. Even if that is hyperbole, the broader point is most are not valuable. I have no issues with that sentiment or opinion. I probably would agree that hand regs from recent times are not all that valuable!

I wanted to start a discussion though about the topic. I am about 7g in. Not all hand regs!! That is a lot of money. If I could go back to 12/04/16 I would have bought 10 names or so from aftermarket! Fortunately I am an educator so my livelihood does not depend on this. From my perspective, I made several critical mistakes early on. I will say I registered for 2 years almost 100 domains. I probably added privacy to about 50-75 of them. That alone is probably close to an additional 1100ish dollars. Complete waste. As a newbie then and now, it does irk me that GoDaddy would allow me to register names that are clearly trademark concerns, though I had no idea that was an issue with domains . . . And then when I go to list them for sale they reject them bc of trademark concerns. GoDaddy is wrong for that.

If I posted my domains today, regardless of what you think . . .they would be 100x worse without you all here at NamePros, and that is a fact! I can't go back I can only go forward. I can learn from my mistakes. I will say this, and I mean no disrespect to the Pros that do this well and make money. No disrespect to anyone, but especially those Pros. I think that some times there is a lack of imagination and creativity here. And by here, I mean with domainers broadly. I have some terrible names. Where I probably differ with most here, is I see a lot of improvement in my names. If I mess up and hand reg 100 names and they all suck, like really suck, that is a loss of $599 with eWallhost. That isn't nothing! If I take that same $599, I can buy 1-2 nice 4L. And they are liquid, so lets say I purchased 2 4Ls for 599, I think chances are a year from then I am safely in the 500-600 range minimum. So it is either no loss or -100 . . . and in year 2 it is $12 to renew! With those hand regs worse case scenario that is realistic is they all drop and I'm out 599. That is a big hit. And if say 20 are decent now, 80 drop and renew 20 at 120, so I'm 719 in. Since Im completely speculating here I won't say 20 sold for 100 and I live happily ever after. Lets say 5 sell for 100 a piece. That almost recoups first year.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that at the least that has been my thought process. So like last night I was excited as hell to reg BikeCosts.com. I could not believe it was available. I picked up a few other bike related domains. Shocked. Today I picked up cash4smartphones.com. Im not saying I am selling all of these for XXXX or even high XXX. And maybe for you all, it isn't worth your time if you can't make XXXX or XXXXX on a domain. For me I would be disappointed for 1XX for the domains I mentioned above. I think 4-5XX is where I feel like a success on those specific names. 3xx eh. less than 3xx, still a profit, but disappointed!

Have I made sense, even if you think Im nuts?

 

[frank-germany]

The sales (1-1.5% if you know what you are doing) need to cover renewals and provide you with reasonable profits..

thats why you should not register domains
that you can't imagine to sell for at least $1K USD

it makes no sense to sell a domain for $15 USD even if it was handregged
your life goes by

 

[boker]

What attracts many to domaining is the perception that one can easily make huge returns compared to other investments. Yes, handregs do occasionally sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, but most handregs do not work out very well. If you handreg 500 domains at $10 each and sell one for $300 net of commissions, you cannot get too excited - especially when next year's renewals approach. Do you spend another $5k to renew those 499 domains or drop them all to contain your losses? That is when you realize that handregs and new TLDs and Chinese domains are not so cheap after all. If you continue to renew low-quality domains for several years, that money could have been better utilized to obtain a small number of quality domains which do not cost much to renew and wait for the right buyer.

Learn to be picky about your domain investments and quickly identify your mistakes. Renewing bad domains will quickly end your domaining career as you can only lose so much capital before there is nothing left to pay renewals.

I think that who is doing mainly handregs in 2017 will not pay an average of 10$ per name. My average for handregs in the last year was around 3.5$, so 500 handregs will be roughly 2000$. If you try to diversify your portofolio with geo, brandables, emd's and even some ngtld's, will be hard not to make some revenue to recover at least your investment. I think that if you are new you should price everything in the 100$-500$ range(with the risk to leave some money on the table), list them on most marketplaces and even do some outbound, you can go wrong, if you spend first a few good weeks to learn how things are in domaining world.

 

[Marshall]

Me:
I will not hand reg...
I will not hand reg...
I will not hand reg...
I will not hand reg...

Notification:
"Here Comes the .COM SALE you've been waiting for! "


Me :
"GOTTA REG. EM ALL!!!!"



( That's me when I heard .coms are available for around $3.5)

Btw, Just lightening up the mood a bit.
Keep up the good work @Want2learn

 

[AndyM]

I've just skimmed over this thread so I'm sorry if I'm repeating anyone else's comments. Namesilo are normally $8.99 for .com but are $5.99 at the moment (don't know how long for) and they offer free privacy.

Do you think we'll ever see godaddy do this? I don't think so!

 

[Marshall]

I've just skimmed over this thread so I'm sorry if I'm repeating anyone else's comments. Namesilo are normally $8.99 for .com but are $5.99 at the moment (don't know how long for) and they offer free privacy.
Show attachment 61331
Do you think we'll ever see godaddy do this? I don't think so!

Don't think GoDaddy will ever do this. Btw if someone is not keen on privacy then, .coms are available for $3.5 at Nettigritty at the moment (don't think it's going to continue for long as they were previously available for $1.7). Though the offer is only for Indian Citizens, but if someone needs .coms then me or some other Indian could help. Cheers

 

[DnEbook]

Last time I mention this ..... buy established quality and avoid the hype of certain threads, pissing contests are over-rated

 

[lock]

I am very comfortable hand registering what I do.

 

[smartwebby]

Just like all people are not the same all domainers are not the same. With experience you learn how to pick the Hand Regs too.

My advice would be to not fret too much about all the initial domains you registered (and will drop unless you are developing any with real potential)... think of their cost as your 'tuition fees' in learning domaining the hands on way.

Clear your portfolio and thinking, then apply the lessons learned through all of it. Like someone said you need to know how to sell and not just buy domains.

 

[Recons.Com]

Thank you for your feedback! I don't expect to register abc.com. I don't expect to register iwtay dot com and boom it's valuable just bc I regd it. Btw I just randomly typed letters so no idea if iwtay means anything. But I do think BikeCosts regardless of the past is valuable. And I'll admit that is probably one of the better ones! Which is nice since it is recent! I expect fTow dot com an after market purchase to be super solid. Come on Frank or Fred the towing company! I expect ReR8.com to do something. I think eeToe.com is quite clever for a wide foot niche. My guess is you will say hand reg, 300 tops, hand reg, and hand reg.

We will see!

You are confusing BikeCosts with BikePrices.

While, I was sure the latter is taken, I still whoised it and yes, it is regged since 2003.

Because, you can make a website on the latter that compares prices on different/same bikes and gets some affiliate earnings, while not many people are really interested how much their bike COSTS TO MAKE.

iPhone cost is under $50, iPhone price is $700+. I hope you see the difference.

 

[Want2learn]

You are confusing BikeCosts with BikePrices.

While, I was sure the latter is taken, I still whoised it and yes, it is regged since 2003.

Because, you can make a website on the latter that compares prices on different/same bikes and gets some affiliate earnings, while not many people are really interested how much their bike COSTS TO MAKE.

iPhone cost is under $50, iPhone price is $700+. I hope you see the difference.

Thank you for the feedback. When I regd BikeCosts what I was actually thinking wasn't prices as you described, but the costs associated with owning a bike. I do see the differences you mentioned though!

 

[AndyM]

There is nothing wrong with a hand reg if it's a good one I've flipped plenty had reg's for profit...... and loss.

 

[namezest]

If you are actually developing a domain/brand you are FAR better off with something never registered and it takes time time time to do so successfully. You can always try your luck in pre reg but that is a very competitive area which obviously depends on the extension coming out. .web I predict will be a hot one but it may get expensive in pre reg.

 

[GoKaizen]

It often seems this is how HugeDomains/DropCatch, Mann/DomainMarket, BuyDomains operates.

It's just blind speculation.

Big players register and drop domains too.

 

[bludex]

I don't hand reg, I brain reg.

 

[bobbarato]

Handreg can still make sense if you're going to develop or if it's in an emerging area or if you're really really good. Like me and my SexyKumquatVrArOctoDrone69G_AI-nanobot.com $$$ baby!

 

[Cannuck]

I bought some domains about 10 years ago, I let them go, but happy to see they are being put to good use. The emerging industry in my new portfolio won't likely trigger til next July, tho it ought to now.

Fast forward a decade, looking back and prognosticating the future, I shot for the moon, but took a wrong turn at Venus. Emotions can surely cloud judgement. I have some winner hand-regs, but due to volume of domains, they will end up costing a bundle.

 

[dordomai]

The consensus is stop hand registering names! I just read 99% of hand regs are worthless. Even if that is hyperbole, the broader point is most are not valuable. I have no issues with that sentiment or opinion. I probably would agree that hand regs from recent times are not all that valuable!

I wanted to start a discussion though about the topic. I am about 7g in. Not all hand regs!! That is a lot of money. If I could go back to 12/04/16 I would have bought 10 names or so from aftermarket! Fortunately I am an educator so my livelihood does not depend on this.

that is what usually happens and it is predictable and members do usually warn newcomers. the problem is that when you are telling them they should try to stay away from handregs and their names are junk they often take it personally and then you are labeled as a hater.

yes you can make a profit handregging names and yes you can make money trading forex but in 90% of cases people will lose money.

95+% of handregs are junk, probably 99% of handregs of newcomers.

 

[Haykay2005]

Brandbucket sales report is a typical example of handreg relevance. I see no reason for argument

 

[Fancy.domains]

I hand reg about one recently dropped .com a month, in average. But before buying a dropped name, I research statistics and history.

I have made a profit from this. Not to the point that I am getting rich, but still it's profitable.

 

[Mister Funsky]

All registrations were hand regged at one time so don't fall into the idea that only names on auction (or other aftermarkets) are the way to go...I've seen lots of moronic prices paid for auctioned names that will go nowhere but down the bad investment hole.

But, as someone else said, the really super names were picked up long ago and rarely drop or make it to auction so hand regging is a tough row to hoe.

I've been where you are so don't feel bad...it is a learning curve and 60 days before your renewals are due, spend some time with each name and look at how many hits it has (assuming you have them parked) and think about the end user for that name. If you can not think of someone to market it to immediately then let it go...try putting the name here on auction starting at a very low number and try to recoup some of your investment (one dollar is better than no dollar).

I played this game a long time ago and did fairly well...and vowed not to do it again (I did hold onto some names) but when the 'market' began to expand again (china, india) it drew me back in. I too bought a lot of names I should have skipped and within the last 6 months have let hundreds go. Only about 2% were picked up by other domainers or end users.

I probably added privacy to about 50-75 of them. That alone is probably close to an additional 1100ish dollars

For low cost registrations without worrying about codes and for free privacy, I use epik...there is not an additional charge if you choose to make your contact information private.

If you think of a name and it is available, odds are it will still be available in 24 hours. Open a word processing program and start a file for each day/time you are in the mood to register...go back in a day or so and take another look at the name(s)...this will give the 'hurry...buy now' impulse time to subside.

 

[Kuffy]

Deleted .com Domains (About 65,846 Domains)

That's yesterdays count. If 99% of those names are worthless ( and they probably are ), that leaves 658 names that are brain regs. I don't need that many new domains every day, so I left 655 for you guys.

 

[karmaco]

Most hand regs are valued at 90 to 120 right after you register it at least at the value checker I use. Hand regs get a bad rap here but everything was a hand reg at one point. If it's a good name it doesn't matter if it's 3 months old or 20 years old. It matters to domainers and investors but not to typical end user. Many dropped names get scooped right back up after they fall those are hand regs too.

 

[Justin Matmor]

For every poor quality hand reg I can show an equivalent poor quality aged domain. It is all about the quality of the domain - not about the age of the domain. I have recently sold 3 hand regs for x,xxx each at BrandBucket. So anyone that thinks hand regs are a waste of money needs to research more. There are still many gems out there.

 

[bobbarato]

I know of a hand reg, 7 letters, less than 3 weeks old, currently at auction with highest bid $3500...

 

[Haykay2005]

I know of a hand reg, 7 letters, less than 3 weeks old, currently at auction with highest bid $3500...

What's the name?may be a dropcatch