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The crazy period with Domaining

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GeorgeQuang

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People now become crazy with their money. Not only HugeDomains but also some strangers.
They burn their money everyday with non-profitable price from NameJet to DropCatch, from GoDaddy to Dynadot.
Don't need to give some examples, all of us see those crazy guys with crazy prices everyday.
DO you think that this period will continue in long-term ?
I could not buy names with those factors.
Last year, bought 3-5 names/day.
This year, bought 0.5 -2 names/day
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
The industry is undergoing part of that boom-bust cycle that any goes through, really. The world's economy is doing pretty well for the most part, and that leaves more people with disposable income. Some of that capital makes its way into domains.

Unfortunately, we're due a recession here in the US at some point, and since we're all so interconnected, it will likely affect other parts of the world as well. Or vice versa, as the case may be. So, over the long run, I think some of the trends will slow. It's always interesting to see what sold (and for what) in the 2005-2009 time period versus what it sold for in the 2010-2015 frame versus the past few years.

(This is where I say: Back in my day, we didn't have so many stinkin' gTLDS...)

I took a hiatus of a few years myself after being mostly a hobbyist that made great high school and college money, and boy have things changed. And they'll change again. We just all have to adapt. The only thing that stays the same these days is change.
 
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Many buyers are basically paying irrational prices for anything even halfway decent.
I don't think the math makes sense long term.

Overall though there is more competition than ever.
End user demand has not really gone up in my view, just investor demand.

I don't really use GoDaddy because of the competition and process. It is a waste of time for me.

On NameJet.com you have the usual bidders, and an endless supply of noob money that constantly flows in.

It is extremely hard to get a direct backorder anymore. Even in low bidder auctions there are several bidders who will run relatively marginal domains up.

There are just not a lot of buying opportunities at the moment when you factor in the prices and slow turnover even for quality domains.

Brad
 
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I don't think this period will continue long term. A lot of bidders are really overpaying these days. A lot of buys being made these days are going to look particularly bad once there is a downturn in reseller activity. You could get a lot more value for your $ as recently as dec-jan! (though I must admit to paying a lot more than what I should have for some domains in recent months as well, it's easy to get caught up in the market and see the crazy prices as "normal").

Prices started reaching really crazy levels at the same time as the aftermarket (end user sales) took off in a big way this year. Feb-March this year have been incredible months for end user sales. And coincidentally, as everyone started making a lot more money off sales, auction prices shot through the roof (up from already pretty high prices). Most domainers want to re-invest their profits right away. So the irrational bidding wars we're seeing in reseller auctions right now are fueled by unusually strong aftermarket sales.

As soon as aftermarket sales slow down again, for example due to a recession in a big economy (US, CN, etc.) that affects the rest of the world, or just due to a general slowdown in the aftermarket, or due to something "distracting" domainers, such as crypto did, I think we'll see prices decrease again in reseller auctions.

Aftermarket sales are booming right now and reseller auctions are overpriced as a result. It's a good time to move as many names as you can, buy names only in the few instances where you can still get value for the price you're paying, and otherwise save most sales proceeds for when prices return to more reasonable levels.

As long as crazy auction prices are a result of strong aftermarket sales I hope we'll continue to see crazy auction prices for some time:) I'd rather sell a lot of domains to end users than be able to pick up a lot of reseller domains for cheap due to a lack of aftermarket sales. The two seldom occur at the same time, unfortunately.
 
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Many buyers are basically paying irrational prices for anything even halfway decent.
I don't think the math makes sense long term.

Overall though there is more competition than ever.
End user demand has not really gone up in my view, just investor demand.

I don't really use GoDaddy because of the competition and process. It is a waste of time for me.

On NameJet.com you have the usual bidders, and an endless supply of noob money that constantly flows in.

It is extremely hard to get a direct backorder anymore. Even in low bidder auctions there are several bidders who will run relatively marginal domains up.

There are just not a lot of buying opportunities at the moment when you factor in the prices and slow turnover even for quality domains.

Brad
As a domainer, we HAVE TO get names before selling them in the future.
It has been 3 days since my last win in auctions.
So funny to see how people get crazy in domain.
It's better to me to get another part-time jobs as the preventive cash-flow.
 
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same here, im not getting into a cock fight with some newb who has money to burn.

im not getting all the names i want or the volume i used too, so im just cherry picking the names i want at a good price.

the great thing about domain drops is there are always thousands of names dropping everyday, so i'll just wait for the next day if i can't get a few today and so on...

if you wait around long enough, you will see some of the names that were scooped up back on the expired auction lists, LMFAO
 
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if you wait around long enough, you will see some of the names that were scooped up back on the expired auction lists, LMFAO
Exactly. It's sometimes so nice feeling to see in the drop lists domains that went via crazy auctions a year ago.
 
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same here, im not getting into a cock fight with some newb who has money to burn.
If you look at bidder handles (at NJ, SN) and WHOIS after auction end (at GD, where they don't have bidder handles) it's largely the usual suspects that have been bidding day in and day out for years that are driving up the prices, rather than newbies. The spending power of the majority of newbies is minuscule compared with that of large portfolio holders, and while newbies with $ do materialize every now and then, they usually don't last long, because they don't have a pre-exsiting portfolio to sustain their buying long term. The crazy prices we're seeing now are due to established domainers, not newbies imo.
 
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Exactly. It's sometimes so nice feeling to see in the drop lists domains that went via crazy auctions a year ago.
Whenever I see a domain that fetched a crazy price a year earlier drop, it's usually backordered by a bunch of people and then bid up to a crazy price once again in the dropcatch auction.
 
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If you look at bidder handles (at NJ, SN) and WHOIS after auction end (at GD, where they don't have bidder handles) it's largely the usual suspects that have been bidding day in and day out for years that are driving up the prices, rather than newbies. The spending power of the majority of newbies is minuscule compared with that of large portfolio holders, and while newbies with $ do materialize every now and then, they usually don't last long, because they don't have a pre-exsiting portfolio to sustain their buying long term. The crazy prices we're seeing now are due to established domainers, not newbies imo.

Since there is intense competition between established domainers, who obviously have funds on hand to invest in these crazy prices. I think prices will continue to rise until they come to their senses. Which I don't see happening in the foreseeable future (say 1 year at least). I think it's going to be something catastrophic, like HugeDomains business model not being viable proposition. I think they have in fact greatly contributed to this bubble we are seeing, because their business model buys what appears to be poor quality domains and slaps a $2000+ price tag on the domain. You cannot even negotiate with them. If you make an offer on a domain, their price goes up. Many other big players are now emulating this "kind of" model. Even I do the same. My minimum asking price has gone up significantly in the last year from $1k to $2k. On the same domains.

PS: I quoted 1 of HD domains in another thread. HarryAndHisBucketFulOfDynosaurs.com $2495 Unless I'm missing something. This domain is worth exactly $0. Which is 1 valuation Estibot got right :)
 
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If you look at bidder handles (at NJ, SN) and WHOIS after auction end (at GD, where they don't have bidder handles) it's largely the usual suspects that have been bidding day in and day out for years that are driving up the prices, rather than newbies. The spending power of the majority of newbies is minuscule compared with that of large portfolio holders, and while newbies with $ do materialize every now and then, they usually don't last long, because they don't have a pre-exsiting portfolio to sustain their buying long term. The crazy prices we're seeing now are due to established domainers, not newbies imo.

im not saying the new domainers are driving the market, i think they are tipping the scale to what most people have come to expect as the norm. You add a few more players in the mix and names that would normally have no bids and go to cloesouts, now have 3 or more bidders.

Im just comparing from what i've seen from last year to this year exclusively on GD
 
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I see a lot of debate going on in regards to domain prices at the auctions houses, a lot of negativity and people complaining about HugeDomains etc etc.
Here is my insight and my future prediction.

1.Indeed prices on expired domains have gone UP exponentially over the last couple years on ALL platforms from NJ, GD, etc. I will take Godaddy as an example. Godaddy is investing heavily in different "tools" including their domain APPRAISAL tool, expired domain lists newsletters that are reaching MILLIONS of people. Maybe those "new godaddy clients" are not necessarily domain investors but WILL bid here and there when they see an interesting name coming up at auction in those newsletters. The new domain appraisal tool is driving the prices UP at auctions. New investors are clueless how to price or the value a domain! These tools and newsletters did NOT exist a few years ago, so yeah there's a lot more people buying domains on the GD aftermarket in 2018!
It's all about -MONEY- and Godaddy DOMINATES, they DO NOT COMPETE!! Love them hate them but they are not going away and changes are always coming up.

2. The domain investing venture is not what it used to be. Crypto is disrupting a LOT of investing ventures globally!!! Most domain investors are trimming their portfolios and contract instead of EXPAND. Knock! knock!? Who's there? OPPORTUNITY! Hello?!!!


3.HugeDomains is a company that will also be around for awhile. Their business model works! It's been proven over and over again and it's a simple model: own 10,000-100,000 mediocre at best names and sell for $1000-$3000. There's at least one investor on this forum that uses the same model @Federer and probably others. There's no rocket science here...it's a numbers game.
HugeDomains offers their own financing and payment plans SO they have an edge over others imo.

4.Finally my prediction: Domain investing will change a LOT this year 2018 and moving forward.
There will be a lot of people giving up. Our industry is "maturing" sort of speak and only a FEW will make the cut long term. If you compete at the domain auctions, complain about pricing and do NOT change or are open to change you will be "weeded out" eventually. I am not looking to contract, I am looking to EXPAND, DOMINATE and SCALE. We all must scale up to survive IMHO!
I personally see more opportunities to expand and invest a LOT more in 2018 in domain names, when everyone else seems to be contracting and cut back...

I am unreasonable,obsessed with domain investing and success and wish you all the best!
 
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