I'm James Iles: Q&A (Interactive Interview Session)

[James Iles]

Hey NamePros! I'm James Iles, I'm the lead writer for the NamePros Blog, where I've written about 630 articles since May 2015. I also buy and sell a few domain names and I operate as a broker, working with select startups and established companies regarding domain name strategy.

Away from domains, I have also worked as a photo retoucher (of course, I own PhotoRetoucher.com!) for an established portrait photographer. In my spare time, I'm an amateur runner, doing two 24-hour events this year.

Ask me anything! Post any questions here and I'll do my best to answer them

 

[David Drimer]

That’s a tricky situation! I would definitely get legal advice from an attorney familiar with domain name law - there are many reputable options.

thanks for the advice. its dismaying there is no clear path.

 

[James Iles]

Am new to domaining just one year into the jungle, and I must really confess is not easy to get a good name, when I started off I was advised never to go for letter/number combination, but am relieved now that you said you buy them too, so my question is this, when buying letter/combination what is the key things to look at for, so that I don't end up buying rubbish, like I have done in time past..

I purely stick to LL88 .com (like DN88) or 88LL (like 88GT). I’ve sold several of these names in the past in the mid 4 figure range.

I know that these names are liquid and will attract attention from Chinese buyers - I’m not sure about other letter/number names at all though.

 

[James Iles]

thanks for the advice. its dismaying there is no clear path.

There might be a simple solution but I think a domain attorney would provide a far better insight for you

 

[noonoo1]

Hi James,

I've always believed that renting a domain is the best way forward but a few businesses i've approached have said: 'we would prefer to buy than rent'

I currently rent out 2 names:

1 .com £200 per month

&

1 .wales £100 per month

I would prefer to rent out .com but my portfolio doesnt meet top keyword criteria.

I hope to rent out further .wales domains as i own many top keywords: Golf - Hotels - Space - Bitcoin

I do love reading your posts and hope to be featured on one of your posts one day.

Totally agree with your view on .co & .io and i have been investing in these for a few years with some great sales!

I can kick myself for letting 790.co & Monaco.co drop

Keep up the good work!

 

[FavourB]

Please one last question, what numbers do the Chinese buyers prefer to buy?
An reffering (LL88.com) as example,
Does it have to be 88 or any other number can serve?

 

[James Iles]

Hi James,

I've always believed that renting a domain is the best way forward but a few businesses i've approached have said: 'we would prefer to buy than rent'

I currently rent out 2 names:

1 .com £200 per month

&

1 .wales £100 per month

I would prefer to rent out .com but my portfolio doesnt meet top keyword criteria.

I hope to rent out further .wales domains as i own many top keywords: Golf - Hotels - Space - Bitcoin

I do love reading your posts and hope to be featured on one of your posts one day.

Totally agree with your view on .co & .io and i have been investing in these for a few years with some great sales!

I can kick myself for letting 790.co & Monaco.co drop

Keep up the good work!

Thanks! For the compliment

I believe that for certain names this would be the best move - maybe for a high value one-word name, with a motivated startup team with limited budget but a sound business plan with other considerations.

I’m sure we’ll see more publicised rental deals in future.

 

[James Iles]

Please one last question, what numbers do the Chinese buyers prefer to buy?
An reffering (LL88.com) as example,
Does it have to be 88 or any other number can serve?

Take a look at NameBio’s recent sales: https://namebio.com/?s==kDN5kTOwEjM

It all depends on the combination of the letters too (the pinyin meaning etc). I much prefer 88’s since they are the most reliable.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Hey NamePros! I'm James Iles, I'm the lead writer for the NamePros Blog, where I've written about 630 articles since May 2015. I also buy and sell a few domain names and I operate as a broker, working with select startups and established companies regarding domain name strategy.

Away from domains, I have also worked as a photo retoucher (of course, I own PhotoRetoucher.com!) for an established portrait photographer. In my spare time, I'm an amateur runner, doing two 24-hour events this year.

Ask me anything! Post any questions here and I'll do my best to answer them

James...more likely than not, you probably know who I am because of my transparency. I was at Namescon too, but I don't recall meeting you? Here's my question...in November of 2018 a representative of Verisign Jeanne McPhearson referred to domain investors as "hoarders" and "scalpers" to the detriment of consumers and and businesses. Since being involved in this industry for a short time, I've witnessed examples first hand of how and why this exists, and I've been personally involved in one of the most unethical business practices by a so called leader in this industry I've ever experienced. I also have witnesses to the act, and we've discussed that it's likely just the "nature of the beast", the beast being the domain industry. I know this is your lively hood now James, but how do you see this playing out? Inquiring minds would like to know. Thanks,

 

[Bob Hawkes]

That would be entirely dependent on the individual transaction. For a $100k name, you could look to rent this at $5k/month, reviewing this after 2 years, for example.

Sorry to (perhaps) sidetrack your superb thread @James Iles, but isn't that on the high side? My nondomain thinking would apply something kind off like for rental of property. For example if a property cost $100,000 the money I have tied up in that would at a 6% return on investment suggest that I need $6000 per year or $500 per month. Now given associated transaction and handling costs, and risks they might make the domain worth less in future through their use, one might well want more than this, but I would not think 10x more. If I was an owner and could buy a domain name at $100k outright or pay $60k to rent it for a year I would never consider renting. Is there something wrong with my thinking?
Bob

 

[BuyBrandWeb.com]

I personally really like NameJet. Their platform is easy to use, they have a varied inventory and importantly it’s simple to access NameJet on the move

Unfortunately, Tucows is sending expired names to Godday and Namejet also lost Namecheap inventory so Namejet quality dropped a bit these days!

Godaddy is going kill other auction houses and at the same, shill/bot bidding is very high. How frequently do you acquire domains from Godaddy?

 

[johnn]

May be you have the answer for this one
How can you stop the wife from whining and complaining?

 

[James Iles]

Sorry to (perhaps) sidetrack your superb thread @James Iles, but isn't that on the high side? My nondomain thinking would apply something kind off like for rental of property. For example if a property cost $100,000 the money I have tied up in that would at a 6% return on investment suggest that I need $6000 per year or $500 per month. Now given associated transaction and handling costs, and risks they might make the domain worth less in future through their use, one might well want more than this, but I would not think 10x more. If I was an owner and could buy a domain name at $100k outright or pay $60k to rent it for a year I would never consider renting. Is there something wrong with my thinking?
Bob

Perhaps a little high - that number was purely off the top of my head, which maybe results in an unrealistic scenario.

An example I’ve given from a recent Sherpa show is Braden’s lease/rental of Monopolize.com. Acquired for about $1600, he’s leasing for $325/month. (That’s public info)

I don’t think a couple of thousand dollars per month is out of the question but it would be on a domain by domain basis.

My opinion of renting domains may turn out to be complete BS, but I truly believe there is a potential market for these kind of deals.

 

[James Iles]

Unfortunately, Tucows is sending expired names to Godday and Namejet also lost Namecheap inventory so Namejet quality dropped a bit these days!

Godaddy is going kill other auction houses and at the same, shill/bot bidding is very high. How frequently do you acquire domains from Godaddy?

Interesting. I haven’t acquired any name from godaddy for a while. No specific reason, it’s just that I haven’t checked inventory there regularly. Perhaps I should.

 

[James Iles]

May be you have the answer for this one
How can you stop the wife from whining and complaining?

I’m not married so I don’t think I’m the best guy to ask

Maybe sell a domain and go on a weekend break?!

 

[James Iles]

James...more likely than not, you probably know who I am because of my transparency. I was at Namescon too, but I don't recall meeting you? Here's my question...in November of 2018 a representative of Verisign Jeanne McPhearson referred to domain investors as "hoarders" and "scalpers" to the detriment of consumers and and businesses. Since being involved in this industry for a short time, I've witnessed examples first hand of how and why this exists, and I've been personally involved in one of the most unethical business practices by a so called leader in this industry I've ever experienced. I also have witnesses to the act, and we've discussed that it's likely just the "nature of the beast", the beast being the domain industry. I know this is your lively hood now James, but how do you see this playing out? Inquiring minds would like to know. Thanks,

I think I saw you at NamesCon but didn’t get a chance to meet.

I did read those comments, and whilst it was an official Verisign post that was likely approved by someone else before publishing, I don’t think her comments reflect Verisign staff as a whole since I’ve spoken to a couple of people at Verisign who were very receptive and fascinating to talk to.

It’s unfortunate that a public figure such as Jeannie would choose to air these views, especially with those views being aired just a day or two after Verisign was given permission to raise .com prices.

It’s also a sobering thought that such a powerful company would sanction an official blog post calling the likes of Frank Schilling (who owns hundreds of thousands of .com names) a hoarder!

Domain investment is a legitimate venture that Verisign has indirectly profited from for many years. There are, of course, cases of cybersquatting that the industry should (and usually do) educate against.

I hope that there are no adverse reactions from higher up in Verisign in the wake of this.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

My opinion of renting domains may turn out to be complete BS, but I truly believe there is a potential market for these kind of deals.

I totally agree that we will see more and more renting of domains in the future (as well as lease, payment plans and rent to own plans).

I suspect you are familiar with their operation, but Names.of.London have for some years offered what is essentially a rental service on third level domains. They own for example the domain name for.sale and then offer in parallel access to a variety of other names like boats.for.sale and land.for.sale. You pay a small annual fee and are guaranteed that as long as you keep paying it is yours (I believe the price is also fixed but would have to check their TOS). I see this as appealing to certain companies that may want domains to promote specific aspects of their organization. These work particularly well in social media campaigns on sites like Twitter since writing the phrase with periods is all that is needed to make it hot clickable.

Bob

(Disclosure: I do have an affiliate relationship with them, but no other association, and I did NOT put any affiliate links in this post).

 

[SuperBrander]

@James Iles Thanks for the response regarding the names you own/owned. Wombat.com was my favorite. I saw in another comment that you recommend NameJet. I've used them in the past and it was overall a good experience. Laurie was exceptional. However, in the last month or so all I've seen at NamePros regarding NameJet is people complaining that NameJet aren't delivering domains that were bought, aren't paying for domains that were bought, aren't answering phone calls, aren't answering emails for weeks etc. Frankly, at this point I'm scared of using them because I don't know if I'll get paid or be able to communicate with anyone.

 

[James Iles]

@James Iles Thanks for the response regarding the names you own/owned. Wombat.com was my favorite. I saw in another comment that you recommend NameJet. I've used them in the past and it was overall a good experience. Lori was exceptional. However, in the last month or so all I've seen at NamePros regarding NameJet is people complaining that NameJet aren't delivering domains that were bought, aren't paying for domains that were bought, aren't answering phone calls, aren't answering emails for weeks etc. Frankly, at this point I'm scared of using them because I don't know if I'll get paid or be able to communicate with anyone.

I’m not aware of these threads. I sometimes don’t get chance to read through discussions so I’m unaware of any of these reports. I’ve had nothing but excellent service from NameJet in the past.

 

[James Iles]

I totally agree that we will see more and more renting of domains in the future (as well as lease, payment plans and rent to own plans).

I suspect you are familiar with their operation, but Names.of.London have for some years offered what is essentially a rental service on third level domains. They own for example the domain name for.sale and then offer in parallel access to a variety of other names like boats.for.sale and land.for.sale. You pay a small annual fee and are guaranteed that as long as you keep paying it is yours (I believe the price is also fixed but would have to check their TOS). I see this as appealing to certain companies that may want domains to promote specific aspects of their organization. These work particularly well in social media campaigns on sites like Twitter since writing the phrase with periods is all that is needed to make it hot clickable.

Bob

(Disclosure: I do have an affiliate relationship with them, but no other association, and I did NOT put any affiliate links in this post).

I’ve heard of them, but I really don’t see the attraction of the business model on third level domains.

 

[SuperBrander]

I’m not aware of these threads. I sometimes don’t get chance to read through discussions so I’m unaware of any of these reports. I’ve had nothing but excellent service from NameJet in the past.

My experience was good too. But the evidence lately that something isn't right has been quite overwhelming. I've seen many such threads by frustrated buyers and sellers. Just thought I'd mention that so people will be able to do their due diligence. Thanks.

 

[namemarket]

Sorry to (perhaps) sidetrack your superb thread @James Iles, but isn't that on the high side? My nondomain thinking would apply something kind off like for rental of property. For example if a property cost $100,000 the money I have tied up in that would at a 6% return on investment suggest that I need $6000 per year or $500 per month. Now given associated transaction and handling costs, and risks they might make the domain worth less in future through their use, one might well want more than this, but I would not think 10x more. If I was an owner and could buy a domain name at $100k outright or pay $60k to rent it for a year I would never consider renting. Is there something wrong with my thinking? Bob

That is right Bob, agree fully with it. You would need to be nuts to pay anywhere remotely near 5k month for a 100k lease or investment vs buying it.

If we use real estate as a more or less random example, in this area a 300k house rents for $1,500 month (with lots of examples of that in local MLS) , meaning if we extrapolate that a 100k domain may rent for say $500-month, if my math is right.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I really don’t see the attraction of the business model on third level domains.

No doubt most domainers agree with you. I think the idea was never (or almost never) that a business would use the third level as THE business domain name but rather they would rent it as an easily remembered phrase to use in promoting some (or all) of their services. I suspect most are used as redirections. Maybe an example will clarify. If I enter land.for.sale in a Tweet is is live clickable taking me to the company that bought it (who are at LandCentury.com - a wholesale land company). The ease of remembering, and elegant way of writing in social media, is I think worth the $30 to $300 per year they charge. I think rental may take off not so much for the one main domain name (although agree with you it can work there for startups with little cash) but more for ancillary domain names for marketing. Like for $30 per year I could right now get boats.for.sale - it seems to me like a deal if I had a boat selling business. Anyway, I will leave it here, and let you go back to handling questions from others.

Thanks for making yourself available like this, and the thoughtful, informed way you have respectfully answered all the questions thrown at you. Huge respect.

Bob

 

[James Iles]

That is right Bob, agree fully with it. You would need to be nuts to pay anywhere remotely near 5k month for a 100k lease or investment vs buying it.

If we use real estate as a more or less random example, in this area a 300k house rents for $1,500 month (with lots of examples of that in local MLS) , meaning if we extrapolate that a 100k domain may rent for say $500-month, if my math is right.

As I said in another post, those numbers were off the top of my head (unconsidered), so maybe an unrealistic scenario.

It would be interesting to hear from any domainers who have some deals like this in place already (rental agreement for a one word name for example), to get their opinions on pricing, potential pitfalls etc.

 

[namemarket]

Perhaps a little high - that number was purely off the top of my head, which maybe results in an unrealistic scenario. An example I’ve given from a recent Sherpa show is Braden’s lease/rental of Monopolize.com. Acquired for about $1600, he’s leasing for $325/month. (That’s public info).

A very lucky owner. Chances of someone paying that much a month compared to buying it (assuming the actual value is $1,600) is an extremely remote possibility.

 

[topdom]

What is the best landing site?

Sedo has very bad landing pages: ppc links are not clicked, and pays almost nothing, but for some minimal trackig it is needed. Offer pages at Sedo are even worse.

Some other possibilities: Afternic, Efty, Bodis, Undeveloped. I haven't used any of these for landing or parking. Most people here praise Afternic. so maybe this suggests that domains should be parked there for more or better sales(?).