poll Did you make money domaining in 2019?

[equity78]

After renewals, paid tools and any other domaining related expenses, did you make money in 2019?

 

[J Sokol]

3 days left, so I haven’t voted yet

I just had a small sale this morning, so maybe buyers are getting back to domains after the holidays.

 

[biggie]

After renewals, paid tools and any other domaining related expenses, did you make money in 2019?

Hi Ray

earned some parking revenue and had a couple of sales

so, minus those expenses mentioned,
yeah, I could say that money was made.

imo...​

.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Yep this is my best year. Made 6 figs profit

 

[Bob Hawkes]

While it seems a simple question, I think for some it depends on how it is calculated. Do we count any cost for time? What about how to deal with if your overall inventory got better or worse during the year? You might have had good revenue, but by selling great domain names you have held for some time. Or maybe you put all the money you made into improving the quality (or quantity) of your portfolio? Does revenue made or spent in domain related ways not quite domain sales count? What about money made from developing domains does that count? See I make everything complex!

Anyway, I decided to answer Break Even. I certainly made money if you take sales minus acquisition and holding costs for the portfolio. However, my entire "business model" is to not take profit so anything I make I put into renewals or acquisitions, so by definition as long as I do that I will just break even I guess. My portfolio grew, both in numbers and I think quality and slightly in advance renewals in 2019, without losing money.

Had I costed the time I put into domaining at say even $15 per hour I would certainly have lost however, but I view domaining as a past-time not a business.

It is interesting that several have commented about the first half of the year being better than the second. I plan to run some numbers around that topic soon to see how the two halves of the year compared at least with NameBio stats.

Thanks to everyone who has provided answers.

Bob

 

[Brands.International]

2019 was my best year ever - I made only few sales, but all to end users and for significant profit (even after re-investing back to my porftolio, where I have purchased approx 30 - 40 new good names in 2019 with ultra-low renewals, and extented most of my domain names in .life, .world, .live, .ltd and .chat sub-portfolios years into future).

My portfolio is 100% new gTLDs, and I try to keep it little above 1000 new gTLD names all the time, where approx. half of then are presented on my website, and half of them are under privacy.

I feel 2020 will be even better, as new gTLDs demand is accelerating (if you have good names).

GL to everyone

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

After renewals, paid tools and any other domaining related expenses, did you make money in 2019?

Yes, 2019 has been one of the best year for me and December being the best month of this year.

Would be nice to see if you could answer your own question with all of us

 

[Silentptnr]

I was profitable this year. My sales outran my renewals and acquisitions. My gross sales were mid $xx,xxx from afternic sales, auction sales, and private sales.

Actually, this last quarter has been good for me. Except for the very end of December. I am still debating whether to either raise my minimum offer amounts or just put bin prices.

I get more inquiries with PUR but I get more sales with BIN. At least so far.

I have raised my personal bar as far as the prices I am quoting. I rather keep good names than sell too low.

I read a great quote this morning. "My prices are not too high, your(buyer) idea is too small."

 

[DnFolk]

Yes, average net profit approx 5k per month excluding one sale i had recently (yet to receive money in bank for that), though last year when it was 4k+ per month i had goal this year to double it that i couldn't.

Agree on second half with others. for me also since september it has been average except recent one sale i had of 30K. may post about it later.

 

[Silentptnr]

it has been average except recent one sale i had of 30K. may post about it later.

wow...nice!

 

[Bohdan]

Pretty good first half of the year and no inquiries since September

 

[NYJimbo]

Pretty good first half of the year and no inquiries since September

Something has changed, just can't figure out what it is.

 

[rh2000]

Yes, average net profit approx 5k per month excluding one sale i had recently (yet to receive money in bank for that), though last year when it was 4k+ per month i had goal this year to double it that i couldn't.

So you made 5k and 4k per month consistently? If this is true, tell me what your secret is. Did you make that money from parking revenue?

 

[rh2000]

Something has changed, just can't figure out what it is.

Ha! I have been trying to figure out the same thing about 2019. Maybe, I sold all of my good domains in the previous years.

 

[Laguna]

Nearly 2 years in and still no sales, no lowball offers, no spammy emails, no spammy calls, nothing. Maybe I should of registered
InvisibleMe.com

 

[NickB]

Had more sales than my first year, bought better quality names (I like to think so anyway) which has eaten into the potential profits for this year and dropped a load of crap....

Made a bit of profit this year and am confident 2020 will recoup the first years worth of loses.....going in the right direction which is all I can ask for, as I'm in it for the long term......not setting the world on fire, but you have to collect the twigs first

One thing I really need to work on is getting my price expectations right and setting the right BIN pricing, be that higher or lower - comes with experience I suppose

Bring on 2020 and I hope it is a prosperous one for everyone!!

 

[rohitgoyal]

Yes approx $180k in revenue and $90k in profit...

 

[DnFolk]

So you made 5k and 4k per month consistently? If this is true, tell me what your secret is. Did you make that money from parking revenue?

Not from parking but from domain sales, gross much higher, though its average per month, so some months i made more than 5k some less than 5k but overall average should be around 5k. not counting my recent 30K sale. august was my best month. 13k+ net november worst 2.5k net. net income not only depends on sales but also my expenses of renewals, transfers, purchases or new acquisations, in the last quarter i have maximum renewals.

There is no one secret but here i will mention some of the points i follow -

try every possible niche like geo, brandables, liquid or others so that you don't be dependent on any single niche.
though most of the names i have are .com but i don't shy away from trying net org or .co or .in and more

keep yourself updated with namebio or namepros reported domain sales thread and other possible sources to know whats selling.
Keep up with latest tech and startups, who and whch niche is getting most funding, whats trending etc.
make good use of dropcatch discount backorder.
when there is any promo offer for handreg try to bulk register during that period.
GD closeouts one of better source to get quality for nominal price. though lots of competition now and its getting difficult but still if you focus you can get good names.
if you check aftermarket also its tough to get any name for fair price but if you keep trying then there also you get chance few times to get a good deal.
try to check around your network or social media that whether you are getting any good deals to buy domains.
rarely but you will even find names at dan, sedo etc that can be worth buying.

for selling - afternic premium listing has been the biggest source for me. So i make sure to avoid registers that are not eligible for that. parking at dan and now epik work fine for me. and Previously i have used efty which was good as well.

 

[imadoer]

Profits =$0.27

 

[TheFifty9Sound]

I’ve been away from the hobby for ~2 years-ish, not really keeping up with the latest trends and industry changes (DAN wasn’t a thing, neither was Epik IIRC, no-one sold anything on Afternic).

I’ve had a small portfolio of around 100 names set to auto renew, and I still like 85%-90% of them just as much as I did when I left. Mostly future trend stuff that has evolved in the right direction. There are also a few names I let drop by mistake, due to lack of attention on my behalf, that I probably shouldn’t have .

I’ve had around a dozen enquires over the year that I’ve either turned down or didn’t pan out.

So no, I didn’t make money. But it’s been super interesting to look back with clear separation at the decisions I made over 24 months ago, and I don’t feel like I really lost money either, because I think I’d still hand register or buy these names off the market today.

 

[viralk]

2019 was bullish for me.
Great sales in the Q1,Q2 and Q3.
Q4 was a bit on the lowerside, eventhough sold 2 $xxxx hand registered domains in Q4,Tried new niches which worked for me well.

2019 was good and I hope 2020 will be great for all domain community.

 

[Ariff BD]

I started domaining this year. had sold around 10 in xx price but i must say, i am definitely not heartbroken.... almost 90% recovered from sale but i have some domain i will renew for 5-10 years for a jackpot sale.

all handregister no buy.

arif arafat rusho

 

[Furquan]

Yeah,

In Domaining there is always money. You just need to know how to make.

 

[YairDD]

Yea, this is my first full year in domaining, made a couple thousand. and still have around 80 valuable domains

 

[barman]

I've been acquiring, acquiring, acquiring... so I am in the red. If you count my time, let's say, $150 per billable hour, and I'm deep in the red. I do have some good domains though that will sell, eventually :B

 

[Bob Hawkes]

If you count my time, let's say, $150 per billable hour, and I'm deep in the red.

I am in the red even if I billed $10 per billable hour. Your hourly rates are much higher than mine!

I do have some good domains though that will sell, eventually

That is an excellent point. Really to know if anyone is positive or negative one needs some way to indicate the change in portfolio inventory worth. For taxes I need to count inventory, and just do it at my costs. The question re positive or not depends critically on how the worth of the portfolio, or at least changes in that, are costed.

Bob