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opinion Hand Registering Domains Is Not Domain Investing

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Admittedly, this may be somewhat a sensationalized title. But hand registering is only a bridge or gateway to investing in domains. This article discusses why. What are your thoughts? Looking forward to them. Here is the link to the article:

Hand Registering Domains Is Not Domain Investing
 
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Friends, I get the feeling that a lot of the information is being glossed over. A sentence is read and it sets off an emotional response. The OP is not anti hand reg'ing.
 
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Friends, I get the feeling that a lot of the information is being glossed over. A sentence is read and it sets off an emotional response. The OP is not anti hand reg'ing.
The OP sounded like if two people decide to take $500 to buy domains and one hand registers names and the other buys aftermarket domains, each spend the $500 but only one is an "investor". I don't really agree with that. They are both investing in domain names, just different strategies.
 
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The OP sounded like if two people decide to take $500 to buy domains and one hand registers names and the other buys aftermarket domains, each spend the $500 but only one is an "investor". I don't really agree with that. They are both investing in domain names, just different strategies.

To put it succinctly and summarize the premise, the OP is anti reg'ing garbage names that will inevitably be dropped before renewal time. Or if the domainer hasn't grasped that they are garbage will renew for a few more years burning through more money in the process. If your strategy is to buy and sell quick with no intention of holding to the domain long-term, then what you are doing is closer to speculating, trading, or even arbitrage.
 
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I disagree to some extent. Handregistering blindly isn't investing but I feel like there are still pockets of value that are either overlooked or under utilized. There are few premium names available to hand register but turning 12 dollars into 500 is still a profit.
 
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I almost always overpay when I compete in expiring auctions. Then the names I do win sit in my portfolio alongside my hand regges. :)
 
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Many hand registered domains may not worth it but there are many good domains still available for registration. But they have low resale value among resellers because of the stereotype that exists among many domainers regarding the domain age. They feel hand registered domains are worthless just because they are recently registered. They forget the fact that thousands of permutations and combinations are possible in the game of words. Forget the domain age and see domains just from their usage perspective and rate accordingly. Many great brand names, which are two worded, became 'brands' because someone saw some value in them not because of their age. Just think of many two word brand names that exists today and imagine how much a Namepros member would have paid for such domains if they were placed for auction at Namepros. Marketing place a big role. Not age. Hand registered domains appear cheap because they are available. "Diamonds still exist, just hard to find."
 
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Not to mention I've seen 20 year old aged garbage with no SEO but it's 20 years old! That's nice shouldn't be the primary factor in your decision.

Many hand registered domains may not worth it but there are many good domains still available for registration. But they have low resale value among resellers because of the stereotype that exists among many domainers regarding the domain age. They feel hand registered domains are worthless just because they are recently registered. They forget the fact that thousands of permutations and combinations are possible in the game of words. Forget the domain age and see domains just from their usage perspective and rate accordingly. Many great brand names, which are two worded, became 'brands' because someone saw some value in them not because of their age. Just think of many two word brand names that exists today and imagine how much a Namepros member would have paid for such domains if they were placed for auction at Namepros. Marketing place a big role. Not age. Hand registered domains appear cheap because they are available. "Diamonds still exist, just hard to find."
 
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That is assuming all hand-regs are one-year hold or flips. You are also saying that you become an investor once you have held the domains for a long time?

There is a huge difference between flipping/gambling or just plain dumb and investing.

There is a lot of trash in the aftermarket and in expiring auctions, names that are not even worth reg-fee yet people are bidding on them and buying them expecting a return, some were held for years, I've seen plenty of 2 decades old domains that are total rubbish, total cash burners, they had the chance to purchase the best names, but instead bought horrible domains with hyphens, numbers, and bad grammar. Do you consider those bozos investors?

This is very bad advice and you are only making domain noobies think that aged domains are best no matter what they are.
 
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I've had hand registered domains sell where the buyer has waited until the 60 day lock is up.
 
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I'll also tell you that bigger domain investors will buy recently hand registered domain names for $x,xxx.
 
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I would say that a bad investor is a bad investor, regardless of hand registration or aftermarket.

A savvy investor will do fine with aftermarket and hand registered domains.

Here are a few of the hand registered domains that I've sold recently:

SmartSanitize.com $3300
ThePredictors.com $2400
Aphrodes.com $750
DontSpread.com $500
Identity8.com $900
AmericanCryptoCurrency.com $600
Airmail.us $1300
PapaSquad.com $300


Here are a few of the aftermarket domains I've sold recently:

Dwellit.com $3000
Ceres.us $1300
ABG.us $2500
Wrld.org $4000
Dojo.us $2600
Finds.us $700
Schedule.cc $900
AutoBid.net $400
Emotive.us $700

My point is that I personally really don't see much of a difference. My profit margins are typically better with hand registered domains.

I think there are plenty of crappy names in the aftermarket and plenty of crappy names available for hand registration. My job is to find the gems in both. :)

You are far from a newbie. Now answer this: How many domains have you hand registered since you started domaining versus how many hand registered did you sell in the first year?
 
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You are far from a newbie. Now answer this: How many domains have you hand registered since you started domaining versus how many hand registered did you sell in the first year?
I wasn't terribly organized when I started 6 or so years ago. I honestly don't know the answer to your question. I might not be a good person to ask because I buy and sell domains for fun and profit. It's more of a hobby/passion.
 
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^ exactly what I was talking about @enterscope this is what we take with a grain of salt. Everything is about to be something and because it's billions/trillion/quadrillions so are our domains..

Neigh neigh. We can do better than look like asses with our hand-reg's, thank you very much.

So do you hold any EMD’s, hand regged or purchased on the aftermarket?

cmon let’s see saying you’re so keen to name call.
 
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I wasn't terribly organized when I started 6 or so years ago. I honestly don't know the answer to your question. I might not be a good person to ask because I buy and sell domains for fun and profit. It's more of a hobby/passion.
You know what Silent, you practically closed the case on the other page. And no thanks in return or a nod of respect from the man who trumpeted out the challenge you took up.

Anyways props.

Wanted to touch on
I would say that a bad investor is a bad investor, regardless of hand registration or aftermarket.
I don't know about that, coming up with your own domains (good ones) takes a different mindset than already seeing them laid out before you, no?

I think they can be distictly different skillsets, one could be better at one versus the other. Maybe this is where part of the disconnect is.
 
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You know what Silent, you practically closed the case on the other page. And no thanks in return or a nod of respect from the man who trumpeted out the challenge you took up.

Anyways props.

Wanted to touch on

I don't know about that, coming up with your own domains (good ones) takes a different mindset than already seeing them laid out before you, no?

I think they can be distictly different skillsets, one could be better at one versus the other. Maybe this is where part of the disconnect is.
You're right about that. I was also going to get into the actual complexity of domain investing but it is difficult to boil it down to a short post.
 
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Why are people in this thread so bad at probabilities and generalizations?

No one is saying that there aren't profitable domains to be hand registered.

No one is saying that aged domains are better.

What domainers with experience are saying, is that on average, newbies will lose money hand registering names in the long run versus buying quality names from the aftermarket.

This is a NEWBIE we are talking about. If a domain is aged, has bids from an auction, etc. then chances are it is better than some random hand reg domain.

Is that so hard to understand?
 
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Admittedly, this may be somewhat a sensationalized title. But hand registering is only a bridge or gateway to investing in domains. This article discusses why. What are your thoughts? Looking forward to them. :


Read my blog on hand regs domains that was recently sold. https://www.dncombo.com/

In a nutshell my final word is that you must be vast in any particular business before embark on investment if you are to make profits.
But however, it is not all investment that brings profits sometimes it might be loss even with good old names. See what is happening with NNNN domains, these days many of them were sold below purshased priced and that doesn't mean they can no longer be sold profitably when the trend is up on them again.[/QUOTE]
 
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I hope people will be okay with the way people have developed with the domain
 
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… find out if hand registered domain name in the past is affecting your future or their…

If their … congrats, you invested $ in the future and you will have a lot more money than you can think of it.

If yours… Would you be able to recognise if this domain name was a little dinner for you today and no breakfast tomorrow.

Hand regs investments are good for me too but i’m going to register a solid, strictly -business able (sometimes brand able), one word dot com only.

example

handreg.png
 
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If you read real news and are somewhat of a " futurist", you will hand register domain names. Hard not to.
If you follow trends and are behind the news ...you miss out hand registering important .com names.
When you hand register, you know you have 5-10 year time frame before can take hold....so have patience.
 
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When you hand register, you know you have 5-10 year time frame before can take hold....so have patience.

This is the litmus test whether a hand reg is an investment or speculation. Hand reg's will continue to be a thing for the foreseeable future. But we need to proceed with good judgement and not emotion. If I see a name that may have potential but I am not sure, and perceive an emotional motivation rather than a critical one, I write the name down and wait for the emotion to dissipate. If my decision hasn't changed after a day or two, then I go to register it. Other times, I see the value right away and am confident in registering the name as soon as I see it available.
 
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Hand registration with having a process to outreach and upsell can be a great strategy for beginners as well. But solely relying on Luck for the offer to come is somewhat clear gambling
 
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Would a basic website with one authoritative article related to the hand regged domain be an 'investment'?
 
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Would a basic website with one authoritative article related to the hand regged domain be an 'investment'?

Search Engine Optimisation is a good strategy for making a domain name's website more visible to others on the web, which could lead to other benefits, like increased value of your investment.

I'd be inclined to think of it as an investment of resources in your domain name investment.
 
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