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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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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
So, domains have a selling history of roughly 25 years, but you know for sure that they will have a value in 100 years...you must be some kind of clairvoyant. Do you even know at least one person, no matter if is Rick of others who have sold or they are hopping to sell at least all their domains? No matter if we are talking about x or xxxx acquisitions is a numbers game, you need to know what you are doing either way.
 
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You cant grow without putting in work.

You dont need to be involved as much, once your portfolio is built.
Acquiring 5.000 domains at $200 each can't be done overnight.
But once it's done yes, you can sit back and relax.
Look at Abdul, he is at 5700 and still works hard, probably even harder than before. Trends are changing, everything is changing, what was valuable 10 years ago, it could be worthless now.
 
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That's after 15 years of domaining. Also, most of that is invested from the revenue from other sales. You should ask him how many inquiries he is receiving and how many xxx-xxxx acquisitions he has, that will never sell....compare him to the investor you were talking about, who is collecting the profit once a month. Now, you can talk to others who invest xxxxxx amounts in hand regs in a year and tell them that they are not investors.

To make things clear, this is my 11th year as full time domain investing.
To keep things short, I started with very little money and sometimes had no money to pay for renewals and dropped the good domains. But slowly I started selling domains and rest is the history...
Also it's been many years since I hand registered a domain for selling purpose.
 
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Knowing how many inquiries he gets per day is useless, I dont understand why you need to know that.
But there, all quotes from his September 2020 review.



The goal of acquisitions, should be to have enough domains in terms on quality and quantity in order to provide a nice and stable stream of income. Exactly what I've been describing.
You don't need him to explain that to you, at this stage (6 years) you should have understood that by yourslelf.
Look, he ends up his final afternic expirement review by saying the following, if you follow him it's not the first time he's been saying this, he's trying to teach people.




That's after experience, and after understanding the recipe.

He was at 1550 domains in november 2017.
3880 domains in june 2020.
5700 domains in june 2021.
So even after 15 years, you can see the trend, after experience.
He spends 8 hours a day, from what I remember.
That's why you see these numbers growing.

Let me give the recent update.
I looked upon the Sep 2020 review link you shared so in June 2021 report I can say that I received a little over 1,200 leads via Afternic.

In the last 2-3 years, I've doubled my portfolio but I'm trying to slow down starting this year since I've achieved many of my goals so I need to relax and have more fun in life.

Thank you!
 
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So, domains have a selling history of roughly 25 years, but you know for sure that they will have a value in 100 years...you must be some kind of clairvoyant. Do you even know at least one person, no matter if is Rick of others who have sold or they are hopping to sell at least all their domains? No matter if we are talking about x or xxxx acquisitions is a numbers game, you need to know what you are doing either way.

It all depends on the seller how much that person is willing to hold it for. Many are looking to hold for 10+ years whereas my average holding time is around 5 years. Also we all understand that we will not be able to sell most of our domains in our lifetimes.
 
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To make things clear, this is my 11th year as full time domain investing.
To keep things short, I started with very little money and sometimes had no money to pay for renewals and dropped the good domains. But slowly I started selling domains and rest is the history...
Also it's been many years since I hand registered a domain for selling purpose.
I've been hand regged domains from when I've started, in 2015. My average cost with renewals and acquisitions was under mid xxxx a year and my average sales in a year was mid xxxxx a year. So, I'm making 10x on average every year. Also, at least once a month I'm selling some particular domains for 1000 times more than what I've paid for them. I've had around 500 domains roughly every year. If I scale up even 10 times my portfolio, I'm expecting the same for everything, so with around 5000 domains, I should invest 50k a year for renewals and acquisitions and make under 500k a year. Of course, that will mean to scale up my time spent in domaining as well. Do you have these kind of returns a year with high end acquisitions? Can you sell a domain acquired for xxx-xxxx for 1000 times more?
 
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I've been hand regged domains from when I've started, in 2015. My average cost with renewals and acquisitions was under mid xxxx a year and my average sales in a year was mid xxxxx a year. So, I'm making 10x on average every year. Also, at least once a month I'm selling some particular domains for 1000 times more than what I've paid for them. I've had around 500 domains roughly every year. If I scale up even 10 times my portfolio, I'm expecting the same for everything, so with around 5000 domains, I should invest 50k a year for renewals and acquisitions and make under 500k a year. Of course, that will mean to scale up my time spent in domaining as well. Do you have these kind of returns a year with high end acquisitions? Can you sell a domain acquired for xxx-xxxx for 1000 times more?

Thanks for sharing your experience and it's nice to know you're making some great returns!

To be frank, many of my high end purchases are still with me and most of my sales of from $xx/$xxx/$x,xxx purchases.

Yes, the return is great. Like I already mentioned that I spent around $25,000 and made almost $400,000 in sales which is healthy returns. However, the renewals, purchase costs of the ongoing acquisitions and holding time for the entire portfolio have to be considered as well.
 
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Thanks for sharing your experience and it's nice to know you're making some great returns!

To be frank, many of my high end purchases are still with me and most of my sales of from $xx/$xxx/$x,xxx purchases.

Yes, the return is great. Like I already mentioned that I spent around $25,000 and made almost $400,000 in sales which is healthy returns. However, the renewals, purchase costs of the ongoing acquisitions and holding time for the entire portfolio have to be considered as well.
The amounts I'm talking about are for my entire portfolio, I renew only under 20% of my domains and everything else up to 5k is for acquisitions, including $1-$2 .com's From my understanding, the 25k is the amount spent only for domains sold. Can you share gross spendings for all your renewals and acquisitions and a gross revenue per year?
 
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Thanks for sharing your experience and it's nice to know you're making some great returns!

To be frank, many of my high end purchases are still with me and most of my sales of from $xx/$xxx/$x,xxx purchases.

Yes, the return is great. Like I already mentioned that I spent around $25,000 and made almost $400,000 in sales which is healthy returns. However, the renewals, purchase costs of the ongoing acquisitions and holding time for the entire portfolio have to be considered as well.

I don't believe hand registering is profitable or sustainable for majority of domainers (especially those entering this industry now) for several reasons:

1. Nearly every 2 word combination of .com has been generated and analyzed by now.

That means any Dictionary + Dictionary .com has been analyzed for searches, extensions, practical use, etc. And if it was available it was registered. If it was registered and dropped then chances are it's not good.

2. The Good drops go to auction and get bought.

If a domain is even remotely good then it will get purchased in the aftermarket. Even below average domains will get snatched at the aftermarket, so if it goes all the way back to available then it's probably not good.

3. The good dictionary + gTLD are usually premium on the registrar.

You can bet your butt that Car.Whatever or Insurance.Whatever was pre-decided to be a registry premium before it even became available. Most newbs are registering 2 word gTLD that have no chance of selling.

4. Most 3 word+ domains that are available are not good or will not sell for more than low $xxxx if you are LUCKY.

It all comes back down to domains with most extensions registered are the most sought after, and these have long been registered. Sure you can get lucky and find an emerging market and sit on your hand reg for 10 years and get lucky to sell for $20,000 but this is a PIPE DREAM.

I am trying to help newcomers to not make the same mistakes than many of us make. That is, hand registering hundreds of junk domains and spending more on renewals than you get in sales.

It's about liquidity, value and practical use. I can assure that I have generated and scanned many millions of domain combinations with all the top keywords so you may think that your WhateverWhatever.Whatever is good but many of us already discarded it because it's junk.
 
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It appears the OP has hit a nerve. Looks like this is a polarizing topic. I want to thank all who shared their insights. Whether we agree or not, it is certainly a good thing to learn from each other's experiences and points of view.

Registering hundreds of hand reg's can be very addictive just like gambling is addictive. And certainly the registrar will be very appreciative. The goal of this thread is to help you take a step back and make better decisions. If what you are doing is working for you and you are happy with your profit, then keep doing it. Please don't take offense.

So, domains have a selling history of roughly 25 years, but you know for sure that they will have a value in 100 years...you must be some kind of clairvoyant. Do you even know at least one person, no matter if is Rick of others who have sold or they are hopping to sell at least all their domains? No matter if we are talking about x or xxxx acquisitions is a numbers game, you need to know what you are doing either way.

This reasoning is very tempting and very short term. Sell quick because domains will be obsolete eventually. Domains have a history dating back to the late 70s and the Internet to the 50s. Commercial registration began 37 years ago. No one is clairvoyant to know whether domains will exist 30 years from now. But the Internet and DNS was in the works for decades before it was even on the radar for the average person. So any new tech that potentially could replace DNS will need to be in the works for decades. So we need to proceed with caution, if we have limited disposable income, on hyped up trends. Get as much information as possible. Selling some domains and holding on to others is a strategy. If you have enough investment grade domains then you may not want to sell all of them. You may want to pass them on as inheritance to family. You may want to develop some. Etc.

Domaining is a very volatile game. There are multiple levels of quality of domains. From ultra premium, or investment grade, that have obvious value, to medium grade where interest level is limited, all the way down to worthless. There is also the registrant's goal. Are you registering purely to resell or to develop with an exit strategy? But unless you do your due diligence, simply registering a new domain does not make you an investor. Hope this makes sense.
 
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The amounts I'm talking about are for my entire portfolio, I renew only under 20% of my domains and everything else up to 5k is for acquisitions, including $1-$2 .com's From my understanding, the 25k is the amount spent only for domains sold. Can you share gross spendings for all your renewals and acquisitions and a gross revenue per year?

Your model is pretty different than mine and I rarely drop domains.

Yes, 25K is the amount spent only for those domains sold. As of now, I don't have the answer for your question.
 
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I don't believe hand registering is profitable or sustainable for majority of domainers (especially those entering this industry now) for several reasons:

1. Nearly every 2 word combination of .com has been generated and analyzed by now.

That means any Dictionary + Dictionary .com has been analyzed for searches, extensions, practical use, etc. And if it was available it was registered. If it was registered and dropped then chances are it's not good.

2. The Good drops go to auction and get bought.

If a domain is even remotely good then it will get purchased in the aftermarket. Even below average domains will get snatched at the aftermarket, so if it goes all the way back to available then it's probably not good.

3. The good dictionary + gTLD are usually premium on the registrar.

You can bet your butt that Car.Whatever or Insurance.Whatever was pre-decided to be a registry premium before it even became available. Most newbs are registering 2 word gTLD that have no chance of selling.

4. Most 3 word+ domains that are available are not good or will not sell for more than low $xxxx if you are LUCKY.

It all comes back down to domains with most extensions registered are the most sought after, and these have long been registered. Sure you can get lucky and find an emerging market and sit on your hand reg for 10 years and get lucky to sell for $20,000 but this is a PIPE DREAM.

I am trying to help newcomers to not make the same mistakes than many of us make. That is, hand registering hundreds of junk domains and spending more on renewals than you get in sales.

It's about liquidity, value and practical use. I can assure that I have generated and scanned many millions of domain combinations with all the top keywords so you may think that your WhateverWhatever.Whatever is good but many of us already discarded it because it's junk.

I know a few domain investors who're heavily relying on hand registering .com domains and are pretty successful at what they do. One of them is @twiki

But one thing is for sure that one cannot make regular 4 and/or 5 figure sales on consistent basis with hand registration model.
 
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I know a few domain investors who're heavily relying on hand registering .com domains and are pretty successful at what they do. One of them is @twiki

But one thing is for sure that one cannot make regular 4 and/or 5 figure sales on consistent basis with hand registration model.

It works indeed (edit: for me, likely not for everyone else) - but you really really need to know what you're doing. That took me a lot of time to figure out.

I'm currently at 4-fig + (all new domains are priced 4+ and most above $1.5-2k) but a significant number of old domains I'll be clearing for a few months, are still xxx range. Which I knew from the beginning - but only since then I've decided to stop getting names in the xxx range.

The whole idea with xxx range was, get domains that can be sold for xxx - but FAST. An that's how it worked and brought profit. Except I'll be getting more profit with higher value domains, which is no surprise.

( Edit: my xxx range sales were always in much higher ratio, ranging from 5% to 8% or so. Guess this is also visible by the number of sales in this range I've been posting. )
 
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In the last 2-3 years, I've doubled my portfolio but I'm trying to slow down starting this year since I've achieved many of my goals so I need to relax and have more fun in life.
After hitting $1.000.000 in guaranteed domain sales revenue / year ;)
Enjoy the fruits of your hard work.
 
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What was the topic again and what will we get from this thread?
 
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What was the topic again and what will we get from this thread?

Read the posts, don't just skim them. And the answer hopefully will present itself. :xf.wink:(y)
 
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Anyone can register a new domain. Investing is in the strategy. Proof in the pudding is if you are willing to hang on to it. You need to know what you are doing. You can sell short term but see long term.
 
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WAS there any domain name that was not registered at any time? all domains were hand registered... so what are you saying again?
 
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WAS there any domain name that was not registered at any time? all domains were hand registered... so what are you saying again?

Please read the OP and the rest of the posts. The vast majority of hand reg's are dropped. Purchased to taste for one year. Most are lured by .99 new reg offers by some registrars. Registering garbage names is not investing.
 
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Please read the OP and the rest of the posts. The vast majority of hand reg's are dropped. Purchased to taste for one year. Most are lured by .99 new reg offers by some registrars. Registering garbage names is not investing.

Not all hand regs are garbage names.
 
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Not all hand regs are garbage names.

True. The point is that simply the act of hand reg'ing doesn't make it an investment. There is a lot more involved.
 
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True. The point is that simply the act of hand reg'ing doesn't make it an investment. There is a lot more involved.

Yes. Also registering bad names doesn't make them investment even if pre-owned.
 
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To me this is a nonsense thread. Who care about definition as long as you make money.
It’s a wasting time thread and no one learn anything.
We should stop here.
 
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Please read the OP and the rest of the posts. The vast majority of hand reg's are dropped. Purchased to taste for one year. Most are lured by .99 new reg offers by some registrars. Registering garbage names is not investing.
You are talking about investments and profit, but I can't remember one sale of yours. Maybe you can enlight us with your portfolio, names, sales, ROI, STR....at least we will know who is teaching us.
 
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