Probably done with "domaining", I suck...

[Clover]

I have most of my domains listed on Dan, Epik, GoDaddy, and Afternic, I've never made a sale on any of those platforms, well, I did for $100 once but I had sold the domain + 2 other matching ones all for their reg value 2-3 days prior

I get many complements on my domains and my ability to find good hand regs upon request, I was making $100 sales and was doing good at getting my money back for the ones I started with, but the past couple months I've not had any bites, not a buyer in sight, due to the markets and inflation I presume, but still, I feel like I'm holding on for a fantasy sale that will never happen, even a low $xxx offer would give me some hope. So far, this journey has given me a small profit, but with much research, and take a lot of time... Just not sure if things are balancing out.

Thanks.

 

[devma]

In my opinion, I think domaining must be a second job. to invest money.
it is not easy at it may look, also this domain will be more valuable, the market value is increasing .. as the internet users are growing by the time.
I make a good monthly revenue, and you should invest in existing domains.
You can hand reg domains, but only for trending domains not dictionary and liquidation .. domain names

 

[Sam1234]

I have most of my domains listed on Dan, Epik, GoDaddy, and Afternic, I've never made a sale on any of those platforms, well, I did for $100 once but I had sold the domain + 2 other matching ones all for their reg value 2-3 days prior

I get many complements on my domains and my ability to find good hand regs upon request, I was making $100 sales and was doing good at getting my money back for the ones I started with, but the past couple months I've not had any bites, not a buyer in sight, due to the markets and inflation I presume, but still, I feel like I'm holding on for a fantasy sale that will never happen, even a low $xxx offer would give me some hope. So far, this journey has given me a small profit, but with much research, and take a lot of time... Just not sure if things are balancing out.

Thanks.

In my opinion domaining is not for everyone. It is like poker, in that there are chance elements to it so that you can go for a very long time without figuring out you just aren't very good at it. You know yourself best, and if you think it's not for you then you might be doing yourself a favor by investing your energies in more profitable things. I think in most people's personal value systems "believing in yourself" and "not being a quitter" are more important than understanding one's own limitations and knowing when to quit. However, they are equally important and complimentary. You need the first two to initiate and sustain actions, to give yourself the best shot at success, and the latter two to stop you from taking things too far and ruining your life.

There are no right or wrong answers in life. We make the best decisions we can in life with no guidance but our heart, experience mixes of good and bad luck to random degrees, and then we move on from this world.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

The post about investing in xyz is a joke btw.

 

[zomainhacks]

Domaining is an exponential game, if you keep learning and you really love it, money will find a way to reach your bank account.

Don't be discouraged about your current ROI (both about money and time), it's your first year and it is not very realistic expectation making good profit at this stage.

but the past couple months I've not had any bites, not a buyer in sight, due to the markets and inflation I presume, but still, I feel like I'm holding on for a fantasy sale that will never happen, even a low $xxx offer would give me some hope

Market conditions have changed dramatically in the last months, IMO stick with XXX BIN which usually gives the highest STR which is crucial if you have a small portfolio of low quality domains.

There will be time for the fantasy sale, when one starts with low budget and little knowledge there are 2 main goals:

- Surviving ( i.e making a portfolio able to pay for itself without the need to inject more funds)

- Learning

 

[Clover]

Edit: nvm

 

[cooljub]

Drop absolute majority of those. Then, start from scratch with some learning what sells.

I agree. Have a clearout and put the loss down to experience.
Start again with what you know now, and don't be buying names for the sake of it.

For what it's worth, the ones I like and/or would probably keep are;
Surreal Effect
Updated
Modders
Reg Value
Polarized
Hip Art

Good luck

 

[Traderas]

In my opinion there is no right or wrong approach to domaining. It depends on what suits you more. I don’t believe that investing is more profitable than flipping. If you have some money that you wont need in the near future, and a lot of patience, investing may be a good for you. if you are willing to work hard and study for many hours, flipping may have faster and better results. I believe the best is a combination between these two.
I started domaining 7 months ago, I had very little money to spare, so I tried flipping domains to resellers. I got advantage of the market trends for fast sales. The outcome was a ROI of 80% per month, for the first 5 months. Now that I grew some liquidity I m trying to approach domains as an investment to. The good thing with flipping is that you can reinvest your profits and increase your outcome exponentially. The only limit is your time.

I agree that XYZ as an investment may be a joke, but for flipping it is a great opportunity, because it has a very high liquidity. Flipping is possible only if you follow the trend of the market. You can’t expect to flip fast two words net or org domains… Also cheap 3L or 4L domains may be good for flipping because in many cases are working like a currency.

Also I don’t agree that domain market will keep going up forever. It’s true that the need for domains will increase in the future, but every market has a fair market value. Every market can be cheap or overpriced, regardless of that future demand.

imo

 

[Traderas]

I don't have any problem with negative votes, but I would like to hear your opinions and arguments too

 

[the_poet]

Focus on quality vs quantity and pick only undervalued names. You can't of course have this ability a starter, since it takes several years to develop it.

Remember, you make the actual deal when you buy, not when you sell.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Yeah, I am not sure I could enter in today's market and really do that much in all honesty.

As I said before I believe end user interest has increased, but reseller prices have increased far more.

The value proposition is often not there as an investor. Having an existing portfolio that was accumulated over years to generate capital and reinvest is very helpful.

It took a long time to get to that point though.

The main problem with hand registrations is there are already 170 million .COM taken. It is not like amazing domains are just sitting out there.

While $10 beats say $250 for a .COM on the secondary market you can easily acquire $250 in marginal hand regs and then be stuck with far more in renewals that just buying the one higher quality domain to start with.

This is not an easy business.

Brad

Absolutely. What becomes clear with each passing month / year is that there are layers of hurdles to overcome in domaining in order to truly master (or at least understand) it well, e.g.
- The name itself and various criteria (length, TLDs including those on sale and those owned by end users), companies using part/all of the words in names, traffic, CPC, etc.
- watching auctions, doing the research for a possible acquisition name, then setting a bid amount, and hoping not to be outbid
- filtering on various sites like expired domains, Namebio
- reading various sites for the latest trends to get an edge over other domainers.


These are tasks that are demanding, time and eventually money wise. Not everyone has the patience or temperament to do these every day/every other day for weeks and months on end.

No wonder beginners want the quick fix with handregs - it's an alluring way to circumvent the time and money demands of domaining.

The reason domaining is not an easy business is because there a no (or few) shortcuts.

 

[bmugford]

What becomes clear with each passing month / year is that there are layers of hurdles to overcome in domaining in order to truly master (or at least understand) it well, e.g.
- The name itself and various criteria (length, TLDs including those on sale and those owned by end users), companies using part/all of the words in names, traffic, CPC, etc.
- watching auctions, doing the research for a possible acquisition name, then setting a bid amount, and hoping not to be outbid
- filtering on various sites like expired domains, Namebio
- reading various
These are tasks that are demanding, time and eventually money wise. Not everyone has the patience or temperament to do these every day/every other day for weeks and months on end.

No wonder beginners want the quick fix with handregs - it's an alluring way to circumvent the time and money demands of domaining.

I think many of the most successful people really enjoy the business.

I have always been doing something entrepreneurial even if it was buying and selling things on eBay.

I have always enjoyed the hunt whether it is for collectibles, domains, or anything in between.

I also like learning new things, and there are not many better fields for research than with domains. You learn so much just when it comes to looking at random terms.

I also enjoy being my own boss, negotiation, and other things that go a long with the field.

If you enjoy it, your odds to succeed are far higher.

Brad

 

[poweredbyme]

If you decide to stay with domaining, I'd say the main point (at least for the first 3 years) is to think about domaining as an investment, not a business. This is a big mistake a lot of people make - they think about profits and selling names relatively fast and for lots of money (who hasn't heard about XXXXX sales?!). Even those who understand the complicity, still take it as a business opportunity. It's not. It's really an investment, and you have to master it a lot, too. At a later stage you have a chance to convert it to business, but it's a loooong way (I am not there myself, for example).
Just a write mindset is what is necessary, imo.

Good luck!

If you sell fast, is it business and if you don't, is it investment ?
What is the definition of fast or slow? 10+ days, 7+ months, 2+ decades?
If there are, what are the other differences between business and investment?
Thanks.

 

[VadimK]

If you sell fast, is it business and if you don't, is it investment ?

No. Domaining is a business when it's your primary source of income (or can be made as such at any given moment and you just choose not to for whatever reason). In all the other cases it's an investment.

What is the definition of fast or slow? 10+ days, 7+ months, 2+ decades?
If there are, what are the other differences between business and investment?

There is no definition for ''fast-slow'' in this sense and there are no other differences between business and investment from a domainer's point of view, besides the one mentioned above.

 

[NYJimbo]

...and a few hundreds a year at xx (resellers).

I could never go back to doing that again. Too much work with regs, listings, promoting, payment handling, transfers, etc...

 

[The Durfer]

you need to buy some domains that have sold before as well, not just hand regs. Check namebio and auction results and expireddomains.net and add some domains with history. Good luck.

 

[1Darko]

I have most of my domains listed on Dan, Epik, GoDaddy, and Afternic, I've never made a sale on any of those platforms, well, I did for $100 once but I had sold the domain + 2 other matching ones all for their reg value 2-3 days prior

I get many complements on my domains and my ability to find good hand regs upon request, I was making $100 sales and was doing good at getting my money back for the ones I started with, but the past couple months I've not had any bites, not a buyer in sight, due to the markets and inflation I presume, but still, I feel like I'm holding on for a fantasy sale that will never happen, even a low $xxx offer would give me some hope. So far, this journey has given me a small profit, but with much research, and take a lot of time... Just not sure if things are balancing out.

Thanks.

Don't give up. You're in the right place to be successful. You're surrounded with probably the best domainers in the world giving you advice for free. I'm sure that you will figure it out what fits the best for you. Have patience and work hard and sales with come sooner or later.

 

[johnn]

He is more confused now with 256 different suggestions!

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

you need to buy some domains that have sold before as well, not just hand regs. Check namebio and auction results and expireddomains.net and add some domains with history. Good luck.

Yep. Read posts by @blogspotter (known as Tony names in Twitter) for using expired domains. Also listen to podcasts, especially featuring Josh Reason, Nikul Sangvi, Doron Vermaat, Mark Levine and Logan Flatt (@MediaCode).

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

He is more confused now with 256 different suggestions!

Yes, and this highlights my earlier post about contradictory information - there's multiple different ways to go about this very challenging field.

 

[marijuanadomain]

I am always making money because this is an easy peasy stress free BS hobby.
It is all about your attitude and your expectations.

 

[rh2000]

I have most of my domains listed on Dan, Epik, GoDaddy, and Afternic, I've never made a sale on any of those platforms, well, I did for $100 once but I had sold the domain + 2 other matching ones all for their reg value 2-3 days prior

I get many complements on my domains and my ability to find good hand regs upon request, I was making $100 sales and was doing good at getting my money back for the ones I started with, but the past couple months I've not had any bites, not a buyer in sight, due to the markets and inflation I presume, but still, I feel like I'm holding on for a fantasy sale that will never happen, even a low $xxx offer would give me some hope. So far, this journey has given me a small profit, but with much research, and take a lot of time... Just not sure if things are balancing out.

Thanks.

I know it can be frustrating not making a sale. I have had times when I was making sales and then there were times I would go a whole year without making a domain sale.

 

[ivey]

Don't give up yet. But take a pause from buying and analyze your names and your strategy.
Aftermarket names are probably the best investments because they almost guarantee a return.
Try different things like auctions too.. try until you find a strategy that works
Even in dry spells i never give up because i believe in myself to choose great names
and i know the names isn't the reason i don't get sales. It may be a combination of pricing, marketing, and sale strategy.

Just try different things. but stop buying new names for now,

 

[Loko]

Solid advice indeed from the previous posters.

Perhaps, instead of quitting, consider becoming a more 'passive' investor. It may take longer but this could make you far more relaxed about finding good domains when you can, and not worry too much about sales. In the meantime, you may be able to run other projects/investments or take time for development for example.


Personal opinion based on my (few and far between) sales of $xxx and lower $xxxx domains: Keep your .net domain in that list, perhaps develop it, let the other domains expire, and aquire a handful of solid meaningful .coms. Best of luck!

 

[johnn]

With all the advises from 100 different directions. He sure will quit now.

 

[Future Sensors]

With all the advises from 100 different directions. He sure will quit now.

He?