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tips A few tips / info for December 2022 (and 2023 - Going forward)

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twiki

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- Been asked how my sales are going lately.

My sales have been growing a lot in November/ start of December after the September - October slump. Year turned out very good overall, its early December and I've already hit yearly target. Had several sales between $2.5K and $6K. Smallest ones have been at $1.7k.

Tip, don't underprice - especially now. Keep prices up as these are top months. It's your chance to recover if things went slow after this summer.

- In fact , I'd recommend you to always increase your prices gradually. Everything else is more expensive. Why should domains be any cheaper?

Besides, with growing domain cost and insane auction prices, and DC / SN going rogue over drops, the math doesn't check out if you decrease your prices.

- Reducing prices to xxx range (or so) does not work like in the past in my observation. In fact discount seems to have the opposite effect. I still have $1.7k names (my weaklings) but plan to up them all to $2k minimum, or more. I've mentioned this already on NP but it is worth saying it again.

There's a long story why this happened lately but I want to keep things short in this post and yes there will be hints below as of why.

- Lately there has been an increase in Paypal scam attempts over sales on NP. New accounts, zero feedback, promise to pay via Paypal Family & Friends, and then they come up with a looong story as PP changed policy or whatnot.

Ignore any such requests, no matter what they promise. You're just wasting time. They'll always come up with a ton of reasons why you should accept (another) sneaky form of payment.

Oh, they are all very polite and with plenty of explanations... (I'm done with any of these BTW).

- I'm getting good results lately with Afternic NS3/4 landers. But there are things to be aware of.

You need to keep prices high in case there is any negotiation. Say if BIN domain price is $2k, use a 3K...3.5K price with 2k floor and perhaps $1.5K min.

I'll be switching soon to NS3/4 fully if things go like this. Side note @AbdulBasit.com was always right about NS3/4. The only real condition is, have good names - ideally $2k... $2.5K value minimum. Then set the lander and just let it roll.

Edit: - In many cases can improve your sales by a lot just upping the price somewhat. Higher prices make a higher quality impression on the buyers. Making them cheapo makes them appear as such.

- Don't mix BIN with make offer. Choose one or the other. The mix is worse, it will reduce your conversions.

- It appears there is an increase in cancellations for installments. If you ask me, stay out of installments. Side note I'm not going to use any such going forward.

- I ran a long lander test for traffic over my 5500 .COM names . The results have been surprising.

99.9% are bots. Once they are weeded out, I barely got 10 interested clicks per day over the whole 5.5K range of names. And at least half of them are good names, sold for several K usually.

So true lander traffic is extremely low in quantity; unless there is a particular reason for a given domain, say direct type-ins etc. But out of those few clicks, comes buyers. Oh, and those traffic stats? Or whois calls stats such as Epik shows? Ignore them. You're wasting time. No correlation whatsoever between traffic quantity and sales.

- Sedo is on the rise lately, brought me good sales. If you're not on Sedo, consider listing there too.

- I sold some co's so there is movement there. No show though on xyz. Although I have better xyz left. I wonder if the flame is dying out on xyz (don't see much on others either, apart from DNGear which is its own category).

- COM id king will always be king. No it's not going anywhere and didn't had its heart eaten out by ngTLDs.

- If you change landers, don't hastily change them again. You need at least 4...6 months to let them run just to make sense of what's going on.

- Don't change prices often too. This kinda resets your sales (bad).

Also at Afternic you are put back at the listing queue in Godaddy Auctions (takes 45 days from listing to get to the top of search results). Better keep prices on for say 6 months. I used to make this mistake in the past.

- Decide if you're a BIN or make offer / lead domainer. Then stick to one or the other. Again I see mixing them as affecting your performance. For mid 4-fig and above, use lead or just make offer. For below $1.5k, BIN. In between these, I'd still use lead or make offer.

- If you followed my history, I used to have a ton of BIN sales because I've been mostly a discount domainer. While it worked, in hindsight it's a mistake. I should have kept prices up (3k or more) and put a lead lander and wait for the right buyer to come.

- I see quite a gap lately in NP sales section. The gap is between offer and demand. On one hand if I want to buy there's mostly bad names or highly overpriced ones for what is a domainer to domainer market. On the other hand, I can't barely sell $2.5 K+ value names with solid applications for $20. I'm renewing most now or selling in bulk to other domainers which have the cash. There's also a lot of decrease in numbers sold although I've had increased quality at clearance sales.

Side note it's not NP's fault at all, but rather a side effect of the market status.

- Decreasing prices also doesn't help you at all for the sole reason that it's not the prices that have changed, but the demand.
There is still solid demand for top domains, but not so much on the lower tiers.

Reason is, companies with money are still purchasing strong at good pricing. But individuals and SMBs have largely dropped the towel, most likely due to dwindling cash reserves.

- Therefore, if you're into XXX range sales, you might be most affected now. In such case I'd rather up the prices and wait for those who would pay at least 1.5k for a domain - any domain. A company with reasonable interest should afford that. It's one months' pay for a worker or whatnot (even less depending on where you live).

- Match currency with where your most clients come from. USD for US, EUR for europeans.

Also on Sedo, use EUR. Sedo seems to be preferred by Europeans as far as I can tell. I've also read numerous times that EU buyers often distrust GoDaddy. This is just hearsay but my own experience also seems to match it; anyway just do your due diligence.

- Final tip, domaining is for the patient domainer. My best sales come from domains I've renewed for 3 years or more, even if at times seemed not to have much point further. It does. Don't ditch your names too soon. I have super names recently which don't sell at all (yet) simply because it is too soon. Set a price, forget, enable auto-renew, and good luck.

Disclaimer: These tips won't apply to everyone else as each domainer is different, portfolios are different. So don't throw shoes at me if I appear as being teacherly to you here or whatnot. I'm not (being that). I don't have the entire truth but just one view over things.

I'm just sharing what I learned.

Good luck there.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Oh, and one vital tip for beginners and small investors:

Make yourself stand out in the crowd. Don't be like all those tens of thousands wannabes who don't know else but to buy weak domains and sell for cheap. They're not making money, they're just driving the market down. (Edit - in fact only the low, bottom part of it as good names are still strong there)

Stick to your prices and improve your quality. Quality trumps quantity, especially today, by a large margin.
 
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I'll be switching soon to NS3/4 fully if things go like this. Side note @AbdulBasit.com was always right about NS3/4. The only real condition is, have good names - ideally $2k... $2.5K value minimum. Then set the lander and just let it roll.
I'm using DAN's at the moment but considering a test for NS3/4

It would be interesting to know if @AbdulBasit.com has tested also DAN's landers to make a comparison in results

Thanks
 
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I think with skyrocketing number of scams on the internet, the NS3/4 would be a wise move. However, any serious buyer / end user will find a way to purchase a name they are genuinely interested in, even if the name does not have a lander at all. As long as the name is listed on AN / Sedo.
 
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That's good advice for not lowering the price but overall the sales have been down for many including myself.

I still believe in NS3/NS4 Afternic landers which have performed very well for me since the beginning of 2020 when I started using them. It's going to be 3 years using their landers and I'm happy with the overall results.

I agree with you on using one lander; either BIN or Make Offer. Using both together can put you in a weak position. The buyer will clearly notice that with the Make Offer option, why to hit BIN when my offer will be considered at least if that's close to the BIN.

It's always good to list domains at Sedo like you suggested. Although they bring me very few sales in a year, it's worth going through the hassle of listing and verifying (if required).

Best wishes!
 
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I'm using DAN's at the moment but considering a test for NS3/4

It would be interesting to know if @AbdulBasit.com has tested also DAN's landers to make a comparison in results

Thanks

No, I haven't tried Dan and don't plan to try them (https://www.abdulbasit.com/domaining/my-first-and-last-experience-with-dan-com-as-seller) but now since GoDaddy have acquired it, things might change for better so not sure what will happen in the future. For now, I'm and will continue to use NS3/NS4 landers which is giving good results to me. Yes, there are ups and downs and the only issue is inconsistency of sales even after having well curated 8,000 domains added in around 12 years.

I've tried NS5/NS6 on half of my portfolio for around 4 months and the results were almost the same. Didn't get any significant difference. I switched back to NS3/NS4 which I prefer over BIN landers. I've also published a post regarding my take on Afternic BIN lander - https://www.abdulbasit.com/domaining/my-take-on-afternic-ns5-ns6-lander

Thanks!
 
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Great Advice, Twiki! And thanks AbdulBasit for your input, as well.

I agree that there is that 45-60 day window to get the domains extea exposure via the Aftetnic/GoDaddy registrar stream. I assume this extra exposure coincides with once Fast Transfer is enabled.

I am planning to gradually increase prices once we are into 2023 (I just lowered some back in November), but am quickly coming around to the belief that being profitable in this gsme comes down to that 1 or 2 higher-end buyers that are willing to pay up for our better names.

I have switched all my domains to NS5/6 landers because I like seeing prices when I am the buyer - am planning to give this 12 months to assess...

I know you guys like the NS3/4 landers.

Thanks, again!
 
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Great thread
@twiki you always provide unique information that have never been shared by others before.

👍
 
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@twiki

What is your pricing format preference?
Do you prefer prices ending with 99, 95, 88 .. or others?

I use 99 but recently I started to change my mind about that and I have a feeling (based on pure hunsh) that prices ending with 00 are more clear and less confusing to end users (ex: 1500 looks better for me that 1499).
 
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@twiki

What is your pricing format preference?
Do you prefer prices ending with 99, 95, 88 .. or others?

I use 99 but recently I started to change my mind about that and I have a feeling (based on pure hunsh) that prices ending with 00 are more clear and less confusing to end users (ex: 1500 looks better for me that 1499).
I'm leaning gradually towards prices ending in 00 or 50.
 
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Also on Sedo, use EUR. Sedo seems to be preferred by Europeans as far as I can tell. I've also read numerous times that EU buyers often distrust GoDaddy. This is just hearsay but my own experience also seems to match it; anyway just do your due diligence.
Would you Recommend to Even list .Com names in EUR or only .Co.UK & .UK Domains in EUR if you have
 
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Would you Recommend to Even list .Com names in EUR or only .Co.UK & .UK Domains in EUR if you have
I've had better results with EUR on Sedo. Therefore all my Sedo prices are EUR.

If unsure, make a split test.
 
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If we use NS3/NS4 on an unpriced name in our Afternic account (so it just says Make Offer on Afternic)... and a prospective buyer contacts Afternic to request the price... what happens? What does Afternic do?

I've never used Afternic landing pages before so I'm not sure how they operate.
 
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If we use NS3/NS4 on an unpriced name in our Afternic account (so it just says Make Offer on Afternic)... and a prospective buyer contacts Afternic to request the price... what happens? What does Afternic do?

I've never used Afternic landing pages before so I'm not sure how they operate.
You definitely need to ask basic beginner questions in an appropriate thread. This isn't that.
 
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Regarding the 45 days reset af Afternic is it a cycle period for all domains regardless of price change? If so then could that explain inconsistency of Afternic sales performance? I noticed that throughout the year there are long silence periods from Afternic.
 
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If we use NS3/NS4 on an unpriced name in our Afternic account (so it just says Make Offer on Afternic)... and a prospective buyer contacts Afternic to request the price... what happens? What does Afternic do?

I've never used Afternic landing pages before so I'm not sure how they operate.

Afternic will email you and ask you to set a Buy It Now price within 24 hours, which they will relay to the buyer
 
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Regarding the 45 days reset af Afternic is it a cycle period for all domains regardless of price change? If so then could that explain inconsistency of Afternic sales performance? I noticed that throughout the year there are long silence periods from Afternic.
I always update all my prices at once and then do not touch them for 45 days. Once you change a price, you are being reset at the bottom of the queue.

So yeah, it matters; a lot.

I get my best sales through the GoDaddy Auctions site in the last 2 weeks of the 45-days cycle.
 
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I always update all my prices at once and then do not touch them for 45 days. Once you change a price, you are being reset at the bottom of the queue.

So yeah, it matters; a lot.

I get my best sales through the GoDaddy Auctions site in the last 2 weeks of the 45-days cycle.
Hi my friend,

Can you please gell that where and how it goes to the bottom of the queue once anyone updates their domain with an adjusted price? Also how does it affect in lower sales?
 
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Hi my friend,

Can you please gell that where and how it goes to the bottom of the queue once anyone updates their domain with an adjusted price? Also how does it affect in lower sales?
Hi Abdul,

I posted about this a couple times, glad to repeat.

When you list a domain on Afternic, it appears in the GD auctions but at the bottom. So if it's freshly added, it is at the bottom of the search.

Then as days go by, it goes up and up until it gets to the top. This cycle takes 45 days.

Well I have discovered that if you don't touch the domains for 45 days, in the last few weeks you get a lot sold via GD auctions platform. At least for me it is like that, and makes sense.

Whenever you edit pricing, it gets reset and puts you again at the bottom of the queue. So you lose a lot of exposure by editing prices often.

Unsure if this cycle applies to other Afternic partners but GD Auctions is the primary source of sales in my opinion. My Afternic rep also confirmed this in my case at least.

Edit: Example, I just finished editing ALL my prices on Jan 17, will not touch them anymore until March 4..5 or so. It's best to do it in a full batch at once in my opinion otherwise you lose the cherry on the pie.
 
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Hi Abdul,

I posted about this a couple times, glad to repeat.

When you list a domain on Afternic, it appears in the GD auctions but at the bottom. So if it's freshly added, it is at the bottom of the search.

Then as days go by, it goes up and up until it gets to the top. This cycle takes 45 days.

Well I have discovered that if you don't touch the domains for 45 days, in the last few weeks you get a lot sold via GD auctions platform. At least for me it is like that, and makes sense.

Whenever you edit pricing, it gets reset and puts you again at the bottom of the queue. So you lose a lot of exposure by editing prices often.

Unsure if this cycle applies to other Afternic partners but GD Auctions is the primary source of sales in my opinion. My Afternic rep also confirmed this in my case at least.

Edit: Example, I just finished editing ALL my prices on Jan 17, will not touch them anymore until March 4..5 or so. It's best to do it in a full batch at once in my opinion otherwise you lose the cherry on the pie.

Does this apply to GD main search results or only for GD Auction search? I am asking because end users usually don't search in GD auctions (most users don't know about it)
 
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Does this apply to GD main search results or only for GD Auction search? I am asking because end users usually don't search in GD auctions (most users don't know about it)
I only tested GD auctions so dunno. But there is a significant correlation there. Enough for me to be careful with edits.
 
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Hi Abdul,

I posted about this a couple times, glad to repeat.

When you list a domain on Afternic, it appears in the GD auctions but at the bottom. So if it's freshly added, it is at the bottom of the search.

Then as days go by, it goes up and up until it gets to the top. This cycle takes 45 days.

Well I have discovered that if you don't touch the domains for 45 days, in the last few weeks you get a lot sold via GD auctions platform. At least for me it is like that, and makes sense.

Whenever you edit pricing, it gets reset and puts you again at the bottom of the queue. So you lose a lot of exposure by editing prices often.

Unsure if this cycle applies to other Afternic partners but GD Auctions is the primary source of sales in my opinion. My Afternic rep also confirmed this in my case at least.

Edit: Example, I just finished editing ALL my prices on Jan 17, will not touch them anymore until March 4..5 or so. It's best to do it in a full batch at once in my opinion otherwise you lose the cherry on the pie.
Thanks for sharing this valuable thing. I will confirm with my rep if it affects at GD search where many of my sales happen.
 
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Thanks for sharing this valuable thing. I will confirm with my rep if it affects at GD search where many of my sales happen.
Happy to help.

Important note, you can also test this yourself, easy. Which I recommend.

1) Take a name that has been already for a while in. Search for a term in it, e.g. "credit". Look for its position in search results. Edit: in GD auctions.

Repeat if needed until you get one that is in an upper position.

2) Update the price and wait a bit for the effect to propagate. Edit: The BIN price.

3) Check again the position in search results.

You will see it gone at the bottom of the list and all other results are up above, including looong and totally uninteresting domains or weird tld's - all above your valuable domain.
 
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Forgot to mention this.

If I stick to no changes during 45 days (entire portfolio updated at once!), then:

- In the first 2 weeks I get low sales or no sales,
- In the second 2 weeks I get normal level sales
- And in the last 2 weeks I sell more than the whole month before, often double.

I planned this for example for December as I knew it's a good month - and basically made the profit back in for the whole year. (Edit: made the changes between November 12...15)

My rep has also confirmed for example that the great December sales I just had, indeed happened via GD Auctions.
 
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