"yep, wasting your money, or making others rich while providing them with your lists of keyword search queries."
I don't actually do any queries, I sort using different metrics looking for those good keywords. I have a few that bring them up pretty quickly.
"these services have db's and they use those db's just like you use gkwt to find most search terms and phrases....that you and their other users...paid them to add to the db."
They go a lot deeper. With Dropping.com, I count almost 60 different metrics available, right now I use 14 that I really like.
"i like roaming thru free lists, name by name, day after day, week after week...it's relaxing, yet stimulating."
I used to do that when I first started. First, go thru the pending delete list, took over 2 hours. Picked some possibilities, did more research on them, took even more time. Now takes me about 10 minutes with the tools. That's just pending deletes. I also look at GD auctions, Namejet, Snapnames. Doing that manually, even more time.
"sure, you and some very experienced folks may save some time, but most put more cash and time in, than they get back in domain sales or ppc rev."
The way I justified the expense when I first started was two fold. First time. Saves me hours per day. Then I asked myself, can using these tools even help me find just 1 good domain in a year. I'm defining good domain as one I can sell for at least a few thousand. The answer for me is yes, so paying $1200 a year, is worth it to me. Pays for itself many times over. And with Freshdrop, it's only $20 a month. That's a great deal for a decent tool. And there some free services out there. I've tried them, just like the paid ones better.
So for me it's not wasting money. It's helping me make money, many times over what I'm paying for the tools, plus saving me boatloads of time, that I use to develop some of those domains, which makes even more money. In the end, whatever works and that'll be different for each person.
