What is your criteria for dropping a domain from your portfolio?

Most of my names I've had for 10+ years. Most of them have never had offers.

I guess I go against the grain, or am just flat daft.

I do drop names, more lately.

Interesting point on the whois check, but the thing is when I do a whois check to see if the domain will drop I usually have no plan on paying anything more than the reg fee for the domain. If I wanted to buy the domain I would have contacted the seller direct. I think whois checks are good at determining whether another domainer is interested in the name or not.

I have seen an increase in WHois checks or SEDO offer page views for expired domains but when you renew the name, offers don't magically appear. The fact other investors might be willing to pay $10 for your domain doesn't mean they are willing to pay $5000 or even $500.

garptrader said:

I have seen an increase in WHois checks or SEDO offer page views for expired domains but when you renew the name, offers don't magically appear. The fact other investors might be willing to pay $10 for your domain doesn't mean they are willing to pay $5000 or even $500.

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I agree that it could be potentially other domainers only willing to pay very little but if you have multiple domainers showing interest it helps give the name credibility for possibly an end user sale. You would think that if a bunch of us domainers like it than possibly an end user will like it also.

If the thought "I should drop this name" comes into my head..

pls how do i know if my domain is 'whois check' by someone?

Dropping names is just as much an art as registering names, I think. I do sometimes look at the whois checks, but find them pretty much useless. They often increase when a name is expiring, and I have never been able to make a connection between volume of whois look-ups and increased sales.

Future domains are easier, as I can just look and see whether the future I envisioned is closer to reality or has simply fallen off the charts.

If a domain has enough parking to revenue to cover renewals, that's a no-brainer. Why on earth would anyone drop a name it costs nothing to keep? But since most of my domains don't make that much, it's of limited use.

Inquiries? One year is not enough time for most names. I have picked up many bargains from impatient domainers who are expecting regular offers on brandables and names that simply will not get regular offers. A name might take 5-6 years or longer to sell. It might not get a single inquiry for all that time until it does sell. A lot of names that go on to sell for 4 figures (and more) have never had previous offers.

If a name has gotten no inquiries over several years, and it's not a future name waiting for its time to come, I do take a closer look at it. This I think is where it's difficult. No parking revenue, no inquiries...what to do? The following list helps:

1- What is the maximum potential for the name? Is it something that might get $500-$1000 maximum? (Like maybe the name of a bar or cafe.) Then maybe the reward isn't enough to cover holding costs for these names. I'll drop it. Could it have the potential of being a big outlier sale? Then maybe I'll keep it.

2- Is it registered in other tlds? If so, are they being used as websites, or all they all held by domainers? If the alternate tlds are held by end-users, it may be a keeper. If all the tlds are held by domainers, it might be one of those mass-delusions domainers suffer from. A bunch of names that will never find an end user. Still, if I hold the .com, I can at least try to pawn it off on a reseller.

3- Check the keywords for usage. Are they commonly used by established companies - preferably larger companies? I'll keep it even if I have gotten zero inquiries. Someday that ship may come in.

4- Is it just a good name? (Here's the art part.) I have names that I know will make a good business. I can imagine the business, and I could see wanting the name if I were in that business. I try to look at the name as impassively as possible. This is not easy, as I obviously liked it enough once to buy. Yet, each year our skills improve, so I may see flaws that I missed a year ago. Also each year times change, and the name may not look so attractive anymore.

5- Am I just sick of looking at the name? Then I get rid of it.

6- These decisions are all influenced by how much cash I have on hand as well. If I feel flush, I renew names I probably shouldn't. If I am tight, I get ruthless. I have dumped names just to see them sold by another domainer. Where I can, I ask them how they sold it. So at least I gain a learning opportunity from the name.

The last point is that some names I drop will be picked up and sold on to end-users. That's life. At the same time, I pick up names here and there from domainers who have given up on them, and sell them on myself. It's nothing to get upset about. If I were to never drop a good name, then my renewal costs would put me out of business. You gotta trim, and there's no way to get it 100% right.

/\ best post I've read in a long while /\

required reading!

I just ask myself if this is a name I would handreg now. If it is, I keep it, if not, I let it expire.

I dropped 295 names last round;

170 of those names were re-registered, and Huge Domains bought 1/3 of them.

As long as I have the income to support my portfolio I won't drop. I reg everything for a reason. If domaining was my primary income then I'd take a different stance.

If I thought this was a get rich quick thing I wouldn't even be around.

The marketplace is crazy and you never know what's going to happen therefore volume can't hurt.

Sometimes I do a comparison of my names with other domain selling sites, and I feel much better in retaining them.

@DomainVP: if you dropped a name and sites like HugeDomains grabbed it, that did not necessarily mean that you should not dropped it - it is not that 'one man's trash is other person's treasure'. Their equation is different and more of a 'lottery'. If that is not your equation, then I would not worry about it.

NameFit said:

@DomainVP: if you dropped a name and sites like HugeDomains grabbed it, that did not necessarily mean that you should not dropped it - it is not that 'one man's trash is other person's treasure'. Their equation is different and more of a 'lottery'. If that is not your equation, then I would not worry about it.

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Not worried at all, thats why I dropped them. They are playing the odds and averages game with domains.

I've posted this before here.

1. It's essential to have stat tracking on every domain. I look to see how much real traffic the name has gotten over the last year (not crawlers from Google and other search engines).

2. I look to see if there are any exact match / hyphenated / singular or plural versions of my name registered AND developed in other extensions.

3. I do a quick Google search on the domain to see if anything related is popping up. Looking for what I might have missed from step 2, an exact match name in Facebook / Twitter / other social accounts, etc.

Usually after going through these steps, I'm pretty confident whether to renew or not.

4. Finally, I put a watch on any names I decide to drop just in case they get significant interest in the redemption period / pre-release stage.

GravityEleven said:

...i am brutal to my portfolio nowadays...

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Same here. Take the loss, chalk up the experience and move on.

bene said:

pls how do i know if my domain is 'whois check' by someone?

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If its with Godaddy try this guide : There is slight change with the interface but you can easily find them.
http://domainshane.com/finding-how-...-godaddy-domains-a-visual-step-by-step-guide/

Ask yourself;

If it was available today. Would i register it?

kollam003 said:

If its with Godaddy try this guide : There is slight change with the interface but you can easily find them.
http://domainshane.com/finding-how-...-godaddy-domains-a-visual-step-by-step-guide/

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I always wondered if Go Daddy pumped up those numbers so that you'd want to renew your domain(s). I always found my expiring names get increasing WHOIS search volume but then it would drop off after renewal.

There would be possibilities like that, when we see that a name gets more whois searches we are more tend to renew them. For them its business and for us its a matter of decisions we make. Stats just help in making our decisions, it should not be the only factor.

AGAME said:

I always wondered if Go Daddy pumped up those numbers so that you'd want to renew your domain(s). I always found my expiring names get increasing WHOIS search volume but then it would drop off after renewal.

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1. Could I imagine someone ever wanting to buy this name?
2. How replaceable is the name? Could some easily hand reg an alternative?
3. Is it registered in other extensions?

one more thing i do is checking my to-reg list
if the best in the list is better than the one expiring
dump the old one save that renewfee for new reg