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What's wrong with today's domaining?

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I'm out of domaining. ~RusselAccount Closed (Requested)
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Hello again

No sales... No bids. No best offers.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Maybee just bad names or names that nobody wants?
 
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Too many sellers, not many buyers ;(
 
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What's wrong with today's domaining?.
If you actually want to improve, replace "today's" with "my".
 
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The vast majority of people looking for a domain name for a website have an expectation that a domain name should cost them max $25. They might be willing to pay $50 to $79 for a really good name but domainers accustomed to seeing reported sales of $xXxX plus never price names at $xx. The launch of hundreds of new extensions gives those low-budget buyers a myriad of additional choices. Many end users are satisfied with social media platforms and see no need for a domain name. Newbies who do not have any desirable .com domains migrate to other extensions where keyword availability is much easier. Now domainers instead of selling .com domains wholesale to each other have no money to even buy at wholesale prices because they are buried with new tld renewals. Of course we are told that domains are internet real estate so we load up on hundreds of domains thinking they will make us rich. Most outside this industry do not share the view that domains should cost $xXxX or more even though businesses do normally spend thousands and thousands of dollars on normal operating expenses. Most lottery ticket players lose every dime they gamble - so it is with most domain portfolios.
 
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Here’s my thoughts.

There’s a large percentage of domainers who register a domain for $8 (or less with coupons) and believe they will be rich by it one day. If someone tries to buy this domain a ridiculous price is quoted back to a potential end-user.

Also there’s quite a lot of domainers who only think about themselves and not understanding that an end-user also has to find value for money in buying a domain too and justify paying the price you want.

So if you quote back $30k for an average to good domain, people need to ask themselves whether a buyer can justify paying this amount, is the buyer going to get more traffic/custom/money because of your domain and will it eventually pay for itself? If the answer is no, then lower asking prices and you may get somewhere.

So I believe unrealistic expectations is what is wrong with domaining, only the ultra-premiums can make you rich. It’s difficult to buy ultra-premiums, so I say if you’re a dreamer (which I admit I am at times), research into things like future tech (as an example). Look at some aftermarket domains and put in some offers for domains that ‘may’ one day be a category killing domain and a possible 6 figure+ sale.
 
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Personally, I have noticed a down turn in sales last month or two and serious domain inquiries/offers.

I sell to small to medium sized businesses and I believe the US elections are the problems.

These companies are holding back on making decisions and purchases till after the election.

So, should be great Nov. and Dec.
 
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The vast majority of people looking for a domain name for a website have an expectation that a domain name should cost them max $25. They might be willing to pay $50 to $79 for a really good name but domainers accustomed to seeing reported sales of $xXxX plus never price names at $xx. The launch of hundreds of new extensions gives those low-budget buyers a myriad of additional choices. Many end users are satisfied with social media platforms and see no need for a domain name. Newbies who do not have any desirable .com domains migrate to other extensions where keyword availability is much easier. Now domainers instead of selling .com domains wholesale to each other have no money to even buy at wholesale prices because they are buried with new tld renewals. Of course we are told that domains are internet real estate so we load up on hundreds of domains thinking they will make us rich. Most outside this industry do not share the view that domains should cost $xXxX or more even though businesses do normally spend thousands and thousands of dollars on normal operating expenses. Most lottery ticket players lose every dime they gamble - so it is with most domain portfolios.

Well said.
 
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Even the best known domainers have some bad bad names which I wouldn't touch for free. Your best bet is to own names fit to be business launch worthy. Exact match keywords used in spoken lingo is a good start. eg Home Buyers. An end user will only pay premium price if the name fits their branding requirements. Sometimes domainers buy names in a certain niche, before the market has fully matured. You'll need to be prepared to wait. At some point in time, you'll have to accept the fact that, if no one wants it, the names are not good enough, at least for prices of your expectations. Liquidate them.

Before you buy a name based on a few instances I described above, zero in on it's target market; know who the buyers will be. Sales will come in due time. Of course there are so many changing variables to every individual domainer portfolio and the approach they take to become a better sales person. Relying simply on your domains to sell themselves can prove to be fatal.
 
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The massive growth in supply created by new extensions is in stark contrast to an end user base that is growing at a much slower rate resulting in a buyers market, or worse, an indifferent market.
 
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It starts with what domain names you have. Are they related to what business requires. .com in my opinion should be the best ones to hold, since it is de facto "industry " standard. Also renew price appears to be cheaper than TLD's.
 
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It's the same for me ... steady revenue.

Maybe your portfolios are using new gTLDS no surprises in this case.
 
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Many folks are Parking, but call it 'Domaining'. As most parked domains are not in the search index of domains, they are not really Domaining ... in the 'active participant' sense of the word.

As a result, selling from parked pages produces diminishing returns, which in turn drives an increase in 'domainer spam'... that further aggravates the market.
 
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Its all about supply and demand. As of today, .Com has 127 million registrations and GTLDs have 25 million registrations. Domaining gets tougher IMO.

If you do not have premium names you are better off investing your time in other regular business. With current supply of names domaining is brutal experience.
 
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Domaining is not just buying and selling domains. Sometimes you must become your own end user.
 
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Too much supply and not enough demand.
 
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What's wrong with today's domaining?
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nothing is wrong.

it's not yesterday's domaining, it's the future of the past.

and if you didn't get ready then, you won't be ready now

imo....
 
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So many domainers are even reluctant to buy a domain on the aftermarket... are you surprised sales are far and in between ?
 
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Kate has a point - most domainers price everything $XXXX or higher yet are unwilling to buy an aftermarket domain for low $XXX. Oftentimes stock investors are happy with a 25-40% return.
 
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MAny things:-
1) Some of the clients
2) Too many domainers
3) Many clients have had prior bad experiences with brokers so they are doubtful to buy domains from brokers the next time
 
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