$100,000 Income: No Big Deal Anymore?

Quality of the names that matters most, not the quantity. Those who own 5000 plus domain names are not necessarily making a killing but finding it hard to maintain that kind of huge portfolio.

Simple example...

1,000 domains x $1.17 (during promotional sales) = $1,170
If just 3-4 domains will be sold within 1 year - you are in significant profit...
And then may freely drop all others...

And nobody renews all 100% domains...
Portfolio is always in permanent rotation... and core size is a few times lower...

If 5K+ LLLL.com - this is another story...
And I don't know such domainers at all.

I renew about 80% of my names and have about 1300 names. Planning to increase the number drastically.

I renew almost 100%. Last year let drop like 5 domains. The one I watched adresboek.com got picked up by dropcatch and ended up with 9 bidders and price like $300.
Actually someone bought it in sedo.com also for $750, but it was in pending delete so I was not able to renew it.

After that basically none of my domains is dropping

Recons.Com said:

I renew about 80% of my names and have about 1300 names. Planning to increase the number drastically.

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Wow! some posts and aftermarket sales reports are misleading..i was under the impression that 99% of the domainers are bleeding and the overall sales percentage is just 0.34% of the inventory with the chosen few selling 2-3% of their portfolio/year..your optimism is infectious...thank you!

domeen said:

I renew almost 100%. Last year let drop like 5 domains. The one I watched adresboek.com got picked up by dropcatch and ended up with 9 bidders and price like $300.
Actually someone bought it in sedo.com also for $750, but it was in pending delete so I was not able to renew it.

After that basically none of my domains is dropping

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Yes in agreement! I dropped geeksensors.com and it was immediately picked. i see that
BLOCKCHAINCENTRAL.COM last sold for $4,050 on 2018-01-16 at GoDaddy and i have blockchaincentro.com with no takers for a month but should i drop now it will be immediately lapped as it means the same. Guess patience is a virtue

The majority of domainers are indeed losing money. But those who have success are not always going to boast about it, in fact they are busy and they don't even have the time to post here. On the other hand those who struggle don't like to admit they are not doing well.
Even making a good sale here and there still doesn't mean you are profitable.
Blanket statement: domaining is most of the time a hobby, sometimes profitable. A full-time business: rarely. There are few people who make a living on domains. They exist but they are not representative of the average NPer. I don't have accurate statistics so you don't have to agree with me here.

Newcomers are typically attracted by the sales reports, that suggest there is a big gold mine waiting to be tapped and money to be made easily. The reality is that aftermarket activity is tiny when compared to the gross volume of domain registrations. So they tend to overestimate the potential.
There is a lot of money wasted on domain speculation, I posted some famous examples that are only the tip of the iceberg.

When you are a newcomer and read the comments you are sometimes under the impression that 90% of posters here are making a comfortable revenue, and those who aren't are just at the beginning of the learning curve, and everything will sort out for itself soon enough.
Yet the majority are not incorporated and they never complain about taxes because they are not paying any. Because you don't pay taxes on revenue that doesn't exist.

You have to keep a critical mind, analyze what you see and hear, do research, sort the wheat from the shaft, and not take everything at face value.
The sales reports from established sources are generally trustworthy, but they can be contaminated by fake sales or non-completed transactions too.
But there is money to be made though, if you work hard and do your homework. Dreamers will be washed over.

Kate said:

The majority of domainers are indeed losing money. But those who have success are not always going to boast about it, in fact they are busy and they don't even have the time to post here. On the other hand those who struggle don't like to admit they are not doing well.
Even making a good sale here and there still doesn't mean you are profitable.
Blanket statement: domaining is most of the time a hobby, sometimes profitable. A full-time business: rarely. There are few people who make a living on domains. They exist but they are not representative of the average NPer. I don't have accurate statistics so you don't have to agree with me here.

Newcomers are typically attracted by the sales reports, that suggest there is a big gold mine waiting to be tapped and money to be made easily. The reality is that aftermarket activity is tiny when compared to the gross volume of domain registrations. So they tend to overestimate the potential.
There is a lot of money wasted on domain speculation, I posted some famous examples that are only the tip of the iceberg.

When you are a newcomer and read the comments you are sometimes under the impression that 90% of posters here are making a comfortable revenue, and those who aren't are just at the beginning of the learning curve, and everything will sort out for itself soon enough.
Yet the majority are not incorporated and they never complain about taxes because they are not paying any. Because you don't pay taxes on revenue that doesn't exist.

You have to keep a critical mind, analyze what you see and hear, do research, sort the wheat from the shaft, and not take everything at face value.
The sales reports from established sources are generally trustworthy, but they can be contaminated by fake sales or non-completed transactions too.
But there is money to be made though, if you work hard and do your homework. Dreamers will be washed over.

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sane voice you will be my go to person for any advice..Thank You!

Anjani said:

Yes in agreement! I dropped geeksensors.com and it was immediately picked. i see that
BLOCKCHAINCENTRAL.COM last sold for $4,050 on 2018-01-16 at GoDaddy and i have blockchaincentro.com with no takers for a month but should i drop now it will be immediately lapped as it means the same. Guess patience is a virtue

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Don't even compare BlockchainCentro.com with BlockchainCentral.com. They are not even close because the latter features two highly-desireable English words. I suppose you could sell BlockchainCentro.com to a Spanish or South American company but it likely won't sell for much. Perhaps dropping it to re-invest the renewal savings in a superior name makes good sense.

Kate said:

The majority of domainers are indeed losing money. But those who have success are not always going to boast about it, in fact they are busy and they don't even have the time to post here. On the other hand those who struggle don't like to admit they are not doing well.
Even making a good sale here and there still doesn't mean you are profitable.
Blanket statement: domaining is most of the time a hobby, sometimes profitable. A full-time business: rarely. There are few people who make a living on domains. They exist but they are not representative of the average NPer. I don't have accurate statistics so you don't have to agree with me here.

Newcomers are typically attracted by the sales reports, that suggest there is a big gold mine waiting to be tapped and money to be made easily. The reality is that aftermarket activity is tiny when compared to the gross volume of domain registrations. So they tend to overestimate the potential.
There is a lot of money wasted on domain speculation, I posted some famous examples that are only the tip of the iceberg.

When you are a newcomer and read the comments you are sometimes under the impression that 90% of posters here are making a comfortable revenue, and those who aren't are just at the beginning of the learning curve, and everything will sort out for itself soon enough.
Yet the majority are not incorporated and they never complain about taxes because they are not paying any. Because you don't pay taxes on revenue that doesn't exist.

You have to keep a critical mind, analyze what you see and hear, do research, sort the wheat from the shaft, and not take everything at face value.
The sales reports from established sources are generally trustworthy, but they can be contaminated by fake sales or non-completed transactions too.
But there is money to be made though, if you work hard and do your homework. Dreamers will be washed over.

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what she said

(and she knows how to spell 'losing' the correct way -- many type loosing!)

Anjani said:

Wow! some posts and aftermarket sales reports are misleading..i was under the impression that 99% of the domainers are bleeding and the overall sales percentage is just 0.34% of the inventory with the chosen few selling 2-3% of their portfolio/year..your optimism is infectious...thank you!

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I am at around 1%. But I don't do throw-away pricing for most of my names.

I did not really intent to be infectious with optimism, as that can lead to people losing money in this industry. Again, per recent poll here, 52% of investors either lost money or broke even for 2017 and then for remaining 48%, a lot made under $10K, which is not a lot given the amount of time spent and risks involved.

You really have to know what you are doing and do things right way. Once you find a formula that works for 100 or 1000 names then you can try to scale up.

If everything you drop is picked up it is reassuring that you have good stock. To make 100k sure it will be turn over but more effort is required on retaining reasoning behind margins rather than plucking numbers. Every domain with a make offer has more potential than high priced domains. It is about getting the client to pick a number then showing why it needs to be inflated.

i dropped within 5 days of buying blockchaininternational.com, cloudchainlabs.com and geeksensors,com - Everything got picked.. Forum Ninja's told me initially that long names don't work.

Don't let it worry you so much better than that out there.

Everything I drop is picked up too.
It means the names are maybe not so bad, but the notion of what is bad is relative in a context of scarcity. It doesn't mean the names will ever sell.
There is no shortage of 'ok' domains, but there are just not enough domain buyers to absorb all the supply.

Anjani said:

Wonder what percentage of domainers make over 100k?

Your Thoughts!

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it's really not my business, nor is it a focal point
sure, if someone is sharing info voluntarily, that's fine

but I think one should focus on their own affairs, instead of who's making what.


imo...

Kate said:

Everything I drop is picked up too.
It means the names are maybe not so bad, but the notion of what is bad is relative in a context of scarcity. It doesn't mean the names will ever sell.
There is no shortage of 'ok' domains, but there are just not enough domain buyers to absorb all the supply.

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Hmm, get it that most domainers are ready to pay regular registration fees and not premium price like end users

Consider this.

1. Domains worth $50k or more aren't available for cheap. They don't have a big market since the price is high too. These domains take patience when it comes to selling.
2. Domains that can be flipped for low income are the ones driving the market. Shark may be the king of the ocean, but we don't eat shark all the time. We prefer tunas, trouts etc. Keep flipping.
3. Successful domainers will always have a stable portfolio and money backup. Most of them have another primary source of income and invest some of it on domaining. Not all domainers are feeding themselves and their family by selling domains.
4. To make 100k, you have to think big. If you dream of landing on Mars, you'll at least land on the moon. Think big, work hard, do your research and always - always keep learning.

Kate said:

Yet the majority are not incorporated and they never complain about taxes because they are not paying any. Because you don't pay taxes on revenue that doesn't exist.

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You don't have to be incorporated to pay taxes. I am not incorporated but am a legitimate business, I claim my income on my taxes and I charge the appropriate sales taxes on all my sales within Canada. Any sales outside of Canada are exempt of the sales tax.

Since I run a number of businesses I am accustomed to paying a rather large amount of income tax but how I get that down is to spend the income on things I can use as expenses and domains are perfect because I can keep them and sell them later when my tax base goes down.

I do very much agree with you though, I have so many topics (including on a different forum) where I tell domainers of the dangers in not charging sales tax or claiming their income. I even had one domainer try to tell me he has been selling domains at 75k for years and he includes the sales tax in all his domains. Seriously that is just silly, a legitimate business expects to pay sales tax and can easily claim it back, why would one include it in the price and limit the profit potential.

So yes.... a lot of mistakes are being made and when the tax people catch up a number of domainers are going to be in serious trouble. I know in Canada you have to charge sales tax if your sales are over 25-30k per year and therefore you are responsible for collection and remittance.

@Kate I seriously think a lot of domainers never realize a lot of sales so therefore they run under the radar. Anyone having sizable sales would be a foolish not to charge & remit taxes. Not claiming the income would be even more silly because money is traceable and in they end they will be caught.

@Anjani - As far as 100k being no big deal, it is not for those accustomed to making it but I know a few people eking by on $500 per month in social assistance. I personally feel it is our responsibility to give back if we have achieved a measure of success. Personally I even pay half of peoples car loans to help them out. Whenever I do anything I make sure I do it in such a way to preserve the dignity of the person I am helping.

In closing.... renewals are an expense, I actually don't mind when they come up, its part of the business like paying rent.

Namepros supposedly has 1 million members. Many of these members like to brag about their sales. When there have been only 32 sales reported here in the last 7 days that should tell you something. Even more so when most of those 32 sold for hundreds and not thousands of dollars. Domaining can be profitable but you better get ready to marry domaining or you will be wasting your time.

Good day!
I'll say my opinion. I think that with a domain portfolio requires constant work and a healthy optimization. Domain portfolio is the same business tool as assets in any business and domain portfolio should always be spent on maximum efficiency. Of course this is not always possible. There are both successes and business failures. And it's like any business. Otherwise, it all threatens to turn into a kind of abandoned attic when even the most necessary thing can not be found. Sound understanding and forecast that can be used now and what domains to leave waiting for your time and portfolio optimization will help to beat the loss of money. Best Regards

About 1500 domains renewal at about $8 each. I get offers daily and manage to sell enough each month to be in the green on both a monthly basis and annual rolling basis. Some months I make a lot others less.

I might let a few domains go some months. I might acquire a few domains some months too, but these days most of my acquisitions are for development not re-sale.

Anjani said:

Everything got picked

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Kate said:

Everything I drop is picked up too

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People see nice names in drop lists, they take them and think later.