$100,000 Income: No Big Deal Anymore?

Kate said:

The names are 'OK' but generally not outstanding, people are still picking the leftovers from others. Maybe they will have more success than the previous holders but that is far from certain.
When you see all the stuff that gets picked up - there is a lot of desperation in this business.

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Jurgen Wolf said:

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...

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Jurgen Wolf said:

This is just example...
It may be any TLD for promotional price...

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hookbox said:

Namepros supposedly has 1 million members.

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hookbox said:

Up to a couple of years ago it wasn't so bad but lately Huge Domains has killed it for the regular domainer. All they leave now is scraps.

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drewwash said:

Where did this number come from? That seems excessively high, but it would be awesome if true.

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Silentptnr said:

I have about 1000 domains. I pay on average $8 each for renewals. I don't really follow specials too much so I spend about 8k per year on renewals.

Each year my goal is to cover my renewals and make profit. My way of doing it is:

I run several auctions a year at NameJet or GoDaddy...sometimes monthly. Each auction usually yields 4k+. Sometimes much more. Not usually much less.

Other than those auctions I run, I get end user sales here and there.

I haven't had a time yet that I have not made far more than my renewals in a year and that includes any names that I drop. And that includes all the new names I buy each year.

The only tough part for me is that I like to hold my domains for end user sales, so I don't even like doing the auctions. I do them to always be profitable. I also always look to acquire more names because I love domaining and need to have constant inventory of "profitable" names.

Of course I would love to spend more time building my domain business and have no doubt I could, but it will have to wait until I retire.

I think the biggest mistake some make is to believe it is realistic and normal to have a 100k+ sale.

Only certain, ultra premium domains hit those levels. Sure you might see a two word or ngTLD sell high here or there, but the reality is that most "good" retail sales will be around the 1.5k-3k range.

My model is based on the worst case scenario which is unloading domains at reseller prices (or less) on the major auction platforms.

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DomainAuctions said:

Hello David,

I would like to pm you regarding a question I have about auctions and if you could possibly share some of your experience with regards to auctions.

Thanks.

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GeorgeQuang said:

Spend all money i have to domaining.
Living in my parent's house.
Having 750 names.
Hiring 1 part-time staff.
30-40 names in my watching list each day in all Auctions.
Profit in selling names cover 60% the cost ( if i accepted all offers, i can make 10-20% profit for the 1st year as full-time domainer).
Still burning my money.
And people say that i'm MAD.
Ignoring what people say, thought and laugh.
Time will answer.

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Silentptnr said:

I have about 1000 domains. I pay on average $8 each for renewals. I don't really follow specials too much so I spend about 8k per year on renewals.

Each year my goal is to cover my renewals and make profit. My way of doing it is:

I run several auctions a year at NameJet or GoDaddy...sometimes monthly. Each auction usually yields 4k+. Sometimes much more. Not usually much less.

Other than those auctions I run, I get end user sales here and there.

I haven't had a time yet that I have not made far more than my renewals in a year and that includes any names that I drop. And that includes all the new names I buy each year.

The only tough part for me is that I like to hold my domains for end user sales, so I don't even like doing the auctions. I do them to always be profitable. I also always look to acquire more names because I love domaining and need to have constant inventory of "profitable" names.

Of course I would love to spend more time building my domain business and have no doubt I could, but it will have to wait until I retire.

I think the biggest mistake some make is to believe it is realistic and normal to have a 100k+ sale.

Only certain, ultra premium domains hit those levels. Sure you might see a two word or ngTLD sell high here or there, but the reality is that most "good" retail sales will be around the 1.5k-3k range.

My model is based on the worst case scenario which is unloading domains at reseller prices (or less) on the major auction platforms.

Click to expand...

Kate said:

The names are 'OK' but generally not outstanding, people are still picking the leftovers from others. Maybe they will have more success than the previous holders but that is far from certain.
When you see all the stuff that gets picked up - there is a lot of desperation in this business.

Click to expand...

GeorgeQuang said:

Hiring 1 part-time staff.

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stub said:

I'd be interested to know what you get your 1 part-time staff to do? How many hours/week does "part time"?

I'd also be interested to know how you spend your time?

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GeorgeQuang said:

Research Research and Research, buddy.
Domainers are using 80% of working time to do research. And almost those steps are repeated steps. So that i hired a guy and tested. I taught him step-by step to research a domain name.
Honestly, in the first 2 weeks, what he did were poor, and i had to correct, fix his work sheet too much. I felt depressed. But i still believed what i was doing, so i try to fix and highlight and remark what he did wrong, then showed him how to did in the right way.
Now, i'm very happy. My staff can work independently. I send a list to him in the Morning, then i got back my List with fully research stats at night and then it's time to auction. Before hiring him, i worked on PC 14 hours/day just to research domains, now i online 8 hours, then spend the rest of time to chat with people from other business, learning new skills and reading news about domaining (maybe playing games - I'm a young man ).
If my career in Domaining goes well, i'll hire one more staff. But it's the future.
I asked some domainers, most of them told me that they were self-employee. I can work by myself, of course. But i will only know about Domain Industry if i do that. I want to build a real business, not a hobby or passive income, so i must think different. I must extend my portfolio, so i have to research more, then try to catch more names as cheap as i can. I don't have huge pocket like HugeDomain, so that i must work hard, finding a gem in tons of coal. To get good names with the cheapest price, you have to research very carefully. Other guys who has been success in their careers in other businesses can spend their money into domain field. They can lost 10-15k to learning, but i can not. I don't have enough money to do that, so i started learning by working in a Domain Ventures company, then trying to catch Dropped Names ( which just costed me 8.5$ for each). When i had enough knowledge, i joint GD Close out, then GD Expired. Now, my watching list contains all good/potential names in all Auctions.
Those mentioned things can not ensure that i will be success in domain industry. 95% of domainers lose their money without any profit. Maybe i will fail and get bankrupt in next month, next Summer. Who knows ? I just wanna do all my best in this journal. Maybe people told me i'm a Mad Man, maybe domainers told me that earning money in domain industry is harder than it used to be. Especially with the incommensurate competition between us - individual domainers against HugeDomain ( last night, i have 40 names in my watching list, but could not acquire any names due to their non-profitable price), but i still spend all i have to play this game. Maybe i will fail, but i will have great stories to tell my children.

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Jurgen Wolf said:

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...

Click to expand...

stub said:

@GeorgeQuang - Good luck with your venture into domaining. I wish you all the best for any luck which might come your way. Yep. Some people would call you crazy. But a lot of us started just the way you are doing. My best advice, if you aren't selling any domains, you probably should change your strategy. If you are selling domains, but not yet covering your costs. That's quite acceptable during a learning curve like you have embarked on. And review your strategy for each domain at each renewal date, and decide if you should renew or drop each domain. Circumstances and opinions can change in a year, when you are hopefully wiser than today..

Are you doing outbound sales? Do you use "For Sale" landing pages? Do you use Parking? And if so who? Which websites have you listed your domains on?

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Jurgen Wolf said:

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...

Click to expand...