Domaining - All or Nothing Game

I have never sold a domain at less than my registration cost, but I can clearly see situations where that makes sense. If you have decided that after an unsuccessful effort to sell you don't plan to pay renewal costs, surely it is better if you can get some fraction of the registration cost back rather than just let it expire?

Re all or nothing, while I respect those who take big risks in seeking big rewards, I think there should also be room in the domain investor community for those who only want to invest more modest sums, realizing they will never see the huge pay day, but because they like the value they can provide for small organizations and businesses.

Just my (retired person) two cents worth (not that we have pennies in Canada any more)

It's not all or nothing. You get out what you put in. The guys who are making serious money have spent countless hours looking through domain lists, going through sales data, researching trends and contacting domain owners. This isn't a game, there is a lot of opportunity in this niche so you have to be ready and willing to put in the work if you want to succeed. The more you know about domaining the more efficient you will be when it comes to distinguishing opportunity and you can only become more knowledgeable through study.

Word advice to the OP, stop looking at Estibot and start using Namebio.com to look at comparable sales. Let that be the first thing you check when trying to value a domain. If you want the latest search metrics Google Adwords Keyword Planner or the chrome app Keywords Everywhere is fine.

Estibot is not worth the time: https://www.thedomains.com/2012/11/02/marchexs-sales-prove-it-estibot-appraisals-are-worthless/

Hand regging domains like Loanqe.com and AdvancedSettlementLoan.com will not get you sales.

Here's why:
If you own the .COM and there are several other TLD's Taken---->Demand.
If you own the .COM and there are no other TLDs Taken---->No Demand.*

*Unless you understand the brandables market or have advanced knowledge of a new generic product/industry.

When there is no demand for your names then it will be an uphill battle to sell them. Don't waste your time with handregs. Go and spend $100-$1500 per name in the aftermarket or expired auctions, after spending sometime reading about what makes a domain valuable. It won't happen overnight but eventually, you'll start making money. You may make some mistakes but that's all part of the process.

Also liquidations like what you're talking about in the OP happen at every investment level in domaining. It may be for peanuts at the lower levels but smart investors will always try and recoup a % of their investments should they deem them to be unsuccessful. Nothing wrong about that.

slader23 said:

It's not all or nothing. You get out what you put in. The guys who are making serious money have spent countless hours looking through domain lists, going through sales data, researching trends and contacting domain owners. This isn't a game, there is a lot of opportunity in this niche so you have to be ready and willing to put in the work if you want to succeed. The more you know about domaining the more efficient you will be when it comes to distinguishing opportunity and you can only become more knowledgeable through study.

Word advice to the OP, stop looking at Estibot and start using Namebio.com to look at comparable sales. Let that be the first thing you check when trying to value a domain. If you want the latest search metrics Google Adwords Keyword Planner or the chrome app Keywords Everywhere is fine.

Estibot is not worth the time: https://www.thedomains.com/2012/11/02/marchexs-sales-prove-it-estibot-appraisals-are-worthless/

Hand regging domains like Loanqe.com and AdvancedSettlementLoan.com will not get you sales.

Here's why:
If you own the .COM and there are several other TLD's Taken---->Demand.
If you own the .COM and there are no other TLDs Taken---->No Demand.*

*Unless you understand the brandables market or have advanced knowledge of a new generic product/industry.

Thank
When there is no demand for your names then it will be an uphill battle to sell them. Don't waste your time with handregs. Go and spend $100-$1500 per name in the aftermarket or expired auctions, after spending sometime reading about what makes a domain valuable. It won't happen overnight but eventually, you'll start making money. You may make some mistakes but that's all part of the process.

Also liquidations like what you're talking about in the OP happen at every investment level in domaining. It may be for peanuts at the lower levels but smart investors will always try and recoup a % of their investments should they deem them to be unsuccessful. Nothing wrong about that.

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Thank you, Excellent analysis!

I have iiiq.org and oooq.org with atleast 7 extensions taken. Maybe it will sell for $2200 as valuated

Anjani said:

Thank you, Excellent analysis!

I have iiiq.org and oooq.org with atleast 7 extensions taken. Maybe it will sell for $2200 as valuated

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At this stage, stay away from anything thats not a .COM. Those don't have value in .org.

slader23 said:

At this stage, stay away from anything thats not a .COM. Those don't have value in .org.

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Ok, That's a pity that .org is not hot:
Got some good ones:

0dd.org
Dulcet.org
agedhelp.org
lifefunds.org

Thank you for the great post.

Anjani said:

Ok, That's a pity that .org is not hot:
Got some good ones:

0dd.org
Dulcet.org
agedhelp.org
lifefunds.org

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It's not that .org is not hot, it's that you don't know what's HOT in .org or domains for that matter.....yet. Right now you need to take a step back and try and grace delete/refund/sell on NP for $3BIN to get back as much money as possible. Read up on sales and what makes a domain valuable. Stay out of anything other than .com until you understand how things work....and don't hand reg, buy in the aftermarket.


All those names have no value in .org. You handregged them all in January. Don't worry I've been where you are. In fact those names are probably better than the dumb sh*t I thought was good when I started. It's time to open up your mind and stop telling yourself that what you have will make you rich. It's going to take some time but once you're a year in you'll have gained enough information to create your own strategy, make some sales and start building a good portfolio.

Not as experienced as some of the people on here however this is excellent advice. I admit i have hand reg most of my names so far, however i stick to .com extension until am more knowledgable. Also i dont register a name without doing at least some background reading on the trends behind it and who would be the likely buyer. Apart from the fact of selling names, domaining has made me more aware of whats going on in the world and to spend an hour daily researching new fields. I have a list of dumb names too so not to worry. Hope to move on to buying expired names soon.

Katee584 said:

Not as experienced as some of the people on here however this is excellent advice. I admit i have hand reg most of my names so far, however i stick to .com extension until am more knowledgable. Also i dont register a name without doing at least some background reading on the trends behind it and who would be the likely buyer. Apart from the fact of selling names, domaining has made me more aware of whats going on in the world and to spend an hour daily researching new fields. I have a list of dumb names too so not to worry. Hope to move on to buying expired names soon.

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I think some vested interests have popularized/domain schooled the idea of buying expired domains..
Even hand regged domains have a domain history of 8-15 years and they are expired for a reason cause no one was buying..why pay a premium that's the nature of the game ..i am taking a contrarian stand for now..don't mind losing $1200. Let's see how things play out and then i will restrategize at the end of the year.

Anjani said:

Ok, That's a pity that .org is not hot:
Got some good ones:

0dd.org
Dulcet.org
agedhelp.org
lifefunds.org

Click to expand...

I am certainly not an .org expert (I actually own none at the moment), but I think that it is a gross over simplification to say that .org will not sell except in crypto, that some imply. Yes, .com sell more, but also there are way more .com for sale. There are NGOs, organizations, etc. who do not want a .com but will pay a reasonable (not a premium) price for .orgs. I would definitely not give up on the ones you mention. I think LifeFunds(.)org in particular is a very nice name!

Anjani said:

It's quite hilarious to see people pushing domains for lower than reg fee.. sheer waste of time, money and energy...Maybe it's better to play this crap shoot as all or nothing game.

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Business is a "something or nothing" game. You keep trying until you win something. Usually it takes years. It's named as "experience". Once you start winning what you have done until you won something becomes your way of making a living. Then you keep repeating the same business model with some minor modifications to maximize the profit.

Love is the key. You must love what you do. Reward is just a result of your love to your business. Work must be a joyful activity. Otherwise it's better not to work until a lovable work is found. When you love a business you don't count how long you work or how much you made loss. Because you know certainly you are going to win.

As much as I value simplicity, I would be cautious of simplifying any message too much (hand regs never have value, com is way better than any other extension always, etc.).

Let me just look at one of the OPs domains (admittedly the one I like best): lifefunds(.)org

A good first step is to look at what (at least for those in the Namebio database) very similar domains have sold for. To my knowledge the .org has not sold previously, but the exact word lifefunds(.) com sold for 2988 and the singular lifefund(.)com sold for $6000. (2009 and 2011) That tells me that this is one of those cases where the singular and plural both make sense. Also its likely that an org, net or anything else will go for a bit less so we are probably at most looking at low $$$$.

Next, look at what somewhat similar domain names in that extension have sold for. That is does the word fund or funds ever sell in the .org extension. The answer is a clear yes. Although a few of them are clearly different (like funder or refund based words), there are 67 Namebio sales involving fund or funds with TLD org.

Some of these are clearly better, like funds(.)org went for $3000 and iFund(,)org for $5000 and MutualFunds(.)org for $15000. However, a number of them seem pretty comparable (not close comparators, but overall quality comparable). veteransfund went for $1275, hedgefunds $898 commonwealthfund $1570 etc. (go to Namebio to see the full list).

After that, I would look at GoValue and Estibot to see if they support the sort of possible price sales seem to support. GoValue may also show some comparator sales not in Namebio. They suggest $1127 for the domain, and list some comparators in addition to the ones we mentioned. If you look at Estibot (I've used up my 5 free for today) it will give you an idea how searched life funds is.
You go to GoValue here.

At some point I would look at if the .com and .net are active - in this case the .com directs to a .se, the .net is not active. I'd explore the .com and make sure no Trademark issues.

Some would not agree, but I think it is worthwhile to see if any of the ngTLD would be a competitor. The domain life(.)fund is currently registered. It is parked at Namesilo right now, supposedly for sale (I did not look hard).

Next I would list who might want the domain. Maybe something like:

• Companies that promote lifetime date target funds, popular among those planning for retirement, where the fraction of bonds and stocks adjust as your retirement date approaches.
• An NGO that promotes small loans/grants to improve quality of life.
• Perhaps a loan company that provide funds for reeducating, retraining, etc - loans for a better life.

Finally consider how you are placed to reach any of those potential buyers.

Sorry this has been so long, but I thought this process might be helpful to those new to the field looking at how to valuate a domain name.

Of course, even if the value of the domain name is high $$$ to very low $$$$ (my opinion based on the above), the odds are still high that it will not sell in any given year (the same is true for all but the most prime of domain names I would argue). Best of luck if you hold it at finding a buyer!

Bob

Thank you@poweredbyme, i am no more a reluctant lover