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Do you make a living selling domains?

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Shawn Haghnazari

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I was wondering if people actually make a living solely on buying and selling domains.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
How do you make money when you buy land?

1) buy it
2) build on it
3) sell it

Just buying and selling land can take decades to profit from. Buying land, building something on it and selling is much quicker and can be more profitable. Imo domains follow the same rule.
You can also flip "land" lucratively if you 1) buy the RIGHT names+ 2) wait the right amount of time + 3) negotiate strong and well.

IMO, the people who can/are living off domains mainly first of all are keeping a low profile. Why wouldnt you when ur controlling $millions of domain assets? to reach that day where domaining is your main job/income, you have to: 1) buy the RIGHT names+ 2) wait the right amount of time + 3) negotiate strong and well.
 
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in trying to clarify something you made an unrealistic comparison. $100K for a vacation is surely for the few rich people. $100K income/year is great for the vast majority of people in the world.

You say it's enough for the majority in the world and you are probably right... ie china, india etc.

However in North America it would be a hard thing to feed a family and provide housing for 100k. I know in my area of the world you cannot rent an apartment for under 2k per month much less buy a car and make a living.
 
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IMO, the people who can/are living off domains mainly first of all are keeping a low profile. Why wouldnt you when ur controlling $millions of domain assets?

Yup.... Mike Mann and Rick Schwartz are keeping a pretty low profile :xf.laugh::xf.laugh:
 
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If this was 2006 that would be a good idea. Nowadays, it is a Herculean effort to make a good site that makes any money. You need an entire company to do this now. Developer, SEO, social media, and tons of hours and lots of money. I have never met anyone in the last 10 years who can do this successfully. Kind of like UFO's and smart blondes.
Yup.... Mike Mann and Rick Schwartz are keeping a pretty low profile :xf.laugh::xf.laugh:

Haha - Two that don’t but there are many others that stay anon.
 
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Yup.... Mike Mann and Rick Schwartz are keeping a pretty low profile :xf.laugh::xf.laugh:
Well both of them are very well off domainers, but they are also celebrity domainers. Just sayin..lol
 
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Well both of them are very well off domainers, but they are also celebrity domainers. Just sayin..lol

Ohh... I could quote a few more but yes.... there are a number also keeping a low profile (y)
 
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You say it's enough for the majority in the world and you are probably right... ie china, india etc.

However in North America it would be a hard thing to feed a family and provide housing for 100k. I know in my area of the world you cannot rent an apartment for under 2k per month much less buy a car and make a living.
Even in US $100K/ year is great income for 1 person. highest income ta x bracket starts at around $125K and above, so that tells u what IRS considers common man "rich".FYI 60% of US population makes $50Kyear or less. $100K/ year anywhere is at least good money. Biut if ur a westerner who thinks and believes they can afford every comfort on earth, yes, $100K/ year aint that good.
 
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Let's say living = 5k/month profit. I made good money from a few domains, but not by selling. Now it is difficult to impossible to do the same thing. There is a Google-Amazon-Facebook-Linkedin-Zillow-Trulia-Pinterest monopoly in the West. Making money from sites became difficult. So people don't want/need domains. Having your own web site means renewal cost and hosting cost, and management cost.
Also as part of monoploy new browsers require monopoly-signed cert's and if they are missing they say, this site is not secure, and block direct access to the web site.
 
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Even in US $100K/ year is great income for 1 person. highest income ta x bracket starts at around $125K and above, so that tells u what IRS considers common man "rich".FYI 60% of US population makes $50Kyear or less. $100K/ year anywhere is at least good money. Biut if ur a westerner who thinks and believes they can afford every comfort on earth, yes, $100K/ year aint that good.

Yes, wealth is definitely relative. ;)

The U.S. annual median personal income was $31,099 in 2016.

Source: Census.gov
 
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100k means $50/hr. There are not many jobs paying that much even in the US.

100k should definitely put you in top 5%-10% almost everywhere in the US or Canada.

For me personally just cost of my home (mortgage, insurance, taxes, fees, utilities) is around 70k year.
 
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I live in Vietnam, where people can live well with only $200/month. The Director salary here is just $2000/month.
Selling more than $40k this year (2% of my portfolio - which cost me only $1500 for those).
I could reach at least $55k sales in 2018 if i accepted all offers - but i don't have to do that.
Of course that all my profit is turned into inventory - 98% domain was not sold.
But they are good .COM domains and i could hold them for a long term.
I'm planning to reach $150k in 2019.
When i posted my entire portfolio in early 2018, people laugh and someone said i would earn only $5k yearly with this type of portfolio.
So the key factor is : keep learning, keep working, keep fighting and don't complain, don't explain.
You don't have to listen or think about people's thought.
You have to build your own strategy, your own plan. Everyone has their own resources (Time-Money-Skills) so their strategies are different, you could not win this game if you just only copy another guys tactics ( i've seen many domainers bought tons of names that similar to a domain that had been sold in the past).
I have a 5-years plan - all my profit would be turn into domains. I'll buy at many quality domains as i can in 5 years.
But if you live in Western Countries, it's really hard to become a full-time domainer. You have to pay tax, insurance. Your wife needs cosmetics and your kids need braces.
It takes more than 3 years to get $100k if you do right and work really hard.
 
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@Addison
Not all hard work pays large dividends. There are some, that work their ass off day in, day out, for a meager living, valuing other benefits over money.
I believe (hope) you were referring to how hard you work in relation to domaining. Completely agree, we get what we we're willing to put in.
Yes, and superb point.
 
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I was wondering if people actually make a living solely on buying and selling domains.
Precisely to answer your question ; I will say yes, capital YES. But this is quite based on experience. and available cash for the business. I f you have the good knowledge of the business you can fully dependent on domaining wherever you are in the world.

No, no one makes that much!
How do you mean?
 
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I live in Vietnam, where people can live well with only $200/month. The Director salary here is just $2000/month.
Selling more than $40k this year (2% of my portfolio - which cost me only $1500 for those).
I could reach at least $55k sales in 2018 if i accepted all offers - but i don't have to do that.
Of course that all my profit is turned into inventory - 98% domain was not sold.
But they are good .COM domains and i could hold them for a long term.
I'm planning to reach $150k in 2019.
When i posted my entire portfolio in early 2018, people laugh and someone said i would earn only $5k yearly with this type of portfolio.
So the key factor is : keep learning, keep working, keep fighting and don't complain, don't explain.
You don't have to listen or think about people's thought.
You have to build your own strategy, your own plan. Everyone has their own resources (Time-Money-Skills) so their strategies are different, you could not win this game if you just only copy another guys tactics ( i've seen many domainers bought tons of names that similar to a domain that had been sold in the past).
I have a 5-years plan - all my profit would be turn into domains. I'll buy at many quality domains as i can in 5 years.
But if you live in Western Countries, it's really hard to become a full-time domainer. You have to pay tax, insurance. Your wife needs cosmetics and your kids need braces.
It takes more than 3 years to get $100k if you do right and work really hard.
May I learn the size of your portfolio?
 
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1000 usd/month is not easy. If it is easy then repeat what you are doing and make 10k per month. I consider myself as a professional domainer, but I can't guarantee profit. You can handreg domains with 5 figure potential. But among 100 potential buyers, noone buys even if you sell for 1 percent of actual value. I can anticipate other drivers' plans when driving, next move of the opponent when playing chess, but outbound emails are sent to plants and plants don't have any sense or emotion or reaction.
It looks like I made a profit in the second half of this year, but profit is in terms of domains, not in terms of cash, and those domains need renewal. Those domains can sell for a million theoretically, but I can't guarantee they will sell for 1k quickly.

This is candid, truth is, whatever you do not have a means of influencing by eyeball to eyeball and other marketing advantages offline, it is not just enough.

I am into marketing, what I've come to understand is that if anything gives you 10k and you can't rinse and repeat it with equal time frame and predictability, its like gambling, it takes the same amount and more from you in the same process in gradual progression (with you thinking its your smartness/knowledge that got you the pay, not knowing that its windfall from happenstance that may have rob the experts to pay you the newbie). At the end, time flies.

Whatever put food on your table presently must be equally catered for as if its the new business, or "new mum", then this will be your "baby business" that you cater for and expect to feed and not to milk from right from the start.

Every business is a new form of responsibility, if you can manage the affairs right, success is inevitable. Apply wisdom, be tenacious and build your offline business as well, online business can be time consuming and the promises are plentier than the profits. @OP
 
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I live in Vietnam, where people can live well with only $200/month. The Director salary here is just $2000/month.
Selling more than $40k this year (2% of my portfolio - which cost me only $1500 for those).
I could reach at least $55k sales in 2018 if i accepted all offers - but i don't have to do that.
Of course that all my profit is turned into inventory - 98% domain was not sold.
But they are good .COM domains and i could hold them for a long term.
I'm planning to reach $150k in 2019.
When i posted my entire portfolio in early 2018, people laugh and someone said i would earn only $5k yearly with this type of portfolio.
So the key factor is : keep learning, keep working, keep fighting and don't complain, don't explain.
You don't have to listen or think about people's thought.
You have to build your own strategy, your own plan. Everyone has their own resources (Time-Money-Skills) so their strategies are different, you could not win this game if you just only copy another guys tactics ( i've seen many domainers bought tons of names that similar to a domain that had been sold in the past).
I have a 5-years plan - all my profit would be turn into domains. I'll buy at many quality domains as i can in 5 years.
But if you live in Western Countries, it's really hard to become a full-time domainer. You have to pay tax, insurance. Your wife needs cosmetics and your kids need braces.
It takes more than 3 years to get $100k if you do right and work really hard.

I would say to get to 100k it would take 10 years minimum and 20,000 hours of effort and a budget of 10k per year for acquisitions and renewals. That is for the smartest and hardest working. Or, if you have a large budget, perhaps 3 years and 6000 hours to get good, and a 50-80k budget per year.
 
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Lol very true but even just building something simple on a domain gives the seller more power when an end-user comes looking to purchase.
I have tried building little sites just for possible resale value. Never sold any but spent a lot of wasted time. I would say that is an impossible and fruitless endeavor.
 
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Do you make a living selling domains?

I have wealthy friends, and I make more than all of them from selling domains and nothing else. I am in the top 1% thanks to selling domain names.

The catch? I’ve worked harder than 99% of you for many, many, many years. This is the reward. Until you work that hard for that long (do you have it in you?), you will not see the same results. That's the hard truth.

This is what separates people like me from 99% of the world: hard work. It's the same in this business.

Kudos to @Ali for his post. Saved me time of typing it myself.
If you are that successful you are not only in the top 1% you are in the top .01% or perhaps .001%. Can I ask how many years, how many hours spent plus your budget for acquisitions and renewals?
 
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I live in Vietnam, where people can live well with only $200/month. The Director salary here is just $2000/month.
Selling more than $40k this year (2% of my portfolio - which cost me only $1500 for those).
I could reach at least $55k sales in 2018 if i accepted all offers - but i don't have to do that.
Of course that all my profit is turned into inventory - 98% domain was not sold.
But they are good .COM domains and i could hold them for a long term.
I'm planning to reach $150k in 2019.
When i posted my entire portfolio in early 2018, people laugh and someone said i would earn only $5k yearly with this type of portfolio.
So the key factor is : keep learning, keep working, keep fighting and don't complain, don't explain.
You don't have to listen or think about people's thought.
You have to build your own strategy, your own plan. Everyone has their own resources (Time-Money-Skills) so their strategies are different, you could not win this game if you just only copy another guys tactics ( i've seen many domainers bought tons of names that similar to a domain that had been sold in the past).
I have a 5-years plan - all my profit would be turn into domains. I'll buy at many quality domains as i can in 5 years.
But if you live in Western Countries, it's really hard to become a full-time domainer. You have to pay tax, insurance. Your wife needs cosmetics and your kids need braces.
It takes more than 3 years to get $100k if you do right and work really hard.

Can you share more details on your success? Total amount of names? Cost of acquisitions? Sell through rate? > or < than 2%, and what marketplaces?
 
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May I learn the size of your portfolio?

Can you share more details on your success? Total amount of names? Cost of acquisitions? Sell through rate? > or < than 2%, and what marketplaces?
Portfolio size : 800
Sell ratio : 2.5%
MarketPlaces : Afternic + Sedo + Efty Landing Page.
 
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I have total three businesses since 12 years but i didnt started altogether my rule is alway run first business and set on autopilot then go for second so now domaining is my 4th business and 3 still running i started domaining since march 2018 after alot struggle and losses finally i m improving in domaining... so if my domains doesnt sale i have my income alreasy through other businesses like himalayan salt export apparel stocklot exports and used clothing export
But in last two month i earned 12k usd from just 500 usd domains...so i guess if you have support of othet businesses then domaining is gold...
I live partially in dubai and partially in pakistan here and there
But i m not giving attention to my last three businesses as they are controlled by brothers now amd i m just focusing on domains as soon this will be up for sure then my brothers will join me too in this as group of investors.
We invested till yet 30k usd and going more deep
This is my story
 
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This is my story

Thanks for sharing and best of luck!

BTW
I would make this:
WE FIND GREAT AGED DOMAIN NAME FOR YOUR BUSINESS

To this:
WE FIND GREAT AGED DOMAIN NAMES FOR YOUR BUSINESS


 
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I have total three businesses since 12 years but i didnt started altogether my rule is alway run first business and set on autopilot then go for second so now domaining is my 4th business and 3 still running i started domaining since march 2018 after alot struggle and losses finally i m improving in domaining... so if my domains doesnt sale i have my income alreasy through other businesses like himalayan salt export apparel stocklot exports and used clothing export
But in last two month i earned 12k usd from just 500 usd domains...so i guess if you have support of othet businesses then domaining is gold...
I live partially in dubai and partially in pakistan here and there
But i m not giving attention to my last three businesses as they are controlled by brothers now amd i m just focusing on domains as soon this will be up for sure then my brothers will join me too in this as group of investors.
We invested till yet 30k usd and going more deep
This is my story
impressive
 
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There is a Filipina who was scooping up expired Domains creating no traffic no revenue Starter Websites on them with automated News Aggregators and in 6 Months had made over $50,000 on Flippa. Then she was smart enough to create an Info Product giving the exact steps how she does it and that also gives her a list of buyers in domain niche she can continue to promote to and even sell available domains for sale directly with no fees.. That is making a living my friend. ;) Out the Box so to speak.
 
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