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question Are increasing domain renewal fees causing large domainers to finally sell

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i frequently low ball domainers hoping they sell their domains at low prices...and recently, 3 large domainers have contacted me to buy their domains at my low quoted price.
Frank has quoted me $20k+ on this one domain for years and finally sold this domain at my asking price of only $2k...so i bought it...i thought i was dreaming...Frank makes $2k everytime he exhales...so why did he sell?
And now 2 other large domain holders have contacted me also willing to sell at low prices.
What’s going on???
Did i miss some important announcement at namescon?
Domainers are finally selling!!!
Only thing i can think of is the recent renewal fee increase.
Why are domainers finally selling at low prices???
 
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i frequently low ball domainers hoping they sell their domains at low prices...and recently, 3 large domainers have contacted me to buy their domains at my low quoted price.
Frank has quoted me $20k+ on this one domain for years and finally sold this domain at my asking price of only $2k...so i bought it...i thought i was dreaming...Frank makes $2k everytime he exhales...so why did he sell?
And now 2 other large domain holders have contacted me also willing to sell at low prices.
What’s going on???
Did i miss some important announcement at namescon?
Domainers are finally selling!!!
Only thing i can think of is the recent renewal fee increase.
Why are domainers finally selling at low prices???

could be the time of the year... Holiday bills coming due, need cash for spring vacations, etc..
 
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I have also had this same experience. I've lowballed names before and they've come back with ridiculous valuations before now ($70k etc), but now they can't stop ringing me asking if I'll buy it for $5k about a year ago and now down to $2k. However, it's for names that are pretty debatable whether they're worth anything to anyone but me, they're pretty niche domains.

Really premium domains haven't lost their worth.

@anunt was the name you bought actually premium?
 
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I have also had this same experience. I've lowballed names before and they've come back with ridiculous valuations before now ($70k etc), but now they can't stop ringing me asking if I'll buy it for $5k about a year ago and now down to $2k. However, it's for names that are pretty debatable whether they're worth anything to anyone but me, they're pretty niche domains.

Really premium domains haven't lost their worth.

@anunt was the name you bought actually premium?

I'll try in a month or too when the belt is tightened up, Can't hurt to declare my interest now and wait for them to go as low as they possibly can

Thanks for the heads-up - Good time to buy great names on the cheap
 
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What’s going on???
Did i miss some important announcement at namescon?

Pretty sure you did not miss an announcement at NamesCon unless I did too :xf.wink:!

As far as I know the only price increases on the table, if ICANN agree, are the 31% (over next 4 years) on .com from Verisign. While that will impact domain portfolios I think, it will not be the super premium names but rather those who hold portfolios with low throughput rates that will be most influenced. I did attend the panel re the Verisign price increase, which was superbly presented. Unfortunately scheduled against Sherpa Review so the audience was light for the panel.

Now in the famously never released follow up Verisign blog that would provide "simple solutions" to combat the large amounts being made by "speculators", I suppose if they could convince the US government and ICANN various possibilities re fees that might negatively impact high value domains, but to my knowledge nothing specific has been proposed.

I suspect it is more a case that as years go on some of the big holders are more likely to be considering gradually lowering the value of their portfolio.

Bob
 
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Scenarios are one things, but facts are another, without seeing or hearing of the actual domains it is really fruitless.

As they said Frank asks higher prices, as they have a team of brokers that will keep hitting you, and checking back via tools, but as you also know they are spending a ton to still acquire good names. Now if this is a domain of a certain niche, or maybe adult nature then it may have some give, without knowing names, it's meaningless to figure out what we are really discussing.
 
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Scenarios are one things, but facts are another, without seeing or hearing of the actual domains it is really fruitless.

As they said Frank asks higher prices, as they have a team of brokers that will keep hitting you, and checking back via tools, but as you also know they are spending a ton to still acquire good names. Now if this is a domain of a certain niche, or maybe adult nature then it may have some give, without knowing names, it's meaningless to figure out what we are really discussing.
You're right. My initial dealings were with domainnamesales.com for these names and they were all very niche. Not adult in nature and not worth $2k even to me and I'm heavily into said niche.

Before last year I had never had what I would consider a reasonable counter offer from them ever. I was extremely surprised, pleasantly so, to hear that they were willing to sell it for what I would consider a "normal" price, especially when they started ramping up the amount of calls and contact regarding the names.
 
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You're right. My initial dealings were with domainnamesales.com for these names and they were all very niche. Not adult in nature and not worth $2k even to me and I'm heavily into said niche.

Before last year I had never had what I would consider a reasonable counter offer from them ever. I was extremely surprised, pleasantly so, to hear that they were willing to sell it for what I would consider a "normal" price, especially when they started ramping up the amount of calls and contact regarding the names.
They run on the strategy, price high, see what develops, and then just keep following up until you no longer want to hear about it, or until they feel they have you at your max point, and there are no other leads. It is not a bad strategy from the sellers side of view. Yes, they own a lot of good inventory, and it can be hard for domainers to acquire it as they are more end user oriented. I am glad you were able to acquire the domains you wanted at your price point, win win for all.
 
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Pretty sure you did not miss an announcement at NamesCon unless I did too :xf.wink:!

As far as I know the only price increases on the table, if ICANN agree, are the 31% (over next 4 years) on .com from Verisign. While that will impact domain portfolios I think, it will not be the super premium names but rather those who hold portfolios with low throughput rates that will be most influenced. I did attend the panel re the Verisign price increase, which was superbly presented. Unfortunately scheduled against Sherpa Review so the audience was light for the panel.

Now in the famously never released follow up Verisign blog that would provide "simple solutions" to combat the large amounts being made by "speculators", I suppose if they could convince the US government and ICANN various possibilities re fees that might negatively impact high value domains, but to my knowledge nothing specific has been proposed.

I suspect it is more a case that as years go on some of the big holders are more likely to be considering gradually lowering the value of their portfolio.

Bob
If this is the case, why are they still acquiring? They have enough domains that they can sell into their lifetime, and the next three generations down the road, why keep spending 5 figures per day acquiring more liability, at higher than past average pricing? Why not just sell the 500,000 domains they have in inventory, along with the unlimited gtld's. Turncommerce has over 5 million names, x that renewal calculation, and see the just where their expense base comes in. I am sure they could easily run all new domains thru a low priced caught auction system, instead of their own internal inventory.
 
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You make a very good point, @wwwweb. If still building a portfolio I think that there is 0 chance related to possibility of any future .com directions.

With those who are still actively building a portfolio, it seems the most logical explanation, if indeed they are more flexible than formerly on prices (and one should not assume this just based on a handful of names), is POSSIBLY one of the following:
  • They are deliberately making some changes in what they want to concentrate on domain niche wise.
  • POSSIBLY they are trying out selling higher volume at lower price (but I don't see independent evidence of this)
  • It is a different bargaining strategy, start lower but sill hold out ultimately for similar prices at the end of the negotiation (again don't see independent evidence of this).
But quite probably it is a one-of situation.
 
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You make a very good point, @wwwweb. If still building a portfolio I think that there is 0 chance related to possibility of any future .com directions.

With those who are still actively building a portfolio, it seems the most logical explanation, if indeed they are more flexible than formerly on prices (and one should not assume this just based on a handful of names), is POSSIBLY one of the following:
  • They are deliberately making some changes in what they want to concentrate on domain niche wise.
  • POSSIBLY they are trying out selling higher volume at lower price (but I don't see independent evidence of this)
  • It is a different bargaining strategy, start lower but sill hold out ultimately for similar prices at the end of the negotiation (again don't see independent evidence of this).
But quite probably it is a one-of situation.
If anyone has good data, it is the people spending tens of thousands daily as they hold all the good sales data, they are not purposely throwing good money out the window.

Any business home depot, walmart, lowes is constantly putting low quality merchandise on clearance to make room for new higher margin products, it is just a common business practice. If you ask 100 domainers here what their goals are for 2019, most will say to trim the lower level inventory, and strengthen a lower renewal portfolio going forward.

When Anunt talks of his example, the broker probably sees no leads have come in, they probably have less than a $500 cost basis, maybe not much traffic, so why not take the $2k, and spin it into fresh inventory like DomainNames.com etc... If things were that bad, ask anyone who bids on Namejet they would not be taking out reserves, and bidding so aggressively. They have enough inventory to keep their brokers employed for the next 100 years, the equation simply doesn't add up.
 
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.....Why are domainers finally selling at low prices???

Turn out the lights the party is over, except for one-word names plus several end-user category killer 2 word EMDs in a few old and newer extensions and some niche areas. It's a long range bear market overall for many reasons, imo.
 
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If this is the case, why are they still acquiring? They have enough domains that they can sell into their lifetime, and the next three generations down the road, why keep spending 5 figures per day acquiring more liability, at higher than past average pricing? Why not just sell the 500,000 domains they have in inventory, along with the unlimited gtld's. Turncommerce has over 5 million names, x that renewal calculation, and see the just where their expense base comes in. I am sure they could easily run all new domains thru a low priced caught auction system, instead of their own internal inventory.

Aren't they doing that already with dropcatch? Or have I misunderstood your statement?
 
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Frank needs some cash to pay for his DomainNames.com purchase :) Isn't better to buy quality names and sell much of the dross, to cut down on domain renewals? Don't we all do that?

I'd be interested in only about 10% of Frank's half a million domains :)
 
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I think the root cause traces back to GDPR compliance in May 2018.

Most people have not connected the dots, but unsolicited inquiries often come through WHOIS. Well a lot of registrars wiped out all the contact info in a ham-fisted in May 2018. Predictably, inquiries dropped off.

Epik is working on a solution there through the project called WhoQ.com, recently named here on NamePros, as a universal WHOIS registry where verified registrants can show their contact info.

Anyway, should be ready in a couple of months.
 
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Aren't they doing that already with dropcatch? Or have I misunderstood your statement?
Well they put a lot of domains into their own inventory, they have their data points they use to dropcatch names, sometimes some get missed by backorders, and they go into their inventory. They wouldn't still be dropcatching reg fee roll the dice kind of names, if they didn't see value in the purchases. I understand they stand to lose the most when verisign increases prices, into the 8 figures, which I think they have been lobbying hard against.
 
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Well they put a lot of domains into their own inventory, they have their data points they use to dropcatch names, sometimes some get missed by backorders, and they go into their inventory. They wouldn't still be dropcatching reg fee roll the dice kind of names, if they didn't see value in the purchases. I understand they stand to lose the most when verisign increases prices, into the 8 figures, which I think they have been lobbying hard against.

DropCatch is a behemoth of an operation. They are catching for themselves as well as for other people. They will go after (or at a minimum have a right to) your domains if you backorder them in their discount club. I see less than 200 domains being backordered for any 3 day period for all TLDs. Which approx equals 50 .com domains a day having multiple backorders on them (and in auction). This sounds like a very small number, to me. I also think the quality of those domains at auction is mostly so-so. Sometimes they will capture a really valuable domain. They must have considerably more than that with only 1 backorder, which are won outright by the backorderer. Every backorder I've ever made there (not a lot, maybe 20) has never gone to auction. So they are doing a great service for their customer base, IMHO. At $59/bo it's cheaper than most, and catches the most (by quite a large margin).

Their exposure to .com price increases is huge (pun not intended). it's no wonder they are lobbying against it. I understand they get a bad rap sometimes because of their size and power. But I think they perform a wonderful and affordable service to their clients. You cannot blame them for targetting domains which have value. It's their business model.
 
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The domain that i purchased from Frank for $2000 was FetishStore.com
Their sales team always quoted $20k plus for couple of years and i kept replying that i will only buy at $2000 or i am not interested.
This domain was probably earning them zero dollars while parked.
They probably own tons of domains like this that don’t earn them anything but still don’t budge on their prices until now.
That’s why i was very curious to know why all of a sudden they sold at my price going straight from quoting me $23k to finally accepting my offer at $2k after couple of years of emailing back and forth.
There are couple of other big portfolio domain owners also ready to sell at my low ball quoted price after emailing back and forth for years. I will mention the names and the prices i bought them at and the owners after the transaction is completed.
 
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The domain that i purchased from Frank for $2000 was FetishStore.com
Their sales team always quoted $20k plus for couple of years and i kept replying that i will only buy at $2000 or i am not interested.
This domain was probably earning them zero dollars while parked.
They probably own tons of domains like this that don’t earn them anything but still don’t budge on their prices until now.
That’s why i was very curious to know why all of a sudden they sold at my price going straight from quoting me $23k to finally accepting my offer at $2k after couple of years of emailing back and forth.
There are couple of other big portfolio domain owners also ready to sell at my low ball quoted price after emailing back and forth for years. I will mention the names and the prices i bought them at and the owners after the transaction is completed.
Well you had some good experience, and knew you were never going to pay that price as you tried to sell pinkstore.com here on namepros at which point it couldn’t even fetch $1k, and it finally sold at NameJet about a year ago for $780. Given today at a venue like godaddy expired auctions it would probably fetch about $2k. Looks like you got fetishstore.com, at a good value buy, I would say edge to the buyer, given they probably identified you as a domainer, and not Victoria Secret, and had no other leads, and not much traffic, the broker twisted the manager’s arm to ok that sale. Congrats.
 
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The domain that i purchased from Frank for $2000 was FetishStore.com
Their sales team always quoted $20k plus for couple of years and i kept replying that i will only buy at $2000 or i am not interested.
This domain was probably earning them zero dollars while parked.
They probably own tons of domains like this that don’t earn them anything but still don’t budge on their prices until now.
That’s why i was very curious to know why all of a sudden they sold at my price going straight from quoting me $23k to finally accepting my offer at $2k after couple of years of emailing back and forth.
There are couple of other big portfolio domain owners also ready to sell at my low ball quoted price after emailing back and forth for years. I will mention the names and the prices i bought them at and the owners after the transaction is completed.
Frank has a greatest .com / net portfolio on the Internet..
Congrats with your purch awesome name!
 
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Who said he is selling?

Looks like a civil matter, we all know he is hands on with the start of his companies, and his domains, in a domestic dispute this type of stuff happens during the attempted division of assets, usually the other sides attorneys trying to get all they can.

He just spent $370K to purchase domainnames.com?
 
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Who said he is selling?

Looks like a civil matter, we all know he is hands on with the start of his companies, and his domain, in a domestic dispute this type of stuff happens during the attempted division of assets, usually the other sides attorneys trying to get all they can.

See first post
 
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See first post
Lol check out how much they are spending at NameJet weekly, that is just a generalization on a long going sale that probably has no traffic, or other inquiries, and they took a lower 4 figure amount on a low $xxx purchase.

I agree these kinds of things can get messy especially when it was all built from the ground up, and not inherited. Usually this is why people form companies with a corporate structure is to protect such assets. When it comes to ownership, I have no idea who owns what, but there are some big names there, and hopefully they handle it in a professional mannner.

On another note his law firm uses a great domain in maples.com
 
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