I love making analogies in general so thanks for a good topic.
If you look at any list of top art dealers and dig into their stories you will see most started small, some even selling door to door, others building up capital from another job/interest/venue. Another thing that most have in common is that while they do deal artwork from world known artists they do also work on promoting (and discovering and building up) new artists. In fact the more successful they are the more they do that. Now I am not familiar with the topic enough to know whether they make a profit on the new artists, I would guess that is more of a risk you can take as an investor (on your wallet and your reputation) when you are established enough to afford it. And I assume it is done more for the common good, so art can continue and progress and develop etc. rather than for personal benefit. So in that respect if you draw a parallel with domaining that would be the established players in the industry toying around with new gTLDs (and I am talking domainers, not registars cose those are a different story) and as with the case with art dealers - sure some are in it just for profit, others for the love of the game.
As with any profession you do have skill and experience playing a big role in success, so though I think « good » and « bad » is oversimplifying things, you do get better with experience in both cases and your personal qualities do matter. Then you have style, who specialises in what as you can’t be the best in everything (or at let’s say you are much less likely to succeed for sure if you try to cover everything). So I do think having a focus is important.
And of course - selling. Art dealers, domain sellers, it’s all about selling. Where art dealers are beating domain sellers if you ask me. The amount of information that is pumped up by that industry targeting just about anyone - the art market from bottom to top is filled with so much information, you can start from 0 and be an expert in just about anything in a day if you want - it is all there, accessible, in any language, any format, about any style and *all for the end user*. If I have $50 or $500 or $500k to spend on a painting I can go online and find a brilliantly presented option for each, telling me what I get, making it feel special plus I can read tons about why is it a good idea to buy it. Doesn’t matter if it’s a sketch of my dog I order on Etsy or some artwork for $20k on Saatchi art - it looks and feels good, professional, for a cause, whatever their approach is for the particular case but there is always an approach, target audience, thoughts put into who is this for, how to impress them, how to reach them and make them feel good about buying this. Remember when
Banksy was selling his work for $60 on the street? What’s the difference between that and when it sells in a gallery? Dealers. Presentation. Story. And they know where to sell too, art sales are booming in Venezuela and the country is in crisis. Why? Because when you’re rich in a destabilised country art is better than a bank.
Is that the case with domains? No. By far. Domainers are very supportive of each other and the community is very alive and that’s great. But there is so little done and said and written that is directed at the end buyer I find it crazy. Even here, on namePros, there are gazillion discussions about landing pages or pricing or anything and the general attitude is « just sit and wait » or « I can’t believe I received such a laughable low offer on my super domain » or « they don’t care, they don’t understand » etc etc, like I’ve been in marketing and sales for some time and I know clients can be a pain in any industry but I have never seen such a huge gap between sellers and end buyers. End buyers are not crazy or stupid or anything, they just need to know what they are paying for. And when you start from very low (why does a domain matter at all? What on earth is a TLD?) it is very hard to get to even a 3 digit number let alone some 5-6 numbers as a price. And that, I dare saying, is a collective fault. If everyone trying to sell art had to explain to every person they try to sell to why is art important, why do classic paintings cost (and should cost) millions, why even a little hand drawn picture can (and should) cost $$$ their job would be much harder too. But they don’t. The worst you would get is people saying « well I don’t understand why this is called art at all but then I don’t understand art, I don’t have the cash for it anyway » like people don’t actually doubt the legitimacy of the price, they doubt their own understanding and ability to pay it. Because for years on end the information has been everywhere pointing to why and how art is important and valuable. Domains clearly are not that old so there is a lot of work to do to catch up. But it has to start somewhere. And that somewhere is every domainer, I am repeating myself as I said that already on another thread but here it goes again - nobody cares you want to sell your domains. You (or this industry if you like as a whole) have to make sure the end buyers understand why domains are important, how can they improve their business, why do they cost what they cost. Very few people know the value of a good domain, even less - of a premium domain and even those who do have usually done their homework themselves or/and come from a tech background (which is pretty much the same). So that makes the job of each and every domain seller much harder since they have to start from about 0 knowledge through history of domaining, basic internet and SEO and branding knowledge and and and….and that’s a lot of convincing and explaining.
Sooo to wrap that up, I agree it is like art dealing though domainers are the dealers, not the artists. And domains are the art (which figures too as each has their story and meaning and purpose and is there to communicate something).
…well..that wasn’t supposed to be so long but there, my 2 cents
