discuss How much would you pay for a better domain to promote your domain portfolio?

garptrader · Apr 1, 2019

Most forum members acquire domain names primarily for the purpose of reselling them. Many discussions revolve around aftermarket sales, the prospects of a domain selling with certain characteristics - short, one-word, high-search volume, new tld vs .com etc. Occasionally we see threads where someone has recently registered several reg fee domains and inquire about which is best. Or they may post a thread on the domains wanted section with a $50-$100 budget. Yet this forum is about domain names, right? Recently the domain DomainNames.com sold for $370k so at least Schilling believes in paying up for great domains. Yet sadly it seems like most of us place as much a priority on acquiring an aftermarket domain as the typical end user with a Facebook profile or reg fee domain. I suspect the typical domainer portfolio resides on a reg fee domain. If you don't believe in paying up for a domain to promote your domain business, why should you expect end users to act any differently?

I have several portfolio-type domains. One was a made-up name (Dominericos.com), another I won in a forum auction (Dominero.com) two were backordered (PremiumDomains.tv, DominiosenEspanol.com), another was acquired via a Namejet auction (GenericDomains.net) and another was acquired from someone who acquired it in a Namejet auction (ComprarDominio.com). So while I have never spent $xXxX on an individual domain acquisition, I have invested in acquiring above average domains to promote my portfolio.

martbele · Apr 7, 2019

If I keep it simple and clear, I invest in names that I'm sure I will basically double my investment. Which means, Wholesale or End-users, the ROI should be always positive. The worst result is break-even and the best is 100X the investment.

Warren Buffett rule : «Never lose money..!»

How I choose names?
I think about these 3 things :

Target
Market
Wallet

Kpett · Apr 8, 2019

@martbele - this thread is about buying a domain name for your domain business/portfolio - not what you invest in to sell, so tell us about BrandUnix, how you came up with it, how much you spent, and how it is working with BrandBucket.

uzver · Apr 10, 2019

NameBuyer.com said:
I switched to my own custom DNS servers (ex. ns1.buy-this.com). Now, if you look up any of my domains on google (ex. search for "comerelax//com" and it will be the first listing in the search engine). This makes a significant difference when you have thousands of domains.

Can you give some details on how you set up own nameservers? Do you manage your own server or use 3rd party service?

okmachan · Apr 11, 2019

If you do some research, there are still nice domains available to hand reg for your domain selling business. Few days back I hand regged this one.

"From the top of the world to your desktop"

Windoms · Apr 11, 2019

okmachan said:
If you do some research, there are still nice domains available to hand reg for your domain selling business. Few days back I hand regged this one. Show attachment 115360
"From the top of the world to your desktop"

Why ''to your desktop''??
You should find something that means that your domains will bring your customers on top of the world or something like that.
From the top of the world to your desktop doesn't entice anything.

uzver · Apr 11, 2019

okmachan said:
If you do some research, there are still nice domains available to hand reg for your domain selling business.

I would replace the word "nice" with something like "viable" IMHO

"....Unless you’re so big that your reputation precedes you, a marginal domain suggests you’re a marginal company." © PAUL GRAHAM, Y Combinator

okmachan · Apr 11, 2019

Windoms said:
Why ''to your desktop''??
You should find something that means that your domains will bring your customers on top of the world or something like that.
From the top of the world to your desktop doesn't entice anything.

Agree. I'm not so good at making slogans.

Name Trader · Jun 21, 2019

eurorealtor said:
If you offer your inventory on a good domain, buyers may take you more seriously, or have more respect IMHO. But I believe most of domainers don't even have own website.

And they still go to Afternic to buy the domain. IMHO. In my experience. The evidence isn't incontrovertible because I have too small a sample. But the evidence does suggest this is happening, when all domains point to my website but it's doing zero sales, but my Afternic Sales are growing.

ivey · Jun 21, 2019

stub said:
And they still go to Afternic to buy the domain. IMHO. In my experience. The evidence isn't incontrovertible because I have too small a sample. But the evidence does suggest this is happening, when all domains point to my website but it's doing zero sales, but my Afternic Sales are growing.

Afternic is a massive marketplace..so that's expected. Personal website will only work if presented professional and on a really good name. Otherwise people will be skeptical and go where they feel secure and Godaddy/afternic is a popular choice as they are well known and established. I don't think a individual marketplace is for everyone, but depending on third party marketplaces always isn't an option for everyone.

Name Trader · Jun 21, 2019

Rory Ivey said:
Afternic is a massive marketplace..so that's expected. Personal website will only work if presented professional and on a really good name. Otherwise people will be skeptical and go where they feel secure and Godaddy/afternic is a popular choice as they are well known and established. I don't think a individual marketplace is for everyone, but depending on third party marketplaces always isn't an option for everyone.

I don't think most of us can compare ourselves with Afternic/GoDaddy/Sedo. It's a fact of life. But it's not costing me anything because I add 25% to my selling prices at Afternic. If a buyer prefers to use a premium Marketplace, it's their choice, they pay premium prices for that privilege. It's not me stuck with the 20% commission check

ivey · Jun 21, 2019

stub said:
I don't think most of us can compare ourselves with Afternic/GoDaddy/Sedo. It's a fact of life. But it's not costing me anything because I add 25% to my selling prices at Afternic. If a buyer prefers to use a premium Marketplace, it's their choice, they pay premium prices for that privilege. It's not me stuck with the 20% commission check

I agree, it's up to an individuals preference and what is working for them. Also I don't think it's about comparing. Someone can simply offer names they have for sale, or niche names etc. If you think of comparing then you'll think you need thousands of names to do it. It's presentation + quality. If someone wants a specific name then they will find you. I've tried to contact someone with a crappy page..and couldn't even find a contact, but i persisted because i really wanted that name. It can work... but what advantage Afternic have too is for emotional buys: you see reported sales that never ever gets developed. It's just because they have the traffic and people feel safe. It's like having a Tshirt store..it can work, maybe every one out of 20 stores will make it. But you can't compare it to efty or amazon. Maybe you'll sell shirts here and there through efty because it's a huge marketplace and you don't have to worry about traffic etc. So i wouldn't count out a personal marketplace if done right.

eurorealtor · Jun 21, 2019

stub said:
I don't think most of us can compare ourselves with Afternic/GoDaddy/Sedo. It's a fact of life. But it's not costing me anything because I add 25% to my selling prices at Afternic. If a buyer prefers to use a premium Marketplace, it's their choice, they pay premium prices for that privilege. It's not me stuck with the 20% commission check

When I put domain on "Buy it Now" via escrow.com button on my website, I also price it higher @ Sedo & Afternic, because I believe most people try to visit the domain first, and they can see the cheaper price on my site.

lock · Jun 21, 2019

I actually have better domains than I am currently using (afternic invite) as primary domain.

eg:

DomainCalculate dot com
Domainer dot chat
DomainLegality dot com
DomainUsed dot com *
DomainsUsed dot com
Estiperson dot com
ExpireDomainNames dot com
PricedPortfolio dot com
PortfolioPriced dot com
RelevantName dot com
Valuation dot site

I may eventually move to * have others not mentioned.

Name Trader · Jun 21, 2019

eurorealtor said:
When I put domain on "Buy it Now" via escrow.com button on my website, I also price it higher @ Sedo & Afternic, because I believe most people try to visit the domain first, and they can see the cheaper price on my site.

Quite right. Me too

garptrader · Jun 21, 2019

While I generally price names higher in marketplaces due to commissions, a couple of recent sales at Afternic occurred despite the fact the domins were priced lower on the landing page.

Recons.Com · Jun 24, 2019

I price the same everywhere regardless of the commission.

I find that it is human nature to focus on value when the price is uniform. If it is different, they might go into bargain hunt mode and eventually completely get cold feet and give up.

If Afternic takes the sale with everything being the same and without a redirect, good for them and fully deserved! I am fine paying it.

Name Trader · Jun 24, 2019

Recons.Com said:
I price the same everywhere regardless of the commission.

I find that it is human nature to focus on value when the price is uniform. If it is different, they might go into bargain hunt mode and eventually completely get cold feet and give up.

If Afternic takes the sale with everything being the same and without a redirect, good for them and fully deserved! I am fine paying it.

As I've said before. My own particular experience has been that buyers are prepared to pay the 25% premium I add to my Afternic sales. but I have also said, my experience is minuscule. About a dozen domains. One buyer baulked on paying under $5k to me directly. After lengthy negotiations, negotiations broke down. So I then put it up on Afternic. But after I put it up on Afternic for $10k, They paid the price. It was a direct match for their brandable product, who was operating in their own ccTLD. Maybe they got scared that somebody else might buy the brandable. It's all speculation though. But they wouldn't buy from me for under $5k late last year, but paid Afternic $10k, earlier this year. It was a surprise to me it was them who bought it.

This was my most extreme case. But I have sold another domain too, where the buyer wouldn't pay my asking price after lengthy negotiations. I added it to Afternic +25%, and they bought it. Which is a not an insignificant proportion of my sales this year, being sold in this fashion. Although a minuscule sample.

Recons.Com · Jun 25, 2019

stub said:
As I've said before. My own particular experience has been that buyers are prepared to pay the 25% premium I add to my Afternic sales. but I have also said, my experience is minuscule. About a dozen domains. One buyer baulked on paying under $5k to me directly. After lengthy negotiations, negotiations broke down. So I then put it up on Afternic. But after I put it up on Afternic for $10k, They paid the price. It was a direct match for their brandable product, who was operating in their own ccTLD. Maybe they got scared that somebody else might buy the brandable. It's all speculation though. But they wouldn't buy from me for under $5k late last year, but paid Afternic $10k, earlier this year. It was a surprise to me it was them who bought it.

This was my most extreme case. But I have sold another domain too, where the buyer wouldn't pay my asking price after lengthy negotiations. I added it to Afternic +25%, and they bought it. Which is a not an insignificant proportion of my sales this year, being sold in this fashion. Although a minuscule sample.

The ones you find about are fine. What I am writing about is when the client will never get in touch because he saw varying pricing and started doubting the value.

So, basically, if you are going to price for $10K at Afternic, price it the same at your site too. And be prepared to make a discount, if the buyer negotiates. But listing prices are best to be the same.

Name Trader · Jun 25, 2019

Recons.Com said:
The ones you find about are fine. What I am writing about is when the client will never get in touch because he saw varying pricing and started doubting the value.

So, basically, if you are going to price for $10K at Afternic, price it the same at your site too. And be prepared to make a discount, if the buyer negotiates. But listing prices are best to be the same.

I can understand your logic. But i don't think I'm going to heed your advice. If I was the buyer. I would go and buy at the place where it was 20% cheaper

But I'm not the buyer, and I'm saying people are still going and purchasing at Afternic, at 25% more. OK. I'm still rolling out my pricing strategy. It's still on a limited number of domains. Now what I cannot tell you is how many more sales I might lose because the prices are different between my website and afternic. Maybe I need more time before I test any other theories, like a buyer doubting the value because they see 2 different prices, and moving onto another domain.

Recons.Com · Jun 25, 2019

stub said:
I can understand your logic. But i don't think I'm going to heed your advice. If I was the buyer. I would go and buy at the place where it was 20% cheaper But I'm not the buyer, and I'm saying people are still going and purchasing at Afternic, at 25% more. OK. I'm still rolling out my pricing strategy. It's still on a limited number of domains. Now what I cannot tell you is how many more sales I might lose because the prices are different between my website and afternic. Maybe I need more time before I test any other theories, like a buyer doubting the value because they see 2 different prices, and moving onto another domain.

You could do A/B test. Randomly assign all names to group a and b, then for one use the same price, for the other with discount. See which one gives better result.

Name Trader · Jun 25, 2019

Recons.Com said:
You could do A/B test. Randomly assign all names to group a and b, then for one use the same price, for the other with discount. See which one gives better result.

Good idea. Seriously. I'll add it to all the other tasks I still have to complete

Super-Annuation · Jul 2, 2019

golan said:
I'm still in search of a good name for my Canna portfolio. For general portfolio i already have one.

It's 3:20am Australian time.

EstablishMarijuana.com
And
GreaterMarijuana.com
And
MarijuanaOutreach.com

All available, but there might be too many characters for your liking.

I'm only recommending these because it'll make any vendor appear larger, and more professional than say MarijuanaBagy.com, MarijuanaSachet.com and InstilMarijuana.com
(which are also available)

Hope this helps, if only to trigger a preferable key word ha

Cheers

toughdomains · Jul 2, 2019

In my opinion its more about how well you market the name. you can have a brandable that you paid under $500 for and with great marketing it can bring in some offers. Having a portfolio site is just the basic layer of your domain selling strategy. You have to market all your names across all marketplaces then you start to see everything tie together after a few years. I notice more offers on my own storefront after we list domains in auctions...the auction appears markets the name and they come to your site to follow up on an offer.

the marketplaces that do best on our platform have zero correlation to the name. They tend to be older names that the owner has marketed for years and now hes reaping the gains of years of marketing.

spend less on the name now spend more on marketing it and maybe later when you sell a few 5 or 6 figure names then invest in the name you want.

toughdomains · Jul 2, 2019

golan said:
I'm still in search of a good name for my Canna portfolio. For general portfolio i already have one.

I like this name for canna names. roots is slang for weed...its $25k
https://marketplace.toughdomains.com/global-offer/iuqP8b

Steven McEvoy · Jul 2, 2019

okmachan said:
If you do some research, there are still nice domains available to hand reg for your domain selling business. Few days back I hand regged this one. Show attachment 115360
"From the top of the world to your desktop"

Nice that use to be own to a member here couple of years ago.

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