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advice What's Your Biggest Current Challenge in Domain Investing?

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Do you trust most registrars availability results

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  • Yes all the time 99%

  • Mostly

  • Have to double check with another registrar

  • NO

  • Never even thought about it

  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.

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I may do another AMA chat or some blog posts and wanted to see if the same problems i run into buying and selling domain names, are everyone elses biggest issues.

If you could take a second and post or pm me (in which case i will keep you name confidential) your biggest 1-3 challenges, or "pain points" as they say in the internet marketing biz.

What are you having trouble with, what do you need some advice on or new solutions and services.

As an appreciation for the time, ill send you 10 Topcoin (TPC) for any replies.

I'll start

Registry and registrar sites not working correctly on the basics.

More and more names are showing available, only to not be "on further review", mostly in the new tlds and premium names.

So hopefully godaddy was temporary last week but not being able to access my names, when i needed to, or have constant trouble with the bulk updates maybe happening or maybe not has been a frustration.

Enom is the biggest culprit, the were are aware of downgraded performance sign has been up for a year, and since we get names at enom form namejet, its a big deal.

Dynadot seems to have fixed their latency issue on registrations, i think the $6.99 special must have brought a heavy load.

And lastly im not sure i trust every search now for availability, as all the paths and feeds that go into an availability search may not be delivering pristine results, (moe on this in a future post)

thanks all for the input.

Page Howe
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
lever thats a well said 3.

ill jump in

your main - i look for pretty good quality with least amount of competition, if lots of low value bidders, i try to get best names; if lots of heavy hitters, i try to be strategic without only getting droppable names next year.

landing page - a great questions - im trying to decide myself with these criteria

1- look and fell
2- does it monetize
3- do i pay a sales commision
4 do i get any prestige to help pay for the sales commision
5 easy to manage in bulk
6 does it make my page "unranked" on google

3. trying to get your first sale.

well i can only say dont try to buy your way into it, ie thinking youve got to own 1000 to sell 1% or 10 a year, or 1 a month.....

maybe try a namepros for sale post and see if any interet comes up, but youd have to do wholesale.

thanks again for he questions.

Page
 
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Hmmm, my main ones are not getting many offers for my names, or at least not many sales, and also a few issues like my issue with Namecheap (re: my.pe) but I have sold names like holylandpark.com for 4 figures and bought slabaugh.com for four figures, which is my last name.


good point on offers.

i ask myself do my names stink, or is the system not geting me the interest i deserve.

ph
 
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good point on offers.

i ask myself do my names stink, or is the system not geting me the interest i deserve.

ph
I do have both decent and not so good names.
 
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lever thats a well said 3.

ill jump in

your main - i look for pretty good quality with least amount of competition, if lots of low value bidders, i try to get best names; if lots of heavy hitters, i try to be strategic without only getting droppable names next year.

landing page - a great questions - im trying to decide myself with these criteria

1- look and fell
2- does it monetize
3- do i pay a sales commision
4 do i get any prestige to help pay for the sales commision
5 easy to manage in bulk
6 does it make my page "unranked" on google

3. trying to get your first sale.

well i can only say dont try to buy your way into it, ie thinking youve got to own 1000 to sell 1% or 10 a year, or 1 a month.....

maybe try a namepros for sale post and see if any interet comes up, but youd have to do wholesale.

thanks again for he questions.

Page

Thanks man, appreciate the response!
 
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Biggest challenge by far, not only in domaining, also in life: Ignorance. it is an enormous time waster. Some evil entities take advantage of this situation, or maybe they force it secrectly. (talking about outbound)

Second challenge: Bad marketplaces. Why don't they show IPs. If I own a domain, I have full control over it, so I should be able to get emails, and check visitor IPs, so if I park a domain at a marketplace, they should give me back what I already have. Why should I have to use another service to track visitors. This suggests they may have an agenda.

Third challenge: .com is the king, (and to protect this status of .com other tlds are being killed). But maybe not for everyone. Maybe for 1 percent of people .com is a must, so only 1 percent of average quality .com's sell. Most cctlds don't upgrade to .com. Most dashed domains don't upgrade to dashless domain. A German company won't get .de if using .com, won't get .com if using .de.

4th: Unpaid sold domains.

(no coins).
 
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The biggest challenge in domaining nowadays is acquiring domains at fair prices. Never has there been more competition than there is now. I am having to bid up to $500-1000 on domains that I would've got for $50-250 around 5-10 years ago.

There is a great deal of price volatility and irrationality in the domain name industry today. With more than 1,200 delegated strings and even more coming online over the next several years, competition from new gTLDs will inevitably drive legacy TLD prices down.

All top-level domains are of equal utility. They all perform the exact same function. They appear after-the-last-dot in a domain name, representing the highest level of the Internet’s domain name system hierarchy. Not all TLDs are equal however in terms of safety, speed and brand-ability.

Similarly, all domain names perform an identical function. They’re used to aid human navigation on the network, serving as a proxy for the numerical addressing system of the Internet. Domain names help people understand and remember web addresses. The primary purpose of domain names is brand identity. Why settle for a less-than-optimal domain name on a legacy TLD when other, more secure and brand-able TLD options exist?

The .app top-level domain is backed and managed by Google the same company that dominates in mobile, search, geo/maps, web browser, online advertising, AI/ML, etc. .app TLD is included in the HSTS Preload of all major web browsers. Dotcom is not. This makes every .app domain name safer and faster compared to every other domain name not in the preload.

Some premium .app domain names are still available. They won't be for long.

Happy domain name hunting!
 
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competition from new gTLDs will inevitably drive legacy TLD prices down.
And then up again when they can't make it on the .whatevers
 
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competition from new gTLDs will inevitably drive legacy TLD prices down.

Where is your data? All these threads .com versus not com’s show the self evident failure of .whatevers, no sales data just hype. Its bad enough the .com high end sales data is questionable.

So now you are here promoting .App’s? Is that the purpose of this post in the thread?

https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/appdomainnames?src=hash
I see this twitter account, assume it’s your .App promotion?

https://mobile.twitter.com/RBTewksbury/status/1149749306154348545

https://mobile.twitter.com/RBTewksbury/status/1149749300571734016
It will take 10607 years for .whatevers to be of equal value to .com

.com’s are only going up in value.

OP posted some Law Magazine article (probably paid for by a Ngtld ) you wrote pushing .whatevers before, then like this thread you waited to post an opinion instead of staying on topic. So what’s your biggest challenge?

https://www.namepros.com/threads/st...domain-but-for-how-long.1129126/#post-7161877

@wwwweb responded to you before:

“There will always be people who can carve out a niche in any crappy little industry, but most people want to be where the action, and the dollars are, and that is .com. You don't have to upsell, or BS it, when it comes top level it is what it is. These people write these BS articles, are not in the trenches everyday seeing the inquiries, and from who, seeing the new products, and who comes knocking to secure their brands.”

https://www.namepros.com/threads/st...domain-but-for-how-long.1129126/#post-7162301
 
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convincing and end user buyers that the prices quoted are realistic
 
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It is an interesting topic and thread. Thanks for starting it, @Page Howe.
  1. In the new extension space I think we need absolute clarity re which domains are subject to premium renewals and what those amounts are.
  2. I also think we need some sort of caps on renewal prices in all domain extensions, the opposite of what is happening now with caps being removed.
  3. I think our industry would be stronger if there was a clear and public disclosure of every transaction, like we have for land transfers. This would eliminate most of the domain theft issues, and while in some cases it would work against getting good prices, I think transparency is always a better thing.
  4. I think that anything that can be done to make the domain aftermarket seen in a positive light is good, possibly even some sort of code of conduct and professional status. Also, anything that can make branding and naming experts, startup owners, and others work more closely with domainers is good for everyone.
Bob
 
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1. Lack of public knowledge about importance of good domain selection.
2. Mailing or calling hundreds of potential end users oversea may get a bit expensive. Email outbound is not an option nowadays due to spamming (makes zero sense), and marketplaces are overloaded by millions of nonsense domains.
 
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1> Price
People now are crazy with their price wars. From GoDaddy Expired Auction to DropCatch and NameJet, people are burning their money. I don't know how they can make profit with those prices. You take profit when you buy a domain, not when you sell it.
2> HugeDomains.
Our buddy is joining more and more auctions today. They use bots to track and place bid on GD Expired Auctions or snapping names on Close Out. It's not fair when human vs bots, but we have to see day by day. Now, i'm thinking that we become their 0-USD collaborators - We finding good names, place a bid then they take those through auction.
3> Registrars
- eNom has 42 days transfer lock policy , so the only thing we can do is wait once we have offer or sale.
- NetworkSolutions with their terrible customer services, 3-5 days to get Auth Code and another 3-5 days to complete a transaction. Holly sh*t !
4> Customers:
- You are extorting us with your current price.
- Why have you stolen our brands ?
- Are you drunk ? How can you sell a domain that we can easily reg with $10 ?
- Pode falar Português?

Pretty much summed it up in one, great reply!
 
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- The king is dead, long live the king: For years the crowd has been criticizing parking/sales platform E, which is successful leader in sales reports for months now. Good or not good provider?


who is E?
 
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The .app top-level domain is backed and managed by Google the same company that dominates in mobile, search, geo/maps, web browser, online advertising, AI/ML, etc. .app TLD is included in the HSTS Preload of all major web browsers. Dotcom is not. This makes every .app domain name safer and faster compared to every other domain name not in the preload.

Some premium .app domain names are still available. They won't be for long.

Happy domain name hunting!


ok so you are a promoter for .app
that explains it
 
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The biggest problem I have tends to be in promoting reasonable quality well aged domains for sale.

Example: Have Boots.Net up over at Flippa - It has exactly 1 bid (probably from a domainer here) for $1. It is obviously a valuable generic in a well established and recognized TLD.

Estibot says 99K, though my expectations are about 10% of that at this point, making it a pretty darn good value, yet there is so much in the way of noise level for so many junk domains registered yesterday (and being bumped in a sales thread today) it is nearly impossible to penetrate the noise to get such names in front of buyers who would be interested.

Perhaps I am choosing the wrong venue in Flippa, but I suspect it is not just their venue but an industry problem.
 
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ok so you are a promoter for .app
that explains it


Among the many things I do ... I write about technology and the Internet for the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center (LTRC). I also write for many other Bar Associations across America.

I've not been -nor am I now- being paid for my opinion or my writing on this topic. If I were being paid I would disclose that fact. To suggest otherwise, or come at me with ad hominem arguments, is weak and appears intended to diminish my opinion/words.

I've been involved with domain names for a while now. I registered my first .com domain name in August 1995. I currently hold many domain name registrations, including .app. Over the last 24 years, I've held and/or managed thousands of domain name registrations across multiple TLDs.

I guess I'm "promoting" .app the same way you and other dotcom-status-quo-bias deniers are promoting your preferred TLD; by posting to this forum. You have your opinion and I have mine. You seem to think you're right and I'm wrong. I think I'm probably right and you're biased against any TLD that isn't .com.

If every conversation on this site devolves into an argument between dotcom'ers vs. everyone else, why be here? If people in this forum continue to reject others whose ideas do not align with theirs, this site will be known as a big waste-of-time and filter-bubble for dotcom'ers coddling each other and promoting misinformation.

Let's have a real (good faith) discussion and exchange of ideas and information.

RB Tewksbury
 
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Where is your data? All these threads .com versus not com’s show the self evident failure of .whatevers, no sales data just hype. Its bad enough the .com high end sales data is questionable.

So now you are here promoting .App’s? Is that the purpose of this post in the thread?

Comparing dotcom's market penetration and "sales data" to .app is not a fair or valid argument. Dotcom domain names have existed for more than 34 years whereas .app was launched just 431 days ago.

Domainers like to draw comparisons between real estate (an asset you can own) and domain names (an asset you can't own). Comparing sales data for a TLD that has been around since the beginning of Internet time to a TLD that was just launched will only result in inaccurate price valuations and more market volatility. There are several widely-accepted methods for appraising real estate. There is no consensus valuation-model for domain names that can withstand peer-review scrutiny.

My opinion is based on centuries of economic history. More competition drives prices down. Competition from new gTLDs will inevitably drive down prices for legacy TLDs because market equilibrium was disrupted with the introduction of new gTLDs in 2012, and there are more to come. The more supply there is of TLD options the less demand there will be for any one particular TLD. That's how supply-and-demand economics works.

Technically speaking, all TLDs are of equal utility. They all perform the exact same function. Not all TLDs are equal however in terms of safety, speed and brand-ability.

Why am I bullish on a few new TLDs; .app in particular? For starters ...
  • .app TLD is backed and managed by Google, the same company that dominates in mobile, search, geo/maps, web browser, online advertising, AI/ML, etc.
  • People understand and use apps everyday.
  • Native apps are no longer financially justifiable, having been disrupted by web services delivered via progressive web app or PWA.
  • The .app TLD is one of only three gTLDs -that I'm aware of- that force HTTP Strict Transport Security, and are also included in the HSTS Preload list of all major web browsers. Dotcom TLD does not force HTTP-STS and is not included (by default) in the HSTS Preload ... and never will be. This makes every .app domain name faster, safer and more discover-able and stable than nearly all other TLDs and domain names not in the HSTS preload.
Yes ... I'm bullish on .app TLD.
 
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You can be bullish on .app's, you can speculate, that's what this business is. Pure speculation, it's like penny stocks too unless you have short one word dot coms, and even so most are parked.

My opinion is based on centuries of economic history.

Centuries. Hmm. Elon paid an undislosed sum for X dot com, where is the rational economist analyst mathematical model from some academic textbook to support that? None. It's perception, ego, status- people buy based on emotion and support their decisions with logic.

Most Economists are educated guessing, just like the Weathermen and not accountable to anyone. Often incorrect.

Well, my opinions are based on hands on experience selling and based on perception and marketing, a great book millions have read, you probably already have it since you are a marketing consultant.

https://blog.kowalczyk.info/articles/22-marketing-laws.html

.com follows law 1 (First in market) and 3 (First in mind), 4 (Perception- trust).

(.net and .org have more trust than all these unknown 1200+ extensions.)

The .whatevers follow law 2- competition. Law 8 duality. The new gtlds will always be an also ran- following the above laws. Law 12, an attempt by at least one successful .com owner betting the farm on the new gtlds. The price increases show failure of adoption from low volume sales versus high volume sales forecasts, now what 5 years? Law 20- Hype- that's the new extensions and those of you who tout them here. Law 22- No money for promotion = failure.

Maybe with all the changes in ethics, morals, politics, division, spending habits, etc. in 20 years .Com's might not be where they are now. I don't own any crystal balls.

Comparing dotcom's market penetration and "sales data" to .app is not a fair or valid argument.

Ask @Rick Schwartz about that.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/na...ld-than-a-dot-com.1015320/page-4#post-6126242

Comparing sales data for a TLD that has been around since the beginning of Internet time to a TLD that was just launched will only result in inaccurate price valuations and more market volatility. There are several widely-accepted methods for appraising real estate. There is no consensus valuation-model for domain names that can withstand peer-review scrutiny.

Domains are not tangible property. There is no MLS for Domains, nor should there be one- the online databases of sales data are all over the map, it's just to difficult to map out true end user value in a market filled with games of price discovery, touts, shills, groups bids, partners, promoters, estibot fake appraisals, fake information from well known brokers, etc. The only good an MLS would be for is to prevent those who bought into the hype of Travel.Agency or Vacation.Rentals.

So it's whatever the market will bear for .Com's. Obviously, Econ 101 scarcity creates perceived value. There is only ONE .com per word. Voice.com is an insane $30 Million dollar example, someone mentioned that the verified data was from SEC supposedly (I didn't check). Did they overpay? IMO, Probably. Who but some VC people could afford such? I agree with Konstantinos.

https://onlinedomain.com/2019/06/25...ndustrys-excitement-about-the-voice-com-sale/


.app TLD is backed and managed by Google,

"Mr. Tewksbury is a legal marketing professional and legal-technology management expert. His professional certifications from Google include AdWords Advanced Search, Advertising Fundamentals, Mobile Advertising, Video Advertising Advanced, AdWords Advanced Display and Google Analytics."

Yea, you are all Google, all the way in, even certified. The monopolistic beast that scrapes human created data, copying it for free like a virtual xerox machine to feed their future AI databases, and deindexing unpopular, controversial and unacceptable political views per their standards that they disagree with.

The company who removed "Do no evil" from their mantra.

They will take over the world like Amazon and Facebook and censoring anything it's people decide is objectionable, It's not a useful white pages of websites like Yahoo started out as anymore. I liked Thomas Register, if you ever sourced anything you might have used it. Google purposely does not rank it. Yet it is a far more valuable resource to find weird things than Google with people and their SEO gaming with some really crappy products that get 1st page ranking.

that force HTTP Strict Transport Security, and are also included in the HSTS Preload list of all major web browsers. Dotcom TLD does not force HTTP-STS and is not included (by default) in the HSTS Preload ... and never will be.

Thanks for posting that. Very interesting scam. I see, so Google buys a TLD to control more of the internet. Interesting, so not only monopolizing information, now potentially in their own registry of domain names. This is a reason for the Government to intervene. This increasing of their control and monopoly in this manner sets them up for potental anti-trust. Buy more of their stock. I have http only sites without any SSL or that other nonsense that rank first entry. At least for now.

There is no consensus valuation-model for domain names that can withstand peer-review scrutiny.

"Peer Review"- like this is science or medical research, another academic here?

Have a pleasant weekend.

The end.
OTH
 
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The biggest problem I have tends to be in promoting reasonable quality well aged domains for sale.

Domain name registration length (age) is irrelevant to Google.

"Google's John Mueller had to come on Twitter and once again dispel the myth that the age of a domain name does not matter in terms of Google's ranking algorithms. New or old domains can rank well and it doesn't help your site rank to register your domain name for a longer period of time." (source)

Here's John Mueller's tweet on this topic.
I hope this helps you.
 
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Purchase Price vs Sales Price has been my biggest obstacle since 2016 i would say, It has cut my ROI down. with significant ROI change taking place from 2010 to date. Making the adjustments necessary to maintain has been pretty constant year after year.
 
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Great question @Page Howe

More and more names are showing available, only to not be "on further review", mostly in the new tlds and premium names.

When it comes to legacy extensions then it is "mostly". If it is new TLD's then a flat "No". The variable pricing drives me nuts. And I have registered pretty good names in nTLD's that later were rejected because the registrar was not in sync with the registry and the domain was held back.

Biggest challenge? BOTS

Yep. That too. But I guess it works to the registrar's advantage so don't expect them to fix the issue anytime soon.
 
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1. Lack of public knowledge about importance of good domain selection.
2. Mailing or calling hundreds of potential end users oversea may get a bit expensive. Email outbound is not an option nowadays due to spamming (makes zero sense), and marketplaces are overloaded by millions of nonsense domains.

1. Is also the biggest pro, IMO.
 
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1. Is also the biggest pro, IMO.
9 out of 10 people online have no use for a domain name. Most folks don't own blogs or an online business. Domainers have basically been selling domains to each other. That works as along as there is an influx of new domainers to pass those domains off on. What were now seeing is those numbers starting to level out and many are stuck with overpriced domains and little end user demand.
 
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