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opinion If your domaining is not profitable, you’re doing it wrong. A few Do’s and Don’ts

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I am usually surprised to learn that some domain investors who have been in the business for one or two years have not made their first sale. If this is your case, maybe you should consider the following sets of five Do’s and Don’ts that at some point helped me reinvent my domaining business for the better. These tips, opinions and recommendations are based on my experience and are not to be taken as legal or financial advice.

Do’s

1. Carefully review and study the case of successful domain investors and ask yourself why their names are selling. Whenever you see domain sale reports, check if you could determine a pattern or trend in the value of certain keywords. Spend quality time in NameBio.com and the Completed Domain Name Sales thread here on NamePros, but see it as more than just as a vague fun fact learning exercise. Read each sale. Study it. Dissect it.

2. Consider domaining as a little more than a hobby, even if it is. Take some steps to treat it as a real business. If possible, have an online presence, a website and a professional email (e.g. [email protected]).

3. Create your own system and stick to it, if it works. For example, take one or two hours everyday to do expired or expiring domain search. ExpiredDomainNames.net is an invaluable tool. Most of the names I have sold were found there. Take one or two hours to keep up with domain news and posts. Take two or three hours to find potential buyers for your domain names. Again, these are times based on my experience. You should know what time you have available. The point is to be proactive.

4. Remember that some of us came to the domaining game later (not necessarily late), therefore, we need to do some extra work and use extra flexibility to score sales. For instance, if a well-known domain investor who owns 100,000 names sold a mediocre name for 50K, it does not mean that you should go ahead and overprice all your domain names. In most cases, if you were able to hand-registered a domain name, it is not worth thousands (now, it does happen sometimes for investors who really know what they’re doing). In short, be realistic with your pricing.

5. Be proactive. List your domains everywhere, reach out to end-users in a professional manner, learn how the most prominent domain marketplaces and registrars work, ask for feedback on your names and processes and constantly engage in self-criticism.

DON’TS

1. Don’t buy domain names unless you already have carefully considered what type of businesses may be interested in acquiring such names. After sometime, you will develop a gut feeling that will, in a way, override this recommendation, but for now, stick to it.

2. Don’t be afraid of reinventing yourself by dropping bad names (those that don’t receive offers, would not sell on NamePros even for $10 and end-users don’t want), and consider whether you should create a different system of buying and selling.

3. Never be dishonest when dealing with other investors or end-users. Do not misrepresent your domain names data or value. Do not promise what you cannot deliver.

4. Don’t ask end-users to make an offer if you reached out to them. You should know the price of your own product.

5. Don’t be greedy. If you paid $10 for a domain and the end-user offers you $700, while you priced it at $1000, take his offer and move on. You might be able to be more firm with your prices after you have better names.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Great post. Thanks.

Few things that I do a bit differently: most my sales are for names that I held for few years with ZERO offers for them. Some names I had offers for are still with me. So I completely ignore this part.

Pricing: don't be greedy as in the example above can have negative results. Could be ok in the beginning, but ability to get full value for most of your names in the sweet spot range of 1500 to 3500 is very important. Overall if your average sale price is not in/ above the range, you are doing it wrong probably.
 
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Few things that I do a bit differently: most my sales are for names that I held for few years with ZERO offers for them. Some names I had offers for are still with me. So I completely ignore this part.

What are the reasons for keeping domains which have ZERO offers for a few years?

What doe you completely ignore? Thanks
 
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What are the reasons for keeping domains which have ZERO offers for a few years?

What doe you completely ignore? Thanks

Because I know that they are great brands. I purchased them based on my personal criteria that work. I have sold 70+ domains at end user prices in last 2 years and 90% of those had zero previous offers. Someone just hit the BIN or contacted, negotiated and bought.
 
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Because I know that they are great brands.
Excellent! We all must have confidence in our acquisition. Can you answer the other question? What do you completely ignore?
 
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5. Don’t be greedy. If you paid $10 for a domain and the end-user offers you $700, while you priced it at $1000, take his offer and move on. You might be able to be more firm with your prices after you have better names.
Going to agree with this advice.
 
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Excellent! We all must have confidence in our acquisition. Can you answer the other question? What do you completely ignore?

that is the part ))) I ignore that a name had zero offers.

yesterday I sold music/area/com for $3310 gross, $2215 net. Bought in May 2015 for $360, had zero offers over 4.5 years, had confidence to bid $360 at the time and not doubts thereafter. Just for info, normally I don't price names acquired for mid xxx that low, but this was added to BB when I joined them in 2015 and was testing the waters, so experience/knowledge/stats/analytics what sells and what not was more important than getting a fair return.
 
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@Recons.Com Thanks for sharing. The domain is definitely one to keep even when no immediate offer came. There are many similar domains and some are already developed for commercial use.
 
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@Recons.Com Thanks for sharing. The domain is definitely one to keep even when no immediate offer came. There are many similar domains and some are already developed for commercial use.

Thank you. Another example, sold recently vault/t/com

Bought at closeouts, no offers for 4 years, sold at bin for $3500, $2800 net. Did not even check similar domains etc. Just thought of it as a powerful brand and something I could use myself if I had an idea for a security, storage etc. Priced little higher than I do for most of my closeouts and never doubted it. And sure enough a startup in security agreed and that is all it takes: one buyer to share your vision.
 
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I don’t really agree with number 5. Its not greedy to hold out for end user pricing in the XXXX if you know the name is worth it and you can afford the hold. Its business. Some people’s model might be fast flip but it doesn’t have to be.

I also don’t agree you should drop names with no offers in two years based on that alone. (Unless you can’t afford to or you no longer feel its a good name.) Domaining is a long game. If you know the name is great you hold. There are other ways to figure interest besides offers.

Otherwise sound advice about adjusting and reinventing your portfolio to best work with your goals and profitability. You do learn as you go along that is for sure.
 
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Excellent article. I think holding names is a great thing to do. I previously used to test names within one year. I dropped many names and most of them are developed now by end users. Some of them are even big companies. So it is not always good to quickly get rid of a name if you dont receive any offers within a year. For the past 3 years, I changed the strategy and I see that most of the names I sell these days, are names I held for more than 2 years.
 
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Bought at closeouts, no offers for 4 years,
Similar experience. Registered a domain in 2015 after it was dropped. No offer for few years, then it was sold on Afternic at BIN 2980 early last year.
 
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Thank you all for your comments and great input. I just want to take a moment to clarify the dropping names suggestion I made.

The comment was directed to new domain investors who registered a number worthless names (as many of us did at the beginning). The spirit of the recommendation is that they should not get too attached to those names and think that just because they already own them, they should keep renewing them.

In my case, I have two set of names based on their quality. The first set are names that I am sure I will keep renewing, even if not offers are received. They include brandables and other names I have registered or backordered as long-term investment.

The second set is of many GEO and keyword-rich names that I register for my domain-flipping business. I try to sell those via outbound as soon as I get them. If they don't sell, I let them expire. My model has worked for me consistently since 2010. As I have stated a couple of times on other threads, the only year in which I lost money in domaining was 2009, when I did not know what I was doing.

As I see it, the main goal for every domain investor is to find a system or methodology that works, based on their circumstances and resources, and then repeat that over and over.
 
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...

4. Don’t ask end-users to make an offer if you reached out to them. You should know the price of your own product.

Why?

If they are interested I can mention a price, but before they become interested why give a price?

If I give a price, they will think it is high and not respond, and I can never know they think this way, and just assume they are not interested.

If I give a low price they think it is worthless, and if in the future they suddenly become interested, and I
give a much higher and realistic price, they won't say "I wish I bought it when it was cheap, I deserve this punishment, and I will buy it anyway".
 
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Why?

If they are interested I can mention a price, but before they become interested why give a price?

If I give a price, they will think it is high and not respond, and I can never know they think this way, and just assume they are not interested.

If I give a low price they think it is worthless, and if in the future they suddenly become interested, and I
give a much higher and realistic price, they won't say "I wish I bought it when it was cheap, I deserve this punishment, and I will buy it anyway".

In my experience, many of them respond even if they think the price is high and then make you a lower offer. In many cases, if you just ask them to make an offer, with no reference or range on your part, the will low ball you.

On the other hand, based on the ton of overpriced domain names available, when you are selling a name for $1000 and don't include the price, the end-user may think you are another domainer with ridiculous expectations for the name and just not bother to respond.

Have in mind that I am talking here about giving price for your outbound names. I am not referring to having landing pages set at Make Offer, which I still do and think is a good idea. I am only referring to direct contact that you initiated.
 
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great post but old info

ExpiredDomainNames.net is not avail

and on NameBio, I found many domains sold many times, but latest price is lower previous prices, why? seems latest owner decided to liquid it?
 
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great post but old info

ExpiredDomainNames.net is not avail

and on NameBio, I found many domains sold many times, but latest price is lower previous prices, why? seems latest owner decided to liquid it?

It’s ExpiredDomains.net, Not ExpiredDomainNames.

A domain sold many times is normal in the domain industry. Sometimes domain owners lose money on specific transactions. Nothing unusual about that.
 
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then you should edited your original post, I copied that name then not avail
 
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