opinion Bad Days for Domaining

In 2nd week of march I have received an email from Sedo My $50K Domains has been sold but the buyer didn't make the payment. (This was 2nd time for the same domain).

$100 offer received for good 4 letters .com domain - rejected
$3.5K offer rejected

Due to lock down in India, I am not able to run my prime work. Since lockdown, I have given plenty of time in domaining, re-structured my website (rajdomains.com), revised pricing of domains But No Luck!!!

@Bob Hawkes Appreciated

@rajdomains yes this is happening more often now .. got 4 sales drowned

Raj can you tell which name got 50k offer ? in private

xbank said:

Hello,

I notice the recent COVID wave causing a lot of incomplete sales .. I sold 2 names on different platforms and they both not completed the payment.

Sedo I sold 5 names in the last 6 months - 4 different buyers unable to pay.

It seems like we need to hold and stop considering domains @ a virtual real estate investment.


thank you.

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I guess it's not due to the virus
but due to Trump
or the spring
or the left over effects of winter

80% of my domains are published on Squadhelp. I have almost 500 premium domains there, no sale in the last 3 months.Before the pandemic there was 1 sale every month.
There was 1 sale 2 months ago, but the domain was purchased via Afternic /it was published on Squadhelp too/

@November means around 80% of the people are agreed with my opinion and with my post!

Like @Bob Hawkes I have heard and read varying opinions on how COVID has affected domain sales. The more well-known personalities in the industry seem to feel that the market is very much alive and well.

Personally, I made my largest sale ever in April, so the last three months have been quite positive for me.

Either way, it is too early to draw any conclusions. We won't truly know how the industry has been impacted until we're looking back on this time a few years from now.

It would seem to me that the present domain market at worst is just going through one of its regular readjustments, but it is gearing up for a boom in many areas. It should be remembered that the financial crisis of 2007/8 saw a real downturn in market activity, and this followed the severe downturn when the .com bubble burst back at the turn of the century.

The difference now is perhaps that online business is now recognised by a far greater number of businesses, small, medium, and large, to be the way to recover from the present downturn. Also many existing businesses will flounder with indeed many failing, this will lead to newcomers coming into the market to fill the voids left in numerous niches - and these new businesses will all look at their online presence as paramount and invest in such including domain names. In the meantime it is also likely that those existing businesses which survive will also realise the importance of their online presence and invest in making their share of the market expand wherever possible.

From the above I think this temporary blip, if indeed one is occurring, will soon be overshadowed by the boom yet to come starting by the end of the year.

Mai was quite a decent month for me

Good sales past few months here. Above average a bit.

Domaining is not an island. When there is downturn in economy or other vital industries and businesses, it affects domaining. Ripple effect, it's called.

Forget about pockets of individual sales, the economic situation is generally in bad shape, not only in domaining. Online advertising in which we have vested interest and used to be the cash cow is presently at the ebb. Air transportation, travel and tourism, energy - just to name a few - are all in distress and "yelling" for bail out.

Lesson learnt:
In good times, always make provisions for emergencies.

@Josytal very right!

The pandemic does impact sales, because people are fearful as the future is unsure. Even though no one can predict the future.. it was easier when someone knew a paycheck was guaranteed weekly... But I think as things settles..it will cause a boom or resurgence in domain sales. Because everyone will see the importance of owning a name and starting online business and not depend on only a job.

But 0 effects on domainer aftermarket ppl still keep buying at crazy prices..on a hope to resell

Thanks everyone for sharing their views and experiences which is always good to read . It adds more to the knowledge of what exactly is happening.

As I've been sharing my Afternic sales every month starting this year, I'd some ups and downs and overall remained slow until April if I compare the same time period of last year. Both in terms of money and few hundred of domains added to the portfolio.

Anyhow, May report on Afternic sales has been exceptional which I'm going to share in the first week of June.

Stay tuned!

I've had a couple sales fall through as well, figure it's to be expected with so many newcomers and low ballers coming out of the woodwork.

Jurgen Wolf said:

I have the same case with some NYC company.
Waiting since March for their better times...

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I have contacted them again last week - no changes, they are still not ready.

The new regime of registrars asking huge money for so-called "premium" names doesn't help,

and the extortion goes further when they want massive annual rent, and even monthly rent !

There is a type of person who will pay over $500 for a tee shirt.

They arrived right on time in 1929, and they're here now !

Spent lavishly all through the '30s - $500 Million for Salvador Mundi - for that chromo ?

@ Nommes Tres Chic Domain Boutique

Yes, I believe when there are sellers who do things and register dumb names .. we have a whole lot of buyers who also buy names which makes no sense, so it's from both end

Scavengers got some bargains this year, but signs of life recently

jim h said:

This is a fact. Although many people refuse to admit that the volume of transactions is indeed declining and the demand is shrinking. Although some domain names are sold at high prices, the market as a whole is declining...

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Can't speak specifically to SEDO, but I've been tracking the reported sales listed via Namebio for the past 12 weeks and daily sales reported have averaged 300+ sales (give or take a dozen or two, up or down depending on news I'd guess). Some weeks avg daily domain sales prices - per domain - dipped slightly (as in from $700+ to $600+) but number of sales hasn't really declined.

This says nothing about the future. Just an observation - I thought sales would be more heavily impacted as well.