discuss One premium vs many hand regs?

abstractdomainer · Jun 14, 2020

Here are the details:

1) What I refer to as a premium domain is a name that can be purchased for $250 in an auction and has the potential to sell for $2000-$3000. The upper bound for this name being $4000 or so.

2) The second list is a set of hand-registrations which each cost $5 and you may register 50 hand registrations for the same price. Consider a scenario where you are good at hand registrations.

The difference between the two approaches is the risk:

While in the first case, the name is a decent one, the chances of selling could be high. However, since it is just one domain, if it doesn't sell, we are looking at a multi-year hold and no cash flow.

In the second case, the risk is that they are all hand-registrations, and chances of selling such names are usually low, given the low sell-through rate of hand-registrations. However, since there are more number of names (and given that you are pretty good with hand-registrations), the risk is low in terms of having a cash flow.
However, if you have to go for a multi-year hold, the charges and the overall cost may be high.

Which one would you choose and why?

I am particularly inclined towards the hand registrations because of two reasons:

1) Potential to diversify the risk, given that at least one of the 50 hand regs may sell for $999.
2) Potential to outbound and close some of the other domains for some price.

This strategy may not exactly make the $3,000 which the one premium domain with potential can make but, chances are, that I may end up making $1500 from the hand registrations at a lower risk than $3,000 at a higher risk (if at all).

But then again, this can be argued both ways. What's your pick?

bmugford · Jun 14, 2020

If you are hand registering domains in 2020, there are already 140M+ .COM taken. It is slim pickings when it comes to finding anything decent.

Also, that premium domain gets cheaper over time. $250 now, $10 a year to renew. $260 over 2 years.

If you renew all those $5 hand registrations. That is $750 total over 2 years. If you renew 50% that is $500 total over 2 years. As time goes on the holding costs get more and more expensive.

I would probably just stick to GoDaddy closeouts or NP buys for that budget. You are likely to get higher quality domains vs what is available to hand register. I think a middle ground of 5-10 x $25-$50 domains is likely to be better.

You need a mix of both quality and quantity if you want to make passive end user sales.

Brad

Recons.Com · Jun 14, 2020

@abstractdomainer you can still do numbers game with xxx names. I probably hold around 500+ names in that category. So it is numbers game there too.

If your whole budget is 250, yes, you might be better off going for a cheap deal and loading up, but then make a good use of the time in hand and make sure each of those hand regs are well researched.

@bmugford often the hand regs are recent drops from names that were in that 140MM pool and fell through the cracks of auctions, backorders etc. But, to find good ones, it would take way more time. So it is trade-off: you save on cost, but lose more time. The investor's opportunity cost for his time becomes the factor. If his/her time is worth $x/hour, then it might be reasonable. If it is $xx to $xxx/hr then, might be harder to justify, unless the person actually enjoys the process

Furquan · Jun 14, 2020

abstractdomainer said:
Here are the details:

1) What I refer to as a premium domain is a name that can be purchased for $250 in an auction and has the potential to sell for $2000-$3000. The upper bound for this name being $4000 or so.

2) The second list is a set of hand-registrations which each cost $5 and you may register 50 hand registrations for the same price. Consider a scenario where you are good at hand registrations.

The difference between the two approaches is the risk:

While in the first case, the name is a decent one, the chances of selling could be high. However, since it is just one domain, if it doesn't sell, we are looking at a multi-year hold and no cash flow.

In the second case, the risk is that they are all hand-registrations, and chances of selling such names are usually low, given the low sell-through rate of hand-registrations. However, since there are more number of names (and given that you are pretty good with hand-registrations), the risk is low in terms of having a cash flow.
However, if you have to go for a multi-year hold, the charges and the overall cost may be high.

Which one would you choose and why?

I am particularly inclined towards the hand registrations because of two reasons:

1) Potential to diversify the risk, given that at least one of the 50 hand regs may sell for $999.
2) Potential to outbound and close some of the other domains for some price.

This strategy may not exactly make the $3,000 which the one premium domain with potential can make but, chances are, that I may end up making $1500 from the hand registrations at a lower risk than $3,000 at a higher risk (if at all).

But then again, this can be argued both ways. What's your pick?

I would have chosen second if it was 2010 but it's 2020 so had better go with option one.

I admit there is still a chance to make ROI from hand registration but it's very little.

I would not just stick with closeout domain name & NP as there is a platform where you can find the good domain at a liquidation price.

Mister Funsky · Jun 14, 2020

Didn't read everything in thread...gots to rush out the door.

So far this year, I haven't sold any 'premium' names found here or on any other platform. All sales were hand regs with the average being in the low/mid xxxx.

EVERYTHING depends on the name and how you market it regardless of age or point of purchase. I would never spend 250 on a chance to resell a name at 2000...10,000 yes. Unless you have defined a market beforehand, don't spend 250 on a name...50 should be the upper limit for a 'great' name you spot on auction and buy without doing research.

passini · Jun 14, 2020

I voted for the hand regs.

It is difficult to buy a premium name for only 250.

If you know what you are doing you can register 50 names that have potential endusers. Price them in the 500-1000 range with buy it now option.

After one year if you made things right you may have sold one. The really importart part comes at the renew time, you should keep only the few that received some offers or traffic. If you fall in love with your names and it is difficult for you to drop them hand regs can be very expensive

pb · Jun 14, 2020

The problem is moot. You can't buy a premium domain for $250 and you can't register 50 domains for $5 each (I assume we're speaking of .com because you didn't mention otherwise).

But ignoring the prices, I'd say it's best to mix both approaches. Hold a few premium domains (as many as you can comfortably afford to purchase) and play around with handregs and closeout picks.

Recons.Com · Jun 14, 2020

pb said:
The problem is moot. You can't buy a premium domain for $250 and you can't register 50 domains for $5 each (I assume we're speaking of .com because you didn't mention otherwise).

But ignoring the prices, I'd say it's best to mix both approaches. Hold a few premium domains (as many as you can comfortably afford to purchase) and play around with handregs and closeout picks.

I guess it is only a problem if you have limited budget. Let's say all you have to invest is 2000$. Do you buy 8 $250 names or spend most of it buying $5-8 names?

Recons.Com · Jun 14, 2020

passini said:
I voted for the hand regs.

It is difficult to buy a premium name for only 250.

If you know what you are doing you can register 50 names that have potential endusers. Price them in the 500-1000 range with buy it now option.

After one year if you made things right you may have sold one. The really importart part comes at the renew time, you should keep only the few that received some offers or traffic. If you fall in love with your names and it is difficult for you to drop them hand regs can be very expensive

This is not a good advice. Keeping shouldn't be dependent on offers or traffic, but on the quality and potential of a name. Most my sales come from names that have been in my portfolio for over year and hadn't had any offers on them and not much traffic.

TheBaldOne · Jun 14, 2020

I do both. Today I bought a domain for $x,xxx and yet in the past week I have hand registered about 80 domains. I think most domainers fall into the same category of mixing the two rather than sticking to one as a hard and fast rule, also of course personal financial circumstances can dictate choice, registering 10 domains in a week could work out more readily affordable to someone than buying a more expensive domain in auction.

pb · Jun 14, 2020

Recons.Com said:
I guess it is only a problem if you have limited budget. Let's say all you have to invest is 2000$. Do you buy 8 $250 names or spend most of it buying $5-8 names?

As I said in another similar thread, a $250 GD auction domain is essentially the same quality as a $11 GD closeout domain, it only depends on whether someone places the bid in the last minutes or not. So between these two it's often better to go for the $11 domains. Better quality domains can be observed above $500 and premium domains are rarely seen below four figures.

Now about handregs - it hugely depends on who regs them. For beginners it's a tempting strategy but very rarely effective. Seasoned domainer's handregs can outperform $250 acquisitions, so it's safe to mix them in. But for a newbie to rely solely on handregs is a straight way to failure IMO. Maybe break even if they're lucky and push one of them through SH.

passini · Jun 14, 2020

Recons.Com said:
This is not a good advice. Keeping shouldn't be dependent on offers or traffic, but on the quality and potential of a name. Most my sales come from names that have been in my portfolio for over year and hadn't had any offers on them and not much traffic.

I don't know if it is a good advice but it worked for me for many years.

I may be wrong so let's hear your advice. Remember we are talking about 50 hand regs and a 250 USD budget. What do you do after one year? You renew them all? Also the names that didn't had visits to the sale page?

lock · Jun 15, 2020

Hard to vote as I am not about to register anything that is only targeting $xxx going to just think smarter. Might have some but it isn't a strategy.

abstractdomainer · Jun 15, 2020

bmugford said:
If you are hand registering domains in 2020, there are already 140M+ .COM taken. It is slim pickings when it comes to finding anything decent.

Also, that premium domain gets cheaper over time. $250 now, $10 a year to renew. $260 over 2 years.

If you renew all those $5 hand registrations. That is $750 total over 2 years. If you renew 50% that is $500 total over 2 years. As time goes on the holding costs get more and more expensive.

I would probably just stick to GoDaddy closeouts or NP buys for that budget. You are likely to get higher quality domains vs what is available to hand register. I think a middle ground of 5-10 x $25-$50 domains is likely to be better.

You need a mix of both quality and quantity if you want to make passive end user sales.

Brad

The middle ground is a good response. In fact, I think quantity is also very important in combination with the quality, to have better risk-hedge and have a continuous cash flow which doesn't makes you desperate to sell good names at a bargain.

Recons.Com said:
@abstractdomainer you can still do numbers game with xxx names. I probably hold around 500+ names in that category. So it is numbers game there too.

If your whole budget is 250, yes, you might be better off going for a cheap deal and loading up, but then make a good use of the time in hand and make sure each of those hand regs are well researched.

@bmugford often the hand regs are recent drops from names that were in that 140MM pool and fell through the cracks of auctions, backorders etc. But, to find good ones, it would take way more time. So it is trade-off: you save on cost, but lose more time. The investor's opportunity cost for his time becomes the factor. If his/her time is worth $x/hour, then it might be reasonable. If it is $xx to $xxx/hr then, might be harder to justify, unless the person actually enjoys the process

Very valid point!

Mister Funsky said:
Didn't read everything in thread...gots to rush out the door.

So far this year, I haven't sold any 'premium' names found here or on any other platform. All sales were hand regs with the average being in the low/mid xxxx.

EVERYTHING depends on the name and how you market it regardless of age or point of purchase. I would never spend 250 on a chance to resell a name at 2000...10,000 yes. Unless you have defined a market beforehand, don't spend 250 on a name...50 should be the upper limit for a 'great' name you spot on auction and buy without doing research.

What's the usual hold time for those hand registrations?

abstractdomainer · Jun 15, 2020

Recons.Com said:
This is not a good advice. Keeping shouldn't be dependent on offers or traffic, but on the quality and potential of a name. Most my sales come from names that have been in my portfolio for over year and hadn't had any offers on them and not much traffic.

I agree! The potential of any futuristic names lie in the fact that the category can grow big.

passini said:
I don't know if it is a good advice but it worked for me for many years.

I may be wrong so let's hear your advice. Remember we are talking about 50 hand regs and a 250 USD budget. What do you do after one year? You renew them all? Also the names that didn't had visits to the sale page?

There needs to be some benchmark but that need not be traffic or offers. Could be similar sales or something else.

biggie · Jun 15, 2020

Hi

pb said:
The problem is moot. You can't buy a premium domain for $250 and you can't register 50 domains for $5 each (I assume we're speaking of .com because you didn't mention otherwise).

Totally agree!

common sense, answers the question
if applied or used sometimes

imo...

Dealtor · Jun 15, 2020

My opinion: Closeouts and Auctions.

passini · Jun 15, 2020

abstractdomainer said:
I agree! The potential of any futuristic names lie in the fact that the category can grow big.

There needs to be some benchmark but that need not be traffic or offers. Could be similar sales or something else.

Futuristic names, something else...

I am still waiting for someone to tell me what he will do after one year with the remaining names (let's say 49/48 if you are good).

passini · Jun 15, 2020

passini said:
Futuristic names, something else...

I am still waiting for someone to tell me what he will do after one year with the remaining names (let's say 49/48 if you are good).

Just a follow up. If there is no traffic to your offer page the reason is only one: nobody has interest in your name. You can renew it of course, the registrar will be very happy

Save Breach · Jun 17, 2020

If you know what you are doing, go for the one that suits you the best.

I look at ExpiredDomains lists, if I need to handreg, and based on whether there's any keyword that grabs my attention. Its really easy to lose a lot of money hand regging crappy names, so its a lot harder to pick just 50 names to succeed. Its not a sure shot success, but a premium name like LLLL.com, you can actually flip it for a decent ROI!

If you are working with 50 handregs, you are gambling, you are looking at handregging at least a 100-200 to sell a couple out of it each year, for a decent ROI (to pay both ur bills & renewals), which is really hard. Buy a liquid (premium) domain for $250 rather and flip it, then hand reg on 50% of your flip profit.

Cheers

Note: by flip i mean, reseller to reseller sales

abstractdomainer · Jun 17, 2020

passini said:
Futuristic names, something else...

I am still waiting for someone to tell me what he will do after one year with the remaining names (let's say 49/48 if you are good).

If 2 names sell for $500 each, renew half or whatever part of the portfolio, based on some parameters. The rest can be invested in liquid names.
For example, people investing in Crypto names from 2012 or so. That is futuristic. Those who held onto it ended up with a fortune.

passini said:
Just a follow up. If there is no traffic to your offer page the reason is only one: nobody has interest in your name. You can renew it of course, the registrar will be very happy

Sure. In the example above, hardly people would be checking out crypto in 2013. The volume would be significantly high in 2016. Maybe no traffic names could also sell in this and in fact, must have, without a doubt.

ThatNameGuy · Jun 18, 2020

abstractdomainer said:
Here are the details:

1) What I refer to as a premium domain is a name that can be purchased for $250 in an auction and has the potential to sell for $2000-$3000. The upper bound for this name being $4000 or so.

2) The second list is a set of hand-registrations which each cost $5 and you may register 50 hand registrations for the same price. Consider a scenario where you are good at hand registrations.

The difference between the two approaches is the risk:

While in the first case, the name is a decent one, the chances of selling could be high. However, since it is just one domain, if it doesn't sell, we are looking at a multi-year hold and no cash flow.

In the second case, the risk is that they are all hand-registrations, and chances of selling such names are usually low, given the low sell-through rate of hand-registrations. However, since there are more number of names (and given that you are pretty good with hand-registrations), the risk is low in terms of having a cash flow.
However, if you have to go for a multi-year hold, the charges and the overall cost may be high.

Which one would you choose and why?

I am particularly inclined towards the hand registrations because of two reasons:

1) Potential to diversify the risk, given that at least one of the 50 hand regs may sell for $999.
2) Potential to outbound and close some of the other domains for some price.

This strategy may not exactly make the $3,000 which the one premium domain with potential can make but, chances are, that I may end up making $1500 from the hand registrations at a lower risk than $3,000 at a higher risk (if at all).

But then again, this can be argued both ways. What's your pick?

Personally I think there are lots of decent hand reg's available to register. I'm actually starting a business that involves virtual tasting of spirits like scotch whisky, bourbon, irish whiskey, tequila, vodka etc. I've actually registered almost a dozen decent names that pretty much cover all the bases for virtual tasting. It's the pandemic and my personal experience involving "Zoom Happy Hours" that's driven me to drink in the comfort of my own home.

This is just one area I know for a fact there are lots of decent names to hand reg. Many of my decent domains have been been previously registered for up to 20 years before i find them. Many peers and even other domainers are surprised when I share with them some of my diamonds in the rough.

My portfolio of domains has improved significantly since I started this strategy a few years ago. Finally, the other thing that adds value to my domains is my strategy, experience and expertise in the area of outbound marketing.

Finally, the fun factor is immeasurable

ThatNameGuy · Jun 18, 2020

Furquah said:
I would have chosen second if it was 2010 but it's 2020 so had better go with option one.

I admit there is still a chance to make ROI from hand registration but it's very little.

I would not just stick with closeout domain name & NP as there is a platform where you can find the good domain at a liquidation price.

You're obviously a lot like your boss and don't believe in "outbound marketing". If you did, you'd think a whole lot differently

M0rd0r · Jun 18, 2020

Tony Blessed said:
My opinion: Closeouts and Auctions.

Totally agree. I think it is the best path to build a good portfolio.

I only handreg names when it appears a new technology, trend...related to.

But not expired domains. I prefer Expired Domains Auctions by far.

BaileyUK · Jun 19, 2020

Furquah said:
I would have chosen second if it was 2010 but it's 2020 so had better go with option one.

I admit there is still a chance to make ROI from hand registration but it's very little.

I would not just stick with closeout domain name & NP as there is a platform where you can find the good domain at a liquidation price.

I agree with you, even 15 to 20 years ago it probably still took me around 10 hours to select each chosen. domain to hand register. Today I know that same 10 hours times 3 wouldn't turn-up anything decent and available to register. Sure you can 'Invent' a business concept and then equally make-up an appropriate domain to fill that imaginary business concept. So on that level hand-regs still work and probably appropriate - Just don't expect anybody else to be looking to fill that same Spot and therefore want your domain(s).

The problem for many is even today you have to be really committed regarding the time you put in checking all the close-outs and domain boards - most are just to impatient to spend that time at those sites. I'm happy to admit I doubt I could do it all again via the secondary market. But today I do believe it is the only real option for beginners in general. You still need a good eye though

discuss One premium vs many hand regs?

One premium vs many hand regs - What's your pick? Sort by votes

One premium domain - $250

50 hand regs - Avg $5 each

Top Member

www.DataCube.comTop Member

Top Member

JokerTop Member

Top Member

Established Member

Top Member

Top Member

Top Member

Top Member

Top Member

Established Member

FREE.MARKETINGTop Member

Top Member

Top Member

GreenFriendly.comTop Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Top Member

Top Member

Top Member

Top Member

Established Member

Top Member

Similar threads

We're social

Pinned

Appreciation

Agreement

One premium vs many hand regs - What's your pick?
Sort by votes