One of the biggest domain name sales of the week was
The name
Interview
The sale was completed at DAN. Was it a marketplace sale, or did you bring in a lead that closed at DAN?
Lead and negotiation was through email. I have custom landing pages for my top tier names with a catch-all email address. I imported the lead through
You indicated on Twitter that this was by far the largest sale that you have had to date. As such, have you thought about how you will use the proceeds?
I want to step up my game and invest in high-quality .coms. Proceeds are going to sit in the piggy bank until the right opportunity comes along, which will require patience. I think it would be a mistake to start buying a bunch of names I don't feel strongly about just because I have some extra coin sitting around.
Do you hold a large portfolio of
Less than 100. They're not all great, but I've collected some gems which I've talked about on my Twitter. These include climb.io, done.io, everest.io, pocket.io, sapphire.io, veloctiy.io and others.
What fraction of your portfolio is in
Around 15%. I hope to make it less by culling the mediocre ones while adding more .coms. The renewal fees on
How did the actual negotiation work?
The crazy part is that I dug the original email out of my spam folder. So check those spam folders, kids!
The negotiation was really easy because I think the buyer is someone who appreciates the value of a great domain name. He opened with a strong offer - I think it was $10K so I knew he was serious. Based on previous comps like
So, I countered with 7 BTC (at the time BTC was touching $10,000) The reason I did that is because the wise Mike Carson once said "It's easier to ask for 7 of something than 70,000." We haggled like hagglers do, over the next few days and agreed on 5 BTC.
This is another reason we chose
How long have you been in domain investing, and how did you get started? Do you have any advice?
About two years ago. I always knew people made money with premium domain names. I tried my hand at it over 10, maybe 15, years ago, making the same mistakes everyone makes when they start out. I failed miserably and mostly forgot about domains (as an investment vehicle.)
But then
Thankfully during that .app period, I stumbled on two amazing resources. DomainSherpa and DNAcademy. Thank you Michael Cyger! Thank you to Andrew and Tess for keeping it going!
I binged almost all of the old DomainSherpa episodes and took notes on what the pros and amateurs were doing. I went through DNAcademy where it is literally all spelled out for you. It is an A-Z course in domain investing. We should be grateful as an industry that something like this exists. Because I can't think of any comparable course for any other industry I've been apart of.
Yes, you still have to make mistakes. But to spend hundreds of dollars on garbage domains when you could invest that in an accelerated education is the kind of stubbornness that prevents 98% of "domainers" from ever making money.
Do you have a final message to share?
I am not an expert by any means. This sale could just be luck. I am very, very late to the game. I am still a student and I think I always will be. But there's still gold in them hills. I think if you keep an open mind, and be analytical instead of stubborn about your purchases, you can do well.
Related Discussions
Here are links to articles related to the
I used NameBio, Dofo and DomainIQ in researching this article.
Jackpot.io that sold for about $48,500. I got in touch with the seller, barman (@ppcbz), to learn more about the sale, his background in domain investing and his plans moving forward. The seller announced the sale on Twitter on June 16. The sale was confirmed with DAN by Elliot Silver.
The sale was not yet listed on NameBio at the time of writing, but it would become the fourth highest sale ever in theSold jackpot . io $48,500By far my biggest sale to date. Love the name. Hoping the buyer does great things with it. Thanks to Undeveloped for handling the transaction.
.io extension. It would be in place 14 compared to all country code sales so far in 2020, and the highest value .io sale of the first half of this year.The name
jackpot.io was created in 2012. The .com of the term is developed, and the name jackpot is registered in 240 extensions, with almost 70 currently for sale. While no NameBio record exists of a prior sale in the .io extension, the exact term jackpot has sold in 14 different extensions. The name jackpot.com sold for $500,000 in 2012.Interview
The sale was completed at DAN. Was it a marketplace sale, or did you bring in a lead that closed at DAN?
Lead and negotiation was through email. I have custom landing pages for my top tier names with a catch-all email address. I imported the lead through
Dan.com once we agreed to terms.You indicated on Twitter that this was by far the largest sale that you have had to date. As such, have you thought about how you will use the proceeds?
I want to step up my game and invest in high-quality .coms. Proceeds are going to sit in the piggy bank until the right opportunity comes along, which will require patience. I think it would be a mistake to start buying a bunch of names I don't feel strongly about just because I have some extra coin sitting around.
Do you hold a large portfolio of
.io domain names?Less than 100. They're not all great, but I've collected some gems which I've talked about on my Twitter. These include climb.io, done.io, everest.io, pocket.io, sapphire.io, veloctiy.io and others.
The seller still holds climb.io, done.io, everest.io, pocket.io, sapphire.io, veloctiy.io.
What fraction of your portfolio is in
.io names?Around 15%. I hope to make it less by culling the mediocre ones while adding more .coms. The renewal fees on
.io are a drain.How did the actual negotiation work?
The crazy part is that I dug the original email out of my spam folder. So check those spam folders, kids!
A deal that could have been lost! ”I dug the original email out of my spam folder.”
The negotiation was really easy because I think the buyer is someone who appreciates the value of a great domain name. He opened with a strong offer - I think it was $10K so I knew he was serious. Based on previous comps like
lucky.io, and discussions with fellow domain nerds, I knew this name was worth somewhere in the $50-100K range.So, I countered with 7 BTC (at the time BTC was touching $10,000) The reason I did that is because the wise Mike Carson once said "It's easier to ask for 7 of something than 70,000." We haggled like hagglers do, over the next few days and agreed on 5 BTC.
This is another reason we chose
Dan.com to handle the transaction - they accept BTC as a payment option. Note that although the agreed price was in BTC, the payout from DAN to the seller was in dollars.
There is a psychological effect - asking 5 BTC sounds like less than $48,500.
How long have you been in domain investing, and how did you get started? Do you have any advice?
About two years ago. I always knew people made money with premium domain names. I tried my hand at it over 10, maybe 15, years ago, making the same mistakes everyone makes when they start out. I failed miserably and mostly forgot about domains (as an investment vehicle.)
But then
.app came out and I thought I could register some gems when it launched. While I did register some good ones (sadly, with the premium renewal fees) for the most part, they were crap. Deja vu. I let all of those names drop a year later. Even the premium ones.Thankfully during that .app period, I stumbled on two amazing resources. DomainSherpa and DNAcademy. Thank you Michael Cyger! Thank you to Andrew and Tess for keeping it going!
I binged almost all of the old DomainSherpa episodes and took notes on what the pros and amateurs were doing. I went through DNAcademy where it is literally all spelled out for you. It is an A-Z course in domain investing. We should be grateful as an industry that something like this exists. Because I can't think of any comparable course for any other industry I've been apart of.
Yes, you still have to make mistakes. But to spend hundreds of dollars on garbage domains when you could invest that in an accelerated education is the kind of stubbornness that prevents 98% of "domainers" from ever making money.
Do you have a final message to share?
I am not an expert by any means. This sale could just be luck. I am very, very late to the game. I am still a student and I think I always will be. But there's still gold in them hills. I think if you keep an open mind, and be analytical instead of stubborn about your purchases, you can do well.
I think if you keep an open mind, and be analytical instead of stubborn about your purchases, you can do well.
Related Discussions
Here are links to articles related to the
.io domain extension.- I recently covered in the NamePros blog the popularity of the
.ioextension. - There is a long-running NamePros discussion highlighting
.iodomain names. - There was a recent analysis of the types of names that sell in the
.ioextension.
- Have you ever retrieved an email from the junk email folder that ended up being a major sale?
- What do you think about the point that asking for an amount in bitcoin is psychologically less daunting than the equivalent dollar ask?
- What do you think about the price for this domain name?
- If you had a major sale like this, how would you use the proceeds?
- It is great to see another high-value sale in the extension. Do you think we will see a 6-figure sale in
.iothis year?
I used NameBio, Dofo and DomainIQ in researching this article.
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