IT.COM

I'm Brad Mugford, owner of DataCube.com. AMA

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I registered my first domain in the late 1990's, but have been an active domain investor for 15+ years now.

I am going to call this an Ask Me (Almost) Anything.
There might be some questions I am unwilling or unable to answer.

I would prefer to keep the questions related to domain investment, or business in general.

Feel free to ask general questions, or specific questions for instance regarding an appraisal of your domain.

About:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/datacubecom (I have not really used Twitter much, but plan to start using it more.)
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradmugford/

I am not sure how long I am going to leave this thread open. Let's see how it goes.

Brad
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
How did you make the leap from having random sales to having a consistent and reliable income source?
What is your advice to someone looking to do it?

Thank you for doing this AMA.
 
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Have you ever built out any domains Brad?
 
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Thank you for doing this. Lots of quality info you've posted here.

Regarding .org names: Do you primarily own names that have a noble/charity/motivational angle that roughly matches the TLD (e.g., CharityHub.org or PeopleTogether.org) or do you also see similar value in commercial names on the .org TLD (e.g., AutoParts.org or FirstCapital.org)?

Thank you again for your time.
 
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Think we owe Brad a pint answering all these questions
 
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It seems you like .Horse more than any. How many .horse 's you have?
 
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1) How long does it usually take for serious inquiries to go from 1st offer to final price agreement & how many replies go back and forth?
Anywhere between 5 minutes and many years. It just depends as every negotiation is unique.
Some buyers come to the table with a fair offer and are motivated to close the deal. Those happen quickly.

I have had other sales that have taken 5+ years and many contacts.

In an average situation though, where a deal is reached, probably 1-7 days and 3-5 messages (or emails) back and forth.

2) Another for serious inquiries: are your replies to the buyer usually short or long?
Short. Normally from one to a few lines.

I don't really go that hard into actually pitching the domain. I have found that not to be very effective, plus it is time consuming.

3) When replying a buyer with "framing the market value" do you cite NameBio etc links to them or is it more of a "claim without citations"? Asking this one because I'm wondering if buyers might use the cited tool to cite/negotiate lower prices.
Sometimes I actually cite comp sales, other times I might just be more general.

If I do cite comps, I try to make it actually representative of the domain quality and format.
I don't go out of my way to just cite massive outlier sales as the benchmark.

Sure, there are also times a buyer might try to cherry pick low comps, but you are unlikely to reach a deal with that type of buyer anyway.

Brad
 
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How did you make the leap from having random sales to having a consistent and reliable income source?
What is your advice to someone looking to do it?

Thank you for doing this AMA.
I really just did the same thing over and over for many years.

Your portfolio just grows naturally when you reinvest sales made at end user prices into more domains bought at reseller prices. As your portfolio grows you get more inquiries, which leads to more sales.

One of the major keys is consistency. Good opportunities will come up, but you have to be there when they do.
You also need realistic expectations. It can take a long time to turn the corner into a profitable business.

Brad
 
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Have you ever built out any domains Brad?
I answered this earlier in the AMA, but really nothing I would consider "major" development.
I have done minor things like with mini-sites, lead gen, personal sites, etc.

Brad
 
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Thank you for doing this. Lots of quality info you've posted here.

Regarding .org names: Do you primarily own names that have a noble/charity/motivational angle that roughly matches the TLD (e.g., CharityHub.org or PeopleTogether.org) or do you also see similar value in commercial names on the .org TLD (e.g., AutoParts.org or FirstCapital.org)?

Thank you again for your time.

I think a lot more end users use .ORG than people realize. It is not just focused on non-profits anymore.

First I would target just strong keywords in general. An example of this would be something like "Prestige".
That is a good strong branding word with almost endless potential end users.

I will say that certain fields do fit the extension a lot better than others. Some of these fields would be medical, education, community, etc.

What I don't target are average quality commercial keywords, that don't really fit the extension well.

Something like AutoParts.org is a strong enough term, even if it doesn't fit the extension well, that I might take a flyer on it for a low enough price.

Brad
 
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Sometimes I actually cite comp sales, other times I might just be more general.
for comparable sales > do you share namebio, domain blog links? or how do you show them?
 
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It seems you like .Horse more than any. How many .horse 's you have?
Zero. It is just my favorite extension to use when it comes to sarcasm, largely because of the limited potential use. :)

@DNGear

I want to congratulate you on your track record when it comes to .XYZ sales.

I think I have said this in the past, but what some people see as an overnight success story was years in the making. It is the culmination of actions you took years ago, by taking a chance on an extension when not many others were interested in it.

I give you a lot of credit for that.

Brad
 
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for comparable sales > do you share namebio, domain blog links? or how do you show them?
When it comes to framing the value, let's say someone offers $1,000 on a domain like DallasHomes in .COM.
It is worth FAR more than that.

I might bring up the fact that Dallas is a top (10) city in the US, and the much less desirable FortWorthHomes in .COM sold for $34,100.

I generally don't just send a laundry list of comp domain sales. It has to make sense in the negotiation.

Brad
 
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You have a large portfolio, because you got started early. Is it harder nowadays for you to acquire domains than in the past? Nowadays how many new domains do you acquire per year?

The auction prices might be crazy high nowadays on venues like GoDaddy Auctions, Dropcatch, Snapnames, what do you think about that? Does it mean that newcomers have less chance to enter the domain investing market?
 
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Hi Brad,

Thank you for making the time to answer our questions.

1 - What is your opinion on .company extension?? Does it worth the investement?

2 - What is your take on auctions like Godaddy auctions? Can be considered like a last resort for a domain name you couldn't sell ?

3 - An honest advice for a new comer to the field like myself.

Best regards.
 
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Which market is better for 5letter .COMs: American or Chinese?
 
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How find end users Amazon affiliates or other webmasters who earn on affiliate marketing?
 
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Hi Brad. Would you invest your life savings into .link because link is a substring of LinkedIn? Cheers!
 
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You have a large portfolio, because you got started early. Is it harder nowadays for you to acquire domains than in the past? Nowadays how many new domains do you acquire per year?
It might be early compared to today, but it was not all that early compared to many others.

The domain market was relatively mature at the time. It was not like hand registering amazing keywords in the mid 1990's.

The auction prices might be crazy high nowadays on venues like GoDaddy Auctions, Dropcatch, Snapnames, what do you think about that? Does it mean that newcomers have less chance to enter the domain investing market?
I think when you factor in a standard sell-through rate, buying domains for low $XXX and selling them for mid $X,XXX makes sense.

The reseller/end user gap on expired auctions is often too narrow for the math to make sense.

Sometimes you have to just dig deep to find the hidden gems, or proactively try to buy domains from owners.

Brad
 
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Hi Brad,

Thank you for making the time to answer our questions.

1 - What is your opinion on .company extension?? Does it worth the investement?
There are a sea of alternative extensions. Only a handful really have potential to me.

According to NameBio.com, .company has (75) reported sales for $125,000.
That is over 8+ years.

There is only (1) $X,XXX sale in the last year at $1,500.
All the other sales are $XXX.

The upside is very limited IMO.

2 - What is your take on auctions like Godaddy auctions? Can be considered like a last resort for a domain name you couldn't sell ?
I have not had much success listing domains @ GoDaddy auctions, but the last time I tried that was years ago. It just seems like expired auctions get all the attention.

I mean, if you can't sell it otherwise it is probably worth a shot. What is the worst that happens, you don't sell it?
You are in no worse position than where you started.

3 - An honest advice for a new comer to the field like myself.

Best regards.
Have realistic expectations. In general, this is not a fast money field.
It is a slow burn business where you build a portfolio over time.

Brad
 
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Which market is better for 5letter .COMs: American or Chinese?
There are 11,881,376 potential 5 letter combos. They need to be somewhat special to have value.

I don't think 5 letter .com have much of a natural market, just because they are a 5 letter .com.
I think it on a per domain basis.

Brad
 
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How find end users Amazon affiliates or other webmasters who earn on affiliate marketing?
I have no idea.

I have limited experience in the affiliate marketing field.

Brad
 
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Thank You for sharing !

I have made about half a dozen sales in the past, and none at all for over a year.

I had great expectations for Laptopz dot com but no interest. Did I make a mistake ?

Cheers !
 
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I had great expectations for Laptopz dot com but no interest. Did I make a mistake ?

Cheers !
Maybe.

It is kind of a boring field. All of the big end users in the field use their own brands.

Also, I tend to see the "z" ending as working more with one syllable brand type words, than with multi-syllable keywords.

Brad
 
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