discuss Struggling to sell domains

Oyroc · Aug 12, 2026

So far I have seen all types of domains, from 3 letters to even 12, some being more usable and relatable and other domains just being random key presses with numbers at the end.

What I can not figure out to understand is myself having verified premium domains that are more brandable, usable, literally made-up words that can be attached to any business concept, looking more corporate, valuable and some even having the same exact @handle secured on every popular social media platform and still not be sold, after promoting them over and over.

How can I actually sell without underselling before I turn 80? Because by the looks of things thats how long it can take...

Saw.com · Aug 14, 2026

URL Stream said:
Alternatively, you can go directly to NameBio and use the 'retail' filter.

Show attachment 309428

Been using Namebio for 15 years and never saw that field...Yikes! Thanks for the tip!

URL Stream · Aug 14, 2026

SawComBrokerage said:
Been using Namebio for 15 years and never saw that field...Yikes! Thanks for the tip!

I think it was added in 2025.

ScruffyBeard · Aug 17, 2026

Oyroc said:
So far I have seen all types of domains, from 3 letters to even 12, some being more usable and relatable and other domains just being random key presses with numbers at the end.

What I can not figure out to understand is myself having verified premium domains that are more brandable, usable, literally made-up words that can be attached to any business concept, looking more corporate, valuable and some even having the same exact @handle secured on every popular social media platform and still not be sold, after promoting them over and over.

How can I actually sell without underselling before I turn 80? Because by the looks of things thats how long it can take...

Are you new or recent into investing in domains?

Often such people come into this space, with some idea of what they think will bring them success. Usually, I find such people have not understood some key factors, or even thought about them.

One of the main issues for new/recent investors, is to realize that domain names have been generally available to the public for around 35 years and as that time has passed, more and more people have got onto the internet and more and more people have engaged in domain name buying and selling. With many millions of people all working on the same aims (how to register a valuable domain name, or buy one cheaply and re-sell it for lots more), you can see that finding worthwhile and valuable names will have gotten harder and harder over time. And as a consequence of all that cumulative effort, 99% or so of the most valuable domain names have already been registered or are in use by some business or organization.

Therefore, there is very little left that to register or to buy cheaply that is worthwhile, never mind be valuable, and so whatever angle/focus you have come up with in order to find a way to get valuable domain names, it just won’t matter because valuable names are not available anymore, or they are but at sky high prices.

There are only so many letters in the alphabet and letter arrangements that makes sense, and so there is a finite point that will come when there will be nothing left at all to register that makes sense.

I read so many posts of people fixating or focusing on one angle or another and it is often accompanied by the zest and excitement that we probably all had as kids, when we discovered something new in life.
This is a very mature market and there is very little left to own that is worth owning.

Another mistake new people make is thinking that if a name they have created is available, then it must be worth having. Rarity has to be coupled with demand to create something valuable and it seems this coupling is something new people simply do not understand. Ego and the cheapness of registering a domain creates the impetus for many new people to buy worthless names thinking they are valuable. The so called domain marketplaces are chock full of junk names, all vying for non existent buyers, as people generally don’t spend money on worthless junk.
Sure, hfrtrjfbfgty.com is available, as is stupidgreenlegstoday.com, but no-one wants those names, so no-one will register them or ever search for them.

Made up names are about the only area that is left to with potential to register interesting names. This area takes a lot more work than many new people seem to be willing to do. It requires time, patience, imagination/creativity.

Finally, ignore anyone who claims to be a domain name valuation expert (laughable) or those marketplaces that claim to know what names are worth and who use fancy phrases like “premium” and “brandable”. These are not facts they are giving about names, but opinions and opinions only. These sites are not interested in domain name value, just turnover, so they price names low so they can sell them. They don’t care about the true value of a domain name. These so called marketplaces are like real estate agents (who are also not interested in home values but just turnover) and they determine home prices, not the homes.
The people in these marketplaces emit a lot of hot air and fluffy words and they are mostly little boys sitting in offices with egos larger than the planet. These people cannot add any value to a domain name, not now and not ever.

I don’t know what you have already registered, but perhaps it would be better if you don’t spend any more money now and take some time to study for a while on made up names and see what you come up with. This site has some good resources for beginners and recent entrants so you can use those

ScruffyBeard · Aug 17, 2026

fka said:
The fundamental mistake you're making is thinking that domains are sold not bought: you cannot sell a domain. You cannot pluck a domain out of thin air and then sell it.

There are currently over 400 million domains registered. How many of those domains do you think have been bought from someone else? 200 million? 100 million? 50 million? 25 million? 10 million? 5 million? 1 million? Less than 1 million of the currently registered domains have been bought from an investor by an end user. A tiny, tiny amount. End users register domains, they do not buy them. There are over 50 million domains listed for sale in this very moment and of those it is unlikely that even 100k will ever find a buyer.

I won't call Atom a scam but a lot of beginners are misled by Atom's categorisation, they get caught up in a desperate need to understand how to compare domains so they cling to things like Atom's "premium" designation and automated appraisals (from Atom and others). Appraisals, categorisation, they mean absolutely nothing.

The fundamental of domain name investing is simple: somewhere in the world there is a person or business that will want a domain name and have money to spend on it, your goal is to own the domain name first. A domain being designated premium by Atom, or appraised at $5k is completely irrelevant.

The starting point for any beginner should be the daily sale threads. Every day, review every domain that sold to an end user that day, and understand it (ignoring sales via GoDaddy and Namecheap as they are not end user sales). Why did the end user buy that domain? Why did they spend that much? How will the domain be valuable to them? And as time goes on your sense for value will develop, you'll be able to look at any domain and assess who might buy it, how much they might be willing to pay, and then you can build your portfolio.

I agree with all that you wrote, except for the last paragraph.

I don't think we can extrapolate what other names are selling and the amounts, to any other names.
Even with names that look similar, its just not relevant.
I have visited many names over my time on the interweb place and found many names being used for something that I would never have thought they would be used for.
Who knows what goes on inside a buyer's mind? Answer,no-one.

People are funny, each one being 100% unique (just like names), finicky, iffy, unfathomable, maddening, irritating, puzzling, strange, amusing and quirky. They are also beautiful, fascinating, wondrous, giving and loving, with limitless imagination and unbelievable creativity (Leigh Bowery is one such example), seeing things where others do not, producing beautiful things, capable of so much but many simply chose not to utilize their capability.

All of this and much more is all in one combined and indivisible package (a person), and for each person, that package will never have existed before and it will never exist ever again after the person stops living, even if trillions of more humans are born in the future.

fka · Aug 17, 2026

ScruffyBeard said:
I don't think we can extrapolate what other names are selling and the amounts, to any other names.
Even with names that look similar, its just not relevant.

Sorry, my comment wasn't clear.

I am not suggesting that anyone should buy similar names to those that sell. The number of domains that sell is so small relative to the number of domains that exist that the likelihood that any similar domain ever sell is tiny.

The reason to monitor the daily thread and investigate every sale is to learn about the business behind the end user. The ability to recognise valuable domain names before someone wants to buy them is developed by understanding why domain names are being bought.

For example, PureApp.com Sold for $24,999; SportsMax.tv for $15,750... the sale of PureApp.com for $24,999 is pretty self evident, app building tools are huge business right now with companies like Lovable raising hundreds of millions, but other domains like megatech.eu for $4,053 might not be so obvious. The novice domain name investor will investigate why did someone pay $4k for megatech.eu? and they'll learn from that investigation that there's a big movement towards getting technology out of the U.S. and into Europe (e.g: European Alternatives). The knowledge of that trend can inform their future investment decisions, i.e: domains that relate to this trend are valuable! They shouldn't go off and register "gigatech.eu" and "teratech.eu" and "petatech.eu" and "exatech.eu" because they're similar but they should keep an eye open for domains that relate to self-sovereign technology hosted in Europe.

Ultimately, all domain name sales have a reason. Sometimes the reason isn't useful (e.g: ben.net for $30k tells us nothing other than a nerd called ben had money to spend on his name) but often the reason is useful and recognising that can turn an investor from unprofitable to profitable.

ScruffyBeard · Aug 17, 2026

fka said:
Sorry, my comment wasn't clear.

I am not suggesting that anyone should buy similar names to those that sell. The number of domains that sell is so small relative to the number of domains that exist that the likelihood that any similar domain ever sell is tiny.

The reason to monitor the daily thread and investigate every sale is to learn about the business behind the end user. The ability to recognise valuable domain names before someone wants to buy them is developed by understanding why domain names are being bought.

For example, PureApp.com Sold for $24,999; SportsMax.tv for $15,750... the sale of PureApp.com for $24,999 is pretty self evident, app building tools are huge business right now with companies like Lovable raising hundreds of millions, but other domains like megatech.eu for $4,053 might not be so obvious. The novice domain name investor will investigate why did someone pay $4k for megatech.eu? and they'll learn from that investigation that there's a big movement towards getting technology out of the U.S. and into Europe (e.g: European Alternatives). The knowledge of that trend can inform their future investment decisions, i.e: domains that relate to this trend are valuable! They shouldn't go off and register "gigatech.eu" and "teratech.eu" and "petatech.eu" and "exatech.eu" because they're similar but they should keep an eye open for domains that relate to self-sovereign technology hosted in Europe.

Ultimately, all domain name sales have a reason. Sometimes the reason isn't useful (e.g: ben.net for $30k tells us nothing other than a nerd called ben had money to spend on his name) but often the reason is useful and recognising that can turn an investor from unprofitable to profitable.

OK, but you are expecting a lot from someone to do all that you have detailed.

If they are jumping into buying up names, which is what this poster seems to have done, then I think it unlikely that they have the capability to do all the work that you suggest they should consider doing if they are to be more successful, because they would have done it already.

You are also suggesting that someone will be able to conjure up the key areas to pursue as have detailed, and make the deductions you have, without knowing that these are the areas they need to explore.
How is that going to happen?

Again, if what you suggest was clear to all and sundry, then everyone would be doing these things, which is not what is happening, given the lengthy laundry catalog of terrible names that have been shared on this board by newbies over the years and a cursory look at domains for sale under $500 on any marketplace will reveal a colossal number of junk domains, further proving the point that doing such work as you have detailed is not evident to many people.

You assume that "they will learn" when they do X,Y & Z that you point out for them to do, but this is not at all a given. People vary considerably and while I don't doubt that some people might be capable of doing what you suggest and discovering the key information, it is by no means likely that most people will.
If it was all so straightforward and logical, then everyone would be doing it and bashing out fab names at reg prices, day in, day out.

We all know this is not what is going on in the real world.

fka · Aug 17, 2026

ScruffyBeard said:
People vary considerably and while I don't doubt that some people might be capable of doing what you suggest and discovering the key information, it is by no means likely that most people will.

Sure, it is far from a given that someone will take my advice to heart and action it, in fact, it would be shocking if anyone spent the time and energy to follow a successful strategy. I share my advice / insights / thoughts / perspective / strategy because I think it is valuable, because it is enjoyable to talk about a topic I care about and most importantly because writing is the greatest form of thinking.

A common defeatist belief is that to have any success in domaining you either need to buy great dot com domains 30 years ago or you need to start today with lots of money to invest. I don't believe that to be true, I think people can start today with a little money and be profitable very quickly, so long as they think about why people buy domains. I'll keep banging this drum even if nobody is taking it to heart.

URL Stream · Aug 17, 2026

ScruffyBeard said:
OK, but you are expecting a lot from someone to do all that you have detailed.

Dan321 · Aug 17, 2026

kor said:
Domain names are valuable in themselves, regardless of the platform they are listed on.

get.net and xqq.net are both 3-character domain names. However, one of them could easily be sold for a 6-figure value even if it's not listed on any platform.

I recommend you carefully examine this forum and latest sales reports.

Yeah. Well said.

ScruffyBeard · Aug 17, 2026

fka said:
I think people can start today with a little money and be profitable very quickly, so long as they think about why people buy domains

Sadly, the evidence, over a long period of time, is that the majority of domain name investors are not interested in being professional, studying and putting in a lot of work over time, and doing all of that before they spend any money.
Your message, while not invalid or hopeless, will only appeal to a tiny minority of people, who will already be on the same wavelength as you anyway. This is because our species has regressed instead of advancing and people simply do not want to put in the ncessary work to get the desired results.

We are in an instant gratification world, where we have been for about 40 years, with more and more areas of life coming into that viewpoint, of crap tok videos, anti-social media, crap food, crap education, a crap atmosphere of modern work, and where a large percentage of people are simply not seeing any purpose to doing what previous generations did, which is to learn a craft of some king and carve out a life for themselves.

No, we have destabilized societies in many parts of the world, loss of trust in the structure of everything, in governments, corporations, citizenship, of real community and with crooks, clowns and cowards in every corner of trusted spaces (goverment, military, medicine, food, education, police, church, corporations).

In entertainment, most modern movies are a **** disgrace. Where are the movies of the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and further back, The Phantom of the Opera and Metropolis from the 1920s? Many modern actors are feeble, shallow, lacking any depth to their character and their believability is poor. Hence the movies they apear in are also poor.

Certain crimes are no longer seen as a bad thing in some countries and police no longer respond to those crimes or they will call you back, or, if you are lucky, drop by to see you 3-4 weeks after the crime.

In education, never mind the crap young people are taught, but if 80-85% of people leaving university have a degree (a percentage achieved by collapsing the standards), a person is no longer at an advantage by having one. People now need Masters and Doctorates to compete for jobs, not to mention that students don't get degrees for their excellence and talent, but for cowtowing and pandering to their professors, who have certain viewpoints and who want their students to go along with them.

And so its no surprise that a large number of people have decided to opt out of doing things the way they've been told, to do things the right way and plan for a future. No they want quick remedies and quick results, if they want to try at all.

Bob Hawkes · Aug 18, 2026

I would like to thank @Oyroc for starting this thread, and the many who have provided useful points in the discussion. I am sure the question you raised resonates with many, and that is why it has done to the top of the activity list right now on NamePros.

Partly echoing what others have said, here are the points I would make.
(1) Many names might sell sometime, but the majority will not sell anytime soon. The industry-wide sell-through rate of .com names might be as 'high' as 1%, but almost certainly is substantially lower for made up brandable names. Even at 1%, if you have 10 names thaat means that, on average, after 4 years odds are you would not have sold a single name, and after 10 years not guaranteed but on average would sell a single name over those 10 years. At typical brandable STR, the real numbers less.
(2) While 5L names are desired if other things are positive, as Brad points out there are a ton of unused 5L names. Ask oneself if each name is near the top of the 5L pool in terms of clarity and pronounceability, and qualitative 'feel'.
(3). Ask yourself if there is something really special, truly memorable, about the name. Not many names for sale actually pass this test.
(4). If early in the name game don't too quickly zero in on one type of name. There are many options out there.
(5) Draw on knowledge and strengths that your bring into the name world from your experience or career.

If one manages to break even in the first few years you will be doing better than the majority of starting domain investors, I am pretty sure. Yes, some have spectacular early success, some work incredibly hard to achieve a little success, but many struggle and learn and eventually reach profitability, or not.

Best wishes for success. Thanks for starting an important discussion.

-Bob

Golan · Aug 18, 2026

Oyroc said:
You asked me ideas for Vascy... A dropshipping fashion store, a app related to fitness, anything that you can legally monetize its doable imo.

if i was starting "a dropshipping fashion store, a app related to fitness, anything that you can legally monetize" and i was super tight on a budget so couldn't invest in a solid brand name, but still wanted something short and catchy, even not passing radio test, some quality/price compromise - i could go for such name as Vascy but i would hand reg it, there are plenty of them free to invent and hand register, just like you've done

there is absolutely no reason in the universe to pay even $100 for a name which doesn't pass radio test if one can easily hand register an equally similar in this quality/price compromise domain

Penta GI · Aug 18, 2026

Oyroc said:
So far I have seen all types of domains, from 3 letters to even 12, some being more usable and relatable and other domains just being random key presses with numbers at the end.

What I can not figure out to understand is myself having verified premium domains that are more brandable, usable, literally made-up words that can be attached to any business concept, looking more corporate, valuable and some even having the same exact @handle secured on every popular social media platform and still not be sold, after promoting them over and over.

How can I actually sell without underselling before I turn 80? Because by the looks of things thats how long it can take...

I think one of the hardest lessons with domains is that quality and liquidity are two completely different things.

You can own a genuinely good, pronounceable, corporate-sounding brandable, have the matching social handles, a professional logo and everything else lined up perfectly, and still wait years for the right buyer.

Especially with invented brandables, the problem isn't necessarily the quality of the name. It's that you need somebody to start a company, decide they want that particular style of name, discover yours, like it more than all the alternatives, and be willing to pay your price. That's a fairly narrow funnel.

The matching social handles are definitely a nice bonus, but I don't think they create demand by themselves. The domain is still the main asset.

Also, "premium" is not the same thing as "liquid". A marketplace accepting or verifying a domain as premium basically means they consider it sellable at an end-user level. It doesn't mean there is currently a buyer waiting for it.

I think there are basically three things competing with each other:

Price, quality and time.

If you want the maximum possible price, you usually have to be prepared to wait.

If you want to sell quickly, you generally have to price closer to wholesale/reseller territory.

The sweet spot is trying to price attractively enough for an end user without giving the name away.

Personally, I would focus less on repeatedly promoting the names to other domain investors and more on making sure they are easy for an actual end user to discover and buy. Good landers, sensible BIN prices, Afternic distribution, Sedo/Atom where appropriate, and possibly lease-to-own options.

And probably the most important thing is being ruthless about renewals. Every year I would ask myself:

"If I didn't already own this domain, would I pay today's renewal fee to acquire it?"

If the answer is no, drop it and put that money into better inventory.

Unfortunately there isn't really a method that gives you both maximum retail pricing and fast liquidity. If there were, we'd all be doing it.

Good domains absolutely can sell, but the waiting is very much part of the business.

domainicate · Aug 19, 2026

So many have weighed in, and I have not seen the domains, but here are my observations from the initial post:

<<from 3 letters to even 12>>
This metric alone does not give any insight as to whether your domains have value.

<<some being more usable and relatable>>
You would need to define this? If it is your interpretation, another business owner would have to agree.

<<and other domains just being random key presses with numbers at the end.>>
Sounds like you are describing brandable domains, which are very tough and very competitive. You also have to learn what sells in the brandable space and what does not. Brandables are subjective and sell at a lower rate than other domain types (keyword, geo, etc.) Some brandable domains will never sell, and names with "random phrases with numbers at the end" are often even less desirable.

<<What I can not figure out to understand is myself having verified premium domains>>
A lot of people are unclear about what premium domains are. Most brandables don't fall into the Premium category in the sense that they have value. As a side note, Atom has a premium category based on the factors that they see in domains that sell, but that is not a true market metric in my opinion.

<< that are more brandable, usable, literally made-up words>> See above about brandables.

If you want to learn this business, study some of the beginner threads here, listen to Domain Name Wire & Domain Sherpa, and most of all enroll in GoDaddy's Domain Academy.

Lastly, it's not a job; it is investing, so don't expect to pay your bills from domaining for a few years, and even then, most domain investors never earn a full-time income from domains.

winst · Aug 19, 2026

Oyroc said:
How can I actually sell without underselling...

I think you are asking the wrong question. The domain price can only be as high as the particular buyer is able and willing to pay. I sold a 4-letter domain name for $40k back in 2021; what people didn't know was that I negotiated with different brokers for over 1 year without knowing who the buyer might be. Could I have gotten more? Probably. But it was a good price for that name, and I'm glad I sold it. You need to know why the domain name is worth the money.

Nh2025 · Sep 7, 2026

Oyroc said:
One thing at time, you are already flying way to far from whats going on here. Nobody has everything figure it out, thats why forums exist to exchange opinions and construct new ones. Making a living selling domains is quite a far reach dont you think? In fact i would consider a start of a hobby. I got my own main thing going on so that isnt a concern.

You asked me ideas for Vascy... A dropshipping fashion store, a app related to fitness, anything that you can legally monetize its doable imo.

Even if you're right, that buyer that wants Vascy may not turn up for 20 years. You need patience in this game.

sameer16z · Sep 9, 2026

Oyroc said:
So far I have seen all types of domains, from 3 letters to even 12, some being more usable and relatable and other domains just being random key presses with numbers at the end.

What I can not figure out to understand is myself having verified premium domains that are more brandable, usable, literally made-up words that can be attached to any business concept, looking more corporate, valuable and some even having the same exact @handle secured on every popular social media platform and still not be sold, after promoting them over and over.

How can I actually sell without underselling before I turn 80? Because by the looks of things thats how long it can take...

I think a lot of us eventually run into this exact problem. You can have a domain that looks great on paper, has the right length, strong branding potential, matching social handles and all the other things we normally consider valuable, and still get absolutely no buyer.

I have started to think that the hardest part is not finding a good domain. It is finding the specific buyer who sees the value in that particular name at that particular moment.

Sometimes a domain can be objectively good and still have very little liquidity. Another name that looks much less impressive to us can sell simply because someone happens to need that exact name for a project they are launching.

I would also be careful about promoting the same names over and over. At some point I think targeted outbound to a very specific group of potential end users makes more sense than simply increasing exposure.

And I definitely would not recommend dropping the price just because the name has not sold yet. If you genuinely believe in the names, give them enough time while being selective about which ones you renew.

The frustrating part is that there is no predictable timeline. You can wait two years for nothing and then get the right buyer next week. That is probably one of the hardest things about this business.

Kyle Tully · Sep 9, 2026

sameer16z said:
I have started to think that the hardest part is not finding a good domain. It is finding the specific buyer who sees the value in that particular name at that particular moment.

If you are a domain seller then a good domain is the one that has a buyer. Everything else is fluff and fairdust.

Nh2025 · Sep 9, 2026

Nh2025 said:
Even if you're right, that buyer that wants Vascy may not turn up for 20 years. You need patience in this game.

Most domains will never seller, no matter how good they seem. Most domainers don't understand this aspect of domaining. Most portfolios are a load of crap. I was looking at a portfolio of 700 names yesterday that someone was trying to liquidate. I didn't find a single domain name worth buying even for $10, yet the seller priced them at around $300+. They are mostly hand-reg crap names. Of all domains for sale right now, probably only 1% will sell. We should fully expect that most of our domain names will never sell. If we paid $10 each for 100 domains, we'd be doing great if we sold 2 for $1,000 each. That's an ROI of 100%. Then scale that up. That's the oversimplified version.

asher_crasher134 · Sep 18, 2026

Oyroc said:
So far I have seen all types of domains, from 3 letters to even 12, some being more usable and relatable and other domains just being random key presses with numbers at the end.

What I can not figure out to understand is myself having verified premium domains that are more brandable, usable, literally made-up words that can be attached to any business concept, looking more corporate, valuable and some even having the same exact @handle secured on every popular social media platform and still not be sold, after promoting them over and over.

How can I actually sell without underselling before I turn 80? Because by the looks of things thats how long it can take...

The line in your post that explains it is attached to any business concept. A name that could be any business is a name no specific business is searching for.

Domain buyers aren't shopping for flexible. They want a name that already sounds like what they do, so they don't spend two years teaching the market what it means. Specific sells, broad sits.

Keep the ones that point to a real business and list those on Saw.com and the other majors. Let the vague ones go at renewal.

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