advice Am I missing something??

[Tunababa8v]

I started domaining last year and I will say I have taken it as a graduate course (domaining 101). Over my eight months of domaining, I have taken three namepros thread as a course; the appraisal section, the domain sale section and the newbie section.. The domain sale section in particular has been used as a beacon of hope to keep working hard.

Now as much as I have been left in awe of some stellar sales I have also been baffled as to why some names are sold.Having spent time in the 'domain beginners' thread, I have learnt some things as a general guiding principal to succeeding in domaining.. Among this things are;
1)Never register too long, meaningless names
2)Dot com is king and always go for dot com
3)Domain age plays its role
4)Before registering a name, think like an enduser, would you brand your business with such name..
..... and so on
I was also reading a thread by Josh R. three days ago https://www.namepros.com/threads/newbie-investors-the-domain-vlog-episode-3.1069124/ where he mentioned some dos and donts in his vlog.
All that taken but not to bore you, Federer posted some sales in the 'domain sale section'. https://www.namepros.com/threads/report-completed-domain-name-sales-here.83628/page-596

According to him

'' Just sold:

BeenThereDoneThat.co - $500 (Undeveloped, incomingoffer); $1.50 cost, promo.
Living-Homes.com - €500 (Sedo, incoming offer); to be completed tomorrow. £4.99 cost.''

Now these sales up there got me confused, this doesn't in any follow what we have been taught as a newbie.

Beentheredonethat.co is 17 character long, not a dot com, it is even a dot co, a long short. It doesn't portry a product and I am not sure if I would be branding my business or my blog on '' beentheredonethat''.

And the second one Living-homes, though a dot com got a spoiler in the hyphen. Livinghomes!??

Is there anything we are missing as a newbie or is approaching domaining the holistic way the right way.. Seasoned domaimers please shed more light on this..
Cc Federer, Josh R, Usernamex, TomCarl, Silentpr, Larrydomain, Kerala, Kate

 

[boker]

I started domaining last year and I will say I have taken it as a graduate course (domaining 101). Over my eight months of domaining, I have taken three namepros thread as a course; the appraisal section, the domain sale section and the newbie section.. The domain sale section in particular has been used as a beacon of hope to keep working hard.

Now as much as I have been left in awe of some stellar sales I have also been baffled as to why some names are sold.Having spent time in the 'domain beginners' thread, I have learnt some things as a general guiding principal to succeeding in domaining.. Among this things are;
1)Never register too long, meaningless names
2)Dot com is king and always go for dot com
3)Domain age plays its role
4)Before registering a name, think like an enduser, would you brand your business with such name..
..... and so on
I was also reading a thread by Josh R. three days ago https://www.namepros.com/threads/newbie-investors-the-domain-vlog-episode-3.1069124/ where he mentioned some dos and donts in his vlog.
All that taken but not to bore you, Federer posted some sales in the 'domain sale section'. https://www.namepros.com/threads/report-completed-domain-name-sales-here.83628/page-596

According to him

'' Just sold:

BeenThereDoneThat.co - $500 (Undeveloped, incomingoffer); $1.50 cost, promo.
Living-Homes.com - €500 (Sedo, incoming offer); to be completed tomorrow. £4.99 cost.''

Now these sales up there got me confused, this doesn't in any follow what we have been taught as a newbie.

Beentheredonethat.co is 17 character long, not a dot com, it is even a dot co, a long short. It doesn't portry a product and I am not sure if I would be branding my business or my blog on '' beentheredonethat''.

And the second one Living-homes, though a dot com got a spoiler in the hyphen. Livinghomes!??

Is there anything we are missing as a newbie or is approaching domaining the holistic way the right way.. Seasoned domaimers please shed more light on this..
Cc Federer, Josh R, Usernamex, TomCarl, Silentpr, Larrydomain, Kerala, Kate

The main idea is that you should read everything but trust just a small fraction of that information. For example, even if the phrase '.com is king' is true, because most of the sales are done by .com owners, there are successful domainers who deal almost exclusively with .co, .org, cctld's or just ngtlds and they are very successful, some of them selling over 100 domains per year and some of them selling a domain for up to xxxxxx. Also, it's a fact that hyphen domains are harder to sell, but if you check namebio, you will notice that some of them do sell, mostly to european end users. For example, I've sold three hyphen domains last year and I have some hyphen domains with at least three offers from different users, so some of them do sell, but for less than the non-hyphen variant and usually less often. Also, if you will ask Federer, you will see that he owns most of the time around 8-10k domains and sells around 1% of his portofolio, so it's mostly a numbers game...you could not do that with 100-500-1000 domains and he's doing this for years, so he knows exactly what domains to pick. Also, he's dropping a lot at the end of each year, but counting his sales, he's still making a nice profit.
The main idea is to find a niche that sells, some particular keywords and you should be fine. For example, some are selling just .co's, some just LLLLL. com's, some just org acronyms, some just cctlds and so on.

 

[R.A.L]

I don't think you should 'unlearn' everything you've absorbed about domaining - just remember that a lot of the beginners advice you have learned is just that - aimed at beginners.

Advice such as 'stick to .com's', 'shorter is better', etc., is absolutely vital to follow when you're starting out IMO - it steers you away from danger, risky investments and loss of money, at a time when it's important to just buy a couple of domains and get used to how, where, when and why to sell them.

It's a little like poker - beginners advice such as 'only play big hands', 'bet your strong cards hard' and 'only play in position' is great advice, and gives you a solid foundation for learning more advanced skills once you have the basics in place - if you just jumped into making the same advanced plays as you see professionals making in the WSOP, you'd be broke before you even really got started.

I'm not nearly experienced or talented enough yet to purchase and sell .co, .io extensions, etc., but I realize that there are those ahead of me who can and do - it's why I spend so much time learning everything I can about domaining in order to diversify and increase my portfolio over time - however, I realize this is a future goal and though my portfolio may be a little 'safe' at the moment, this is likely to change as I gather the necessary experience and knowledge.

I appreciate this is a little rambly - I suppose my ultimate point is that you need to master the basics, before moving onto more advanced domains and extensions. It seems as though your well on your way to doing this, just don't get too impatient or exasperated at what seems to be contradictory advice - build on your foundation knowledge, don't discard it altogether.

 

[maxtorz]

"
Living-Homes.com - €500 (Sedo, incoming offer); to be completed tomorrow. £4.99 cost.''

Living-Homes.com is a good name that sold to cheap....like really cheap.
I sold Photo-Tours.com for 12,000USD..... and other 5 figure hyphen .com names.

I own six figure hyphen names, but I am a MikeMann type investor

 

[Tia Wood]

Now these sales up there got me confused, this doesn't in any follow what we have been taught as a newbie.

Everyone's strategy is different and everyone has particular things they like to spend their time and money on, different skills and knowledge to do this, etc.

This is where the experience comes in. You have to go along with your niche and ignore everything else. I honestly don't get those sales, either, but at the same time we don't truly know the behind the scenes of those particular sales and if the seller was able to sell those then good for them.

You have to choose a niche (by lightly experimenting), being highly selective and go along with what works for you, what you personally understand best as a whole and throw everything else out.

The best way to lose money doing this is by following along with what everyone else is doing just because they claim they did this or that.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I think the most important thing in @Tunababa8v post is (4), always think like an enduser. Have a clear answer to why someone would find the domain valuable, and how they would use it, before even considering purchasing the domain name.

Also, when thinking of end users, be open minded. I think sometimes in this community we think too narrowly as businesses as the only purchasers of domains. Many, especially major sales, are made to businesses, but individual professionals, NGOs, clubs, bloggers, personalities, ordinary people, etc. also buy domain names.

Having a written domain investment plan is a good idea. It might define what area niches you want to operate in, how much you want to have invested, what are your goals for returns, the methods you will use to reach potential purchasers, etc. Like any investment plan, a good idea to review how you are doing, and possibly alter your plan, at least once a year.

Thanks for the excellent post that started this, and thank you to everyone who has left insights.

 

[Anjani]

Maybe you should unlearn everything you have learned, be a Maverick

 

[PoliticalVII]

Value is subjective, what they don't tell you is that you also have the power to influence others in seeing the value that you see.

Listen to podcasts and take courses all you want, but at the end of the day you probably know something someone else doesn't.

 

[biggie]

I started domaining last year

Now these sales up there got me confused, this doesn't in any follow what we have been taught as a newbie.

don't get taught....
learn for yourself

imo....

 

[frank-germany]

BeenThereDoneThat.co - $500 (Undeveloped, incomingoffer); $1.50 cost, promo.
Living-Homes.com - €500 (Sedo, incoming offer); to be completed tomorrow. £4.99 cost.''

in my opinion in these sales there is nothing you can learn
other then
domains sell for multiple reasons
and you can't cover it all

concentrate on stuff you understand

 

[urlurl]

it really comes down to 2 things:

Rarity: how rare is the name and are there better or any alternatives to what you have?

Use: Why and what would someone use the name for?

 

[karmaco]

Domain sales do not always fall into neat categories they are unpredictable. Sometimes people want to pay less and get an alternate name. No one is recording the private sales that happen every day except in small measure our report a sale thread which is voluntary and does not include all sales. So there is a pretty small window we see of what sells and much of that is domainer to domainer.

My point is the goal is to obtain good names and sell them. Analyzing why something sold and something else did not is not really worth doing because we don’t have access to a particular buyers mindset when purchasing and will never have all the facts. It would be speculative at best.

The best teacher is just time and experience not trying to duplicate someone else's method but find your own.

 

[maxtra]

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
"One mans trash is another mans treasure."

Sure, none of us would pay those prices for those domains. But, someone sees enough value in those domains to pay the price. He more than likely has an extensive portfolio of names as well.

 

[frank-germany]

I started domaining last year and I will say I have taken it as a graduate course (domaining 101). Over my eight months of domaining, I have taken three namepros thread as a course; the appraisal section, the domain sale section and the newbie section.. The domain sale section in particular has been used as a beacon of hope to keep working hard.

Now as much as I have been left in awe of some stellar sales I have also been baffled as to why some names are sold.Having spent time in the 'domain beginners' thread, I have learnt some things as a general guiding principal to succeeding in domaining.. Among this things are;
1)Never register too long, meaningless names
2)Dot com is king and always go for dot com
3)Domain age plays its role
4)Before registering a name, think like an enduser, would you brand your business with such name..
..... and so on
I was also reading a thread by Josh R. three days ago https://www.namepros.com/threads/newbie-investors-the-domain-vlog-episode-3.1069124/ where he mentioned some dos and donts in his vlog.
All that taken but not to bore you, Federer posted some sales in the 'domain sale section'. https://www.namepros.com/threads/report-completed-domain-name-sales-here.83628/page-596

According to him

'' Just sold:

BeenThereDoneThat.co - $500 (Undeveloped, incomingoffer); $1.50 cost, promo.
Living-Homes.com - €500 (Sedo, incoming offer); to be completed tomorrow. £4.99 cost.''

Now these sales up there got me confused, this doesn't in any follow what we have been taught as a newbie.

Beentheredonethat.co is 17 character long, not a dot com, it is even a dot co, a long short. It doesn't portry a product and I am not sure if I would be branding my business or my blog on '' beentheredonethat''.

And the second one Living-homes, though a dot com got a spoiler in the hyphen. Livinghomes!??

Is there anything we are missing as a newbie or is approaching domaining the holistic way the right way.. Seasoned domaimers please shed more light on this..
Cc Federer, Josh R, Usernamex, TomCarl, Silentpr, Larrydomain, Kerala, Kate

best advice I got :

get advice where it's good
and not where it's available

 

[R.A.L]

Not sure what the point of this link is - I think the domain name being linked to has some value - eSports is showing the potential to be absolutely huge over the next 3-5 years and a keyword-rich domain for only $12 doesn't seem a bad investment to me.

I'd have bought it myself at that price, if I'd have seen it - I don't see how the $12 price tag can be used as a negative slight on a fellow member - even the wealthiest people on the planet buy a $4 coffee now and then

Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Recons.Com]

What you have learned is good.

@Federer 's success is not easy to replicate. He did not register those names randomly. He had done certain research and assumed reasonable probability of sale for those specific names. Then he uses promos to register the names cheaply and does it on massive scale. For every BeenThereDoneThat or Living-Home there are tens that won't sell and be dropped.

And all that then adds to his experience to be able to tell even better what might sell with higher probability.

 

[poweredbyme]

Knowledge is money, information isn't.
Information is free, knowledge isn't.
Knowledge is secret, information is open to everyone.

What you can learn from public sources can not be an economically profitable meta. As it's publicly available to everyone, too many people already use that info to make profit from it, too many competitors on the same boat.
Do opposite of what the majority does, don't follow the crowd. Buy when everyone sells, sell when everyone buys.

 

[frank-germany]

Maybe you should unlearn everything you have learned, be a Maverick

Anjani Established Member
Joined:
Mar 2, 2018

 

[johncap]

The problem isn’t you my friend. You fell into the hype of domain flipping where 90% of the time a flipper loses up to 10 times the cost of a domain name trying to promote it. Less than 1% of all the millions of domain names listed for sale on a daily basis sell, way less than 1 percent. Don’t be fooled about the flipping hype. That is created so you keep buying domain names and paying to promote them.

 

[frank-germany]

The problem isn’t you my friend. You fell into the hype of domain flipping where 90% of the time a flipper loses up to 10 times the cost of a domain name trying to promote it. Less than 1% of all the millions of domain names listed for sale on a daily basis sell, way less than 1 percent. Don’t be fooled about the flipping hype. That is created so you keep buying domain names and paying to promote them.

if 1% of domain names sell daily
how many percentage wise are selling per year?

 

[Anjani]

Anjani Established Member
Joined:
Mar 2, 2018

These are the kind of snooty ones i absolutely ignore as they have a misplaced belief of knowing everything cause they joined early.
As i said before, the day i believe it's a viable business then i will build a 50000+ portfolio at the drop of a hat.

See the expert in $ 12 action...Very Charming
https://www.namepros.com/threads/enewsonly-com-repellent-xyz.1070761/#post-6621034

 

[iDestroyer]

enough with the learning (it's never enough though) and just start taking actions and see how much of what you learn sticks 99% of it didn't in my case. also not saying what you learned is all wrong.

some crazy heads register crazy names and other crazy ones buys them right off. or maybe you are the crazy one not able to see the value in it. there's always going to be something that you don't know/see which plays a role in domain pricing.

as a newbie you are playing it way strictly and in made up rules. try breaking the box you have put yourself in.

 

[rafaelo0]

There is some pretty good advice and views already mention here.

So here goes mine.

The truth is if you take your time to learn it's an advantage but in my opinion learning is just 25% at best, of the process of selling (you also never stop learning), this is only the theory side.

You also need the practice side, imo experience is the most valuable process of everything, it's as important as learning or even more important 30% (with practice comes perfection).

Example when you try to get your driving license, you can learn everything in the theory side but this doesn't mean when you get on a car you will know immediately how to drive you have to practice so you can truly know how to drive.

The problem with domain names is you can burn a lot of cash just to practice for a little bit.

On the other hand if you have a big pocket you can learn and practice (gain experience) 10 times faster.

I think your on the right track, especially making your own strategy and dissecting sales that just seem confusing, is a good thing it may even guide you to a untapped niche that has very low competition.

One thing that's very important is that in the domain name industry patience is a very important key 35% not just in sales but in learning and acquiring knowledge.

That's why most domainers don't make it they get in to this industry thinking they can make fast buck but when they can't they lose hope and get of this industry as fast as they got in

My tips to you are:

1 - Continue learning but don't try to replicate what other people are doing. Learn what they are doing and make your own strategy one that works for you. Don't forget what works for someone else doesn't mean it will work for you, if that was the case everyone would be a Bill Gates.

2 - Before you start to build a diversified portfolio, try to find a niche where there isn't to much competition and focus on that niche (make sales) before you start diversifying your portfolio.

3 - don't try to make sales of high x,xxx$ or xx,xxx$ concentrate on medium xxx$ to medium x,xxx$ sales for now, when you got a more full pocket from those sales you can focus on acquiring domains that can be sold for high x,xxx$ or low xx,xxx$.

4 - when you make a sale put 100% of that money back to domaning if you need to put some in your pocket just take 10% max (depending on the sale).

5 - hear feedback from other domainers (preferably experienced ones, that want to help you) regarding your domains but even if they say the domain isn't worth 1$ doesn't mean it's correct, make your own conclusion, what may seem worthless for you, may seem gold for someone else.

Here's a great example, i found a cctld niche recently (until now bought around 4 domains in that niche sold all of them), i message a veteran domainer ( i think it was here on Namepros) asking for feedback on the domain, he said it was worthless, then he mention the reasons why he thinks that (it was pretty valid reasons), i thanked him but i still thought i could sell it easily.

I approach one enduser that even said this "example.com is a terrible domain name. I believe you've made a bad investment. I won't use it even if I got it for free. Good luck trying to sell it." i respected his opinion and thanked him for the feedback, one day later got 3 offers from 400$ to 500$ and 4 days later sold it for 680$ could have sold it for much higher price but some renewals were coming up so i'm happy with the sale.

Follow your gut, especially if you know something others dont (secret is the soul of a business).

 

[Anjani]

I don't think you should 'unlearn' everything you've absorbed about domaining - just remember that a lot of the beginners advice you have learned is just that - aimed at beginners.

Advice such as 'stick to .com's', 'shorter is better', etc., is absolutely vital to follow when you're starting out IMO - it steers you away from danger, risky investments and loss of money, at a time when it's important to just buy a couple of domains and get used to how, where, when and why to sell them.

It's a little like poker - beginners advice such as 'only play big hands', 'bet your strong cards hard' and 'only play in position' is great advice, and gives you a solid foundation for learning more advanced skills once you have the basics in place - if you just jumped into making the same advanced plays as you see professionals making in the WSOP, you'd be broke before you even really got started.

I'm not nearly experienced or talented enough yet to purchase and sell .co, .io extensions, etc., but I realize that there are those ahead of me who can and do - it's why I spend so much time learning everything I can about domaining in order to diversify and increase my portfolio over time - however, I realize this is a future goal and though my portfolio may be a little 'safe' at the moment, this is likely to change as I gather the necessary experience and knowledge.

I appreciate this is a little rambly - I suppose my ultimate point is that you need to master the basics, before moving onto more advanced domains and extensions. It seems as though your well on your way to doing this, just don't get too impatient or exasperated at what seems to be contradictory advice - build on your foundation knowledge, don't discard it altogether.

Let me try Explaining with a real world example:

I bought Curatedstaffing.com cause every client of mine wants a curated database.
HCMHR.com as it implies Humancapital management/ Human resource solutions.
EbbHR.com as it implies to reduce the dependency on expensive internal HR and outsource the recruiting function to agency recruiters.
All these were available and i did not buy from the aftermarket.

Likewise:
For Computer associates - ca.com is apt and so much branding has gone into it and obviously was taken long back.
Likewise International Business Machines - ibm.com

If you are buying a short 3/ 4 letter word for resale then you should already map the targeted customer with a long name else it's meaningless.

i see many are holding on to inane dictionary names with no real business world function.

I think more time should be spent studying crunchbase and then use it in conjunction with domainers knowledge bank.

 

[frank-germany]

I bought Curatedstaffing.com cause every client of mine wants a curated database.
HCMHR.com as it implies Humancapital management/ Human resource solutions.
EbbHR.com as it implies to reduce the dependency on expensive internal HR and outsource the recruiting function to agency recruiters.
All these were available and i did not buy from the aftermarket.
.

and they are still not sold