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discuss Are newbies increasing the competition?

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Arpit131

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Do you think that domaining is hyper-competitive? That a prospective buyer who was going to buy only one domain may end up buying a domain from one of the other players in the industry over you, and hence, as more and more people enter the industry, it is a loss to your business.

Especially if it is the case that you operate in a segment where they can easily enter, do you think that they would take up some of the names that you could have bought and flipped?

Is a new entrant into the industry increasing the bandwidth of the industry or increasing competition?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I think competition is actually good and its within the eco-system. While each year many new people enter, many Quit too. I have seen equal numbers in the past years, people enter with enthusiasm, play around the first 1-2 years, they register and buy some crap names and after a year or two they quit saying its a number game, etc etc.
 
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What are you worried about exactly? When there's money being made, competition increases.

And to follow up, what can you possibly do about newbies entering the market? You have no control over that.

Focus on what you can control, that is, improving your own education, skills, network, and sales process. You'll be just fine.
 
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They are making the pie bigger.

They are also learning to shoot the moon:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/yall-wanna-shoot-the-moon.1162085/

That drives prices higher and reduces supply. So, the supply you have becomes worth more not less as more inventory ends in the hands of end-users who won't sell anytime soon.

More money in the domain economy lifts a lot of boots. The only people whose boat gets sunk are the folks who have to sell for chump change and then struggle to get back in the game.

The good news is that there are still tons of great deals to be had if you know where to look.

Godaddy's big acquisition and rising stock price just shows that the markets are starting to wake up to the possibility of domains becoming a respected international asset class.

It seems to me that it is all good.
 
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Were you not a newbie at one point?
Did you increase the competition?
Answer is simple, no.
 
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Are experienced doctors worried about new doctors? I doubt it. Do they seek to maybe close med schools out of fear of competition? No.

Are experienced lawyers worried about new lawyers? I doubt it. Would they close law schools if they could? No.

While there are no domaining schools per se (wouldn't that be interesting?), forums like this one can be considered something akin to schools. Should veteran domainers try to keep newbies out? No. Should they be worried about anything? No.

Competition is good. If any domainer is anxious vis-a-vis newbies, perhaps he/she should think about finding other sources of income.

Full disclosure: I am what seasoned domainers would call a newbie.
 
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They make it easier, when they buy ngTLDs...

Dont waste your $... until u master .coms. IMO!

Good luck to all noobs! Make account today

Samer
 
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Believe more, correlates more market liquidity

Supply and demand, the more, the merrier!

Levels end, all equal, helps our profession imo

Samer
 
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Everyone was born a newbie, we live and learn. I'm sure that there's newbies that they are doing better than older domainers. Smartness is what makes the difference.
 
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view from lens “hyper competitive” business

is wrong!! This is a hyper-networking business

Help those who believe they found their calling

Samer
 
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The domain industry is super competitive and everyone is your direct competitor. That being said, not everyone has the same skill set or wallet so this competition aspect does not generally affect your ability to obtain good names and sell good names.
 
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Really depends on which side of 'more newbies' entering domaining debate one is on.

A - Isn't/hasn't been good for those that buy expiring domains. (Some stupid prices now being bid up on names).

B - It's been great for the auction house like GD and DropCatch etc. (They're making a killing on those stupid prices!)
 
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Hello, domainers!
As newbie I can tell you I don't feel like concurrence to experienced domainers.
I am very carefull what to buy and very much rely on handregistration.
I am not the guy who will overbid you for the 8000$ domain, just because I still have no notion of the pricing.
I can feel some name is worthy. but is it 100$ or 100k this only expirience can tell.
Greetings
 
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Really depends on which side of 'more newbies' entering domaining debate one is on.

A - Isn't/hasn't been good for those that buy expiring domains. (Some stupid prices now being bid up on names).

B - It's been great for the auction house like GD and DropCatch etc. (They're making a killing on those stupid prices!)
This post pretty much said it all, a lot of people are stepping over each other without even considering their end user simply based on FOMO. Names will always circulate based on recessions, divorces, debts etc... The auction houses basically have investors paying more than what some end users are willing to pay.

Anyone can buy domain names, but truth be told the money is made on the buy, any downturn in the economy will have newbies losing money on their buys at today’s prices.
 
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They are making the pie bigger.

The are also learning to shoot the moon:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/yall-wanna-shoot-the-moon.1162085/

That drives prices higher and reduces supply. So, the supply you have becomes worth more not less as more inventory ends in the hands of end-users who won't sell anytime soon.

More money in the domain economy lifts a lot of boots. The only people whose boat gets sunk are the folks who have to sell for chump change and then struggle to get back in the game.

The good news is that there are still tons of great deals to be had if you know where to look, like:

https://nameliquidate.com/
https://nameinvestors.com/
https://marketplace.epik.com/daily-diamonds

Others can add their sources too but definitely no reason to be discouraged

Godaddy's big acquisition and rising stock price just shows that the markets are starting to wake up to the possibility of domains becoming a respected international asset class.

It seems to me that it is all good.

Don't start again.

And making the pie bigger is still ridiculous. Having more people bid in auctions just drives up acquisition costs. Good for you if newbies spend money since you're a registrar and make money whether the regs are good or bad.
 
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What is newbie? Oh wait, everyone is newbie to something. I find it ok and dont mind anyone. I believe what is important is for the newbies to read and also try to avoid at all costs TM names, as well trying to represent the industry in a good way by acting professionally, and having professional website.
 
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Don't start again.

And making the pie bigger is still ridiculous. Having more people bid in auctions just drives up acquisition costs. Good for you if newbies spend money since you're a registrar and make money whether the regs are good or bad.

Yup, we'll have to agree to disagree there.

For emerging markets I am more focused on other scenarios that are low capital intensity:

- Buy $1.99 .CO on promo and sell retail.

- Expiry domains

- Arbitrage notably on lower end names

We are working on some technology innovations that will allow emerging market brokers to sell names from NameLiquidate by serving as Exclusive Brokers. All they have to do is fund the transfer fee so the expiring domain is not lost, and then they get a 7 day brokerage exclusive.

More details soon -- for all those folks who are getting zero from their expiry streams, it should be really good news and it is absolutely an example of making the pie bigger.
 
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I'd say new entrants are good as they are helpful in spreading out the awareness about domain names. From competition point of view, healthy competition is always good and when you do smart & hard work, you get your bread & butter. Most important point for me is that newcomers are widening the base of domain retailer market & that is a nice thing.
 
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Everyone of us is different in this business. Some provide competitive pricing others satisfactory service.Threat of new entrants is one of the forces that shape the competitive structure of an industry. So I think barriers of entry is currently low.
 
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No, they are making the pie bigger, bringing in the fund, which is actually required or this industry will dry out. let me explain how this is happening and why is it good, as a single person one can not reg all the TLDs of all the domain name. The trend is people are shifting to other TLDs. This shift adds up to the opportunity lost cost. New entries like me are taking out those next best options which the end-user has. Is the competition increasing? No, because only one person can own example.com. Are the options increasing? Yes, they are and industry needs more people to make this domaining industry work.

I am a true believer of this quote by Peter Drucker "marketing & innovation are the only to functions of a business and rest all are cost" Now just sitting with a great domain will not work, one has to innovate and market it well to move ahead.

However, I also see this as a cycle, new guys are scared of the old guys because old guy has example.com and the new guy has crappy example1.com. Once the old person sells out example.com the new guys example1.com is a diamond. Old guy regs example2.com and the circle goes on.
 
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Good Morning Diet Ham,

I'm a Newbie and in my head I'm smashing it.

However, I started in this industry with a plan. It wasn't just a hit and miss approach. I listened and I learned. I read as much as was possible and then I took the plunge.

To start with, all of my domain names were hand registered, so I was only eating into a small pie.

Then I took the plunge and started ordering big pies. I took a few bites before I realized that most of the dropped or expired domain names were not any better than some of my hand registrations so I went Vegetarian and stopped eating all the big pies.

When I see or think of a name it has to hit my 'Spot' whatever that may be. I can't explain it and it probably isn't quantifiable but I have to believe 100% in the domain name or how am I ever going to sell it. I am buyer, owner, marketeer, CEO, CFO and even CSO if there is such a thing. I will ultimately be the one selling the name too.

If you can't or won't play in the Premiere League of Domain Investors, then find your league, your game and play by your rules.

Unlike most things, this industry is like structured gambling. Don't ever stake what you can't afford to loose and know when to walk away. If you don't play cards, play roulette but whatever happens you've got to be in a game to start with.

Ignore those (in the nicest way possible) in the roped off high stakes arena as they are not your concern. Will you ever join them? Maybe. It just won't be today.

Red.Black.Odd.Even.

Before entering this domain (see what I did there!!) you have to have a plan. Your plan. No one else's.

If your plan is to make money, then you are doing this for the wrong reasons. It will change how you think, how you react and how you take chances.

If you make money as a consequence of your actions, then that is the cherry on top of the cream on top of your pie.

Don't just follow the .rulz make new onez.

Nothing is forever and everything evolves. The key is to keep walking forward.

Regards,

Reddstagg
 
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Basic economics at play here. We need more people and more competition. It increases liquidity through supply and demand.

If anyone is having a hard time understanding why competition or more people participating is a bad thing, consider this. If only one person was left grabbing drops and regging by hand, what do you think that would do to the retail side? Retail prices would fall.

Competition keeps retail prices up. We need competition. We need growth. Our retail prices depends on it.
 
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The more saturated an industry is, the more interesting it becomes for me. It stimulates my creative juices and compels me to think outside the box. Heck, I even get rid of the box entirely sometimes. You can always device new strategies and techniques that will leave your competition in the dust. People often erroneously equate experience with skill. Being a veteran domainer does not automatically make you a skilled salesperson or an effective strategist. You will struggle to do well not because you have competition, but because your thinking is not evolving fast enough. A newbie domainer with exceptional salesmanship and moderate to low quality domains will run circles around an experienced domainer with supposedly great names.

My working strategy:
I simply scrape all the businesses in my area out of the Yellow Pages and sort by industry. I then sort the list by domain length. You will be astonished by how crappy some these domains are. I find better variations of their their domain names, register them and test the traffic for 24 hours using a 301 redirect. If the type-in traffic is less than 15 visitors a day, I dump the domain and get my money back. The more competition the business has, the better for me.

If you present the numbers to the respective business owners in a fashion that makes sense, there's an 80% chance that you will sell. Assuming a scenario where the better variation I register gets 20 visitors a day (based on their marketing), here is what the numbers look like:

20 x 365 = 7,300 visitors/year, which is 73,000 in 10 years.
Now will you make a one-time payment of $1,700 for a domain name that will save you from losing 73,000 prospects to your competitor? The answer is a no-brainer. Now, on the off-chance that Mr. X happens to be hardheaded, I make sure he has 20 competitors that will eagerly scoop up his prospects. Even better for me when Mr. Y has a beef with Mr. X. (Human emotions are powerful.The advertising industry has been capitalizing on it for years.) Once I receive payment, from either Mr. X or his competitor, I renew the domain for 10 years for him and pocket the balance. After I sold the first 4, I gave my first 4 clients a rebate of $300 in exchange for solid testimonials. They were very happy to do that. These testimonials sped up the cycle of the subsequent sales by a whopping 40%.

I have been domaining for just 5 months, and this is how I have been generating a steady $6k-$7k over the last 4 months selling 4-6 domains per month. Mind you, the domains I have been selling will be considered crappy by pro-domainers with 'great' domain names. The next step is to automate some of my processes with proprietary software and scale using Lean Manufacturing Principles.

Malcolm Gladwell explains that it takes 10k hours to master any craft. What we often fail to realize sometimes is that the skills we acquire in one area of our life or industry is often transferable to another. You may already have 9.5k hours of expertise. Apply them diligently and competition will never be an issue. In fact, it will merely present an opportunity to learn and grow.

I have domains that I buy outside of my working strategy (that will probably be considered low quality as well). This is mostly for the purposes of testing and learning new strategies that will capitalize on the influx of competition. There are a ton of other strategies I am yet to test. Some of them are just slight variations of what have been mentioned in the forums...or a unique combination of them.

I love domaining. I never wish that I had gotten in earlier. THIS is the time for me. Bring on the competition. :xf.smile:
 
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If your plan is to make money, then you are doing this for the wrong reasons.

What? That's the exact reason why people invest. Even if you want to call it gambling, gamblers want to make money.
 
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The real competition is the uneducated consumer aka "end user". We all register and buy good names, but until such time the consumer realizes we can help them everything else is moot.

One of the newbies here Reddtagg is really good imho. I don't know his background, but he thinks for himself and is pretty damn creative. I've done a lot of different things in my life, but this business taps into my creative genes every day. I was having lunch today with a friend who recently retired after 30 years as a professor of marketing at one of our local universities. He like many of my other business peers didn't have a clue about the domain/brand industry......but he does now:xf.wink: When I shared with him today about the level7.com domain that Rob Monster and RJ just sold for 30K, he was a little surprised, but because I've been teaching him what I know, he's starting to catch on.

Then when I explained that RJ had purchased the domain aftermarket for $664 back in the day (i think 2004), he understood more where I've been coming from with regards to this industry. He seems to think I'm pretty creative, and he's not too bad himself. He's a real good guy to bounce ideas off, but unfortunately we're too much alike:xf.frown:

Finally, my new friend feels like I do... there's a pony in the domain poop, and I'll stop at nothing to find it. And the fact there's competition looking for the same pony makes it even more fun:ROFL:

"Smile for no Good Reason:xf.smile:"
 
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