debate Buying time in domaining?

[katerleonid]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I’m curious what you think.

Everyone says you need time and patience in domaining, but what if you could skip that part?
What if you could buy someone else’s time and patience instead?

Imagine buying a dropped domain that’s been listed for sale for years (or even a decade). The previous owner finally gave up and let it expire, and you pick it up.

Statistically, when a good domain name has been for sale for 10 years, even if it never sold, there’s a chance it already caught the attention of potential buyers. Maybe the price was too high before. Maybe the timing wasn’t right.

For example, Lawvr com was listed for sale for about 10 years at $75,000 before it finally dropped at the end of 2024. Someone else grabbed it, and sold it just a few months later for $7,500.

So my question is:
Do you ever use this strategy, buying dropped or expired domains that were listed for sale for years?

 

[johnn]

There is a reason why a name is dropped.

Why picking someone else mistake?

 

[katerleonid]

I don’t necessarily believe that people only drop bad domain names.

Sometimes they drop them by mistake, or they simply decide they’re not worth keeping. Take lawvr com for example, the previous owner paid for renewals for 10 years and even listed it for sale for 10 years. Then they dropped it, and someone else sold it for $7,500 just nine months later.

 

[Vertibox]

Buying other people's domains has never appealed to me so my reply isn't about anything I have done.

What I will say about such a domain is that chances are that you will have the same/similar experience to the previous owner (if you had bought the name).

What you don't know and probably can't find out, is what offers or correspondence the previous owner had with potential buyers. Maybe someone offered them $30 or $25K some years before?

VR has been promised to us since the early 90s and is still not here. A lot of people just aren't going to put crappy contraptions on their faces just to get a fake experience. Some people will though, mostly those who live in their mom's basement and hardly ever leave.

Maybe the technology will improve at some point, to where there will be simple looking glasses. But for people who already wear glasses, or have more than one pair, they will now have to have another pair.

I don't think you are buying any time or patience though. You could be in for a similar wait.

 

[katerleonid]

Usually, most expired or dropped domain names carry someone else’s time and patience. But I do agree with you, if someone has had a domain listed for sale for 10 years and it still hasn’t sold, it’s impossible to know whether they ever had a real list of potential buyers.

The question remains: would you really keep a domain name for sale for 10 years, renewing it year after year, without ever receiving a single inquiry about it?

 

[Vertibox]

The question remains: would you really keep a domain name for sale for 10 years, renewing it year after year, without ever receiving a single inquiry about it?

It would depend massively on the quality of the name. I would also have looked at the visitor stats and then consider reducing the price. I would have done this several times over such a time period.

Also, 10 years renewals is roughly $100 so it's no skin off anyone's nose.

But we have to remember that we just do not know enough (and won't ever know) about what inquiries this name or others received to be able to have a full view on it.

I think if you are interested in a name and have a different price in mind, you have to ignore what the previous owner did with it (unless the domain was used for nefarious purposes) and just start anew.