CONTEST: 20 Free Domains - Win them here!

[The Group]

So, to give back to the community I have decided to hold a contest and give away 20 domains for free. They are not the world's most amazing domains - but - I'm sure you'll find yourself more than capable of flipping them. For the sake of the contest winner (decreasing value) I will not list the names here. They are all registered at GoDaddy and I will push them to you when you win.

Here are the contest rules.

Date Start: Today
Date End: Friday February 27th 2015 at 8pm HST

How to enter: I want to hear your best domain story! It has to revolve around your experience in the domain business. Whether it's a really funny experience you had, a crazy sale, a massive flip, a monster flop, a major regret... so on, the better and more detailed your story the more likely you will win!

How you win: I will personally read each post in this thread and choose a winner at the end of the contest. Keep the posts in the thread (no PM's). The better your story, the more likely it will be liked by others! The objective here is to tell a cool story, not win domains - but hey, who can deny 20 free ones

 

[Banezer]

my story,

i was 19yrs old, when i stumble on domain investment (octobar 2013), i love realestate investment but dnt have any capital to invest,(i cant even feed my self talk more of investing in real estate, am still living wit my parents), i was searching the web when i came across a domain post after reading/ following i discover i have found an alternative to my passion (real estate investment), knowing i can purchase a land/house (domain) for less that $10 and flip to make profit, that was how i begin,

after some research filled with enthusiasm, i reg abt 12 domains including forexTradeManagers dot com, with my newbie mentality i thought selling domain is like selling water or burger, i thought once i reg a domain i will sell immediately for a lot of dollars, but i was dissappointed and all my eagerness die off, i started listing my domains on namepros but no one was interested to buy i even listed forextrademanagers for $10 which i think was the best domain i had still no interest (dam i feel so bad) and lost much interest in domain (though still following), after 3 month i just open my mail as usual only to see the best moment of my life,


Guess what?


one of my domain i listed on godaddy premuim listing just sold for $100 which was ForexTradeManagers dot com, i was so happy, i think that was my best sale that year. (though i was selling my domains a namepros auction $2- $20...)



Late 2014 (novermber last year) i got another mail from sedo that one of my domain i reg for $2.17 just sold for $1500 which was acforex dot com,


mate!!! I think at that moment i was ontop of the world, i dont even know how to celebrate, but i was dam happy,

i was able to buy a laptop for myself (my dream since 2011 came to past), am so happy i am a domainer, it brought me a fortune i never dreamth,

Early dis year 2015 january i sold another domain via contacting an endusher for €500 24hbets dot com.

I begin the year with a sale, am so happy for the success so far and i thank God for the success.




I wish everyone great sales this year. Goodluck

 

[randomo]

This happened between five and ten years ago.

One day, I read that the lead singer of a famous old rock band I liked was quite ill. I searched and discovered that his fan club's webpage was at OfficialFirstnameLastname.com [something like OfficialJoeSmith.com, but that's not his name]. I figured they'd been unable to acquire the .com domain of his name [the one like JoeSmith.com].

I found out that that domain was parked. On a whim, I emailed the registrant (through the whois address), offering $50 for the domain. A reply came back: "Bonjour: the price for domain is 4700 euros. au revoir"

Needless to say, I didn't respond. But I did start monitoring the domain ... and sure enough, at the end of its registration year, it wasn't renewed. I reg'd it the moment it was available.

I then wrote to the fan club president through the website, offering her the domain for free. She was skeptical at first, but when it became clear that my offer was legitimate, she wrote "It has always bothered [the singer] that his name was out there in the cyber world and he wasn't able to use it. I'd try to get it every time it would come up, but as you said, someone was always just a little quicker. As soon as I tell him of your extreme generosity, I know it will make him smile. ...and these days, there is no better healing medicine than another human's kindness."

When the transfer was under way, she said "I talked with [the singer] and he's thrilled. We both can't thank you enough!"

The transfer went through, and she has been using that domain for the website ever since. Sadly, though, his condition never got any better, and he died two years later. But I'm glad I was able to do this little thing for him.

I've sold more than 5,000 domains (really!), but few of those sales were as rewarding as the time I was able to give that sick musician a unique gift. That made me feel very good about being a domainer, and I've given some other domains to deserving organizations or people since then.

 

[aditya agrawal]

The Self Realisation ​

The story goes a year back when I was an infant in domain Industry. I am a usability expert and business consultant for upcoming start-ups. I had just started buying domains as an investment and I felt I knew everything already. The days were very merry because I could possibly see a future where I am making millions every year by selling domains.
Intelligence and analytic skills are the two most important qualities my profession requires. Analytics for identifying the current best practices, Intelligence to improvise it further.

Gifted with these skills, I start finding the available domains which I can buy. I realise that most of the commonly used words were all long gone. Some even 20 yrs back. I start to wonder, If people have been buying domains since 20yrs Is there anything left for me? Now I feel dumb and i am about to quit domaining but then the Virtual millions keep telling me "dude, You are intelligent, You can surely find something". So now I try harder to find the big one word domains. Every domain that I buy, adds 50-60k sometimes even half a million to the virtual Millions that I am going to make. Everytime I buy a new one, there is passion in my eyes, a belief in my mind that this is the next big thing.

Two months passed and I had already built a portfolio of 40 Domains. I just purchased the forty first, when a potential client calls me. He is a domain Investor with over 8000 domains in his portfolio. He wants to build his own site to sell domains because his portfolio is too big and he feels he should have his own site now. We meet at a 5 Star in our town for lunch meeting. Wov this felt like the deal of my life. I personally like long term work and big projects because then I dont have to hunt for clients every second month. Everything is looking great, sounding great, feeling great because this deal is a win win deal for me. something that would keep me occupied for next 6 months and further my knowledge.
We have a long discussion for three hours. The client needs a big site, content, keyword analysis, logos, Seo, Social media marketing for all.

We are about to close the discussion and I am supposed to go back and work out a quotation for him. But at this time he asks me to go through his portfolio and give my views since I am a fellow domainer. He opens the excel sheet in front and starts reading the domains one by one to take my view on them. For a start I find a few good ones. After 10 or 15 the real deal starts.

After 15 I start realizing that the domains are good, But why would someone buy them. Till the next 50 I realize that the domains are shitty and not at all worth what he was expecting. But the enthusiasm he had, was the same that I have when I look at my domains. This was a point when I realized that not every great sounding domain will fetch me 100ks. Possibly, if he's sounding like a fool to me, I may sound like a fool to someone else. and domain industry is not as easy as it looks.

From this day I think hard before buying a domain. "What is the use of the domain, Will the buyer ever recover the money and make profits after buying the domain" These are the questions that I ask myself before pricing the domain. And sometimes I shamelessly ping experts like Ali and others for a free appraisal/thought on the domains that I have.
The "Self Realisation" has helped me become a better domainer and by writing this story I wish everyone learns the big lesson which I learnt out of luck. "Buy the right domains and Price your domains right"

Cheers.

Aditya.

 

[KDN]

First of all I want to thank Ali for this wonderful opportunity. You are an inspiration to new domainers like me and a living reminder of the phrase 'nothing is impossible'.

I first knew about domain investing 3 years ago when I was looking for 'ways on how to make money online on Google'. If I remember correctly, most of the high-ranking results were all about freelancing but I kept scrolling down until I found about domaining. It caught my attention but of course, as an 18 year old Filipino guy back then, I didn't have the money to begin my career. I promised myself that I would be a domainer no matter what. But that didn't turn out well at first. I didn't have a PayPal account back then. I didn't have a credit/debit card. My enthusiasm quickly turned into frustration. I ended up playing RuneScape for 3 years during my free time. Something that I deeply regret until now.

Fast forward to August 2014. I decided to stop wasting my precious time on video games and start being more productive. While I was deleting all the games in my laptop, I came across a to-do list I created 3 years ago. I opened it and the first on the list was "Earn money so you can buy domains." That really hit me. I felt like a rat quashed by a trailer truck. I told myself, "You've wasted 3 years of your life. Go fix your sh*t".

I created an Elance account and applied for admin support jobs. A week after, I got hired for a quick transcription job and earned $3. I was so happy that I made money for the first time!

I kept at it until I had enough to buy few domains. Of course, like most domainers, my first few names were very bad. The domain names were so bad that Mike Tyson would be forced to say "You're the baddest man on Earth."

I am yet to make a sale (I'm referring to sales $XXX and up) but for me, the fact that I can now buy domains is already a success story.

Before I end this post, I just want to say thank you to Namepros and its awesome staff and members. Your success stories fuel me to work hard and go for the extra mile. Let us help each other.

It really feels so good to be part of this industry. Please tell me I am not dreaming.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Would you register the name of a champion UFC fighter who fights with toothpicks in his mouth?
​

Mine happened earlier today. I registered the domain of UFC fighter, BensonHenderson.com, last week on February 14th, as I was watching him headline in the main event that night. It seemed too coincidental that his name had been dropped the day I just so happened to be watching a UFC fight. I emailed what I thought was his email requesting to make a fan site out of it and his digital marketing agency replied requesting ownership. After reading the ChrisBosh.com story, I had no problem doing so. We exchanged a few emails, and at the end of it all, I had found myself in line to receive a signed photo thanking me for the domain, and an internship with a sports digital marketing agency.​

My hopes are to learn the ropes with this company, as if I were to approach celebrities on my own without a portfolio of represented athletes, I don't feel like it'd be received too well. I might have found my own little niche hear given that I'm crazy about sports and lately domains. My new sports domain is Horford.com, as in the NBA All stars last name. Karma came back to me like that I guess, I mean today I got rid of my first two domains today, both for free, and IMO an even better domain catches my eye in the expire domains of the day. There are a number of Horford's, so the likelihood of this domain turning into a lawsuit is rare. Especially given that AlHorford.com is for sale and his current digital agency representing him is using Horford15.com as his domain.

I understand buying peoples names can lead to lawsuits, and may not be considered the best practice but I feel as long as you go about it in the right way, you could be providing a real service against squatters trying to sell somebodys name rather than using it earn their business. I do have boundaries though, recently the first and last name of the US presidents daughter was deleted and available to register as a .COM. That domain there, I will definitely stay away from!

Anyways, I'm a guy who once stood outside of Grand Central Station in New York City wearing a suit and holding a sign soliciting business cards because I wanted a better job and the traditional job search process drives me nuts. Don't be the guy holding a sign asking for money, be the guy holding the sign asking for work. This way you can make your own money, the kind of money that you never thought possible when you were busy asking for money. In true karma fashion, if my story some how finishes as the fan favorite, I will in turn hold a domain contest with several free domains in Ali's honor.

​

 

[Maxwell]

In my first 6 months of domaining I was lucky enough to sell a 99c hand reg for over $2,000 - and it was my first end user domain sale ever. This sale really showed me the power of selling to an end user.

After this, I immediately went to invest in the aftermarket and had made some offers on some premium names - and quickly someone accepted my $1,000 offer for an NNNN.com! This was in January 2014 when NNNN's were selling for $2.5-$3k so it was a SOLID buy. As soon as had the name in my possession I put it to auction at Godaddy and it ended at $2,402. Decided to accept for quick flips sake and profited about $1,260 after commission (though I do wish I had held onto now since the NNNN.com market has been booming even more since then.).

This domain I can share - it was 4962.com and both the investment sale and the main sale can be found at namebio.com.

In that two week period I turned my $0.99 investment into $3,500+. This series of events is really what ignited my domain career.

 

[DU]

My greatest domain story would be when I had my post liked by a bunch of people for no reason and won 20 domains.

But seriously, the best story I have to date is starting the STS thread.
Who knew that thread would inspire 350,000 views and 17,000 posts on this forum?

If you don't know why that thread is important? You don't get one of the key elements of domaining.
It might looks like random BS but that's only because it is.

 

[Soofi]

Disclosure: This sale was reported in DnJournal.com by Ron!

So I did my daily research of dropping names and backordered about few dozen of them at Pheenix as usual and by the time I was about to get in bed on Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 1:33 AM IST, I get this email from them that I have won the auction BO auction of Las/Vegas/Arena/com for $18.95. Note that there were only 2 bidders (only 2 of us saw the potential in this name and BO'd) in the auction.

Within few hours (time stamp: Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 6:49 AM IST) of acquiring this one through Pheenix, I get an email from a domain investor based out of Las Vegas saying/asking:
"Hello I missed the auction. How much will you sell name for?" (I guess the other person in the auction was this guy only who may have missed out on the ending time).

And guess what, I knew him from our earlier conversations in 2014 when I was busy organizing India' first ever International Domain Name Conference: DomainX. So, I politely asked him to:
"make a considerable offer".

He got back within 10 minutes of my email with the response:
"I would pay 500.00 for the name. I really do not want to pay 1000.00 for the name but I want to do business with you."

Similarly, I responded with "I already have a broker working on this domain name with few LasVegas companies and are expecting something in the 5 figures range. Can we discuss a better offer?"

His response came in 3 minutes: "what do you want to close deal? You know me not wasting your time, if we make deal I pay. Let me know."

There are ways, at times, during a deal negotiation where you can tell how badly offering party wants your name. Thus, giving you an edge on how to score more and not cave into low balls. I was in driving seat from start and was hopeful of low five figure on this one and with his pockets was sure to hit the bulls eye, but him being a pawn shop(s) owner knew how to play that negotiation ball game.

So to his email, I responded in some 10 minutes after mulling over what will be a satisfying figure for me:
"As I suggested, we are expecting something in the five figures. Please feel free to make your the best better offer, yes/no right away!"

This is when he went silent for whole one day. Since I knew him already, I sent my second email next day on Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 5:19 AM IST saying:
"You werent serious about this one?"

To which he responded in about 4 hours that: "yes I am name is not worth 10,000 to me"

This response gave me a fair idea that no matter what I would do here, he isnt going to give me my asking price. he was probably looking for lower figure coming out of me, but I didnt cave in and sent this email:
"Thats why I said, make your last best offer and I will let you know if that breaks the ice. Lets do some business, I am motivated seller!"

He went quiet again for 3 days and I also didnt push him for a reply because I didnt want to sound desperate, and his mail came on Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 9:32 AM IST offering:
"I want to pay 1000.00 for the name but I want to do business with you. Let me know"

This is when I also made him wait for the whole year ending day, plus wanted to walk out of the negotiations, so played my card on Thu, Jan 1, 2015 at 4:38 AM IST with;
"Sorry, have a better offer and negotiating a possible deal with another party."

His reply came within few hour on the same day asking:
"what is the best offer you can maybe I beat it?" and a second email after an hour of sending earlier mail: "I really do want it"

Now this conversation tells you that he is interested and keen on buying your name, you just have give him a reasonable figure depending on various factors. I weighed in on all the factors and decided to throw numbers at him with this email:
"Buy now price $10,000. Use escrow.com to start transaction right away!"

I think he let it slide for a day after reading that figure because he wasnt really interested to give me those 5 figures, so his reply came in on Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 8:56 AM with:
"I want to buy but not for that price. I have an idea can I call you?"

Rather than waiting for him to call, I decided to give him a call and discuss this out. He stated with the same thing on the phone how that name isnt worth $10k and I had only spent about $20 on it while he missed the auction. He also stated that he is willing to go a bit higher on his earlier counter offer of $1000. We had some chat and I mentioned about discussing this out with other party to weigh their offer and hungup.

And my mail goes:
"Other party has offered 6000, so I am afraid, I will discuss a potential deal there."

He responded within minutes with:
"would you trade me for names I have or do you want cash only. I have not said no yet please let me know. Can I call you to discuss this?" I guess I was sleeping when he mailed and called, and sent second mail offering: "I tried to call you. Can we do 6100 and I will do payment to you?"

Next day on Sat, Jan 3, 2015 after I woke up, I decided to call him to get it over and done with. After a bit of negotiations and haggling, we closed it at $7000 + $140 (escrow fee) all taken care of by the buyer.

We wrapped up the deal through EscrowHill.com where Andee Hill made sure of completing the transaction in record 24 hours.

Point to note here in the sale is of receiving an offer within 5 hours of acquiring a domain name and closing the sale after week long negotiation is a record for me and I couldnt have started year 2015 on a better note.

I dont like writing much, but I wanted to post this sale to highlight that some of us Domain Investors will also spend good money to buy quality names and the ones which we think have potential otherwise. Similarly, I recently acquired PunjabiSuits.com for my wife's clothing business from Sedo aftermarket by paying mid $xxxx amount. Other case, where I and another user I know through here purchased Drones*******.com for $xxxx amount and he is already rejecting low $xx,xxx offers on that one.

Wish you the best of domaining everyone and great initiative Ali. Best would be to auction out these 20 free domain names and support a charity cause!

 

[hn]

This happened to me a few months back. I was just browsing the godaddy website and happened to go through their ending auctions. I found a very long domain but industry specific so decided to bid on it. Finally got the domain, it was a 15 year old domain. Just one week had passed and suddenly one day I received an email asking if I wish to sell the domain. I though it was just another appraisal scam but found no records for the email. So I entered into a conversation with the interested buyer who said he will give me one offer and its up to me to accept it or reject it. The offer he gave was a bit over mid XXX. I knew the value of the domain was easily lower XXXX but the buyer said thats the best he can offer and its up to me to take it or not. Finally accepted the offer and transferred the domain via escrow. That was one of the fastest flips I did!

 

[The Group]

Is changing rules of a contest allowed after it has already begun?.

Generally it is not allowed, however, in this case, it would be more fair if I decided instead of Likes. One issue with Likes is the stories in the beginning will receive more of them simply because they'll be read more (some people will burn out or only read the first few, then write their own). Another issue is the shorter stories, which aren't necessarily better, will receive more reads because people may not want (or have the time) to read the longer ones.

So in this case, it makes sense and has been approved.

 

[frostify]

I've never really "revealed" this but when I was new to domaining I must have lost hundreds on names I thought were amazing but really weren't worth reg price even. I made the same mistakes all domainers seem to make at first "oh this is the best domain ever" and then you find out it's worth about $5. I even reg'd a few names with trademarked company names (microsoft, amazon, ebay, ect.) that I quickly learned you can't register without getting scary emails and even letters to your house if you register. I was brand new to domaining at the time and didn't even know you couldn't register a trademarked name within a domain. I was about to give up on domaining after months of no sales and loosing $xxx.xx on useless names. One night I was up til 3 a.m. (I never stay up that late). I was searching all over on different domain auction sites and I noticed a name that had recently expired that was listed for a mere $250.00 BIN. That name was a 3 letter pronounceable .COM domain and now NUP.com is my most valuable domain, had I given up on domaining about a day or two earlier I would have never gotten it

Since then I've gotten better just by trial and error and sold a few names for $xx.xx at first and then with a bit of luck I was able to make $xxx.xx profits by learning where to look and how to really use filters on auctions and expired domain lists. After a few years I've made a tiny bit of income on the side in addition to my real job, I still consider domaining more of a hobby for myself but in good time, who knows? Maybe one day I can spend more time doing this and less time at my real job.

Moral of the story, you never know how close you are to succeeding. Right when you give up is when you were closest to succeeding, if any of you reading this are new to domaining and find yourself struggling, just know that yes, you will make mistakes at first and that's totally okay because everyone does. With time and patience you will learn what succeeds and what doesn't. That feeling you get when you flip your very first domain is just amazing, even if you only make a few bucks at first it's a great feeling knowing that you've succeeded. Don't give up and just try your best ^.^

If you are new & looking for a few tips feel free to PM me!
I can direct you to some sites I check on frequently and tell you a few filters you can use to specify domains in searches on auctions and dropped lists.

 

[Billy Wagner]

A few months ago, I was looking on ExpiredDomains.net and ran across a .net domain that had high CPC, and decent search volume. I also noticed that all of the other extensions were taken, so I started going to the other extensions to see if there were sites on them. To my benefit, all of the other reg'd extensions all pointed back to one site, so I knew the same person owned all of them (used WhoIs to verify). So I bought the .net for $10, emailed the potential end user, and within an hour after my original purchase, I had $250 in PayPal from the guy. I'm sure I could have made more, and it wasn't a "huge" deal, but to make $240 in one hour wasn't bad in my opinion.

 

[JudgeMind]

Probably my most unique sale(s).

I had a domain which i forgot to renew. I had completely forgotten about the domain and one day received an email "i am interested in your domain, i can offer you $500 and we can start escrow today". Immediately i went to godaddy to confirm it was a domain i owned. I had completely forgotten about this name and had also forgotten about the renewal notices i received for it.
The domain was expired but "available for renewal" in redemption period. For the record this has happened twice to me now. I immediately checked godaddy expiring auction to see if my name was there, sure enough it was and the auction had gotten into the $1,xxx range with 11 bidders and a couple days to go. I knew then that this was likely a buyer who may be bidding on the expiring auction.
I replied to the buyer saying i was only willing to sell in the $x,xxx range (of course by this time i had paid redemption fee and re-secured the domain) the buyer replied with a $1,000 offer, i called the buyer at their supplied telephone number, i informed them of the value of this domain and of similar sales for similar domain names. I also gave them a list of similar domain names which were developed and quoted some estimated values of those websites from a free website value tool. The buyer began to feel more comfortable about coming up in price, i dropped a $4,000 buy it now price and they countered at $3,200, i accepted on the condition they would cover escrow fees, they agreed and sale completed .

A potential loss of thousands of dollars for forgetting to renew my domain, since this i have used "auto renew" feature for most of my names. Though sometimes i will allow a nice name to show up on expiring auction once in a while to get some attention.

Other time this happened to me offer came in by email for a domain for $200, closed a sale within 24 hours for $1100.

 

[briguy]

my domain story..one time at band camp

 

[kawalsukhi]

I started domaining in mid 2014 around June-July.....I left my day job and start doing freelancing along with domaining and my goals are very very clear from day 01.

I hand reg some domains that I think will worth and I am sure that among these 4-5 domains one will sold to my best price so that I got motivated for more domains to buy.

One of my domain (Weaffiliate.com) that is self-created not dropped will sold for $300 on flippa and I feel very happy that I have done it.

This flip is means a lot to me as I am jobless at that time and $300 is equal to 18000 INR (My currency) for me so its a great motivation for me.

Next point that comes to me is not hurrying up new domains but my thought process become more targeted oriented and I spend even less than that.

Then on 19 Aug 2014 I checked out a super seller just throwing away 52 LLL.co expiring names (Going to expire in next 2 months) at $1 no reserve, I got all 52 LLL.co in $6

Now the point is that super seller thinking is that these are just expiring domains in next 2 months will not goes well in selling but when I saw I though I will put these domains on ebay for 3-7 day auction.

I list only 10 LLL.co names first at 0.99 no reserve it gots ended with $52 then the very next day the buyer send me the message that "Do you have more LLL.co". At that point also I know the value of LLL.co but I dont have that much budget to renew them.

Unfortunately my ebay limit is also 20 items/$500 only, so I cant sell more than that as buyer says I need it through paypal and ebay only. No other mode. I sold all for $500 and that was the awesome FLIP for me again.

Along with it my freelancing work will goes up day by day. I developed a website on wordpress with minimal cost ($20) and take projects from clients worldwide basis.

I sold the website last month ($700) as all my clients are on skype. My website gives me approx $700 in 3 months and I sold that on @Flippa for $700 that means I earned 3 months from it made clients and sell it off. For me $20 turns to be $1400 in 3 months.

So in my case I invest very low and with all research done and got around $4000 profits since just 7 months which is a great amount in my currency (around 2,40,000 INR).

So do research, think not twice but thrice four times or ten times before investing and get the best return ever!!

Happy domaining to all of you!

 

[Plato]

Back in 2011 I decided to start with domaining. (Again, but this is another story )


I spend many days and nights searching for the perfect .com drop and day after day I tried to handreg them at the right time, spending nearly 1 hour every day hitting the refresh button, again and again and again until my registrar showed me the domain as available But, I was somehow always to late (I wonder why ) Then I tried out some backorder services, but I had also no luck with them.

One day, I accidentally downloaded the dot info droplist (instead as usual the .com drop list) and the first I saw was the domain g o l d r e p o r t . info with crappy ems and cpm, but somehow I had a very good feeling about this domain although I was interested only in .com's.

The next day I was punctually at the .info droptime online and I startet my usually job: press the refresh button And only maybe after 5 -10 minutes top, the domain was available and I was able to handreg it (I wonder why )

Yay! This wasn't my first domain, but after all, it was my very first handreg from a droplist.

I rushed to Sedo and put the domain on the market. At this time, it was my only domain for sale and one week later I got an $100 offer. I'm not superstitious, but a name like g o l d r e p o r t .info (the only one that I had for sale) got an offer only in 1 week. This was sign. I pushed the domain on a 7 day auction and spend the next days all my free time searching for nice .info drops.

The domain sold only for $100 - $50 Sedo commission - $3 for the handreg. So my take away was $ 47.
Not much, but it was a very quick flip and didn't reach out any end users. And then this "gold name"...
Yes, it was a sign. How could it not be.

Only a few days later I, I found in the .info droplist another name that gave me the same feeling like the gold name. S a t s a n g .info and I was able to handreg the name after the drop (I wonder why )

I put it on Sedo and only 10 days later i got an 100 € offer without reaching out any end users.
I was really not superstitious but the term s a t s a n g is a spiritual term and means "highest truth".
This have to be a sign. First the sign with the gold domain name and know the sign with a spiritual term...

Until then, I didn't liked the .info extension at all. But after this clear signs, I loved it!

So what I did the next months was spending every free minute searching the droplist and handreg .info drops. Countless of them. Nearly every day.

What do you think happened?

Well, my highest .info sale was 100 EUR.
I sold only about 20% (maybe 30% top) of my dropped .info handregs.
I didn't make any profit (at least not a descent one) but I also didn't lost money.
What I lost was precious time. I spend hundreds of hours scooping the info drop lists (maybe even several hundreds hours withing one year, I really don't know exactly)

After I sold the domain g h o s t w r i t e r s .info for $60 and I became only few weeks later a few (!) descent offers from different end users for a domain that I don't owned anymore, I decided to spend my time, energy and money only/mainly on .coms and the aftermarket.

And since then, domaining is the best thing ever happened to me

 

[The Group]

Only 2 more days to get your stories in! Today and Tomorrow! I will be selecting a winner tomorrow night!

 

[Armageddon]

My best domain story was i registred my first domain name microsoftcompany.com (also .net, .org .info, .biz) in 2009 and make web directory's, i was follow by Bill Gates for 2 day on Twitter and sell after 1 year with 300 $ (investment 100 $) and second story when i give for free aprox. 600 DN (cause me a lot of problem with 101domain names and other registrar | suspicios action) this action make me to re think what domain need to buy for future (still to learn) - but at least i have the Holy Grail now Internetul.com (internet/the internet in english).

 

[drissesco]

My story begins in 1999, I had a few domains that I had developed and were profitable... I was working in tech support for a telecommunications company and really going no where fast. Although I enjoyed the work, I'm more of a salesman and get off on that rush whenever I make a sale... I'm someone who can literally say that he has sold "ice to Eskimos", one of my first jobs was working for the Hudson Bay Company in the Arctic as a Grocery Manager... And yup we sold ice... Unbelievable.

Getting back on track... In 1999, a buddy of mine who knew a little bit more than I did about the whole internet domain name game suggested that I buy expired domain names to drive traffic to the sites I had developed... I honesty can't remember the process back then, but I can tell you it was a heck of a lot harder than today....

The site I was looking to drive traffic to was a portal page to webcam and other porn sites... and one of the expired domains I bought happened to be that of a self appointed Internet Branding Expert.... The domain was "(common English last name)consulting.com"... I picked up the name because if I remember correctly it had about 600 back links and it got traffic... so it was pointed to my porn portal the day I bought it and I then went out for lunch...

I had just sat down to eat when my cell phone rang... It was Mr. Internet Branding Expert and he was hopping mad that I had somehow hacked his website and pointed it to porn... I tried to explain to him that I had registered the name from an expired domain list.... but he was having none of that, so I hung up on him and ate my lunch.

When I got back home there was a C&D letter in my email inbox... I responded to his email, telling him what happened and advised him as a goodwill gesture I would be willing to discuss a resolution that would be mutually beneficial... Mr. Internet Branding Expert decided to play hardball and threatened legal action... NICE

The next bit was dumb luck more than anything else... I did a bit of research, found out about the UDRP process, called his bluff and send him info on how to start an action against me if he was so inclined.... But also offered him the domain for $900 to resolve the issue immediately... Two days later I had a sale.

I've had numerous domain sales since then... but I do not consider myself a domainer, I'm a salesman and an entrepreneur...

 

[DU]

That's a great story. Take a name with traffic and links obviously associated with a specific person and direct it at porn. Then you call not linking his name to porn for a price a goodwill gesture... and you got $900 out of him.

... that's a good story... I sure hope you win.

[Edited per follow up]
I don't consider this method of business as domaining. Holding someone's character / business hostage with the association to porn? Blackmailer is the closest I can come up with.

I wouldn't recommend this approach to anyone and hopefully it's not a business model you advocate.

 

[The Group]

Why not spread out the 20 domains to a few different stories? Just a thought

Great idea but the prize has already been set in stone! Don't worry - i'm going to be hosting a lot of contests with many more prizes to come

 

[The Group]

Times up!

I have to say, there were some great stories in there!
It's awesome to read and hear about peoples experience in the industry!

But, I know you’re all wondering one thing… who won? Well.. I’ll tell you.

First place goes to….. @randomo

Congratulations my friend. You have earned yourself 20 domains! That was a very noble, selfless and over all amazing thing to do. There should be more human beings like yourself!

(I will message you for further instructions.)

Honorable mention goes to @tomcarl

I hope Rosco is doing well! Glad to hear the lil’ fella is back home with his rightful owner!

Thank you all for your stories, they were a true pleasure to read!

This happened between five and ten years ago.

One day, I read that the lead singer of a famous old rock band I liked was quite ill. I searched and discovered that his fan club's webpage was at OfficialFirstnameLastname.com [something like OfficialJoeSmith.com, but that's not his name]. I figured they'd been unable to acquire the .com domain of his name [the one like JoeSmith.com].

I found out that that domain was parked. On a whim, I emailed the registrant (through the whois address), offering $50 for the domain. A reply came back: "Bonjour: the price for domain is 4700 euros. au revoir"

Needless to say, I didn't respond. But I did start monitoring the domain ... and sure enough, at the end of its registration year, it wasn't renewed. I reg'd it the moment it was available.

I then wrote to the fan club president through the website, offering her the domain for free. She was skeptical at first, but when it became clear that my offer was legitimate, she wrote "It has always bothered [the singer] that his name was out there in the cyber world and he wasn't able to use it. I'd try to get it every time it would come up, but as you said, someone was always just a little quicker. As soon as I tell him of your extreme generosity, I know it will make him smile. ...and these days, there is no better healing medicine than another human's kindness."

When the transfer was under way, she said "I talked with [the singer] and he's thrilled. We both can't thank you enough!"

The transfer went through, and she has been using that domain for the website ever since. Sadly, though, his condition never got any better, and he died two years later. But I'm glad I was able to do this little thing for him.

I've sold more than 5,000 domains (really!), but few of those sales were as rewarding as the time I was able to give that sick musician a unique gift. That made me feel very good about being a domainer, and I've given some other domains to deserving organizations or people since then.

 

[DANEYAL]

I would like to put here the first thoughts that came in my mind just after reading the contest news.

Though I have some selling stories but More cooler than 'got sold story', the one that I have is a story of Not Yet Sold, I dont know why I own TradingBench.com, CorporateBlock.com, more than that I am still amazed that why on earth could I be able to register them in Feb 2015.

I mean I should not be the best person to have these domains, these should have already been registered 10 years back & became corporate platforms for top notch fortune companies, or did the domaining community had it left for me as a window opportunity to have this story told here at this contest.

Thanks for the brilliant contest Idea @Ali Zandi

 

[muttus]

Dear Domainers,

After losing my job few month ago, I began hunting for a new one. I did my research, sent dozens of resumes and ..... nothing. Except few replies, thanking me for participation in the „lottery“, I was down.

Passing short depression period, I decided to search for alternative sources of employment and finally I got to the topic of making money on the internet. First I started my YouTube blog Running Hermit, which I knew it will be taking lot of time before any fruits can be harvested, but who cares time is all I have right now. One day when browsing YouTube channels for inspiration I came across Domain Sherpa blog and played one video. I was hooked …. like tuna on the stick. That night I have seen probably 10 interviews and in the morning my Domainer life started. I bought about 40 …. Mostly crappy domains that day and started to learn more about industry. Truth to be said …. I find it mesmerizing …. Every time I think I know something I realize that I have just scratched the surface. There are so many possibilities and so many avenues one can go, each of them require different talents but all of them can lead to nice life if you master them.

Although it is very completive game, like every other business, I am amazed how the community holds together and shares. Since signing to Namepros and Domain Sherpa I did get warm welcome and amazing feedback, which is usually just tough enough to help you become better. I love to learn and Domaining gives me plenty of that for foreseeable future.

Although I am still waiting for my first domain sale (keep my fingers crossed with initial 2 listings of Flippa), I already feel happy every day when trying to hunt for new or forgotten treasures in digital space.

P.S. Recently I got sign when I registered MeaningfulName (com), a great platform to be filled with my new Acquisitio (com).

P.S2. Thanks Ali for great interview on Domain Sherpa ….. (This guy is a KING)

P.S3. That writing made me hungry so I better get my HempACheese (com) for breakfast

Muttus