poll Did you make money domaining in 2019?

[equity78]

After renewals, paid tools and any other domaining related expenses, did you make money in 2019?

 

[twiki]

yes I do make money,
but I can't understand why second half of 2019
is so low

had a great 1. quarter

and then it got slower and slower

had nearly no inquiries
in november/december

Same here.

switched from DAN to my own landing page
in early december
to find if DAN was the cause for some unknown reason
had a phone calling low ball offer.

I found that phone calls of prospects
are the main advantage of using your
own landing page.

I love talking to leads.

Do you simply call them straight off after getting an offer? I'm not doing phone calls yet but about to, wondering how is best to do that so they don't get spooked or something.

 

[NYJimbo]

Definitely profit a few thousand dollars this year on a much smaller portfolio than last year, but like others have said the past 2-3 months have been almost dead. Moved almost all of my good name landers to Uni because I dont like DANs current landers. I know @Dan is working on new ones and I REALLY hope they put them up soon because I miss having google analytics and lower commissions and I would like to switch back if possible.

 

[frank-germany]

...
Do you simply call them straight off after getting an offer?...

sure thing

but most likely they will call me

 

[twiki]

sure thing

but most likely they will call me

Cool, thanks for your answer!

 

[DomainBarracksRob]

3 days left, so I haven’t voted yet

 

[J Sokol]

3 days left, so I haven’t voted yet

I just had a small sale this morning, so maybe buyers are getting back to domains after the holidays.

 

[biggie]

After renewals, paid tools and any other domaining related expenses, did you make money in 2019?

Hi Ray

earned some parking revenue and had a couple of sales

so, minus those expenses mentioned,
yeah, I could say that money was made.

imo...​

.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Yep this is my best year. Made 6 figs profit

 

[Bob Hawkes]

While it seems a simple question, I think for some it depends on how it is calculated. Do we count any cost for time? What about how to deal with if your overall inventory got better or worse during the year? You might have had good revenue, but by selling great domain names you have held for some time. Or maybe you put all the money you made into improving the quality (or quantity) of your portfolio? Does revenue made or spent in domain related ways not quite domain sales count? What about money made from developing domains does that count? See I make everything complex!

Anyway, I decided to answer Break Even. I certainly made money if you take sales minus acquisition and holding costs for the portfolio. However, my entire "business model" is to not take profit so anything I make I put into renewals or acquisitions, so by definition as long as I do that I will just break even I guess. My portfolio grew, both in numbers and I think quality and slightly in advance renewals in 2019, without losing money.

Had I costed the time I put into domaining at say even $15 per hour I would certainly have lost however, but I view domaining as a past-time not a business.

It is interesting that several have commented about the first half of the year being better than the second. I plan to run some numbers around that topic soon to see how the two halves of the year compared at least with NameBio stats.

Thanks to everyone who has provided answers.

Bob

 

[Brands.International]

2019 was my best year ever - I made only few sales, but all to end users and for significant profit (even after re-investing back to my porftolio, where I have purchased approx 30 - 40 new good names in 2019 with ultra-low renewals, and extented most of my domain names in .life, .world, .live, .ltd and .chat sub-portfolios years into future).

My portfolio is 100% new gTLDs, and I try to keep it little above 1000 new gTLD names all the time, where approx. half of then are presented on my website, and half of them are under privacy.

I feel 2020 will be even better, as new gTLDs demand is accelerating (if you have good names).

GL to everyone

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

After renewals, paid tools and any other domaining related expenses, did you make money in 2019?

Yes, 2019 has been one of the best year for me and December being the best month of this year.

Would be nice to see if you could answer your own question with all of us

 

[DaveX]

I was profitable this year. My sales outran my renewals and acquisitions. My gross sales were mid $xx,xxx from afternic sales, auction sales, and private sales.

Actually, this last quarter has been good for me. Except for the very end of December. I am still debating whether to either raise my minimum offer amounts or just put bin prices.

I get more inquiries with PUR but I get more sales with BIN. At least so far.

I have raised my personal bar as far as the prices I am quoting. I rather keep good names than sell too low.

I read a great quote this morning. "My prices are not too high, your(buyer) idea is too small."

 

[DnFolk]

Yes, average net profit approx 5k per month excluding one sale i had recently (yet to receive money in bank for that), though last year when it was 4k+ per month i had goal this year to double it that i couldn't.

Agree on second half with others. for me also since september it has been average except recent one sale i had of 30K. may post about it later.

 

[DaveX]

it has been average except recent one sale i had of 30K. may post about it later.

wow...nice!

 

[Bogdan]

Pretty good first half of the year and no inquiries since September

 

[NYJimbo]

Pretty good first half of the year and no inquiries since September

Something has changed, just can't figure out what it is.

 

[rh2000]

Yes, average net profit approx 5k per month excluding one sale i had recently (yet to receive money in bank for that), though last year when it was 4k+ per month i had goal this year to double it that i couldn't.

So you made 5k and 4k per month consistently? If this is true, tell me what your secret is. Did you make that money from parking revenue?

 

[rh2000]

Something has changed, just can't figure out what it is.

Ha! I have been trying to figure out the same thing about 2019. Maybe, I sold all of my good domains in the previous years.

 

[Laguna]

Nearly 2 years in and still no sales, no lowball offers, no spammy emails, no spammy calls, nothing. Maybe I should of registered
InvisibleMe.com

 

[NickB]

Had more sales than my first year, bought better quality names (I like to think so anyway) which has eaten into the potential profits for this year and dropped a load of crap....

Made a bit of profit this year and am confident 2020 will recoup the first years worth of loses.....going in the right direction which is all I can ask for, as I'm in it for the long term......not setting the world on fire, but you have to collect the twigs first

One thing I really need to work on is getting my price expectations right and setting the right BIN pricing, be that higher or lower - comes with experience I suppose

Bring on 2020 and I hope it is a prosperous one for everyone!!