Disappointed with Domaining

[Oryon]

I am new to the world of domaining and I am a bit disappointed with the results I got so far (sold nothing). I was told that if I charge about 1/3 of the value estimated by Estibot I should be fine and the domains will "sell by themselves". Well, so far I haven't sold anything at that price and even lower. I don't think that my domains are crap, but I am wondering if people still buy domains.

I would love to get some input from more experienced folks: how long did it take you to sell your first domain? Did you ever manage to sell something on Sedo or Afternic? Thanks. Please don't hit me on the head if I said something stupid. I admitted that I an new.

 

[Oryon]

Hey Biggie,

I didn't mean my reply as an attack against you. I understand your point but I don't agree with that thread, but that's fine. If I ever end up on it, so be it. However, I don't try to be nice to people to earn points. I try to be nice because I believe in treating others the way I like to be treated. And no, to anticipate the objection that a few will make, I don't mind being emailed offers to buy domains at all. That doesn't mean I will buy them, but it's just an email. Who cares? If the price is stupidly high or the domain sucks I just reply with a "no, thanks".

 

[Domainace]

Hey Biggie,
I don't mind being emailed offers to buy domains at all. That doesn't mean I will buy them, but it's just an email. Who cares? If the price is stupidly high or the domain sucks I just reply with a "no, thanks".

It's hard to tell someone that they can't use a tool (unsolicited email) that they see successful domainers using, though. But face it, it's like a great fishing spot that only a few anglers know about being discovered by the masses, who then come, make a lot of noise, and scare away all the fish. Eventually, the new guys will tire of not catching fish and drift away to some new place. And eventually the fish may come back.

If you're a new guy, the best thing to do is to take in all the advice you can get - even if it's not offered in the nicest terms. Put your feelings aside, and try to rationally analyze what you are doing. If you stick at it, you'll eventually learn that 90% (at least) of the advice you get on forums is rubbish. 9% is OK. And 1% is gold. And those 1% posts are often ignored, and sometimes even posted by complete a**holes.

The best feedback you will get is in the form of sales. If you're not making any, you'd better look hard at what you are doing. The advice to approach it as a hobby is good in the sense that you shouldn't look at domaining as a quick road to steady income. But you also have to treat it like a business. Make sure you are not losing money, and don't forget to count your time as money as well.

And (finally) don't take anything personally. If you think the people on this board are tough, wait until you see how some end-users treat you.

 

[rmaden]

Oryon maybe this will help you.

I have owned tld's since 1998 and sold some very nice ones way back for good prices -which today if held are worth much more-good for those owners.Those days are gone of grabbing cheap names that are worth big $$$.The registers -g-d bless them -make sure of that.Almost nothing good will get by them and you are going to have pay up for a good one thus you have to hope an end user comes along and wants that specific name

With all the new TLD's coming on board will only spread the available $$ thinner.

What i like about estibot is not the valuations but the searches and traffic figures as i have found a few nice names that were nice sites and still getting that traffic so i developed them

Now to the meat of this--as one person above said- use the promo codes and if possible flip the names anywhere(list them everywhere-from here- bido -ebay -valuate(estibot) anyplace that is free..more to follow..:santa:

 

[john_karr]

Most of the ones I bought are keywords. I don't feel confident enough to go for brands and other fancy stuff. I bought lowcaloriealcohol.com because alcoholic beverages are a product that is always on demand. I bought 3dSimulation.org and Victoriantimes.net because their org/net counterparts are listed for tens of thousands of dollars on Sedo and Afternic. I bought Swaplinks.org because of Google updates and so many new SEO companies showing up in the market plus the .com is listed for an insane price. I bought 2nh.org because Honda released a new car named 2NH and thought it might be a good opportunity.

As for emails, I sent about 70 emails. One person replied saying that they would buy a domain, but then disappeared. Another emailed me thanking me for the offer and saying that he is uninterested.

Regarding the content of the emails, I just try to be honest. I hate the fluff like "I have an incredible opportunity for you today blah blah blah..." When I get emails like those I don't even read them.

So what am I doing wrong? And thanks to everyone for the suggestions and input. You guys rock!

Quality over Quantity remember that. Better to have 1 or 3 great domain name than to have 20-30 pigeon shit names. Why spend $1Ks of dollars a year re-register renewal fees for pigeon shit name. You can still handreg good domain name,you just have to beat everybody to the punch,and make sure it's .com. I have 2 good handreg that I have offers every month.

And read everything on domain name. Checkout domaining.com,domaininvesting.com,watch videos at domainsherpa.com. Read old forums here.

 

[alien51]

Quality over Quantity remember that. Better to have 1 or 3 great domain name than to have 20-30 pigeon shit names.

Quality is usually pricey. Sure you can snatch quality handregs, but i seriously doubt you can do that on a consistent basis. And quality is oftentimes subjective opinion. What is quality to you, is pigeon shit to others.

Real legit quality names, are expensive. Simply because strong demand drives the price higher. So the more consistent business model i've seen, is to buy expensive, and resell it to even more expensive. You just feel sorry for the end-user who will finally buy the bag at the end of the line.

Why spend $1Ks of dollars a year re-register renewal fees for pigeon shit name.

it's because there's still a market for pigeon shit names. I've seen the domain sales in the below-$500 bracket. And it's a thriving market. But the thing here, is that there are billions of pigeon shit names for sale. And only about a million buyers. The statistical odds are unbelievable. And yet domainers focus and get inspired on the few domain sales that get published, not thinking about the statistics. If you know the statistics, you won't get surprised or disappointed if you don't make a sale.

Seriously, i don't know why people prefer to spend so much time and energy trying to earn a few bucks in Domaining, when you can earn the same amount of money somewhere else like building content/adsense stuffs or just mopping the floor at McDonalds.

You can still handreg good domain name,you just have to beat everybody to the punch

Not "everybody". But "every -thing-". Those you are trying to beat to the punch, are not even humans or any kind of organic lifeforms. Your chance for success, is zero.

 

[rmaden]

Now to the meat of this--as one person above said- use the promo codes-----------------------

Just be aware that appx 100,000 Names expire(not renewed) each day and at $10 average(includes co,me,us etc ) that is @1MILL $ LOST!! each day by people who thought their name was good.They are the odds you face.

Here is a system for you to try.(some people use this for parking names).

Use the promos to buy your names-now you have 1 year to sell it--PARK THE NAMES
to see if they get traffic and hopefully some clicks while u r trying to sell them.

Make sure to unlock the auto renewal on ALL or when it comes due you will be charged.The ones that do nothing just let them expire.If you want You can replace them with other names-again ONLY with the promo codes.So u would replace up to 20/mo to keep your inventory at @ 250 names.You don't have to sell many to make a profit.

So say you do 20 names a month-(40-50$)-in 1 year you will have @250 names-1 year out you can keep any good ones(renew)or replace them WITH PROMOS --or-- do that each month---Now u r in biz.

The One way u can get a future valuable name/s is be ahead of the curve--Cloud names before they became the rage-etc

I remember when 3 and 4 number com's were just laying around AND along came China....Any rate -good luck to you and i hope this helps.%%-

 

[fm1234]

posted by Oryon:

I bought 3dSimulation.org and Victoriantimes.net because their org/net counterparts are listed for tens of thousands of dollars on Sedo and Afternic.

While I understand your logic here, it could use a little fine-tuning: Don't base decisions on asking price; base them on sale price. NameBio.com is one of the best resources for that, arguably the best free resource.

Also worth bearing in mind -- if you're using NameBio or anything similar, make sure you're looking at recent sales. Prices from say 2008 reflect a very very different market from today's.


Frank

 

[biggie]

Hey Biggie,

I didn't mean my reply as an attack against you. I understand your point but I don't agree with that thread, but that's fine. If I ever end up on it, so be it. However, I don't try to be nice to people to earn points. I try to be nice because I believe in treating others the way I like to be treated. And no, to anticipate the objection that a few will make, I don't mind being emailed offers to buy domains at all. That doesn't mean I will buy them, but it's just an email. Who cares? If the price is stupidly high or the domain sucks I just reply with a "no, thanks".

:talk:

Oryon

I didn't take it as an attack against me.

being nice...is vague and also a gullible mindset for this business.

being professional and consistent is the key.

however, i am and have been very nice to many members who pm asking questions or write me with their concerns, but that's a different aspect of the business.


those who send spam emails are not being "nice" to me.

they are not considering my feelings about being spammed crap domain names.

even though some open with "Dear Sir" or Whom It May Concern" the wording in the content of their email, conveys no sense of niceness, they are only trying to sell me something.

the emails are not written personally to me, they are templates, edited for each mo-fo they plan on spamming.

therefore, I owe them no courtesies what so ever, because I was never extended any.


:talk:

kate posts excellent example below:

If I have a domain name that is parked for sale, it means I want to sell it. Then you spam me to sell a similar domain, or worse a bunch of inferior domains that are not even related to the domains I own => very common scenario. Why should I want to buy a domain from you when I am struggling to sell mine ?
You see, the spammer is wasting his time and mine.

Sending E-mail indiscriminately is spamming.

:talk:


now just the other day, I get email from a clown who sees that I listed "chicagodrivingschool.com on sedo for sale.

so they decide it's okay for them to spam me, asking if I want to buy their washingtondrivingschool.com domain...simply because they saw i had a listing on sedo.




do you see the pattern?


imo....

 

[Oryon]

Thanks for the advice, guys especially Maden. That is a strategy I was not aware of.

 

[MrBlueSky]

I am new to the world of domaining and I am a bit disappointed with the results I got so far (sold nothing). I was told that if I charge about 1/3 of the value estimated by Estibot I should be fine and the domains will "sell by themselves". Well, so far I haven't sold anything at that price and even lower. I don't think that my domains are crap, but I am wondering if people still buy domains.

I would love to get some input from more experienced folks: how long did it take you to sell your first domain? Did you ever manage to sell something on Sedo or Afternic? Thanks. Please don't hit me on the head if I said something stupid. I admitted that I an new.

I am in the domain industry for just a 1.5 year so I still have a lot to learn. But I want to tell you, that you should not give up. I waited for my first sale couple months and I slowly started loosing hope in making some money before the first sale finally came. You only need to take it easy, don't worry about it too much. Devote as much time to learn new things and the first sale will come soon.

 

[rmaden]

""""""""'Thanks for the advice, guys especially Maden. That is a strategy I was not aware of."""""""""""""

I'M GLAD YOU SAW IT.The AUTO RENEWAL is very important.I will give you 2 instances and these are just examples.Godaddy and 1n1 both good- GoDad list the names individually and is easy to follow--1n1 does the names by packages--these r just examples--You could have a package with 1n1 with say 20 names in it--If THE AUTO IS ON and it expires 1n1 computers lock the package--and you cant access any names or info--that is why you make sure the AUTO is off so you don't encounter this problem with whoever you use.

Just dot com 's -to start.I have had some luck with info but if they are not gone in a year i wont renew them because they will come loose appx 42days later and i will find a promo for them.they are around.

If you treat it like a biz u will do ok--Its a low risk way of getting a bang for your buck.REMEMBER something that sounds good to you may only sound good to YOU..Think of end user app.

Also the biggest thing about the promos-lets say 2$-as opposed to $14--(just numbers)but it means you purchase 7 names for the retail cost of 1 name.And again good luck.By the way- IT WORKS:hehe:

 

[BoxJaw]

I feel as though your idea for what an investment is from the get go was skewed and for that you have a bad name in the market. If you follow me on twitter, I post links to my daily drops on the blog, all of which are 30k and up population Geo+Business.com's that I didn't register. Some really good ones too.

Over the last three years, I have found these to be a good safety net.

There is more to just registering something that sounds snazzy and hoping it sells. You need to make sure the money you are putting into something isn't wasting your time and causing you to lose your mind trying to sell it. A premium name can sell itself, but it doesn't always need to. Think about it this way, you wait it out for maybe your top 5 picks in a week and spend (with promos) 5-6 a piece on them. Then you turn around and market them to end-users. They have a 1000x better chance knowing about the domain name through you telling them than they do stumbling across it one way or another.

You can probably comb through my list I post daily and find some good ones to start with that might make you a buck, but it's going to take work. If you don't want to work, your going to have to spend way more than reg fee to have a domain work for you.