Do you make a living selling domains?

[Shawn Haghnazari]

I was wondering if people actually make a living solely on buying and selling domains.

 

[toughdomains]

think it really depends on where you live. if your rent and tax rate is high its going to be alot more difficult.
however even large titans like mike mann are selling names and still running other businesses. so the better question is why limit your income to just domains?

 

[toughdomains]

i think the funy part is what u said

when people talk about lower living cost in poorer country it means it will cost u less to buy good food and good house there than in usa... this isnt about sheds and eating yer own excrement

1 bd 1 bath in nice highrise in thailand....$500 per month...
https://www.hipflat.com/listings/bangkok-condo-fbapipca
the lowest price I ever saw a studio in manhattan was about $2000 per month and about $1300 in queens or brooklyn...so 3 to 4 times the price.

 

[RushMan21]

Not yet. But profit continues to climb, quarter after quarter...

 

[Fancy.domains]

i think the funy part is what u said

when people talk about lower living cost in poorer country it means it will cost u less to buy good food and good house there than in usa... this isnt about sheds and eating yer own excrement

My food expenses are pretty much the same as in Europe, because I tend to buy yoghurt, potatoes, good coffee etc that is more expensive here. Eggs, chicken and vegetables are often cheaper than in Europe. Imported stuff such as good cheese is much more expensive.

The price of building a ” good house” is obviously depending on what standard you expect. If you want good standard and quality material where I live, the price often exeed $1000 per m2. Land prices is totally up to the location. On the island where I live there is hard to find a 1000 m2 plot for less than $30k. Beach land can be a million dollar per 1000 m2. But on the main land you can find land for almost ”nothing”.

Labor is obvioulsly cheep here.

 

[Fancy.domains]

1 bd 1 bath in nice highrise in thailand....$500 per month...
https://www.hipflat.com/listings/bangkok-condo-fbapipca
the lowest price I ever saw a studio in manhattan was about $2000 per month and about $1300 in queens or brooklyn...so 3 to 4 times the price.

To rent an apartment is often cheap in Thailand and Malaysia, but crazy expensive in Singapore.

 

[Addison]

Do you make a living selling domains?

I have wealthy friends, and I make more than all of them from selling domains and nothing else. I am in the top 1% thanks to selling domain names.

The catch? I’ve worked harder than 99% of you for many, many, many years. This is the reward. Until you work that hard for that long (do you have it in you?), you will not see the same results. That's the hard truth.

This is what separates people like me from 99% of the world: hard work. It's the same in this business.

Kudos to @Ali for his post. Saved me time of typing it myself.

 

[HotKey]

@Addison
Not all hard work pays large dividends. There are some, that work their ass off day in, day out, for a meager living, valuing other benefits over money.
I believe (hope) you were referring to how hard you work in relation to domaining. Completely agree, we get what we we're willing to put in.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Regarding TOP countries...
In this case you have even more possibilities to make money... because potential buyers are everywhere around you...

 

[stewmath]

Great question. I was doing this as a side hustle for 10 years. Not making any money to live on, but just reinvesting and building my portfolio with more and higher quality names. The last year it has been domaining only. 7 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day average. With a normal sell through rate of 2-3% on 700 domains it comes out to a US minimum wage at best after expenses. As I never take anything for myself and reinvest, it gets better. I would say if you have "normal" US expenses, and do this exclusively, you have a very large high quality portfolio.

Here is the math: If you have 1,000 names selling at an average of $2500 with a sell through rate of 2% you sell 20 for a total of $50,000. Maybe 15 of them come through marketplaces so take a $10,000 bite out of that - $40k. Renewals on 1000 names - $10,000. Now you have other expenses on that such as monthly fees on site tools, etc., but you are left with $30k. Now taxes, and since you don't have a job that pays insurance you pay yourself. You might have $20 to $25k left. That is not enough for most single people to live on in the US. And that is with no reinvestment into building your portfolio which is suicidal.

I travel full time so I might pay one dollar per night for a cool hostel in Sumatra including breakfast, $4 for a small penthouse apartment in Myanmar, $5 for a fancy dive resort in the Philippines. And don;t forget daily massages for $2 to $4.

Answer is either you have a high quality portfolio and spend a lot of time building it and live very frugal, or you have 5,000 to 10,000 or more HIGH QUALITY names, spend a lot of time and reinvest, and then live a "normal" lifestyle in the US.

So you're what we call a digital nomad. My sort of lifestyle but its not for my wife

 

[shig]

How do you make money when you buy land?

1) buy it
2) build on it
3) sell it

Just buying and selling land can take decades to profit from. Buying land, building something on it and selling is much quicker and can be more profitable. Imo domains follow the same rule.

 

[DotComRealty]

How do you make money when you buy land?

1) buy it
2) build on it
3) sell it

Just buying and selling land can take decades to profit from. Buying land, building something on it and selling is much quicker and can be more profitable. Imo domains follow the same rule.

If this was 2006 that would be a good idea. Nowadays, it is a Herculean effort to make a good site that makes any money. You need an entire company to do this now. Developer, SEO, social media, and tons of hours and lots of money. I have never met anyone in the last 10 years who can do this successfully. Kind of like UFO's and smart blondes.

 

[shig]

Lol very true but even just building something simple on a domain gives the seller more power when an end-user comes looking to purchase.

 

[topdom]

Lol very true but even just building something simple on a domain gives the seller more power when an end-user comes looking to purchase.

Like using Efty?

 

[teper]

Nope

 

[kemjika11]

Depends on what you call "making a living"

100k to some is making a living but to others is the cost of a vacation.

in trying to clarify something you made an unrealistic comparison. $100K for a vacation is surely for the few rich people. $100K income/year is great for the vast majority of people in the world.

 

[kemjika11]

How do you make money when you buy land?

1) buy it
2) build on it
3) sell it

Just buying and selling land can take decades to profit from. Buying land, building something on it and selling is much quicker and can be more profitable. Imo domains follow the same rule.

You can also flip "land" lucratively if you 1) buy the RIGHT names+ 2) wait the right amount of time + 3) negotiate strong and well.

IMO, the people who can/are living off domains mainly first of all are keeping a low profile. Why wouldnt you when ur controlling $millions of domain assets? to reach that day where domaining is your main job/income, you have to: 1) buy the RIGHT names+ 2) wait the right amount of time + 3) negotiate strong and well.

 

[MapleDots]

in trying to clarify something you made an unrealistic comparison. $100K for a vacation is surely for the few rich people. $100K income/year is great for the vast majority of people in the world.

You say it's enough for the majority in the world and you are probably right... ie china, india etc.

However in North America it would be a hard thing to feed a family and provide housing for 100k. I know in my area of the world you cannot rent an apartment for under 2k per month much less buy a car and make a living.

 

[MapleDots]

IMO, the people who can/are living off domains mainly first of all are keeping a low profile. Why wouldnt you when ur controlling $millions of domain assets?

Yup.... Mike Mann and Rick Schwartz are keeping a pretty low profile

 

[shig]

If this was 2006 that would be a good idea. Nowadays, it is a Herculean effort to make a good site that makes any money. You need an entire company to do this now. Developer, SEO, social media, and tons of hours and lots of money. I have never met anyone in the last 10 years who can do this successfully. Kind of like UFO's and smart blondes.

Yup.... Mike Mann and Rick Schwartz are keeping a pretty low profile

Haha - Two that don’t but there are many others that stay anon.

 

[kemjika11]

Yup.... Mike Mann and Rick Schwartz are keeping a pretty low profile

Well both of them are very well off domainers, but they are also celebrity domainers. Just sayin..lol