Domaining... the Secret Industry.

[MadAboutDomains]

Hey Guys,

I've been doing this for years now, and I love buying and selling domains names and managing ONE SITE AT A TIME.

I speak to my friends about it, and they just pass it buy. They don't realise that there really is so much money to be made from a few letters on an Computer screen.

It seems that we are very much a minority even though there is such fierce competition.

Is anyone else in this position? I am the only person that I know that deals with domain names.

Has anyone successfully managed to get their friends in to it?

Just wundering...

- Luke

 

[Premium]

You have no idea how jealous my friends/family are when I tell them I'm making $xxxx a month sitting on my butt. I still think a lot of them are curious and wish they could do it, but don't bother trying. I'm trying to get my brother onto it, but not that much success for him yet. I still work another job, so what I do on here is all extra. :tu:

 

[Zilla]

This is really a "secret" industry/business, the real success domainer already got their financial freedom..wish one day I can also reach that point..I understood for most newbie like me , there are two secrets..hope some seniors can explain..

too late to join this business?
how to make it success?

 

[irishmat]

funnily enough i was having a conversation about this to a good friend a few nights ago

she kept asking where i learned all this stuff from, so thanks namepros, fantastic forum where i learnt it all

that and a bit of trial and error

 

[Volholic]

I talk to my brothers and friends about it and let them know the little success I have had so far---they are all very interested but none have taken it up yet.
It is definiately a passion

 

[irishmat]

yeah i think it would be easier to convince people if i had more success in selling my names

but my parking revenue is now becoming less of a joke than it was in the beginning, thanks namedrive and fabulous

i think basically for the first few months no matter how much you read and read your gonna make mistakes but after a while you just kinda start knowing what your doing

i still havent spent that much on names as yet, only one name caught at pool and a handful of others bought from here

scarily though i just spent all last months parking rev and more on some names at tdnam but i reckon i will make a tiday profit off them

 

[CrazyTech]

I've had some friends mention that they'd like to get involved but none of them really seem all that serious about it. Most people I talk to don't seem to understand the concept that there is money to be made and that all that you are selling is blah.com/net/org/us/biz/etc. I think that either the "ease factor" or fear of not understanding keeps them away from it.

 

[midnight251]

I've talked to some of my friends about it and they kind of look at me like "As if that's ever going to work". I've got my wife convinced, and even she didn't think too much about it in the beginning. I've only been in this since last Feb, so still new to the game, but it all takes time and effort, and then some more effort. I haven't had a sale yet, but it will come. I'm actually trying my hand at some development work, but still seraching for that elusive perfect domain.

 

[thegenius1]

The first thing i do is point Family & Friends to the Reported Sales Section at DNJournal.com and then from there i paint the picture and explain how we are investing in Virtual real estate or Billboards , I try to keep it simple but show them the potential to be made.. Being a IDN die hard i have had success getting a few family and friends to buy some IDN's , but the whole lack of the Domaining market + language barrior only promted them to regging a handfull of names.

This quote always Helps :

"Domains have and will continue to go up in value faster than any other commodity ever known to man." (07/05 Bill Gates, Microsoft)

 

[RogueWriter]

I've got some relatives that always brag about their latest and greatest investing trends. They have no clue that I own domains where hundreds of thousands of people visit every year. I'm sure they hear I am working on the internet, and they assume, "Oh, he is selling a few things on eBay."

I just know that after they read some article about how .coms are a great way to diversify, they are going to brag about buying one dot com and parking it 'as an investment'......and I'll just say, 'Hey, that is great,' and move on......

 

[VisualArtistFrankBonilla]

O2.cc

When I sold O2.cc a while back, I told my friends about it. I told them "Hey, I made roughly $800 by selling 4 letters on the internet!" What, they would ask? So, I would have to explain how I registered a domain name, and then sold it. I don't think most of them really understand the process!!

You are right, this is a "secret industry." Let's hope it stays that way for a while. Otherwise, you will be able to buy .com's soon at Walmart for $2.94, on sale, of course!!!
Frank

 

[wadodger]

Domaining is certainly an interesting subject in conversation. I usually stay away from it at social events, as it really depends upon the type of person you're talking to. I'll mention a couple basic things to see if they even have a chance of understanding of what I'm talking about, or we'll go back to why their microwave is still blinking 12:00 two weeks after the power's come back on.

Others - especially those who've made money in real estate - get it right away. And then I fill 'em up with some of the good stuff - DNJournal sales figures, etc - but no secrets. Some will follow up via e-mail, and I'll throw the ovt tool (with the bids) and let them play.

I know people who are very Internet savvy and just cannot grasp domaining without launching into an ill-informed cybersquatting tirade. Yet others, who have very little Internet experience completely understand the value of a limited commodity ... ie, there is only one xyz dot com in the world. They're usually the real estate folks. A third groups gets it, kinda, but they cannot wrap their minds around something they can't put a physical value on. If they can't touch it, it's difficult for that item to exist in their minds.

In short, only my wife has caught the disease like I have. That makes things a lot easier.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

The secret must have gotten out. there are 35,059 registered members on this forum alone. Then there are 29,669 and 8,132 on the other two major domain forums. (However, I'm sure there is crossover, and many are members of more than one).

 

[hawkeye]

Oh the secrets definitely out! Look at how much more you have to pay for drops now, and for even the lower quality names! The lists of bidders for drops was never as big as they've been recently. Also look at all the useless names now being sold on eBay. Used to be able to get some decent names there, not no more.

 

[thegenius1]

The secret must have gotten out. there are 35,059 registered members on this forum alone. Then there are 29,669 and 8,132 on the other two major domain forums. (However, I'm sure there is crossover, and many are members of more than one).

Im not sure those figuires are something to really take into consideration , when i would say only a quarter of those people actually particapate on the forums frequently.. I mean even DNJournal and other news publications only classify the number of Domainers around a thousand, but then again they are only talking about people that make a living from it. But i think we are really in a league of our own. Because when you look around at the end of the day offline how many people do we know personally that are involved with domains like the people here.

 

[tk]

My guesstimate is there are close to 60-70,000 people domaining ... some of them started and did not find much success.

I think this business is not for everyone, you need patience, judgement, acumen. You need to be on top of the events. I am sure more than 50% members on this forum alone wouldnt have sold single domain.

 

[kev]

i have tried to explain to my friends about my domains but they just think im showing off when i mention how much i earn :hehe:

My mum thinks im doing something illegal and cant understand why people dont just register another name. And when i said i owned XXX names and she asked "how much does it cost to register each name?" i sheepishly say "$7 - $8......per year, each"....she kinda says why am i wasting my money on domains?

My dad doesnt even know what the internet is (he once refered to it as ceefax!)

My yearbook says im most likely im my year to be a millionaire :hehe: That'll do me nicely hehe

kev

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Ceefax... hahahaha!

30,000-70,000 people is NOTHING. Compared to the amount of people in the world it is a tiny weenie proportion of people that are in this industry.

The vast majority of people that come on this forum and just sign up, are just kids that have learnt that they can just post on this forum to get 'free' domains. They want a free domain and they dont stick around for long enough. So that is a percentage of this forums members gone from the domain industry. If you look at the front page "Active users in the last 24 hours: 1634". As a percentage of 30,000+ users... this is an extremely small amount of people. (Yes, there will be more during the day). But not alot of the 30,000 are active and log in all the time.

I still think that this industry is very much unbelieved and secret, and I love to be a part of it! Its exciting, thrilling and gets your brain working. I would also say that we find out news before anyone else! This industry is ahead of many, because you have to be to survive.

- Luke

 

[kev]

Ok...lets say there are 6 billion people in the world (6,000,000,000) At least i think there is 6 billion (maybe it was 5? anyway.....)

60,000 / 6,000,000,000 x 100 = 0.001% of the world is involved in the industry

Thats incredibly small considering it may be less than that aswell.

 

[capiche]

I've found that most of the people I talk to don't understand the business. So I rarely bring it up unless I'm talking to my friends or family. Even then, they have problems with it. It's almost like it's one of those things that sounds too good to be true, so they don't give it much thought.

I've tried to get a couple of people into it, but when they don't see instant success, they basically give up.

I think the people who do the best with domains are people who share a few characteristics.

1. They love to read/research.
2. Very computer literate.
3. Have an entrepreneurial spirit. (Hate the rat race for the most part)
4. Are somewhat patient.
5. Have a knack for seeing opportunity when it is presented to them. (This can be learned, but usually a person either has this or doesn't)

I don't think this business will ever be something that is "too late" to get into as long as you know or are willing to find out where the opportunities are. There will always be new opportunites as long as there is an internet and people who use it.