Ethics of staying quiet when newbies reg rubbish?

[DomainGist]

I dip in and out of this forum, leave for 9 months, back for 6 etc. Most recently quit domaining and had a change of heart and started to rebuild.

But every time I come back here I see a few newbies hand-registering absolutely turgid rubbish by the hundreds or even thousands.I won't name any names here as it would look like an attack.

I know that some people just won't listen, and I see a few people trying to get them to stop, but these people are undermined by people who 'like' their reg of the day.

Lets be clear here, I'm not talking about 'subjectivity' here, but I'm talking about people registering domains with 3 hypens, or 50 character nonsense domains.

So two questions:

1. Do we have moral obligation to be straight with these newbies and tell them that they are registering rubbish, even if this is a thankless task and the person refuses to listen and even doubles down on what they are doing.

2. Is it ethical for experienced domainers to 'like' posts which seem to validate the newbies selections.

I look at some of these people with thousands of completely unsellable hand regs, and on one hand I do think that they probably play their part in keeping registration and renewal prices down for every domainer as these nonsense domains are part of the ecosystem and generate cash for the registry and registrars, but on the other hand these domainers could be in debt, or blowing money from family savings without their wives knowing.

I find it very difficult to see people spending like $7000 on terrible handregs without saying something.

One particular individual got very angry with me and suggested that he isn't rich enough to get domains from closeout, but a domain from closeout costs what... $25 including one year renewal, and this individual has hundreds and hundreds of hand regs from all sorts of extentions. So if they took their time they could build a decent port of say 100 closeout domains over a period of 12-18 months, that would probably cost them less.

Why do people ignore these newbies and let them waste their money, and more importantly why do some people seem to encourage this really self-destructive and damaging behaviour by pressing 'like' on red-widget8383eu.biz or whatever nonsense they have registered?

Thoughts?

 

[Rob Monster]

Almost every domain investor goes through the phase where they think they found something that others missed and then back up the truck. Early in my own domaining career, I had 5000 domains at Godaddy, and probably kept 5% of those in the end. So, yes, it is a thing and we do see it often.

Sometimes the stories are heartbreaking, e.g. people who spent their entire nest-egg on names that are almost unsellable. The reality is that the vast majority of the 390 million domains registered are of no value to anyone, even the registrant themselves.

If you see someone spending way too much on domains that are almost certainly not to sell, or where the new investor has a wildly uninformed expectation, I think you can gently engage them in a dialog about their domain investing history and see if they want any help selling their domains. Some will appreciate the help.

DomainGraduate.com is a free online course that we did produce in part for this exact reason. The course was acquired from veteran domainer, Sean Stafford, and then upgraded. We made it free from the outset, precisely to help more folks learn before they spend big. It exists in a few languages now.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I think the most important contribution that can be made is to share information and tools, and encourage people to be realistic with expectations, and not to invest more than they can afford to potentially entirely lose. Sometimes sharing our own experiences, both positive and negative, can be helpful, as long as we make clear that they were our experiences.

But we should not do anything that takes the responsibility for their decisions away from the person themselves. Each of us should be responsible for our own decisions. I am sort of opposed to how the appraisal thread works in practice. I think that it should be required that the person asking for the appraisal first explains their own thinking and give a worth range. Then they are looking for a second opinion. Others should respectfully critique the thinking, both positive and negative, and things that might have overlooked, or simply add data, instead of current system where often the response is simply: oh it is worth $$$$ or handreg with no support for the statement.

One has to be careful, even if well meaning, in promoting what has worked for you (particularly if with a portfolio that was assembled a decade ago) as working for everybody.

Also we must not promote anything as guaranteed success. I shudder when I read things like "grab expired .com and you will be fine". Obviously one can, and many do, lose a huge amount of money doing just that. The really hard part is what domain names are worthwhile, not how they were obtained or simply their TLD.

I do not agree that NamePros members are in general not open to education. It seems to me that people are enthusiastic to learn so they themselves can find a good list of comparator sales, check on trademarks, see how many extensions are registered and how many are for sale, see if this name was registered before and how it was used, see how many companies have used similar names, etc. The more people are empowered to make their own decisions the better.

While I still have a lot to learn, I think I know more about human nature and education than I do about branding and domain names. How do people learn things? They learn from being in a positive environment that exposes them to multiple viewpoints and stresses to be responsible for their own decisions. They learn by seeing others use logic and evidence to make decisions. They learn from being in environments that are kind and respectful. They learn from seeing validated success, and also failure.

Interventions can help people learn more rapidly, with fewer errors along the way, but they must be done emphasizing the positive. For the most part, people do not learn from simply being told they are doing something wrong. In fact, in other fields of study, but I suspect that it applies to domain investing too, telling someone they are doing something wrong actually reinforces them doing the wrong thing, because the natural reaction of most of us is to push back when told we are doing something wrong.

Think of something difficult that you have eventually learned, be it golf or painting or mathematics, and consider what your path to success was. I found writing hard in first year university. I had a kindly senior prof who did not tell me all the things I was doing wrong, but gently simply encouraged me to write a lot and to reflect on what was good and bad in my own writing. He shared a few tips and technical things, and always had an open door to discuss things, but it was my responsibility, not his, to identify what I needed help with. I came to love to write. Some of my friends were in different classes. From week two, pages of red ink and direct commentary on how terrible their writing was, and lectures on the right way to do things. Some of them came to hate writing.

It is a difficult question this thread is about. I am glad that many wise voices have spoken.

Just some Saturday morning thoughts. Perhaps only meaningful to me.

Take care,

Bob

 

[bmugford]

I try to help people stop wasting money, but you are often met with belligerent push back and no respect for people who have actually accomplished something in the field.

I am willing to help someone who wants to learn, but it seems like more and more Dunning Kruger's seem to think they already know it all.

Brad

 

[Joe N]

Imagine if you were a golfer and every few weeks I stood behind you on the golf course and said that fifteen years ago no one used rescue clubs and none of that carbon fiber thingy or indeed over-sized putters and that you had to be a member of a proper club and practice several times a week. And then feck me...I turn up once a week in jeans and trainers and beat some of you. You'd be mighty pissed then I guess. The important lesson from my perspective is that not everyone has to conform to the status quo and maybe, just maybe, there may be another way to do something and achieve the same results.

The issue with your analogy is that golfers do not invite commentary and advice simply by going out on the golf course.

You joined a domaining forum. Being an active member of a forum is, at its very core, an invitation for open discussion about any and all ideas, including your own.

You didn't have to join this forum and post your questions and domain acquisitions. You could have gone about this endeavour privately, or simply been a passive participant in the forum, reading the posts you like and ignoring the others.

You can't have it both ways. Either you're an active participant and you're willing to accept the constructive criticism of others when you post your ideas, or you keep your ideas and questions to yourself (since you're not interested in other opinions).

I absolutely agree that some members are less than respectful when they give feedback, and I don't condone that. But for all others, if you're on here of your own free will, then people's opinions of your postings are all fair game.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I've never seen or heard of a well-established company willingly use dashes in their domain.

Err maybe these two consider themselves well-established?
https://www.coca-cola.com/
https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/

Although not as large, or old, perhaps, also
https://www.chick-fil-a.com/

I am sure there are many examples from Germany, since 17% of .de sales are hyphenated.

Bob (aka B-o-b )

 

[NickB]

Almost every domain investor goes through the phase where they think they found something that others missed and then back up the truck. Early in my own domaining career, I had 5000 domains at Godaddy, and probably kept 5% of those in the end. So, yes, it is a thing and we do see it often.

Sometimes the stories are heartbreaking, e.g. people who spent their entire nest-egg on names that are almost unsellable. The reality is that the vast majority of the 390 million domains registered are of no value to anyone, even the registrant themselves.

If you see someone spending way too much on domains that are almost certainly not to sell, or where the new investor has a wildly uninformed expectation, I think you can gently engage them in a dialog about their domain investing history and see if they want any help selling their domains. Some will appreciate the help.

DomainGraduate.com is a free online course that we did produce in part for this exact reason. The course was acquired from veteran domainer, Sean Stafford, and then upgraded. We made it free from the outset, precisely to help more folks learn before they spend big. It exists in a few languages now.

Problem is Rob a lot of people get very defensive and angry when you try and be truthful/helpful.....

Luckily for me I have thick skin, some people though do not like to hear the truth

 

[HotKey]

Agree with you guys, the amount of time and effort put in will usually only result in push-back or negativity.. a large percentage seeing constructive criticism as a personal attack, unfortunately.

I have seen very level-headed individuals, Joe Nichols as example, trying real hard to give fair feedback and it just gets ripped apart.

Guess one of the ways of looking at all hand-reg that we simply KNOW will be in the dumpster in a year is that for many new domainers, it is almost a rite of passage. They might lose monetarily, but gain insight and experience that knowing what to buy leads to learning what sells.

As for "likes", for me personally I use the like button in many many cases not as that I like something, rather as an acknowledgement of the post, so that the user knows I've read it and not ignoring a reply or quote, for example.

I understand how it can be aggravating seeing over the years the same mistakes being made, but take heart that out of the many that go through the initial hand-reg phase, it might be used as stepping stone to getting comfortable with naming, polishing and refining their skill. Even if only just a few emerge with a positive mindset to use it as such, in a way it is a success.

 

[NickB]

I would much rather be told by experienced, successful domainers which of my names are crap and why.....good way to learn imo

Some people just believe their own hype, think they know better or are just pig headed....you can't help everyone but you can be honest with your feedback, it is then up to that person to decide what to do with that advice

 

[HotKey]

There have been some quality guides created, that could be "stickied" or pinned to the top of a thread, easily accessible by newcomers or repeat hand-reg offenders. This way the opportunity is there to minimize potentially costly mistakes and help with the learning curve.
eg.
https://www.namepros.com/threads/domain-investing.1137790/
https://www.namepros.com/blog/hand-registering-domain-names.1192637/
https://www.namepros.com/threads/domains-101-infographic.853320/

At the very least they are pointed in the right direction. I mean, there are those who will do their own thing regardless but such is human. Some of these really helpful threads get buried over time when they deserve to be front and center in the interests of all investors.

 

[equity78]

One of the difficult things about domaining compared to most industries is that for the most part you don’t know much if anything about the person you are conversing with, getting advice from. There are exceptions of course, people get to meet people at domain conferences, (though no one has on their badge, I am broke or I am a scammer). There are also high profile domainers who share a lot and use their real name.

Opinions or advice without knowing anything behind the person giving them are pretty empty imo.

You get people who give opinions on names in appraisal sections and you have no idea if they know anything about the industry said name belongs to. Do they know anything about linguistics, branding? No?

The value of that opinion is reg fee, like so many domains are appraised at reg fee. The theory for some goes if someone paid $9 for it then it can’t be worthless, others would differ in their opinion. So the same goes for people, you have the right to speak and to give an opinion, but it equates to reg fee.

Same goes with negotiation advice, some people give very bad advice in forums and blog comments. For the person seeking negotiation advice, all they know is MetallicaFan has a sweet avatar but might not even know how to negotiate for an extra .50 an hour at their job.

The worst advice in my opinion, comes from those anonymous sources who are giving legal advice. “You tell that company to go f themselves!” “I would ignore it, you have every right to own a name with Instagram it.” Yeah might be better to contact Berryhill or Lieberman. The truth is most domainers who participate on forums and blogs know very little to nothing about TM law and intellectual property.

Another thing that happens with not knowing the people you interact with is there are many false narratives that get built up.

One tidbit that surprised a lot of people came up in the CQD.com case on Namepros. James Booth had unknowingly bought a stolen domain, that belonged to a lady in Florida.

One of the hot takes of that thread was some people who never met or knew anything about Mr.Booth, declaring he was a millionaire and that he should just eat the loss, he can afford it.

To which Mr. Booth posted:



I had a couple people say to me they were flabbergasted that Booth was not a millionaire. I asked the one person if they ever met James or knew anything about him? They just figured that they saw him mentioned on Namepros and DNJournal so he was rich.

You have to do your homework in the business and verify from more than one source if you are going to spend money, or make a deal.

You need to do your homework thoroughly, you need to be meticulous before making a decision that affects your domain business.

In this business no one really knows a lot about anyone. Hopefully you know yourself and go from there. Best of luck.

 

[GeorgeK]

Great thread, and I think Brad, Raymond and others made a lot of good points.

Nobody wants to hear that their baby is ugly.

Furthermore, there are numerous ways to make money, and also numerous ways to lose money, so often the "advice" isn't going to be 100% perfect, however it can be based on strong empirical data (i.e. it's a very high probability that a 2-letter dot-com is going to be worth more than that hyphenated 5-word dot-xyz; or, on average you're probably going to lose your shirt if you repeatedly engage in cybersquatting of famous brands, etc., e.g. iREIT!).

Yesterday, I learned about a TV show called "Selling Sunset"

https://www.netflix.com/title/80223108

about some realtors in Los Angeles selling high end properties, and one of the agents was brutally honest in describing one of their clients (in Season 1, episode 1 --- I'm still catching up!), saying "Not everyone has good taste!" She wasn't sugar-coating her statements, or being diplomatic (some people like that, others don't; makes for an entertaining TV show, though). Sometimes the "sugar coated" messages don't have the same impact as the brutally honest ones.....

Fortunately, over time the market rewards those making good decisions, and punishes those making bad decisions. Those who make good decisions will (on average, not always) make money, whereas those who make bad decisions will (on average, not always) lose money.

For example, in blackjack or poker (which are relatively "simple games", that we can model mathematically with ease), there are basic strategies that dominate other strategies. e.g. (assuming no card counting) you'd want to double down in blackjack on cards adding up to a total of 10, and split two 8s (you can read about "Basic Strategy" on many blackjack websites). You might lose any individual hand following that strategy, but on average in the long run you're better off. Similarly for poker, there are times when you should be "all in", but then end up losing with a "bad beat". So, risk management principles, risk vs. reward, are important. Take calculated risks, rather than erratic/irrational ones.

With domain names (and business in general), unlike pure gambling games like poker or blackjack, there are far more variables involved, and the game can change over time, so you can't model them mathematically with any ease. Sometimes you can follow a horrible strategy, but end up making money despite the odds being against you. Other times, you might have made a great decision, but still ended up losing money. Was it a "lucky" outcome for a bad/good decision, or what you expected should have happened? You'd have to decide for yourself, but folks can certainly give their opinions (but be prepared for some folks to be angry, hostile and resentful when you give it, like all the "debates" that have gone on for years about different strategies, like dot-com vs. new gTLDs vs ccTLDs, or 4L.com domains, or whatever; you need a thick skin when both giving and receiving advice!).

Anyhow, I personally try to follow simple principles that have worked for me in my own domain name choices (relatively low number of high quality domain names, mostly dot-com, that I can see a future use in my company, that I can conceivably "keep forever" and don't have to ever sell; dropping domains I consider "worthless" or low value, e.g. 2-word hyphenated domains where I already own the non-hyphenated dot-com). But, folks are adults, and can make their own choices.

Not to say that I'm always "rational". I know that on average I will lose money if I buy a lottery ticket, for example, but occasionally will still plunk down $5 on a single Lotto Max ticket if the jackpot is big enough! (I won't spend hundreds of dollars in a week, though, like some people do)

 

[branding]

Why would any of us trust another domain investor.

I'm not the guy to follow people blindly but when it comes to trust, there are some people commenting on this thread who's opinion I trust a lot.

Why? Follow them around for a bit. I like people who put their money where their mouth is and if you are able to read between the lines it's easy to find very experienced domainers with a kind heart , and very knowledgeable, willing to give advice and help where needed.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

But we should not do anything that takes the responsibility for their decisions away from the person themselves. Each of us should be responsible for our own decisions.

But in general, I think don't really sink in until the person makes their own mistakes. Registering and dropping 200-300 names is painful. It's money that could be spent on other things.

I think each investor has a plan, solid or not, that I may not know about. I respect that.

I think these sentiments sum up the answer for domain investing, crypto investing, fishing, stock investing, or just about anything else in life.

People are driven by curiosity, experimentation, and free will. In the end, all of us are ultimately responsible for our own actions. If someone asks advice on their names, then by all means let them have any criticism that you think will help them. But if they are not asking for the advice, and even worse, if they have been given unwanted advice over and over again, are we really making life better for that person?

The chances that any significant number of people on here are dumping all their money into bad domains, and are no longer able to buy food, is pretty slim. Though, I've seen people go to the casino and blow their life savings in a matter of months. Do I now have a duty to stand outside the casino with a Public Service Announcement? Of course not. It's common sense you shouldn't do this. But people do it every day.

Luckily, as domain investors, all of us face 1 day every year where we're forced to reflect on our past decisions and that is renewal day. If we made a poor choice last year by registering 1,000 bad domains ($8,500 worth), then decide to re-register all 1,000 of those domains without getting a single sale, then I don't think it matters what advice we get at that point.

Aside from my main collection of domains bought between years 2000-2020, I've made other posts on NamePros where I've laid out how I've gone from a $20k ($10k one year and $10k 3 years later) domain investment with a partner in 2015 and turned that into over $40k per year in recurring annual sales from this same account, and also detailed how this year I was able to get a $24,500 sale from that same set of domains. In other posts, I've given the same (or better) guidelines I've used myself in buying each domain in recent years. Do any of the people follow this advice when registering bad domains? Not even close. Yet, it's all out there for free just like countless amounts of good information on here.

So even though we think we are just saving people by telling them the "truth", the information is out there already and it's FREE. If they are deciding not to read it, and are not asking for advice, then we should really just let them be. In life, some people prefer learning via their own experience and path.

Now that I've reflected on everything, I really went through some distinct stages in Domain Investing and if I try to pull someone out of stage 1 and stick them in stage 5, is it really going to work? For the right person it may, but likely it will not.

• Stage 1 (Liking the domain idea stage) - Bought names that interested me (up to 300-450 domains)
• Stage 2 (Hmmm, my names are not half bad stage) - Got unsolicited offers on domains
• Stage 3 (I don't like selling my names, what if I find names that others like stage) - Started buying names to sell.
• Stage 4 (I've sold a domain that others like stage) - Sold my first domain
• Stage 5 (Maybe I should buy more of these stage) - Bought 1,000 more domains
• Stage 6 (Maybe I should buy even more of these stage ) - Sold $20k in domains in 1 year

I've gone through many stages since then, and many that required learning new information or new ways of thinking. Traveling between each of these stages is a paradigm shift between what you currently believe and what your new set of beliefs are. Stage 1 by itself took a few years for me as I didn't even know domain investing existed. Stage 2 to Stage 4 took me about 1-2 years. So everyone is really on their own journey in one way or another.

 

[equity78]

I try to help people stop wasting money, but you are often met with belligerent push back and no respect for people who have actually accomplished something in the field.

I am willing to help someone who wants to learn, but it seems like more and more Dunning Kruger's seem to think they already know it all.

Brad

Exactly most people don't want help and think you are a hater. There is also the part about telling another human being you no little about how to spend their money.

Lastly, most importantly in my opinion, I have written before about how when bad names sell it traps people into thinking their names are good.

https://tldinvestors.com/2020/01/domainer-trap.html

I would also add I know who Brad Mugford is and his background, for many a nameless avatar giving advice who themselves has never displayed any real success whether from being private or they actually have had none, will illicit responses from new investors that are less than receptive.

 

[capybara]

Why would you try to save anyone?

The whole domain industry is but a microbe comparing to gambling. People waste terrific amounts of money on what is essentially a scam and sometimes have their lives completely ruined by that.

As well there are "freemium" video games which are unfair by design, make people addicted and then suck their cash, stupid farm games and so much more. Not mentioning real life addictions to alcohol and drugs. Comparing to all that, people who have a hobby of domain registration while doing this on NP and keep communicating with others are certainly not hopeless!

Besides, everyone here is everyone's competition. Each "unsellable" domain is in favor of an aftermarket one: when a person starts looking for a name for their project, they might consider a "worthless" ZZZ but it is taken. Could be worth registering, but not worth buying, sure, its an unsellable name! So they go and buy XXX because of it, because of "unsellable" ZZZ not being available.

And finally, it is quite often that aftermarket names are never being used after purchase. They may sit idle for years and even end being dropped. So buying aftermarket domains sometimes is a "waste of money" for the end users too. Would you agree to unconditionally refund everyone who never happened to use a name they purchased from you? Because, you're such a good person

 

[BaileyUK]

The real trouble with being honest in your criticisms of poor registrations is that it is quite often undermined by many more ill informed domainers posting positive comments . So everytime you offer as advice and add your reasons why - it's going to be countered by many more just "Great - worth $X,XXX easily etc etc. (these are people that often dedicated to their own bad buying)

This is particularly true with appraisals of new TLD's . So who does the poster choose to believe. ?? Then of course your also going to be attacked by those other commentators who feel your post is an attack on them also. (Thankfully, has decreased somewhat as of late - but that has been mostly due to calling these people out)

The real shame is is that we have some popular posters on here at NP, who really don't have a clue about buying or selling domains (or very little) - they'll argue the toss about their history - but unfortunately that seems to be mostly prolific posting rather than any Real experience . You know the type Happy to defend their "I made ten sales" what they wont comment on is that they barely add up to a $100 in total. Still they have NP badges that say they are Brilliant,

I love to give positive feedback and comments where I can - (that was a nice four letter domain posted yesterday that I enthused about) Just these are hard to find to talk about - My stance these days is to Counter the bullshitters in the thread and take the Flack - NOT the original poster requesting comments

 

[equity78]

This is true, but the main issue here is that most of the experienced sellers will not divulge their sales, so is hard to exactly know who is selling for what. Also, there are experienced sellers who have invested in diverse niches and will try to pump their niche, no matter if others will loose or not, so the advice something just to pump your domains, could be in bad faith. There are domainers who have overpaid for their domains and even if they have domains better than the average (as in only LLLL.com's,) they will loose money or they will be in the red for a long time, so they will not be the best advisors, even if they own some decent domains. Also, you have to keep in mind that even the best domainer will do some mistakes sometimes, so it will be hard to just listen blindly to others( I can give as example personal experience with a few pros from here saying about a domain that it's not worth even 1 cent, just to get more than 1 inquire for it and selling it for over 100 times more than my acquisition price). So, the general advice is good, that you need to listen to your 'oldies', but that doesn't mean that you need to do it blindly and that you don't need to try to experience yourself certain failures.

I agree you can never follow someone or something blindly. I have never espoused that notion.

Look I started regging domain names in 1997, I never spoke to anyone about domaining, I would have never asked anyone anything, just not my nature, I learn stuff on my own, never ask anyone anything.

I get asked for help all the time, I am happy to help someone, though with some questions I don't love to give advice, because what I am saying could be rooted in logic and is the right answer from a theoretical standpoint. But there are no absolutes. Anything can and does sell. Now you can't build a career off an outlier.

But I know if I told someone the comps suggest $1,500 to $3,000 for that name. And they go and sell for $20,000 they will be like you gave rotten advice.

Or someone asks, "You think it cool to register OliverStone.com?" I would advise against, if you are just looking to sell it to the famous filmmaker and director.

They come back just sold it for $6,000 and an autographed copy of the screenplay for Savages. So go F**K yourself Raymond!

There are so many variables to this business no advice is 100% foolproof. 1+1 does not always =2 here. Sometimes it equals a payday other times a UDRP or worse an ACPA case.

 

[bmugford]

You make many good and valid points. Whether someone is of the top 1% of domainers or of the bottom 1% the objectives are surely the same.

There are many successful domain investors that started with limited capital. They got where they are today by making good decisions over a long period of time, and sticking to a repeatable business model that worked. With cash flow, then you are in a stronger position to reinvest.

It is rare someone is just magically a successful domainer. Not wasting money is a big key to getting to that point eventually.

If someone spends $1million buying a domain and sells it a few weeks later for $2million then this is the same as someone buying a domain for $10 and selling it a few weeks later for $20. The return on the respective investments is still the same percentage. One just has more zeros at the end.

No, it is not the same thing. In one case you made $10. In the other case you made $1M.

The ROI might be the same, but unless you can repeat it 100,000 times then it is not the same.

Brad

 

[pb]

I tend to stay quiet when I see people posting crap domains in "reg of the day" or "snap of the day" threads, just as I tend to stay quiet when people post crap domains going for 4-figures in "report completed sales".

Thing is, it's very subjective so while it's great to share tips and advice about regging/buying domains, it's not always wise to comment on how someone uses that advice, because nobody is always right.

 

[bmugford]

The main thing that I take issue with is being told that I am obviously a bad domainer as I have yet to make a sale. You could make hundreds of sales and still lose money. Would that make you a good domainer? No. It would make you a good salesperson. We are often told that it is a marathon and not a sprint so why do I get such a hard time about my lack of sales.

I can learn from the lessons of yesterday and apply them to the world of tomorrow. Judge me when I am finished is all I ask. It's only been just over one year.

Yes, that is true that sales alone don't really matter if you are losing money.

However, it is hard to even know if you are on the right path without a proof of concept. That involves actually making sales.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Err maybe these two consider themselves well-established?
https://www.coca-cola.com/
https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/

Although not as large, or old, perhaps, also
https://www.chick-fil-a.com/

I am sure there are many examples from Germany, since 17% of .de sales are hyphenated.

Bob (aka B-o-b )

Also, https://www.harley-davidson.com

Brad

 

[bmugford]

I hate to say it, but most newbie domainers are pretty dense. I just re-read my article and cannot comprehend why it received so many downvotes. People, please wake up.

The field has a low bar to entry. For $10, or often much less with a coupon code, anyone can register a domain and be a "domainer".

The leap from simply registering domains to becoming a profitable domain investor is massive.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Sometime it is not ethical to judge other domains, even they are craps, unless the owner asked forum opinion. It is better to give an education on free domaining sites like Domain Sherpa, DomainInvesting, Rick's Blog, etc.

I agree. I would not go out of my way to generally mention someone else's domain unless they bring it up first, especially as far as asking for an opinion.

Still, I would say about 90% of domaining is just figuring out what a quality domain is...what has potential to sell.

That is the foundation you need to proceed to any further steps in the process.

Brad

 

[BaileyUK]

Interventions can help people learn more rapidly, with fewer errors along the way, but they must be done emphasizing the positive

I have no problem with people being evangelist by nature. I do however object to it being supported and demonstrated by very rare examples as if as in someway supporting that bad decision making. Even when positivism is intended

This is not a church or classroom where you can nurture understanding or direction over time even years.(as in your example) This is a Business proposition we are talking about here, I think many times,(probably most) The Cold hard truth will always save both wasted money, time and frustration and possibly even far worse. Even when the truth hurts.

For me giving my reasons and justifications is far better for learning than blanket encouragement. Unfortunately many don't have the historic experience to share - And I understand that