discuss For the first time ever, I'm seeing a significant decline in drop catching competition. That, to me is quite significant.

[twiki]

As you know from the sales reports, I'm probably the one with most drop sales here, so I definitely know this.

Drop competition has been falling over the last few weeks. And it's the first time I saw this happening, ever since I started domaining.

This doesn't necessarily mean it will continue to decline. But anyway it's a first for me. Side note, most of my domains (and sales) are drops.

What I have observed:

- Unlike few months ago, good backorders are down, to just a very few are still caught, much fewer than in the past. I used to get 4-5 of these get my names quick (the ones I aimed for), now it's either one or none.

- DC used to get a lot of crap on the side. Now they seem to focus on the 5-fig and higher valuables, and overall I see much less DC on these days. Notably, 2 months ago this was still different.

Obviously they stii catch both great names and not so great . But in the last 2-3 weeks at least, they seem to go mostly for the 5-fig and ones taken in many TLD's and not much else (at least from my specific view).

- I have been able to register great domains 20 minutes later (got busy and forgot about regs). Before, all these used to be snatched in a minute or two.

- I have been able to do the above on Saturdays and Sundays - this has practically never happened before.

What this tells me, is that the market is spooked and especially the lower tier buyers are getting out. And I think it's for a good reason. And yeah, that Nasdaq has taken a toll (not the index itself but obviously the startups mayhem behind this).

What to do now?

- Well, if you ask me, I'm sharply downsizing my portfolio, so some of this availability is from me as well. The ones I get at drops are far fewer than before and I am being much more selective. I'd recommend the same to you - downsizing the portfolio. This is not the time to start binge buying names.

- It is possible that in a few months, really great domains will come available at drops but also at auctions. I have actually expected this ever since NASDAQ started falling.

Since domain owners might have trouble maintaining their portfolios further, some great names will eventually become available. I'd save some good money for that (I do have a few tens of K saved for that particular moment). But the time for that isn't here yet, it'll be however here in a few months. For now what is getting available is low to mid 4-fig range domains mostly. It is, however, significant in my opinion.

How is your buy experience lately?

Drop a comment please, appreciated. Thanks

 

[karmaco]

Its been easier to get domains on DC via either regular or discount catch for awhile now. I mean it might be affecting lower level names now but I have seen the trend allready occuring for at least 6 months.

I think several things are happening. People are getting more picky with their purchases. People are dropping more and keeping only their best.

People are allocating their funds among multiple things— traditional domains, nfts, ens and handshake domains, etc People are obtaining up and coming tech and crypto names. People spent alot on the meta boom etc.

Renewals rose and will continue to do so that has some bearing as well.

People are still spending money in this space. Just how where and why have changed a bit.

 

[twiki]

Its been easier to get domains on DC via either regular or discount catch for awhile now. I mean it might be affecting lower level names now but I have seen the trend allready occuring for at least 6 months.

I think several things are happening. People are getting more picky with their purchases. People are dropping more and keeping only their best.

People are allocating their funds among multiple things— traditional domains, nfts, ens and handshake domains, etc People are obtaining up and coming tech and crypto names. People spent alot on the meta boom etc.

Renewals rose and will continue to do so that has some bearing as well.

People are still spending money in this space. Just how where and why have changed a bit.

Correct.

However, for the names I aim for it has been like this only in the last month. I haven't seen any decline in the first 4 months of this year.

One has to follow the money trail nowadays.

 

[D Haynes]

In my experience of bidding in expired auctions across multiple platforms, names are getting much more expensive. Bottom tier names that were single bid names a year or two ago are now 200 bucks and up. Even names in much lesser extensions are going for silly prices.

 

[twiki]

In my experience of bidding in expired auctions across multiple platforms, names are getting much more expensive. Bottom tier names that were single bid names a year or two ago are now 200 bucks and up. Even names in much lesser extensions are going for silly prices.

Thanks for sharing your view.

Indeed I did not expect this to be happening everywhere already. However from my drops point of view, it's what happened and it's a first. I'm positive others have been observing it such as @karmaco mentioned above.

It might not happen yet at auctions. (Edit: will have to see if /when it will happen eventually.) Note, I do very little auctioning. I did however observe a moderate increase in availability for GD closeouts, but not as much as with drops.

If I had to do a lucky guess, I believe it this downtrend will also come to auctions eventually.

Domain investors with (still) a lot of cash might be still paying top dollar on auctions, monies still rolling hard. However if we talk about drops, these are more on the bottom of the barrel names (Edit: not that there isn't gold in there) and they aremore reachable to less $-heavy investors; well, I think these at least are spooked.

I'd expect any negative impact in the market to wipe out the bottom segments first, the cheaper names and smaller portfolios.

 

[zomainhacks]

Noticed the same in the last month and it is both good and very concerning

 

[twiki]

Noticed the same in the last month and it is both good and very concerning

That says it all, you nailed it.

 

[noneisnone]

the other way around for me any domain with some SEO juice is getting atleast 20 backorders

 

[zomainhacks]

the other way around for me any domain with some SEO juice is getting atleast 20 backorders

These are safer assets, might be for this

 

[noneisnone]

These are safer assets, might be for this

i wouldn't say they are safe the backlinks could get removed the metrics could change traditional domains are safer

 

[zomainhacks]

i wouldn't say they are safe the backlinks could get removed the metrics could change traditional domains are safer

yes, but it is a risk that is uncorrelated with the global economy

 

[PurpleMan]

Thanks for sharing your observations.

 

[Lox]

Drops & Auction vs Hunting DNs:

If you’re on the lookout for a cheap (high-calibre) DN:

Locate & figure out more about how you can obtain domain names that are already owned and registered by end-users.

Before you approach the current end-user of the domain you want, ... inspect:

Developed and/or MX (active email or not)? Zero NS (good sign), redirect (pertinent or not?).
Has it been frequently updated or hanging for year/s?
Trademark/Mark?
How many times domain name has been mentioned on social media / blogs / links.
....

Prepare your terms of purchase / sale agreements (doc. incl. transfers & escrow info) & replace negative/confusing words (no, don't, nothing, in case, other, maybe, etc) with attention-grabbing words with positive implications.

The end-user of the domain is probably interested in selling it for $xxx.

Keep acquisition deals Quiet. Don't brag about yourself; let sellers praise you.

Regards

 

[twiki]

i wouldn't say they are safe the backlinks could get removed the metrics could change traditional domains are safer

SEO does decrease with time unless you work on it. But at the time of purchase these are good (otherwise you would not buy them). You just have to continue building it afterwards. Theoretically juice will continue working for at least couple years if you don't lift a finger towards link building.

You can theoretically develop the site and sell it with the site, or sell stuff on it (affiliates, digital stuff, own physical products, dropship etc). Your ongoing cost being some cheap host and the domain renewal.

It could good business for difficult times if it comes to that.

By contrast, domain resale is more difficult as you have a constraint: sales ratio. If sales ratio drops (high chance of that ahead) AND if domain price drops even by a medium value (good chance of that ahead) then your portfolio might start making losses overall.

They are indeed safer assets, not the traditional domains.

With the caveat that top domains (5-fig and above) will outperform anything else anyway, but there's a limited (taken) supply of that stuff.

 

[twiki]

Drops & Auction vs Hunting DNs:

If you’re on the lookout for a cheap (high-calibre) DN:

Locate & figure out more about how you can obtain domain names that are already owned and registered by end-users.

Before you approach the current end-user of the domain you want, ... inspect:

Developed and/or MX (active email or not)? Zero NS (good sign), redirect (pertinent or not?).
Has it been frequently updated or hanging for year/s?
Trademark/Mark?
How many times domain name has been mentioned on social media / blogs / links.
....

Prepare your terms of purchase / sale agreements (doc. incl. transfers & escrow info) & replace negative/confusing words (no, don't, nothing, in case, other, maybe, etc) with attention-grabbing words with positive implications.

The end-user of the domain is probably interested in selling it for $xxx.

Keep acquisition deals Quiet. Don't brag about yourself; let sellers praise you.

Regards

You might be giving out too a bit much here.

 

[twiki]

One thing I feel I need to add here / restate even though it has been said multiple times:

The money is not in the sale. The money is always in the buy.

There's good times ahead for buys. You just have to be prepared either to wait OR have the sale ready - if there's a company you can outbound it now for some decent $$$$.

This has chance to go through rough times pretty well. But you will need a lot of planning /work to go with your domain. Net based fishing ain't gonna work anymore.

 

[Embrand]

I definitely agree that in maybe four to six months from now, more high-value domains will drop. So it would be wise to set funds aside. It might be the last chance in many years to purchase premium names at a good price.

Having said that, many expiring names at especially GoDaddy are still fetching very high prices I think. So it looks like many investors still have quite a lot of money to spend.

 

[twiki]

I definitely agree that in maybe four to six months from now, more high-value domains will drop. So it would be wise to set funds aside. It might be the last chance in many years to purchase premium names at a good price.

Having said that, many expiring names at especially GoDaddy are still fetching very high prices I think. So it looks like many investors still have quite a lot of money to spend.

Agreed.

Note, we are currently in the scare market; and not yet in the low to no money market. Hence the current high bidding. Indeed money is still plentifully available.

When that scarcity time comes, it will be a completely different game altogether.

 

[Mytz.com]

This is the normal fluctuation of the market,
This is true in all industries,
When it rises to a certain level, it starts to fall,
When it starts to fall to a certain point, it starts to rise,
Smart people are secretly buying at this time,
And then wait for the price to rise before selling,
Domain names are rising in the long run

 

[twiki]

This is the normal fluctuation of the market,
This is true in all industries,
When it rises to a certain level, it starts to fall,
When it starts to fall to a certain point, it starts to rise,
Smart people are secretly buying at this time,
And then wait for the price to rise before selling,
Domain names are rising in the long run

Actually you are correct.

Up and down is inherent in how the world economy is built (on debt - Edit: and greed). Also crashes are.

The problem is, will it be a soft landing or a crash from 30.000 feet?

It really does like the latter - sudden dive and supersonic ground hit.

Edit: The more economies will try bad crutches like money printing, the worse the ground hit will be - for all of us.

Edit2: Also I am buying indeed. But you need money, and a lot of. Invest now, carefully, for the future.

 

[biggie]

Hi

it all depends on what specific domains you are chasing.

sometimes it just falls thru the cracks
when others are sleeping
some have stepped away from the screen
while in the bathroom peeing

then time runs out....
and the winner is YOU

it depends...

imo...

 

[twiki]

Hi

it all depends on what specific domains you are chasing.

sometimes it just falls thru the cracks
when others are sleeping
some have stepped away from the screen
while in the bathroom peeing

then time runs out....
and the winner is YOU

it depends...

imo...

Nope. That's a variation from day to day.

I've said I see a significant decline over the last month at least. This hasn't been here, actually the opposite.