Dynadot

question HOW LONG ONE SHOULD KEEP A BRANDABLE NAME?

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch

Haroon Basha

Service.xyzTop Member
Impact
7,664
This is with regard to Brandable names that we have been keeping at Brandbucket, Brandpa, SquadHelp etc. It is really not worth to keep hundreds of names, paying them renewal fees year after year, but you actually sell one or two names per year at these Brandable marketplaces. In fact we are losing by keeping our brandable names.

I decided to put them on Sale at NameJet Auctions. The tragedy is that there also very low response to these brandable names. I am surprised how these Brandable Marketplaces accept our names and giving us a false hope that the names will be sold.

Please share your views and let us debate.
 
8
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Hello, I have this same thought. However, as far as profitability, if you have 100 names, and if you sell even one a year @ $2500 minus 30% commission = $1600 or so, but the renewals for 100 domains is only $800. So on what you stated, it's still profitable to renew them.
 
9
•••
2
•••
Can you tell us what one name sells for NJ?

I too have wanted experiment listing there, DC,
 
Last edited:
1
•••
As long as you have faith in that particular name.
 
2
•••
Forever imho. But at some point consider developing even if it's just branded pages. You can get a professional logo made and offer it for sale. Sometimes sitting as a landing page from the Registrar just isn't good enough.
 
1
•••
This is a great question. I believe that the best brandable sellers are constantly reviewing and recycling their portfolios, buying names with keywords that are newly trending and selling names that they believe are no longer in demand. I think it's important to be really active with your portfolio if you're going to be truly successful at these marketplaces.

Acceptance of a name by BB or BP is not the be-all-end-all; it is only one metric that tells you that you might have a good name. You need to evolve into a domainer that knows their name is good before they even submit it to the brandable marketplaces.

Two members who could probably speak to this very knowledgeably are @Keith DeBoer and @JimJammy.
 
9
•••
If the portfolio as a whole is profitable then I guess you just keep renewing. Maybe set a maximum amount of renewals for names so if they don't sell within 3 years they get dropped.

If I remember correctly one of the DSAD team has a strategy of buying thousands of names during offers and sales and only keeps them for a year (except the best few) pricing them cheaply relying on moving high amounts of stock and replenishing the portfolio with new names offen.
 
3
•••
this always comes back to quality over quantity

the quality of your brandable portfolio will determine how many you sell - if you are not getting at least 2%+ sell-through rate, you may want to re-evaluate the names you have. drop/liquidate the ones that aren't getting any traction or views
 
5
•••
Since the large majority of names on these markets are hand reg a long wait is to be expected. The only false hope is thinking good names always sell in the first year. Too many have a flimsy one year throw anything at the wall strategy.

Don’t buy names you don’t intend to keep at least a couple years. You should expect a wait and continue to renew the names you most believe in.
 
11
•••
i agree, based on my stats i range from 1 month to 9 years to sell a name, with an average of 3.4 year hold time.

So if you arent that confident the name is good, don't buy and don't reg

expecting a marketplace to magically sell names doesn't happen - good names sell, crap names wont
 
4
•••
As @Joe Nichols said getting our domains on to a sale platform is no guarantee of a sales or profits. Whether that platform is Afternic or BB or Sedo. I put 50 domains on one of the Brandable platforms for 2 years and had no sales. That can happen to anyone on any platform if they have a small folio.

I generally encourage domainers to have a long term view. I think we need to commit to 2 or 3 years. Something like..... renew 90% after the first year. Renew 60% after the 2nd year and at the end of the third year if you are not profitable you need to consider liquidating most or all of your domains.

Domaining is very speculative and profit margins are thin when we only sell 1% or 2% of our inventory per year. The real value is in building on small successes and expanding one's folio., Either by buying more entry level domains and having a larger folio or by selecting a small number of higher quality domains and being content with a very small number of sales per year.

People give a lot of emphasis to Sell Thru Rate (STR) on sales platforms or with their own portfolio. But STR has little meaning to me.

What matters is: Am I profitable?

One can have a high STR and be losing money because they over paid or underpriced their acquisitions. Likewise the STR can be very low on a large folio and there can be mega profits because of the high number of sales. Most platforms (and domainers) massage their sales and inventory numbers to boost up their STR. So I never make decisions based on claimed STR's. What matters are my numbers, my profits (or losses) on my ENTIRE portfolio.

It's all about money management and business acumen in addition to domain knowledge and domain acquisition budget and skills.

Good luck! May all your sales be to end users!
 
Last edited:
25
•••
at least 5 years.. then check inquiries u got and do your homework.
 
1
•••
I don't use any brandable marketplace at the moment, but I think you're looking at things the wrong way.

Always keep in mind that every domain is unique, so it can be both dangerous and wrong to have a broad rule like "drop everything after 4 years" or anything like that.

The key is to have a good grasp on BOTH:
1- the potential sales price vs annual holding cost (effectively your sales multiple), AND
2- potential sales through rate for each of your domains.

If you multiply that number together and it equals over 100%, then the domain is a keeper .. if it's under 100%, then it's a liability you should drop.

For example, if a domain costs you $10 to renew and you think you can sell it at $1500 at a 1% sell-through rate, then it's good because you're selling at 150x your annual cost .. then multiply that by 1% and you have 150% .. a portfolio of similar names should get you 150% of your costs a year (for a 50% profit).

On the other hand, if you think you can only sell the same domain at $700 with the same 1% sell though, then it's only 70x ... and multiply that by 1% and you get 70% .. which means that you'll lose 30% of your money every year.

If you want to know more about domain portfolio math, check these links:
http://namecult.com/turning-10000-into-1000000-in-6-years-of-domaining/
https://www.namepros.com/threads/turning-10-000-into-1-000-000-in-6-years-of-domaining.1175266/


Also .. always remember that the math of running a profitable brandable market place is completely different from being a profitable portfolio. Just because they are doing well has no relation to whether or not you will do well ... and vice-versa.
 
7
•••
Generic will bring traffic but brands are selling how long should you keep any name well let a few go and watch others snap them up always a bit of an indicator your throwing away good money if dropping and others want them.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
Thanks @Haroon Basha for raising excellent question. I personally do not see any great value addition from these marketplaces where they charge hefty 25-30% commission.

Instead I will suggest you to have your own webpage and privacy off Whois for all domains. If your domain is really impressive the end user will certainly find your address and in this case without any commission you can improve your profitability.

In my 5 months in this sector what I observed is do exactly opposite in almost all activities be it privacy, parking, pricing, sell strategies etc. what these marketplace "recommend" and you will certainly reduce your loss if you are not able to make profit during first year. Remember more transactions & bigger portfolio are great for marketplaces & registrars. For investors like us low maintenance & high margin is best options thus instead of quantity focus on quality and few but meaningful transactions every year.
 
Last edited:
4
•••
My opinion is that if you are losing money then you need to start refreshing your portfolio. Keep only top quality domains and start liquidating lower quality domaind and replace them with better domains.

I do refresh my portfolio regularly but slowly, where I liquidate bottom 10% domains and replace them with better ones. I do this every 3-4 months.

The domains I tend to drop or liquidate when refreshing are usually:
- made up names
- weak keywords combo
- declining out of trend sector or niche

Regarding holding time, I dont think there is a specific recommended period, I would hold on a quality domain indefinitely, but I might not hold on a similar quality domain for more than 1 year, so it all depends on the names and what you believe will sell or not.
 
Last edited:
3
•••
There are a few names that will only ever sell on a brandable marketplace.
Most of these are the made up names that nobody will type-in categorically on a Reg Path.
You need the marketing exposure of the Brand Market place to sell them.


If your portfolio is not profitable, look up the portfolio of the leaderboard and compare your names to theirs and you will know why your names are not selling.
I drool at the some of the portfolio..

There are people with high STR who only lists high quality names (300-1500 USD Auction names) and they consistently sell for 10K+.. These are really in the trench and are in auctions everyday on NJ, DC, GDD.

I have been trying to mimic their portfolio. Any names that I feel will sell for 12-15K on SH, are now going for 1500 USD. I go in a budget of 500, Bid upto 10-1200 and let go if it gets too hot. Idea is to get lucky and snag good $100-$500 domains.. I chose names that could sell both on SH and Afternic/DAN

There are another group of people with High STR but with low end sales, like 1500-2000 per name. Now I can't expect to mimic them. They simply are pros in making up names. They aren't even domainers. I mean they could make a living making up names for babies of rich people. These are people who also win a lot of Naming contests on SH. Problem is people mimic them and come up with shitty made up names. Now if there were a small sample of made up names, they would sell.

There are tons of Made Up names which are multi million dollar start ups. Zivame, Zomato, Spenmo, Katoo, Tinvio, Dafiti, Carmudi, Linio, Lamudi, Zalando, Zalora, Jumia....

But there are so many made up names and now there are also so many high quality names on those platforms, it is hard to sell them.

---

This is just my observation
 
4
•••
This is with regard to Brandable names that we have been keeping at Brandbucket, Brandpa, SquadHelp etc. It is really not worth to keep hundreds of names, paying them renewal fees year after year, but you actually sell one or two names per year at these Brandable marketplaces. In fact we are losing by keeping our brandable names.

I decided to put them on Sale at NameJet Auctions. The tragedy is that there also very low response to these brandable names. I am surprised how these Brandable Marketplaces accept our names and giving us a false hope that the names will be sold.

Please share your views and let us debate.

No need to debate...this industry and the way it works is a JOKE pure and simple. Little has changed since I arrived on the scene three years ago, but I'm determined to affect change. I'm working on a project now that has the potential to revolutionize the domain industry forever. Far be it from this elder entrepreneur to sit back and hoard domains to the detriment of ALL concerned:xf.wink:[/QUOTE]
 
1
•••
Not all brandable domains are created equal. With low quality ones, it's more of a numbers game. So if for example a domainer owns a bunch of pronounceable 5L like Dwirg, Uravo, Axozu, Dizfo etc. and they're accepted into a brandable marketplace it's not the same as owning pronounceable 5L that are more likely to sell like Padly, Zengo etc. Those can also command higher prices. Some names are worth renewing year after year. Other names can be easily and cheaply replaced by similar quality domains. If a domainer is sitting on hundreds of domains that only produce 1-2 sales a year, it probably means that they need to have more quality domains because renewals on hundreds of low quality domains are eating away their profits. The fact that a marketplace accepts low end domains for low $XXXX only means that the marketplace thinks there's a potential for the domain to sell for that price. And some of these domains indeed sell, but only a small percentage. It's up to the domainer to decide which ones are worth keeping and which ones aren't. So IMO this isn't about false hope. It's about domainers needing to understand what quality of domains they're dealing with and how to play the numbers in a productive way if they're dealing with low end ones.
 
Last edited:
5
•••
Hello, I have this same thought. However, as far as profitability, if you have 100 names, and if you sell even one a year @ $2500 minus 30% commission = $1600 or so, but the renewals for 100 domains is only $800. So on what you stated, it's still profitable to renew them.
Exactly
 
1
•••
generics over brandables IMO

..because I have experience, #1 crypto portfolio hopes (new news/crypto terms to rise each day) :), domaining since January 1999
whois savvy + picky = "it got better"

vying to raise domainers thus far towards mainstream as dotcom Aftermarket at their best levels yet..




-have a special day
 
Last edited:
1
•••
Hello, I have this same thought. However, as far as profitability, if you have 100 names, and if you sell even one a year @ $2500 minus 30% commission = $1600 or so, but the renewals for 100 domains is only $800. So on what you stated, it's still profitable to renew them.

I agree with you somehow, but you got to keep moving and see for other domains as well, and you do not stick with only those 100 domains. You must need to have some strategy and need to refine the lists and had to take some decision to drop some (not good looking) domains.
 
3
•••
1
•••
you have to try to score 90% or above on test/trial.
189344_e5e1b6b19aa930b7c2abd904da87247d.png




-have a special day
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2020-11-02 at 1.21.43 AM.png
    Screenshot 2020-11-02 at 1.21.43 AM.png
    295.6 KB · Views: 207
1
•••
Back