How many Domainers are there?

[GreenGambler]

Hello,

I've been wondering if anyone knows how many individuals and businesses own 3 or more domain names today compared to, say 5 years ago or even 10 years ago? Or how about how many people own 5 or more or even 10 or more DNs?


I think this information would be helpful in forecasting future values of rare or soon to be rare domain names.

Anyone know where I can find this?

 

[Domainate.com]

I know Wikipedia listed something like 8,000 - 10,000, but how long ago that was listed there I dunno.

 

[-REECE-]

Hello,

I've been wondering if anyone knows how many individuals and businesses own 3 or more domain names today compared to, say 5 years ago or even 10 years ago? Or how about how many people own 5 or more or even 10 or more DNs?


I think this information would be helpful in forecasting future values of rare or soon to be rare domain names.

Anyone know where I can find this?

There are hundreds of thousands of people who own 10+ names. I wouldn't really call 10 or less names a domainer... Many people and companies alike have 10+ domains to protect their trademarks, rather than for resale purposes.

I'm not really sure what you mean by rare/soon to be rare domain names. If you mean rare, as in good names already registered, then the case could be made that domain names are already rare. Remember, a domain name is worth what people are willing to pay for it -- just like a stock's price. You can't compare P/E (price to earnings) in the case of stocks, or LLL.com's, and try to make a case for the future value of LL.com's, LLLL.com's NNN.com's, generic.com's, etc. Your best bet would be to read www.dnjournal.com and follow the prices each week. See what names similar to yours are going for...

 

[GreenGambler]

Thanks Reece,

I do follow the DNjounal and it is a helpful resource

You are correct in what I am reffering to as "rare". I think that if there is a limited number of a certain type of "anything" that makes it rare.

Generic English one word .com DNs for instance are rare IMO, because the percentage of all .com DNs regged that are acutally one English word is low, I'm sure.

Also I would consider a LLL.com to be more rare than a LLLL.com, simply because there are less of them.

And when something is 'rare' there is almost always a collector

 

[-REECE-]

Thanks Reece,

I do follow the DNjounal and it is a helpful resource

You are correct in what I am reffering to as "rare". I think that if there is a limited number of a certain type of "anything" that makes it rare.

Generic English one word .com DNs for instance are rare IMO, because the percentage of all .com DNs regged that are acutally one English word is low, I'm sure.

Also I would consider a LLL.com to be more rare than a LLLL.com, simply because there are less of them.

And when something is 'rare' there is almost always a collector

You're welcome, and yes -- you certainly are right about collectors Seems there's just about nothing that isn't collected by someone out there :wave:

 

[cache]

what is the definition of a domainer?
As the reg gets lower, certainly more people would want to own domains.

 

[GreenGambler]

what is the definition of a domainer?
.

Do you honestly not know what I am talking about? Or are you pointing out that 'domainer' is not a real word? It's real as far as I'm concerned

Domainer: A person or group of people who buy, develop and/or sell domain names for profit or hobby.

 

[Paddy]

Domainer: A person or group of people who buy, develop and/or sell domain names for profit or hobby.

IMO.. if its for a hobby, where anyone with 3-5+ domains is included, then i think its xxx,xxx or more.

However, those doing it full time and earning a living from it, perhaps xx,xxx or less.

 

[Mark]

The definition will always be too vague :p Some people can make their living off one domain ...

There really is no telling how many Individuals there are in this industry. I'm more worried about the "Big Brother" Corporate types lately

 

[Smith]

However, those doing it full time and earning a living from it, perhaps xx,xxx or less.

I would say 1,000 or less.

you know . . . not counting the people who are unemployed hobby domainers.

 

[Mark]

I would say 1,000 or less.

you know . . . not counting the people who are unemployed hobby domainers.

It's got to be higher than 1,000 - "Making a living" and "Living Large" are two separate things -

 

[Smith]

Individual domainers not working for companies in the industry, I really doubt it.

 

[Mike]

I'm more worried about the "Big Brother" Corporate types lately

Yep, over regulation is slowly coming upon us. Internet and trademark law is definitely the future for attorneys. Kinda sad to see what happened to something that was originally concepted to be "free" space.

Anyhow, to the topic at hand: While i agree that there's no set definition as to how many domains someone needs to own before being considered a domainer, :imho: it's 20 domains or more, regardless of the value or revenue generated from it.

 

[wow!]

There are hundreds of thousands of people who own 10+ names.

Where are they hiding????

I guess there are only less than 100 daily active domainers ...
I mean pro domainers , not kids with 10 domains...

:hehe:

 

[mirrorcube]

Would like a definitive answer to this one myself. Obviously the number is variable and I believe the number will only grow. I guess you first need to have a standard definition of a domainer and then have a census method. They are over 50k members on Namepros, does that mean there are at least 50k?

Personally i would like more opinions on this thread but as for me i would say a domainer is one who makes certain amount of money (not sure what would be the starting point) a year from domains or at least owns 100 domains.