strategy How many domains have you dropped from your portfolio this year so far?

[Save Breach]

I had been curious to know what drop strategy/approach domainers have adopted when it comes to holding some names and dropping the rest. Having seen a lot of domainers following an aggressive drop strategy it got me thinking how many domains domainers drop on an average from their portfolio as I feel this could be a valuable metric to understand and develop a strategy of not holding on to or, getting attached to a particular name, and only acquiring quality names.

So, How many domains have you dropped from your portfolio this year?

Are these drops mainly from what you handregged or, even those that you acquired a long time back but see no potential in no longer retaining it? What made you feel its no longer worth retaining?

I recently asked this question and got many interesting responses from the industry leading domainers on Twitter that maybe worth looking into

Jason says he cut his portfolio by 12% which seems a significant figure, and is further planning to liquidate another 12% of it, and replacing it with better ones!

According to @Bob Hawkes he has dropped some 250 names or, about 38% of this portfolio which is a massive figure, as is the portfolio. Nevertheless, its important to diversify investment into different sectors, amazing advice!

@TERADOMAIN says he DROPPED 0, which is surprising and justifies his user name QualityNames, I 'm really surprised that some people are consistently able to maintain a 0 drop rate and 100% hold. This was an interesting observation. I'm on the same boat right now though very apprehensive if its a wise decision to hold on but great too know some are doing it!

@Keith DeBoer liquidates about 5%

lastly @Robbie has dropped only one, still very impressive

How many have you? What are your thoughts on dropping names? How has this year been?

 

[johnn]

The fear is you will receive an offer as soon as you dropped them.

 

[Recons.Com]

That's a lot! how many do you hold currently?

Whats your drop and reg/acquisition strategy?

Cheers

Currently, I am at 6900+ domains. And I am doubling every 12 months. So next year this time I should have around 14K names.

I am dropping less than a percent, because, as Hiren wrote, the homework is done at the time of buying. Another reason is that I value my time high, so all the hassle of buying to test for a year or two is not worth it for me. Third reason is the experience: the names I dropped or was about to drop often get offers/buys that would pay for all other names I would be considering to drop for couple of years. Basically, even the worst of my names should be able to get 0.5% STR among them, enough to pay the renewals for the batch and I don't need to worry so much.

Few drops here and there are either of experimental nature or I just can't remember what I was thinking 1-2 years ago getting the name or something that GD manages to slide in occasionally with mistypes that look fine at first glance and GD puts higher value on them, so you don't even suspect that it could be a typo. Very sneaky.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for the compilation.

According to @Bob Hawkes he has dropped some 250 names

It is perhaps my clumsy wording in the tweet, but you misinterpreted what I said. I have dropped about 75 (from 650) - not 250. The 250 figure you calculated came from a stated goal to eventually get back to 400 names. Whether I ever achieve that, we will see. I simply would prefer to do a better job of trying to sell 400 than to hold 650. Also, prefer to move up in quality.

My portfolio always contains a mix of long term holds and one year trials. In the latter case, if no evidence of interest after one year, I ask myself do I have reason to think that would change in year two (occasionally in emerging tech, etc., yes). I normally drop quite a few, but no have not dropped 250 this year!

I might also comment on the other part - as important as how many names, is how many different niches/sectors are represented. I am trying to be more focussed that way, while still maintaining a good diversification across numerous sectors.

Bob

 

[garptrader]

The greatest mistakes domain investors make are 1) overestimating the likelihood that a domain name will sell and 2) overestimating how much an end user will be willing to pay for a domain they have interest in.

 

[Recons.Com]

I drop about 1% and add about 101% every year.

 

[1Darko]

Very interesting question and thread. I have checked my dropped names an that's the result:

I have dropped in 2020 until today: 122 domains
Domain investors have picked up: 30 domains
Endusers or others have found and developed 6 domains:
Umzug /dot/ pro
Mambo /dot/ biz
AutoDoctor /dot/ biz
Medlab /dot/ biz
igame /dot/ live
HomeAndGarden /dot/ biz

In 2020 I have added 90 domains.
In total I have 204 domains.

Before I drop my domains they are always for sale in auction here at namepros!

 

[biggie]

Hi

i think i dropped five or six names so far this year

i know three of them sold on NJ and i got a cut of those sales.

one was picked up and reused as link to a website
the others were picked up by HD that i know of.

some names i drop, because they were acquired for performance and no longer met their standard to retain.
others, i may have dropped, just because... and didn't want to try and sell them.

with some names, i might regret letting go, even if i sell them or drop em'


imo....

 

[BrandPlease]

The fear is you will receive an offer as soon as you dropped them.

HAHA, had the real life situation that made that real to me (a couple years back) - about a month before an expiration (maybe a little longer, long enough to get the renew now message) before a name was scheduled to drop.... I got that wonderful Afternic (name sold) message. I sat on that name a couple years, parked it, tested it for any sign of life(traffic), interest as a brandable (nothing). - the name was (if I'm remembering correctly) in dot com - Rent My Toy.

Had to go back an reeval them all. But now, with more experience - the real control has to be on the purchase end. Try to take the need to drop off the table & only spend $ as if it can not be dropped.

For the pure response to the OP poll, I purposefully choose to target under 800 in my portfolio. I had a far larger portfolio about 2 years back and have have found sub-800 to about the largest portfolio I can effectively manage (alone) - unless I dropped all dev & design services.

Best of luck!

 

[alcy]

i check if and what offers they got... but first and foremost a folio is and should be a super dynamic thing that evolves (changes) as u as domainer evolve and gain experience each year. this experience is or should be the primary decision maker in what u keep..drop... add ....

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Somewhere between 1-2% every year.

 

[CircusMaximus]

In the process of dropping 2,000 domains over one year. Cutting from 17k back to 15k.

 

[pb]

Your as good as your worst domain on NamePros I have been told none of my names will ever sell but they do but you will always be judged on worst domain never best.

You will be judged by the worst but you will be remembered by the best.
Make a $1M or "just" six-figure sale and nobody will ever mention the former.
And even without spectacular sales, if you keep balance in your folio, people may scratch their heads over some names but refrain from judgements.

 

[koolishman]

I may drop about 20+ or so in coming months.

 

[twiki]

None, but planning to downsize a bit. Dropping 1K names until the end of the year.

Edit: they're part of a niche testing tier, not really meant for long hold, mostly

 

[Cannuck]

I've thinned out approx. 30 domains and added 15 (hand reg'd), which is equivalent to an overall 5% drop in the total number of domains in my portfolio.

 

[Mister Funsky]

So, How many domains have you dropped from your portfolio this year?

Less than 1%

 

[LUP]

So, How many domains have you dropped from your portfolio this year?
How many have you? What are your thoughts on dropping names? How has this year been?

I never let my domains dropped, before buying it I must to like it and understand what I am investing

If that doesn't sell, I'll make sure I can use the domain myself in my project

Because my budget is limited, I don't want to buy just any name just because of the trend

I only hold about 10 names and I'm proud of them

 

[D Haynes]

2 or 3 but they weren't names I was trying to sell. I tend to drop names which I intended to use for my own projects way more than names I put up for sale.

 

[jim h]

I might give up% 20-60% of manually registered domains, which would be 180 to 580.

 

[Rich]

The fear is you will receive an offer as soon as you dropped them.

Fomo is real, it happens to the best of us. I've liquidated names in a tough spot to find they later sold at end user pricing. One of the reasons I delete my sale listings as soon as I move a name..don't remember receiving a higher offer (outside auctions) after I've sold it and it's just common courtesy to delete from marketplaces right away. It works the other way around too, sold xx valued liquidations for xxxx plenty of times, and hand regs you wouldn't expect to sell near final expiration. I've also went a year without selling a name, regular sales are not guaranteed to many domainers without full-time commitment or large sought-after portfolio.

 

[lock]

Huge culls this year ending up a lot lighter. Getting inbound on the names i am dropping as getting picked up. Got rid of typos and worst of my brands and some gtlds that aren't worth holding.

 

[Shaan Chopra]

2 names till date

 

[Save Breach]

The fear is you will receive an offer as soon as you dropped them.

Sometime back I heard @Riz M. made $4000 out of a $25 liquidation, very true indeed. Must be a nightmare for the domainer who liquidated it for so low!!! I just can't remember the name, but this happens a lot of times I guess.

Then @DnFolk had a similar experience I guess, which he wrote about on a thread

Cheers

 

[Save Breach]

Umzug /dot/ pro
Mambo /dot/ biz
AutoDoctor /dot/ biz
Medlab /dot/ biz
igame /dot/ live
HomeAndGarden /dot/ biz

thanks for adding them! much appreciated. very interesting to see end users grabbing dropped names, maybe we can put this into consideration as to which niche should be given priority while holding, I see Med is a good niche (for .biz) in your case

Cheers