question How/when did you get into domaining?

[Coldtrigger]

How and when did you get into the business of domaining in the first place? How did you hear about it and what were the first steps you took? ie did you just jump in feet first or did you study the landscape first? Do you still hold any of the first names you bought?

It would be interesting to know where everyone started, regardless of where you are now in the business.

 

[SpareDomains]

2002 or 2003 had a few websites running, got an email on a domain I hadn't put to use yet and sold it for 1k. Thought about it and said damn might be something to just domains themselves as just turned a hand reg into 1k. Over the last 13 years or so have turned a good handful of $8 expired pickups into 1k, 5k, 6.5k, 7.5k etc... but that first 1k sale on a hand registered domain really floored me and started the madness.

My game has always been ROI based, never been let me buy a 100k domain and sell it for 200k my game has always been lets buy an expired $8 domain and try to turn it into 1-10k as I think that's more of a challenge along with being minimal risk. If I don't think a business would pay at least 1k I try not to own it.

I've always had a stack of websites running from day #1 so I've always had a solid growing income coming in along with being super busy maintaining and expanding/reinvesting into the network of sites which helps in being a passive seller that holds for the right price as honestly not enough hours in my day for low profit deals. Buy low, sell high and continually reinvest has been my formula as was never worried about today's income was always a 10-20 year out plan of continuous reinvesting/expansion.

Any domain I've ever developed and then changed my mind on I hold the domains in case I decide to bring it back down the road along with not wanting anyone else to develop on something I previously developed so yeah still hold a few of my first domains.

 

[UVnames]

This may sound like a joke, but it's actually true:

Not too long ago I tried to buy poopy dot com from a tier-1 investor who quoted me $30k. I couldn't understand why poopy was worth that much money. After regaining clarity from frustration, I realized that there was something I was missing. So I decided to learn as much as I could, and here I am, still learning.

I actually just got a brokerage inquiry asking if I was still interested in poopy dot com the other day. It made me chuckle.

 

[Halen]

For me it was purely accidental in 1996, I wanted a domain name for software program I developed. Back then it felt like you had to jump through numerous hoops to get a domain name. Plus I seem to recall the cost per year was $70+.

Ever since 1996 I've been picking up domain names, mostly for projects or companies. There are very few that I own for pure speculation. With that said I'm sitting on 130+ domain names.

 

[NameClerk]

Early 2004. I had been making decent side income selling products on Ebay. Finding things to sell was always the biggest problem. When I did find good deals, there was never a continuous supply. The well would run dry and I'd have to start over and find something else.

There were a lot of domain sellers on Ebay back then. I came across a lot of their listings while researching my own stuff. There was one in particular, username synthetic_rhyme, that seemed to be making a killing. I really dissected that users business model, and attempted to do the same. I did pretty well but eventually moved completely away from Ebay once I found Namepros, Sedo, and the now extinct Afternic Bazaar.

I've been involved with domains ever since. I've disappeared for awhile on a couple occasions but continue to come back because I find the process of finding good names very addicting.