poll I am at 5000+ now, how many domains in your "keeper" portfolio?

[Recons.Com]

So, I finally crossed the 5000 threshold. Let's share here the portfolio sizes we currently have.

For the poll, I am asking to include only the keeper names, those you are likely to renew, not the heavily discounted names you are holding for a year only. But feel free to mention that portfolio size in the comments too.

As for my portfolio, It seems in past year I have more than doubled the size, buying over 2500 names just from GD auctions/closeouts. Most names are with the GD (see the screenshot) but I also have couple hundred at Epic, Dyna combined.

And I rarely drop names now, with probably under 1% being pruned.

 

[Recons.Com]

Some nice names there..

I have just over 500, Mostly keepers..

Thank you, sir. 500 seems to the sweet spot number for most. I guess it is not a lot of pressure if there is a down time, with about $4K in renewals, managing should be not hard either, while it could provide a sale every month or two.

 

[Recons.Com]

@Recons.Com you have very nice domains in your portfolio!

I have about 100 names, but approx. 50 intend to keep.

I have a personal problem that keeps me haunting: I am still unsure of the quality of my domain names, I don't know yet if I'm buying nice domains (closeouts and expired domains, some handregs).

Let me know your opinions if I'm on the good track:
https://dan.com/domain-seller/magna...ice=600-100000+&results=50&order_by=relevance

Thanks for sharing the details about your business model!

Santis, thank you. I checked out your portfolio. It shows only 55 names there. Overall, good mix. Especially, the ones that can be used as a company name or product name. Regarding being unsure, that is typical for everyone. Even at few K, I might have a down month and I start doubting things, and then I have a streak of few days with a sale and I go on buying spree Albeit, it is the same names. That is one of the motivations why I want to have at least 30K names so that the sales are less streaky and I can lay my hands on analytics on large scale to quantify what really works and what not. PM me if you want more specific feedback.

 

[Recons.Com]

About 100 or so are keepers. I register 2 - 5 years ahead for names I really like.

I don't see a point in paying renewals few years ahead for myself, although it might be reasonable for others. I'd rather use the funds to grow. I can put multiple years on actual developed website domains though, as it might be a SEO factor, albeit a tiny one.

 

[Recons.Com]

Great topic @Recons.Com , thanks for opening the poll. Congrats on reaching 5k domains, i am sure you will sell around 60+ a year. I have learned a lot from you and others sharing their purchases to being more selective on picking names and put in significant amount of work to find something that works. Currently have 300 domains, I only renew the .coms only around 170 (reinvesting 100% of the profits - I am targeting 500-700 by the end of this year) . This month was good for me so in total in the past 6 month have had 5 sales ( 2.35% sell through on the .coms / half a year) unfortunately still part time with daily 2h time investment.

Thank you, brother. You certainly have a talent and an open mind to ask questions. Your performance is fantastic. Don't expect the rate to be guaranteed on bigger scale though It is still a great indication that you are on the right track for growth.

Part-time is also wise at this stage. You need a regular income source in the beginning.

 

[Recons.Com]

35% is a lot... but then there is something like dan which is flat 9%
mass paypal payout so no extra paypal fee etc.

9% and 3% is not that big diference no? but I guess u do not want to go down that path.

in fact if u add a lead which is mostly what I do from my bodis inquiries... its only 5% on dan. basically equivalent to someoen paying you direct to paypal at the 4-5% fee. minus the chargebacks risks etc.

Here is the thing though. 35% is for BB and similar who provide real added value for that money by making logos, descriptions and selling at a higher rate than the average for the market.

Afternic asks for 20% and earns it by providing sales on their own by placing your name on the registrar path.

Dan makes 9% by simply providing a lander. I can provide the lander at 3% for myself. So that part is no-brainer for me (although Dan makes sense at smaller portfolio and if a person is not into development). If I am going to bring a lead, I could just do escrow at 2-3%. I brought a $2600 deal to escrow.com on days, paid the fees and netted 2525. If I brought to Dan, I'd have netted 2470$ or $55 less for the same thing. And if I had Dan lander for the name instead of my site (I did not have the product page setup for the name, so that is why the guy contacted instead of just clicking buy it now and I just suggested escrow, as the fee is very similar to credit card fee), I would have netted 2366$ or almost $160 less.

So, Dan is out of question for me, except just maybe listing there and see if they can earn their pay by getting clients without landers.

Regarding BB, Afternic, I am still happy to pay their fees for their sales, as they fully earn it, I just think I can grow considerably own sales and reduce overall commission for the year. For example, for 2018-19 it was at around 16% average. If eventually I get to half of that, it is 8% of revenue I can use in other ways, tens of thousands a year.

 

[Recons.Com]

Holding 3000 domains portfolio 97% .com,
Max % of domains bought from closeouts, rarely I will do hand reg.my aim is to reach 5000
I am going to drop 5 - 10% to maintain quality.

Thank you for sharing. 97% .com sounds like a safe bet, and closeouts can be a safer choice as typically average quality there is higher than at expired lists (which doesn't mean, someone cannot collect a good portfolio from there too).

How do you decide which 5-10% to drop? You chose those names for some reason after all?

 

[Recons.Com]

Thanks for the thread @Recons.Com -- I appreciate your comments.

I've just reached two years as a domainer, and here are my stats:

Purchased: 145
Dropped: 6
Sold: 84
Now Hold: 55
Keepers: about 15

I've been hovering near the break-even point for the last year, but have been lucky to be able to sell most of my early blunders. I've had two xxx sales, and the rest have been low- to mid xx. Not great, but enough to recover most of my investment.

I see now why it's so important to learn as much as possible about the market and to take the time to research before buying.

It is fantastic that you are at breakeven after getting your feet wet and learning. While low-mid xx are nice to recoup your costs, don't count those towards your overall strategy, unless you want to keep doing a lot of labor-intensive business. You have to work towards establishing a business that will take care of your future, not keep hustling into the old age )

Research: exactly. I probably have researched every name out of 5000+ I have bought, with rare exceptions where I either really like the name right away, or recognize the pattern/potential and don't need validation via research. So, let's say 5% of all would fit the category and even if I were wrong about them, the rest 95% would pull the weight anyways )

Here is the good thing though: after doing it few thousand times, you will develop the gut feel, where even by looking at a name you could guess that there are probably businesses out there that would be happy with this upgrade, or that it is a nice sounding name, but probably no business around something similar.

 

[Silentptnr]

Interesting. Thank you for sharing. I haven't tried auctions. Growing the portfolio at this rate is already taking huge amount of time.

What are the quality and traffic criteria you use to decide if a name is worthy?

I sometimes look at names at the time of renewal and tell myself "what was I thinking a year ago buying the name?!", then I research the name and discover that there few companies that could upgrade using it. My next thought "hm, maybe I should trust myself of a year ago more" ))

But the funniest thing with owning thousands of names is that you don't even recognize them and often are pleasantly surprised ))

Auctions are the only way I have found to move names in bulk. By understanding somewhat the tastes of the audience, I am able to move names profitably using auctions. I have to with that many domains. Selling one at a time is...well, I just don't have the time to do that over 1000 times. I don't feel it's realistic. But if I sell 20-30 names each quarter, it keeps things moving nicely. That works out to about 100 names per year. That's about 10% of my portfolio turning. And I haven't lost money on any names I have auctioned including acquisition, renewal(s), commissions, etc. I do set my reserves carefully though.

I usually know what sells based on the audience of a particular platform. For example, I have found that NJ is popular with chinese domain investors. Very savvy. Mostly like aged names, tech names, 4L, etc.

Believe it or not, I have even auctioned many relatively new hand reg names and had good results. It's really a matter of not guessing, but pretty much knowing that a domain has a good chance of being attractive to a particular audience. And of course, being realistic with reserves.

 

[Recons.Com]

Auctions are the only way I have found to move names in bulk. By understanding somewhat the tastes of the audience, I am able to move names profitably using auctions. I have to with that many domains. Selling one at a time is...well, I just don't have the time to do that over 1000 times. I don't feel it's realistic. But if I sell 20-30 names each quarter, it keeps things moving nicely. That works out to about 100 names per year. That's about 10% of my portfolio turning. And I haven't lost money on any names I have auctioned including acquisition, renewal(s), commissions, etc. I do set my reserves carefully though.

I usually know what sells based on the audience of a particular platform. For example, I have found that NJ is popular with chinese domain investors. Very savvy. Mostly like aged names, tech names, 4L, etc.

Believe it or not, I have even auctioned many relatively new hand reg names and had good results. It's really a matter of not guessing, but pretty much knowing that a domain has a good chance of being attractive to a particular audience. And of course, being realistic with reserves.

Wow! Impressive. I am just a bit on a hoarder side ) I buy the name if I like it, If I like it I cannot let it go for cheap

I also look at the thousands of names differently. Not if I have time to do thousands of sales, but that I don't care to do all the thousands. It is just the net and if I sell only 1-2% a year, I am still fine holding all those.

But the beauty of this industry is that there are so many methods that all can be successful fine tuned to your specific strength.

 

[Silentptnr]

Wow! Impressive. I am just a bit on a hoarder side ) I buy the name if I like it, If I like it I cannot let it go for cheap

I also look at the thousands of names differently. Not if I have time to do thousands of sales, but that I don't care to do all the thousands. It is just the net and if I sell only 1-2% a year, I am still fine holding all those.

But the beauty of this industry is that there are so many methods that all can be successful fine tuned to your specific strength.

I hoard too.

I quickly replace what I sell too.

My sales are more "trimming" my portfolio.

 

[pavan kumar t]

Thank you for sharing. 97% .com sounds like a safe bet, and closeouts can be a safer choice as typically average quality there is higher than at expired lists (which doesn't mean, someone cannot collect a good portfolio from there too).

How do you decide which 5-10% to drop? You chose those names for some reason after all?

Yes, I agree with you closeouts are a safer bet, i have started domaining journey in 2017, in starting stage done many mistakes, bought many crap domains(handreg and closeouts), mostly those domains are 5-10% instead of renewing those domains its better invest that money in new closeouts. Note: I am not much fluent in English

 

[Recons.Com]

Fees whether they're 35% or 9% are relative. I use to be in the debt recovery business, and I charged an "average" of 30% to collect a $1,000 debt, and my liquidation/recover percentage of the debts was 20%. Many of my competitors charged a fee of just 20%, but their liquidation/recovery was just 12%. Who do you think got the most bang for their buck? My clients of course.......but it was hard to educate clients on how this is so. Fortunately I had some very good sales people who could explain it to our clients, and once they did, we had a client for life

Thank you for the great example. So, BB charges 35% (30% + 100 logo fee, which typically ends up at around 35%), but can provide 2% sell through. If I list the same names at Dan, I might get around 1% sell through and pay 9%. But I would probably get similar one doing my own landers too. So, let's say I have 100 names at BB that costed me $2500 including listing fees and they sell 2 names a year paying me around $2600 post commission (sold at $2K each). And very similar 100 names at Dan that costed me $2000 (no listing fee) and they sell 1 at $2000 and pay me $1820. It is hard to replicate what BB/BP/SH does for a regular domain investor, but what Dan provides can be replaced by your own lander, afternic lander, epik lander, efty etc. with similar results. So not much added value there. Anyone can test this by randomly dividing their portfolio into groups and listing one with Dan, the other one with Epik or Afternic and comparing the results.

 

[Moneygoddy]

My renewal rate is under $8.5, but yes, still adds up to around $45K.

With an average $2K post commission profit per name, I need around 23 names sold to cover that or around 0.45% sell through. My sell through is typically in 1%-2% range. With the launch of https://rightbrand.com and improvements I am making, I expect to improve both the sell through and profit per name.

are you using efty for your portfolio website?

 

[Sophia Alice]

Nice! How does your experience with .in compare to the one with .com? Similar costs of acquisition and returns?

I usually buy only dropped and some as hand registration .. for me .in worked more than .com .. i choose to buy only certain domains

My highest paid in .in is only 300 $ but i sell them more in numbers .. roi compared to .com is low but the income is more with .in for me

 

[Sophia Alice]

So, if a name doesn't sell you drop or that your sales are down and that means less renewals?

I drop the domain checking the traffic and inquiries

i keep some .... if i like the domain

 

[Recons.Com]

@Sophia Alice Thank you.

I normally don't base my decision to drop on inquiries. As most names I sell hadn't had any inquiry prior. And some that did might still be unsold for years after that.

Well, in my case, I don't have any "make offer" names, all are at BIN, so maybe with "make offer" it is a better indicator.

 

[Lega.cy]

Thought to drop in on the DAN/BB/own lander discussion.

Until 30th April I had all my domains pointed to DAN, receiving some traffic.

From 1st May (now ~6 weeks), I switched to my own landers, and kept domains listed at DAN anyway - there has been 0 VIEWS on DAN since, nothing, absolute emptiness.

I haven't used BB/SH etc, but to my understanding they are providing add on services (logo + running ads) to bring customers (traffic) to their site.

So at least from my own experience I can confirm that own landers are somewhat more practical than DAN landers. I've had offers coming in, and I've also closed a few sales. I'd actually import the lead to DAN, but the 5% for safety is price I'm willing to pay (I'm also now looking at direct integration with Escrow).

With own landers you own the traffic, and own the content - f.e I've recently stared going similar route as @Recons.Com, and created a new lander that'll have space for a description + insights, which may or may not help sales, but will help the organic search and site authority.

Just my 2c

 

[Recons.Com]

are you using efty for your portfolio website?

No, custom wordpress.

 

[Sophia Alice]

@Sophia Alice Thank you.

I normally don't base my decision to drop on inquiries. As most names I sell hadn't had any inquiry prior. And some that did might still be unsold for years after that.

Well, in my case, I don't have any "make offer" names, all are at BIN, so maybe with "make offer" it is a better indicator.

Well as i said .. i keep some if i like .. which i know and belive that will get sold one day ...

 

[Recons.Com]

Thought to drop in on the DAN/BB/own lander discussion.

Until 30th April I had all my domains pointed to DAN, receiving some traffic.

From 1st May (now ~6 weeks), I switched to my own landers, and kept domains listed at DAN anyway - there has been 0 VIEWS on DAN since, nothing, absolute emptiness.

I haven't used BB/SH etc, but to my understanding they are providing add on services (logo + running ads) to bring customers (traffic) to their site.

So at least from my own experience I can confirm that own landers are somewhat more practical than DAN landers. I've had offers coming in, and I've also closed a few sales. I'd actually import the lead to DAN, but the 5% for safety is price I'm willing to pay (I'm also now looking at direct integration with Escrow).

With own landers you own the traffic, and own the content - f.e I've recently stared going similar route as @Recons.Com, and created a new lander that'll have space for a description + insights, which may or may not help sales, but will help the organic search and site authority.

Just my 2c

Very smart guy ) You've nailed it.

 

[Recons.Com]

Well as i said .. i keep some if i like .. which i know and belive that will get sold one day ...

I know. This was not to argue ) Yes, there are certainly names for which you should make exception, even with no traffic, offers etc.

But there are investors on the forum that will drop everything that did not get any offers within a year or two.

 

[Sophia Alice]

I know. This was not to argue ) Yes, there are certainly names for which you should make exception, even with no traffic, offers etc.

But there are investors on the forum that will drop everything that did not get any offers within a year or two.

Yes that true .. i dont rem the name .. but i bought a domain here on namepros which the guy holded for 3 years for some 20-30 $ ..which i sold for 650 $ in the next 3 months and that too with a incoming offer

its all about luck some times

 

[Sophia Alice]

No, custom wordpress.

Nice ..clean and well executed design .. and i loved the name ..all the best

 

[Recons.Com]

Nice ..clean and well executed design .. and i loved the name ..all the best

Thank you so much for the feedback. Hopefully, will be better in a month time. Also will be focusing on conversion and readiness for ad campaigns.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Thank you for the great example. So, BB charges 35% (30% + 100 logo fee, which typically ends up at around 35%), but can provide 2% sell through. If I list the same names at Dan, I might get around 1% sell through and pay 9%. But I would probably get similar one doing my own landers too. So, let's say I have 100 names at BB that costed me $2500 including listing fees and they sell 2 names a year paying me around $2600 post commission (sold at $2K each). And very similar 100 names at Dan that costed me $2000 (no listing fee) and they sell 1 at $2000 and pay me $1820. It is hard to replicate what BB/BP/SH does for a regular domain investor, but what Dan provides can be replaced by your own lander, afternic lander, epik lander, efty etc. with similar results. So not much added value there. Anyone can test this by randomly dividing their portfolio into groups and listing one with Dan, the other one with Epik or Afternic and comparing the results.

Great thread you started El....this is why I believe a broker with the right mindset can really kick butt in this industry, but they need to charge a fee like BB's to achieve their kind of results. This is why I believe in "outbound" marketing of domains so much. As we know from experience, few domains sell themselves However, industry specific domains like for restaurant/food/spirits need to be sold directly to that industries participants. For example, to culinary students getting a degree in culinary science, or to managers or chefs of restaurants who are looking to go out on their own.

I don't know exactly what BB does to achieve a 2% sell thru rate, but I believe it must involve some outbound just like some of the big sales I see that go thru at Sedo. Their top brokers know what door to knock on and how to get in the door. And when they make a sale, they earn every penny of commission.

Thanks again for starting this thread El....it's one of the best threads on NP