discuss I have lost interest in domaining. What about you?

[Reallybigidea.com]

Hi,

I am not feeling ok without sales, my average sales in April total around mid xxx, meantime I spent much more on domain registrations because the domain addiction.

Currently listed around 100 dotcoms with bin $10 but they are are not selling.. . Is it only for me or not?

Please respond only real domainers with portfolios, do not respond affiliated registrar users and marketplace promoters (i do not belive in your reported cctld, new gtld sales for $xx,xxx...). I know what is marketing and understand your sales tactics.

#domainaddiction #domainbusiness

#domaininvesting is not really #investing because you can't liquidate your domains for reg-fee.

 

[bmugford]

I have a large portfolio now that generates steady inquiries and sales, but it has been a grind for years.

Buy - Sell - Reinvest. Rinse and repeat.

I am getting paid now for work I did years ago.

I think the current get rich quick mindset and social media has kind of created a toxic mix when it comes to expectations.

The average person, works an average job, for decades and never gets rich. Money is not normally that easy.

You have to be extremely fortunate and/or take extreme risk to get rich quick. Otherwise it takes a grind.

I understand FOMO can be a powerful thing. Everything looks good in hindsight.

Everyone misses the boat on something. Instead of worrying about that, look for the next boat.

Brad

 

[TCK]

Domaining in of itself is boring. Looking through lists of names, sending out cold emails, waiting for leads to come in, etc. Does not really fill any meaning in life that one needs to motivate or inspire them. However, I look at domaining like an artist looks at a blank canvass. The incredible life changing possibilities that come from quality domains. You have to choose a couple of your domains and create something special. Something that will motivate you and inspire you. And hopefully cover the renewal costs of your domains. If you cannot see the potential a domain has in someone's life or a business then it is probably not worth holding on to. You need to develop a philosophy that creates fire beneath you.

And domains are not like other assets, like gold, money or real estate. You can not liquidate domains in the instant you have an emergency requiring cash. It is a game of patience, waiting, and heightening demand. With the exception of relatively few category liquid domains, popular keywords, 3 letters, coms, etc. But in every case, if you are a highly motivated seller, you will lose money on the deal.

 

[NickB]

Domains are mostly an illiquid asset class (there are some exceptions) that you need to look at holding for the long term

You only have 100 domains listed, if you can't even sell them for $10 that says a lot about the quality, or lack off......

I think you need to look at your expectations as they are not realistic.....also stop registering crap.....

I did the same in my first year, less in my second, but still did it and in year 3 have virtually stopped hand regging unless it is in new niches and I am willing to hold them for multiple years

I've seen what you been registering and it's not good, stay away from the reg of day thread as you will get superficial likes that encourage you to register more worthless domains - half the crap in that thread is...crap.....a few people know what their doing in there, most don't......

 

[samuel12]

That’s what happens when you don’t put in effort to learn and know what works. It’s not a get rich quick scheme but surely rewarding if you put in the work.

 

[Joe N]

Hi,

I am not feeling ok without sales, my average sales in April total around mid xxx, meantime I spent much more on domain registrations because the domain addiction.

Currently listed around 100 dotcoms with bin $10 but they are are not selling.. . Is it only for me or not?

Please respond only real domainers with portfolios, do not respond affiliated registrar users and marketplace promoters (i do not belive in your reported cctld, new gtld sales for $xx,xxx...). I know what is marketing and understand your sales tactics.

If you started investing around the time you registered for NP, then it's too early to throw in the towel. I didn't sell my first name for three figures until I was 9 months in. Some take even longer.

Stop buying for now, liquidate what you can, and take some lessons from what you have done to this point. If your names aren't selling, learn why.

Read a lot. Can't emphasize that enough. Watch old episodes of Domain Sherpa, and other shows that review portfolios and talk about what makes a good name and what doesn't. Review sales on DN Journal and NameBio.

Reach out to members on here who you've followed and whose opinions you respect. Many are very helpful, as long as you have the willingness to work and learn without having answers handed to you.

 

[bmugford]

I also have to say that "never give up" is often the worst advice IMO.

Sometimes something just isn't working. There is no shame in giving up and coming up with the better plan.

Everyone is not going to succeed at everything. Failure is part of life and the ability to learn and move past it is a good trait to have.

Brad

 

[johnn]

Spend more time to market your domains and less time to chit-chat.
Sell somewhere else - not here. We see all "Resellers" here.

 

[bmugford]

Sales are always streaky, even with large portfolios.

Not trying to be rude, but I took a look at your registrations and I would say overall the quality is lacking. There are too many hyphens and random terms with limited resale value.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Shoud I drop the domain business? am I on the wrong way? because I spending too much time on domaining but it's not profitable for me - making money and spending them to renewals are not profitable business...bad business model.

I am not a crypto trader neither stock investor but found that people who moved to cryptos like btc, doge and stocks like gamestop or tesla make millions.. everyday I reading the news such as
Dogecoin investor says he became a millionaire in 2 months after Elon Musk inspired him to pile into the meme currency
https://markets.businessinsider.com...tor-millionaire-in-2-months-2021-4-1030344614

You only hear about the success stories, everyone pumping every "investment" like they are Warren Buffet.

There are a limited amount of people who just fall ass backwards into a fortune. You don't hear about the majority that lose money in the fields.

There is a lot dumb money chasing every overhyped asset at the moment. You might get rich doing it, but I personally don't invest based on the greater fool theory.

Some of these coins like Safemoon are literally a pyramid scheme that was created a few weeks ago so people could hype it on social media and leave others holding the bag.

Domaining is certainly not a get rich quick business, if that is your expectation.

Brad

 

[johnn]

May be you spent too much time to learn too much about something that will not benefit you.
I am simple and don't care about EMD, exact match, appraisal, and all other nonsense statistical information.
I buy the name if it makes sense to me and I can find buyer to use it for a website.
You only have one buyer for one name.
And also stay away from specific niche ̣̣̣(bitcoin, NFT or Geo), mispelled....
This will make your life easier. Also cheap names are not good and good names are not cheap.
I normally buy names here and sell them somewhere else.

 

[FolioTeam]

That’s what happens when you don’t put in effort to learn and know what works. It’s not a get rich quick scheme but surely rewarding if you put in the work.

Everyone wants domaining to be like investing in Bitcoin. Lol

 

[TCK]

My motto is (and I'm sure I am not the first one to say this), if you can't give 100% to a project, don't even bother starting it. I have given up on certain projects because I was too thinly spread and other projects would suffer. Domaining is a unique business because you can let it incubate. As long as you have other source(s) of income. You cannot rush domain sales. If you try, you will be frustrated.

There are different strategies in domain sales. Sell a lot of domains at low profit, like a fresh reg for 20-60 dollars. Or go for major sales from x,xxx to xxx,xxx. In either case, time and work are involved.

But beyond that, you need to develop an eye for names that will make good businesses and brands. That is the key. That is both a skill and an art. The skill comes into play to identify domains that pass the radio test, are short, easy to remember, make sense, yada yada yada. The art comes in play where a domain excites you. Has a lasting emotional impact. Not the kind of spur of the moment reaction. But one that can motivate you to create a business on it and keep motivating you. If you can tap into that then there will be others who will respond the same way to your domains. And that's where the ideal buyers are.

 

[twiki]

It's a bad time right now; and it is depressing for you - which is normal.

You invested a lot (time and effort). How about relaxing for a while and simply letting those sales in. That's what I do when I feel the same (have my moments). BTW I very much believe in law of attraction, and not by simple "belief" but because my entire life was yelling it at me. If only I could stick to this method more often (I forget it then always re-discover it). Anyway, back to the point.

When I have a bad stream of no sales, I check if something I did wrong. Maybe I messed up prices. Or landers. Anyway. If not, I just do the above method. Next day, sales pop in.

Your portfolio is still very small. You can't tell by what you did so far. I have days often when I buy or liquidate more (than your entire portfolio) - and not necessarily straight hand regs. Anyway domaining takes time and not a quick rich method. But by all means, it can be a wonderful and lucrative field if you do it right.

I've started 2-3 years ago and been killing at it. On fast track to mid-6 fig in a couple years, projections but I have a lifetime of doing that so I know exactly where this is going. Been profitable right after first year. It's just that I know from experience that no business works without an edge. I seek my edge first; and once I identify it I build around it. In domaining, I have more than one edge. See my posts to learn more as to how. You need to find yours.

It's way too early to give up. From what I've seen you seem on the right track. It's just that you get depressed and it's normal in such cases. Market is quite weird right now. Top sales are however booming. Top guys know to keep their chill. And do their research and pinpoint accuracy buys and sales. Edit: Even if they haven't sold any in several months. Keeping chill is part of the business.

You need to take your skill and knowledge to V 2.0. My V1.0 was similar; but I did not expect else. One cannot win from the first draw. You need to learn the game first. It's called mastery, and it usually needs in the range of at least half a decade. Or more.

Momentary suggestion, try reducing prices a notch. Not a ton though. If something sells, you'll feel better. Pricing is fluid and a smaller price might get some customers which on the short run can be better. A $200 sale for example can cover quite some renewals for you. The good ones.

Good luck and final note: Rome hasn't been built in a day. Or an year. The same is a business. It's an empire and takes many years to build.

 

[blogspotter]

It is stupid easy to make a living from domains, but you have to learn first.
Pay someone like DNAcademy, ask people for help, study the sales data.. DO you study all the names sold eevryday using available data?
DO you study the names on reported sales thread?
DO you check out the names that are listed on brandbucket, squadhelp etc?

Did you listen to all the domain sherpa episodes where they analyse domain purchases and sales, where they review portfolios, where they review domains for sale on Namejet?

And unless you have hundreds of thousands in your disposal, how are you buying names everyday???

Just going through a list and buying whatever you feel like buying is not domaining.

The learning curve is not high, and there is only so much to learn to get the basics right, once you get it right, you are as good as anybody else and after that it is just a matter of building a portfolio and being patient for the portfolio to grow big enough to get a steady income.


Don't lose hope. Stop hand registering and focus on learning for a bit.

The only problem with domaining is that there are very few things that I can outsource and I have to do all the work myself, which is quite tiring since I have mostly been outsourcing all my work for more than 10 years now. I have only started employing someone to do outreach to "buy domains" and I am yet to make a private thought I got some in the pipeline.

WHile it is great to be getting my hands dirty and doing things on my own, it is a bit overwhelming. I have like 10 alarms everyday for auctions, and way too many lists that I need to analyze.


I was looking though the lists so much I started developing Vertigo in Jan and Jan i didn't buy anything.

My point is even today, my only issue is looking through all the lists and search the names ones by one.

I feel like i am doing a blue collar job, and sometimes get bored.

My point is there are hundreds of names in auctions that will eventually sell for a profit.
Maybe thousands of names in the pending delete that you can backorder.

Hundreds of names in the closeouts you can research. It is a matter of understanding the basics and getting down to doing the boring Job.

I am not there yet, and but I know what to do... You need to learn......

Why is it that some names have 50 preorders?
BEcause everybody knows it is a good names..
WHy do some names have 15 bidders.. Because it is a good name

Don't be i awe of the stupid 7 figure sales.
Don't look at the oulier sales that is like a lottery.

Focus on the repeatable sales.

List 100 squadhelp sales of under 300 and Try to find what is a common thing between those names.
List100 sub $500 dot co sales and figure out what is common

List all the .io sales and see what is the common thread
List the .tv sales reported and figure out the common thing between those

List 2 word .coms in different Niches and try to connect the dots.

Every name is unique at first glance.. But write them down and you will start to connect the dots. Draw mind maps


Namebio is your friend.


Try to see the sales of some strong keywords and what kinds of keyword combination sell.
Find out sales in all the different categories.

Don't look for liquid names. Just the end user sales.


And most important. When buying a name, nobody is certain that the name will sell. A 2% sell through is a great STR for anyone. Meaning if you manage to sell 2 names out of 100 names in a year for a end user price, it is a good portfolio.


Once you figure it out, then it is matter of doing the research and having adequate money if you want to scale fast.

Buying a name takes 10 second to click buy now if you have credit card details saved.

99.99 effort should be in the research.

One of my very successful friends who do this part time still spend 3-4 hours everyday researching names to buy and he buys 1 or at most 2 names per week. That is 20-30 hours of research for 2 names. He spends hours and doesn't buy any if he doesn't find...

My point is, domaining is simply hard work once you get the basics.

One more thing that I learnt from a couple Giants in the industry.

There still are many names that will sell for 6 figures that you can pick up for say a 1000 or 2000 if you can buy privately from a non domainer. And some of the Bigshots do this all day. And they say they get 1 positive reply from about a 1000 emails. Simply hunting down those 1000 emails is a ton of work ever since GDPR started...

Hang in there.. learn more and don't give up mid way. if you throw 1000 names at the wall, some will stick and every sale feels good, but that is no domaining. Every name you buy should have a lot of effort put into it before you buy.

I know so many people who are doing extremely well, and no I am not talking about the Rick Swartzes of domaining but active domainers who are still buying and grinding in the deep dark tunnels of the goldmines everyday


PS: I am not expert and only started last year, but with god's grace, I have been able to make steady monthly sales and been able to fund my new purchases. I still make mistakes and this is just my advice to myself. I also find that I learn new things when I express myself. Also to remind myself to finish analysing those sales data I have been collection on a niche I am researching

 

[CTUXSF]

@ReallyBigIdea I think we’ve interacted on other threads before. I feel compelled to respond here.

1. I’m new to domaining but not a newbie. I bought my name 20+ yrs ago and built a blog on it as a way to learn HTML etc. But had no idea about domain investing. So close yet so damn far.
2. I started buying Domains for sale this Jan. Sold my first two in March just two weeks after buying them. Both on GD Auctions. Just sold another this week. Don’t applaud yet. Only one made profit. I’m overall in the red. The loss is small,
3. BUT: I can afford to do this. I make a comfortable living. I only used found money (someone unexpectedly paid back money they owed me) and I used that to set my spending limit. I also can afford to lose it. I passed the limit because I spent money on subscriptions to DNAcademy and other tools that speed up my research and learning.
4. I discovered I can make money more easily by entering naming contests at squadhelp. Won three already. So I can roll that back into Domains. And it’s another revenue stream that also teaches me about branding, what kinds of businesses are starting/growing, how they think about and use a name, and what names win or sell. I love words so it’s the best part of domaining for me so far.
   
5. I’ve taken the DNAcademy course. I looked at your name list and had to stop after the hyphens, misspellings, long names etc. These are all the no-no’s you learn to avoid in the course. I took it because I needed to know not just what’s a good name but how to value it for purchase and how to price it for sale. It gave me that and much more. Invest in your learning before you invest in more names. One’s an investment, the other is a waste.
   
6. I’ve also been reading domaining.com, all the blogs, listened to podcasts, participate in NP, selling different TLDs and types of names in different marketplaces, networking with leaders in the space. I’m not just learning the science of how to buy and sell but also the art of what makes me different in my approach. What’s my niche?

Thanks for allowing me to ramble and visualize my learning and thinking.

What I’ve learned:

1. Don’t spend what you can’t afford to lose
2. It’s not a get-rich-quick business
3. If you don’t treat it like a business, it’s a hobby. Track your costs of purchase and sales, not just the sale price, track your overhead, track your renewal burden. This keeps you honest. Buying is heaven. Renewal is hell.
4. It takes discipline, patience and time
5. You make the money on the buy (that’s why you do the research)
6. The ballers find reasons NOT to buy a name. When they can’t, then they go big.
7. Many different ways to sell, passive, active, quantity vs quality, small and fast vs big and slow.
8. Which is why you need to Know Thyself. Figure out your strengths and weaknesses.
   
9. You sell big when you don’t need to sell
10. Even when you sell, you have to put money back in to replenish your inventory.
    
11. Domaining is still the Wild West. Many of the personalities, regulations and systems look like they stepped out of the 90s. It’s a pain and an opportunity. Fragmentation is increasingly being replaced by consolidation as the money grows in the sector. New nimble players are coming in.
    
12. But domaining is a wonderful small giving community and yet such an infinitely large world. So many subjects to learn, many different personalities and cultures to befriend. I think it’ll be a lifelong pursuit.

= FIN =

 

[TCK]

I also have to say that "never give up" is often the worst advice IMO.

I'd say "never give up" is too broad of a term. In the words of Albert Einstein, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". So you may not want to give up in your goals, but you may need to change the way you get there.

 

[Silentptnr]

See, you just sold one!

 

[TCK]

Shoud I drop the domain business? am I on the wrong way? because I spending too much time on domaining but it's not profitable for me - making money and spending them to renewals are not profitable business...bad business model.

I am not a crypto trader neither stock investor but found that people who moved to cryptos like btc, doge and stocks like gamestop or tesla make millions.. everyday I reading the news such as
Dogecoin investor says he became a millionaire in 2 months after Elon Musk inspired him to pile into the meme currency
https://markets.businessinsider.com...tor-millionaire-in-2-months-2021-4-1030344614

Sounds like you suffer from the propaganda noise that domaining is easy money. If it is it is not a heck of a lot. Domaining is a great business because it allows you to work from anywhere and decide how much you want to invest in terms of time and money. However, if you want to make it a significant source of income, you need to invest time to learn, and be ready to lose money, at least at the early stages.

You can quit domaining and go into another business. But it won't make things easier. You will still have to work just as hard or harder with any venture you undertake. I read somewhere that most people quit just before they make a breakthrough. It can be that domaining is not for you. Only you can decide that. No one can make that decision for you. It is not a fair question.

Losing money on bad domains can be chalked up to money you spent on learning. As long as you learn.

 

[twiki]

Also my method:

I tried everything out there. Including my own landers. (not anymore)

I simply use Afternic now, and Dan. My Sav domains point at Afternic cause Dan doesn't accept them anymore. Everything else points at Dan.

I also list everything on Sedo. Sedo sells not like Afternic, but constant = profit.

So simply list on Afternic and Sedo would be enough. Dan is not necessary; but it converts lander clients for me better and at a lower cost = personal pick.

Keep your gig simple. It always tries to get more complicated. And it shouldn't. Own landers, different website, other marketplaces, spending too much selling on NP? = LOSS.

Clean up, simplify. Focus. Work less, but smarter.

 

[jhm]

Your time in the domain name industry is easier if you "love" what you do, even when things aren't going as expected. If you're constantly waiting for that big killer sale, wondering when its coming, what you're doing wrong, what you could do better...maybe there are things you could improve on. I'm not perfect, I'm looking to improve from the years I've been in this, always...but I love this stuff...its not my main source of income, but the people, the business, the appraisals, the sentimental value, bringing companies an online presence...chit chatting on NamePros...for me its enjoyable. We have some pretty cool cats in this game, and I like it

 

[FolioTeam]

Except 95% of startups fail, leaving equity investors with $0.

QUALITY domain names retain their value long after the startup has failed and the so-called "serial entrepreneurs" move on to their next attempt to sell their startup equity to wealthy individuals for cash.

I was referring to his misconception about 'investing'. Like the inability to liquidate early means that domaining isn't investing

 

[johnn]

One more thing.
Check with your wife or your girlfriend before making a decision.
They know everything - more than Google...

 

[FolioTeam]

#domaininvesting is not really #investing because you can't liquidate your domains for reg-fee.

Same as equity investing in a startup

 

[Joe N]

Domains are arguably more liquid than startup equity

I would say that depends very much on the domain name in question.

 

[KnifeCatcher]

The replies in this thread is why I love this community.