discuss Is domaining worth it?

[saiif2014]

hi
is domainig business worth it ? i mean the poeple who domaing for more than 5 years did you se great results ? and if you invested this 5 or 10 years in other business like website building or any other business i think you will get 10 times more than you get by domaining , am i right ? the money you got from this years of domaining it was worth all this time or not ?

 

[bmugford]

The truth is the vast majority of domain investors lose money. The minority actually make money, and of that minority a much smaller minority makes a living from it.

It is harder than ever as there is more supply with new extensions and more competition for quality .COM.

If you are willing to put in the time and effort, make smart decisions, and learn daily then it can be worth it.
There is no shortcut.

The reality though is you need a healthy budget to reach a tipping point. The typical sales rate is 1-2% a year (for domains priced at reasonable end user prices). You need large ROI on the domains that do sell to cover the ones that don't.

Is it worth it? Maybe.

Brad

 

[capiche]

Domaining is like anything else. Most of us here do it because we enjoy it.

If you don't enjoy doing it, you're not likely to be that successful at it. It does take a lot of time and careful research. But if you read, ask questions and follow advice... it is well worth it.

 

[SBS66]

Domaining is like most businesses - ....

When you are in high school, counselors might advise you to pursue certain careers - medicine, law, business, teaching, etc. Students with a degree in ___ likely have a pretty good chance (not guaranteed) of finding a job in that career and making a living from it - at least for a period of years.
.

I think a dose of reality regarding domaining or anything else is healthy. As @inforg said, domaining is like any business. Business don't wait for people to come knocking on their doors, they go out and get the sale. Being a lurker on here for a bit and then joining, there seems to be a lot of us newbies that read the stories of the $X,XXX plus sales and think it's easy. I practice full time and have been a lawyer for quite a bit, and I can tell you that it took a lot of crappy cases before I could sign the $X,XXX retainer without batting an eye; it's the same stories from my contemporaries. And that was after the 7 years to become a JD. Personally, I like the quiet of outbound marketing I started doing--no clients with self-created emergencies, and harried hearings. Outbound marketing has become my meditation time, lol.

As for careers, as mentioned by @garptrader, a law and medical degree costs upward of $100,000. As a new lawyer, with the glut of lawyers still out there, you can expect to earn a whopping $50-60K as an associate, doing all kinds of crappy jobs (even walking the dog for some partner or other) and working upwards of 50 hours. Oh yes, and keep in mind "downsizing" which is now like a wave--feast or famine but out of your control and happens in just about every sector of the economy.

Compare that to domaining, where your education doesn't have to cost $ except what your time is worth to invest in learning for "free." How much is your time worth? For example: if you can get a domain for $20 on GD and sell to an end-user for $325, it took you 3 hours in the beginning to collect the leads and send out the email, and get paid via PayPal with their 3% (or about $10, assumed). Well then you just earned about $98/hour ($295/3). Even if it took you 4 hours to do that, you're still ahead. Even if you assume minimum of $15/hour you're still ahead.

Those are just my thoughts. I have been doing outbounds now for about a month. I've had nibbles, but no sales. Am I going to quit? Absolutely not. Mostly because like most every other commenter here, I love whatever it is about domains that we seem to share on this board. Besides, I like the challenge of seeing if I can make something happen. In the meantime, I continue to learn the fine points of this thing, practice and spend time with my family. It's all good.

Sorry for the long post--must have forgotten I wasn't getting paid like a lawyer .

 

[Silentptnr]

I love the domain industry. I enjoy flipping domains, managing my domains, and getting better and better at regularly making sales. I meet really bright people and love the technology aspects of it.

I do follow a business plan that includes a web presence, networking, and sales goals.

I buy domains as small investments. I strongly believe in the future of domains as long term investments. I stay on a budget and know up front what my renewals are. My portfolio stays around 300-400 domains. I have to make one $x,xxx sales a year to pay renewals and expenses. The rest is pretty much profit. I usually make more than one sale.

I feel really good about the portfolio I have collected, and as someone already said, it's about passion and enjoyment.

I couldn't live on domaining alone yet, but I never got involved to live on it. When and if that happens, it would be like heaven.

 

[inforg]

The only calculations that matter are

A. What did I spend this year
B. What did I net from sales, parking, etc after commissions this year.

If B is greater than A, then you made a profit. Now you can divide that profit by the number of hours you put in to see if it is worthwhile to continue.

If you must calculate an ROI, it would be total net profit divided by total expense.

ROI =(B-A)/A

It is important to have some idea of your numbers to see if you are pricing at a point that creates a profit based on the percentage of domains sold each year. If you aren't making money. you could be selling too low, pricing too high, or you have a quality issue with your portfolio.

If you buy domains like lottery tickets, your odds of making money are about the same.

 

[inforg]

Domaining is like most businesses - most people will fail in the first year or two. I also did websites, affiliate marketing, e-commerce, and still like to play around when I have time.

Since it is mostly a hobby for me, domaining allows me to just check out for 6 months or more without everything falling apart. I pay my renewals, answer emails and collect sales. With websites, 6 months of neglect means a lot of work. I don't have the time to keep up websites.

If I were going to do any of this full time, I'd take a mixed approach. It is nice to have steadier website income since domain sales can be feast or famine.

 

[Silentptnr]

The reason so many domainers say to read, and to wait before buying is that buying sellable domains is an art and is more often learned rather than natural.

The best buyers are big companies....end users. It took me a long time to gain discipline when buying domains.. To try to stick to domains that the deepest pockets might want.. Names that startups might want.. Names that small businesses might want.

There is a big difference between domaining like a lottery and domaining as a business owner careful about the bottom line, or a little league ball team versus a tech startup with a real business plan with short and long term objectives.

Just saying that in domaining, success is about personal goals and failure is not the fault of the domaining opportunity.

Anyone who is not proud of what they have, should maybe spend more time thinking about what they really want.

 

[papeter]

I don't think it's worth it. It's a pain in the arse type of business. I have been doin it for 10 years now. I have sold quite a few through SEDO and few others, but quite frankly I hate dealing with buyers who try and beat you down and then they pull out and mess you about. I have had some really good transactions over the years, but on the whole, it's a crap business. I'm gradually converting all my names into money websites and anyone who wants to buy my name will have to pay for the site as well at least 10/20 times more!
But then, why should I sell if the ROI is giving me a decent return on my money, Banks aren't! Stocks and shares are risky, but at least I now have more control over my monthly income stream. Plus all my renewals are are being paid for. To hell with DOMAINING. It was good before all these new silly extensions. COM NET ORG Rule.

 

[Bram C.]

If you're making a profit out of something it is worth it, it you don't it isn't worth it. That goes for every business, it doesn't apply to domaining only.

A lot of people do domaining as a hobby. As they have a full-time job they can afford to gamble a little bit. Sometimes it pans out, sometimes it doesn't. In the end even if they lose money with domaining they still have their monthly income from their main job to rely on. So they can decide for themselves if domaining is worth continuing or not.

I started out with domaining as a hobby as well. And used money from sales to re-invest in better domains and grow my portfolio. Only after I knew I was making enough money I decided to do it full-time. But nothing is guaranteed in life. I realize that domaining is worth it for me now but maybe next year it won't be.

 

[Name Trader]

From a realestate perspective.... take it house by house and not neighborhood by neighborhood

OK you go on believing you made 9900% profit on one domain, and the remainder of your 99 hand-regged domains are stock which you will sell in the future, for 9900% profits also. This part of domaining is not analogous to real estate. You buy a house only once. But you pay yearly for your domain renewals. 100% of your original investment every year.

On your accounting, I'm a multi-millionaire on paper, many times over. Heck I don't need to ever sell another domain to be rich. I can count all my worthless stock of domains at $5k each, because I've sold one domain at that price. I think I go try mortgage them with the bank

There's nothing more to say here.

 

[garptrader]

Ten years in and results thus far have been disappointing. While development has its own challenges, there are clearly more individuals who make a living from website design and development than there are who make a living from domain names. When you are in high school, counselors might advise you to pursue certain careers - medicine, law, business, teaching, etc. Students with a degree in ___ likely have a pretty good chance (not guaranteed) of finding a job in that career and making a living from it - at least for a period of years. The percentage of domain investors who make a living from buying and selling domains is small and the percentage who lose money in domaining is large. Most of the individuals who make a living from buying and selling domains entered the space fifteen years ago or more. I seriously doubt there are more than a handful of domain investors who are making a living buying and selling new TLDs.

 

[capiche]

As an add-on to my statement above, I have a hand-reg from last year just go in escrow for $1200.

Not huge money, but I'm mostly a part-timer, so considering the amount of time I've put in -vs- the money I've made over the years.. It has been worth it for me.

The one thing that doesn't change whether you're a hobbyist/part-timer/full-timer is the learning curve in the beginning. That is where most of the real time (and potentially money) is spent. Trying to avoid taking that initial time to learn is the reason most domainers fail.

 

[JayJay]

I always compare domains to real estate. However, real estate you can rent.
I have a question about the aftermarket: isn't the aftermarket purchasers composed mostly of domainers?

That is true about real estate, I just meant it as an example of how domainers shouldn't brag so much about major wins and dont mention their losses because it looks ridiculous. I for example have sold a few hand regs over the years for a total of low xx,xxx which looks incredible per name % wise until counting 8 years of renewals of between 100-250 names depending on the year. Im barely at a profit. At the time I felt like such a hot shot with my first few sales til I did the math on the rest.

The aftermarket comment refers to a domainer buying another domainers quality name or catching it from a drop, which most likely wouldnt be a recent hand reg (unless its an emerging/future tech and happens to be excellent) for say $500 because it actually does have perceived value after doing your due diligence instead of spending $500 on 50-100 hand regs and renewing (for sometimes far more) or dropping all of them a year later.

If I could go back Id have bought far fewer names, I'd still chase emerging tech like I do now but only on the side and I'd stick to finding real value that sometimes goes for a discount in the drops or by making offers privately. I'd also have developed more, instead of letting them collect dust.

 

[DN Playbook]

Domaining is definitely worth it. But you need good old business skills, hustle, and have the right mentality.

If you are in it for a quick buck, you will more than likely lose money. If you do make a quick buck, it likely will not last for long. You need to have a business plan with a long-term strategy.

With each sale, you need to be building a contact list. So even if you make $4/hr when divided the hours you spent on a sale, it increases greatly if you keep the contact. A large contact list is priceless.

You need to think beyond end-user/reseller mindset. End-users are great but there are many in-between parties such as Web developers, SEO companies, media buyers, etc. Reach out to them.

Networking with other domainers is great too but you need to reach out to startups and other businesses related to your domains. I am talking about trade-shows and other personal contact opportunities. Also many successful domainers make money selling other domainer's premium domains, so we need to work together.

When you do network, you need to have a professional website and business cards in order to be taken seriously. Sedo/Afternic/etc. is like using Facebook as your primary business address. Build your own memorable brand instead (that is your specialty by selling domains, isn't it?).

Finally, it comes down to the quality of your domains. You need to be confident and know you have high quality, realistic domains. Otherwise nothing of the above will work.

Looking forward to your feedback.

 

[Beezy]

Like any investment, do your due diligence.

Short answer from me - worth it.

Content creation is EXPENSIVE so unless you have funding, your theory on website building is probably way off. Also, in 2012 you would've made an app for your website ($35k). In 2014-2015 you redid the entire design to make it responsive ($500 on craigslist guy that just edits a wordpress theme. $5k-$15k+ for a custom solution).

 

[trampoline]

Well, i am quite new to domaining, and i dont have so much years of experience on my shoulders to tell so much. But i will say what i think of the future. I have read a lot of things this last 6 months. Reading a lot in this forum and my diploma in Informatic helped me a lot to understand things faster. I prefer to see Domaining as a part-time job, or less than that. I preffer to invest in Domaining, and see its value grow from day to day. I am a fan of the long term plan, and evaluating the things like this, definitely domaining is worth it.

Sometimes i read a lot of posts which say that the people who investet in the 90s have made a lot of profit, and i concord with them. But we have to keep in mind that most of them had to work for a 10 to 20 years plan, in order to get really good profits. But now, in this new aera, things change really fast. Every 6 months comes a new samsung phone, a new apple phone, a new technology. Things change so fast, that makes us possible to gain profit in a shorter period of time or 5 year plans. Of course, that requires much more attention.

 

[DomainVP]

If you are unsure about what you are doing - quit now.

You will save yourself a lot of pain, time, and effort. Go do something you know you are good at - soar with your strengths!

It's harsh, but if you don't believe in what you are doing it will not lead you to success in any way shape or form.

 

[Skyvisum]

It is worth it and I am not doing it full time.I chose the long term plan and if domaining is not for you,better to quit early and not whine.Keep reading and learn what successful domainers are doing and how they closed a sale or made a sale.If you have a bad name and can't sell it,blame yourself not the industry.Lots of guides to help but most people find it hard to digest so they keep making the same mistake or getting stuck with names that are terrible.

You learn from your mistakes but if in doubt,ask someone a question as there are a lof of helpful out here and domaining blogs to help avoid keeping you in the red.

Remember you have a smile when you make a sale and one more thing,avoid negative domainers,they discourage easily and might drag you along with them.

 

[Asfas1000]

What other asset can you think of that has a better ROI than domains?

There is none.....

Not true...I buy 100 domains for 10 each, I sell 1 for 1000 and declare this as a 10000% ROI ? What about the unsold inventory ?

 

[JayJay]

Not true...I buy 100 domains for 10 each, I sell 1 for 1000 and declare this as a 10000% ROI ? What about the unsold inventory ?

I agree, this is how more domainers should be viewing this game. Bragging about a 10k% profit while ignoring the other 99 renewals that more than likely ate all of it up immediately looks completely ridiculous as it would in any other industry. Id love to see someone flipping houses sell one for $50k profit while taking losses on the rest posting on a forum about the one house he actually made money on. It would never happen, more than likely he would be pissed off and looking for something else to do.

This is the only industry, other than daytrading/gambling, that we see people be this careless with their money and just blindly renew a ridiculous amount of names hoping to strike gold. This is why you see so many experienced domainers screaming about buying quality in the aftermarket instead of regging 100s of garbage names, most of us already lost money the other way.

 

[Name Trader]

your adding it wrong. You bought the one domain for 10 and sold it for 1000. That is 990 profit. The other names need to fend for themselves. Treat each domain name as its own.

This is a joke?

You buy 100 domains at $10 each and sell 1 domain for $1000. We are assuming for the sake of argument, you sold it for more but you netted $1000 after deduction of commissions and other transaction costs. Your profit is 0% break-even. $1000 invested and $1000 income. There is no way you can just say to ignore the other 99 domains which you drop after one year. Again for the sake of argument, you don't renew any of those wonderful domains you registered. To make the calculation simple.

There is no way you can separate these domains in reality. You cannot say you had 9900% profit on one domain. When you bought 100. You lost $990 at a negative profit percentage which cannot even be computed on those 99 domains over the year. To end up with 0% break-even. What do you think your profit percentage is after one year?

You are living in cloud cuckoo land.

The next year. You renew those 99 wonderful domains @ $10 each, and you sell none. Or one for $200. What is you profit margin in year 2. What is your profit margin over the 2 years? In both cases you lost a lot of money.

 

[Silentptnr]

And let me add. I have a friend that works a part-time job and makes less than I make domaining on a weekly basis.

I do think that people underestimate the complexity with domaining and all that it encompasses.

 

[poweredbyme]

hi
is domainig business worth it ? i mean the poeple who domaing for more than 5 years did you se great results ? and if you invested this 5 or 10 years in other business like website building or any other business i think you will get 10 times more than you get by domaining , am i right ? the money you got from this years of domaining it was worth all this time or not ?

There are more amateurs and newbies in internet based businesses compared to other businesses. Other than this difference, there is no difference. This is only a job. Usually you don't expect fantastic results in business life. You only choose a job and do it. If you do a business for 10 years, it's usually very hard to do a different thing. So it's usually hard to compare. Also you can't use "money" as a measure of success. Because money depends on millions of uncontrolled events. I mean unless you are very lucky you can't make good money in any business.

 

[frank-germany]

Short answer from me - worth it.
love it

 

[DNScholar]

If you have doubt quit or do it as hobby. Else be a Pro.