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 ?

 

[nomen]

For a beginner, it's definitely difficult these days. There's a finite number of quality (.com) domains in circulation (dropping, for sale etc.). And there's a lot of experienced investors after those names with big budgets (and they smell those names from a mile away). So the situation is far from ideal for a beginner. But if you're willing to work your a** off, sure, you can succeed, too. Just like in any other business.

 

[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.

 

[frank-germany]

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.

I really wonder how you can know that

 

[frank-germany]

Short answer from me - worth it.
love it

 

[dname]

For me, absolutely worth it financially.

If I had to start over from empty table now, the game plan would be different with all new tlds and stuff. Lot of possibilities and choices but with careful strategy definitely could be made profitable.

 

[deflee79]

You surely will go hungry and be homeless in no time. Treat it as a hobby and you will do fine.

 

[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.

 

[DNScholar]

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

 

[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.

 

[jamaltq]

It is a combination of business & gambling.

 

[NetworkPearl]

Yup worth it but to have a good start read read read

 

[ctmixing]

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

There is none.....

 

[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 ?

 

[ctmixing]

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 ?

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.

 

[Asfas1000]

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 entity.

Ha . Don't agree. Cause you don't know which one will sell, or you would buy only that one. It's a numbers game.

 

[ctmixing]

Ha . Don't agree. Cause you don't know which one will sell, or you would buy only that one. It's a numbers game.

Well... stop playing the numbers game and buy into the ones you believe in! Nothing is guranteed. Not even a good domain name. You cant expect to buy thousands of domains and "expect" a few to pick up the slack for the ones that's not selling. That's unfair to your pockets and the ones that's not selling.

 

[ctmixing]

@ Asfas No pun intended

 

[Asfas1000]

@ Asfas No pun intended

All good mate. I've made my point

 

[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.

 

[domvault]

Domaining has not been worthwhile for me. I am still in loss.

 

[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.

 

[SBS66]

... 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.

I always compare domains to real estate. However, real estate you can rent. So a home flipper can rent a rehabbed property until they get the amount they want. Unfortunately, domains don't yet have the popularity of real estate to be able to carry themselves by leasing--even assuming a "good" name. So the comparison, imo, is not an exact match yet.

I have a question about the aftermarket: isn't the aftermarket purchasers composed mostly of domainers? I ask because I don't see an end-use selling a name they had no use for on the aftermarket--most end-users still don't know to list them rather than let them expire. So it is possible that your comment is still valid for after-market purchase?

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[SBS66]

@JayJay thank you.

I agree with you overall, but I also think it has to be a combination. So if I buy 1 domain name and sell that, I can consider the ROI for that name as well as in the scheme of my business. For the business side, I created a budget..not surprisingly this month I'm in the read because I've bought a few domains. So, I've decided to stay away from ExpiredDomains.net and the sales section here. I also have 1 pending sale that if the invoice is paid, will put me in the black for the month (only, lol)