poll Lifetime domain profits

[lambo.com]

A poll to assess any domainer profits after paying our renewal fees and writing off costly mistakes.

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Related:

• Domain taxes

 

[Kate]

I don't want to be rude or so, but sometimes I wonder why some people continue with their domaining without a profit.

Is it really fun enough to do it year after year without a profit? Ok, I understand that everyone are looking for "that big sale", but anyway?!

Because:

• domain addiction
• dreaming (lots of dreamers in this business)
• it is a hobby for most, so people don't mind losing a bit of money for the personal gratification and for learning a few things. The knowledge you get from domaining can help in your business or web development efforts.
  
• many domainers are in fact domain collectors. In real life some people spend a lot of money on collections, it could be stamps, postcards, cars or firearms. It usually doesn't shock anyone.
  
• delusion
• many domainers think they are on the right track and should persist because they are making sales from time to time, and that could be true but that doesn't mean they are profitable. Making 5K in sales per year while you spend 10K on acquisitions and renewals is not a good proposition.
  
• I don't think that the majority of domainers keep accurate accounts of revenue vs expenses, it's not that it is hard to do (a simple Excel sheet would do) but I don't think they want to see the figures. They know they are not profitable, but they don't know how deep. Ignorance is bliss

 

[alcy]

the 3 stages of life of a domainer:

1 - wasting money
2 - getting back to zero
3 - profit

 

[BarryDavis]

Impossible to answer. I don't buy to flip so I still own the vast majority of the names I bought. I happen to think the names I own are more valuable now than when I bought them. I bought fwb.net for $800. I've been offered $2500 more than once. But I turned them down. I bought 0dn.com for $375 built a site and was generating 400 to 1000 leads a day. I was offered $7 per lead. I bought blog-directory.org for around $4800. We built a site. It has over 25,000 bloggers and 50,000 blogs. I get $10 per blog. I bought kingsalmon.net for $50. What's it worth. I bought iwebsites.com for $3600 the same year website.com sold for $750,000 and websites.com sold for $975,000. I paid $3,750 for cdl.net. I hand registered superapp.co and was offered $5,000 2 months later. I bought personals.org for $3200. I pay for servers and I've paid thousands in labor. My point is I do have a sizable amount of money invested in this game. Well over $50,000 but I think the assets are worth more.

 

[Anjani]

I don't want to be rude or so, but sometimes I wonder why some people continue with their domaining without a profit.

Is it really fun enough to do it year after year without a profit? Ok, I understand that everyone are looking for "that big sale", but anyway?!

Throwing good money after bad is an universal problem. You kinda lose your senses once you are down under (more of an ego issue and requires financial discipline to call it quits)

 

[lock]

Whether your good or bad at domaining it doesn't count assets or allow to value assets so the best domainers might be always showing a loss called turn over and reinvesting.
If every time you made a k you reinvested it then you will continue to show a loss to tax man.

 

[Pierre Barnard]

So 2 very rich people on the forum then....or they clicked the wrong radio button

 

[alcy]

If one considers up to $5K lifetime a profit...

Above 5K lifetime, it is only about 2/5, and only 1/8 is above $100K.

Again, this are lifetime numbers. Someone who would have worked at McDonald's for 5 years at minimum pay could have reported $100K+ for the period.

yes, but you gotta admit domaining is way more fun than burger fliping

 

[Recons.Com]

yes, but you gotta admit domaining is way more fun than burger fliping

Sure. The thing is the skill level of many is more suitable for burger flipping, no offence to those.

To be successful in domain investments, you need a decent level of few major skills.

 

[hawkeye]

The top earners wont tell or even click.

And the low earners will claim to have made the most. Polls are so easy to manipulate. ...whatever.

 

[alcy]

And the low earners will claim to have made the most. Polls are so easy to manipulate. ...whatever.

polls are anonymous

one needs to be seriously deranged to lie on anonymous poll lol

 

[Bob Hawkes]

It's an interesting poll. It appears that the majority are somewhere between small profit and small loss, which is not unreasonable if the majority are in essence in it as an interest as opposed to a significant part of their income.

I personally am risk averse, which means that I don't plan to put much other money in. By the same token, as I make small sales all of that is put back into more domains, so I will never probably show much of a profit if that is how we interpret profit.

The Q was asked by @Fancy.domains why stay in if you are not making profit.

I think there are several reasons:
(a) You find it fun. Most hobbies take time and money without expected return.
(b) You have lost some and (in a typical gambling way) feel determined to win it back to prove you have it together.
(c) You believe that you have something to offer a wider community by helping them get great names.
(d) You want to change the field, for example, by helping promote domain name phrases, or using domains in some unique way, or a certain set of extensions.

 

[lambo.com]

And the low earners will claim to have made the most. Polls are so easy to manipulate. ...whatever.

I have more faith in the good people of NP. To lie about something like this only hurts how you feel about yourself.

 

[Recons.Com]

A per the poll so far , the majority seem to be making profits, it's contrary to every thing i have read so far but is heartening to see maybe a tad skewed cause of the sample size.

If one considers up to $5K lifetime a profit...

Above 5K lifetime, it is only about 2/5, and only 1/8 is above $100K.

Again, this are lifetime numbers. Someone who would have worked at McDonald's for 5 years at minimum pay could have reported $100K+ for the period.

 

[lambo.com]

yes, but you gotta admit domaining is way more fun than burger fliping

I know some nuttah's among us have started thinking about burger flipping domains. I'll be harsh if I see them in the appraisal section

 

[Addison]

Over seven figures (lifetime) for me.

 

[trelgor]

I skipped stage 1. Better not get back and bite me in the ass.

 

[biggie]

What is the approx. total profit/loss you have since you started domaining?

why do you need to know?

it won't help "you" sell more domains.

many are so inquisitive about other domainers financial status, when they should focus on their own affairs.

imo...

 

[lock]

The top earners wont tell or even click.

 

[alcy]

Sure. The thing is the skill level of many is more suitable for burger flipping, no offence to those.

To be successful in domain investments, you need a decent level of few major skills.

but........ they're both called flipping no?

 

[Fancy.domains]

I don't want to be rude or so, but sometimes I wonder why some people continue with their domaining without a profit.

Is it really fun enough to do it year after year without a profit? Ok, I understand that everyone are looking for "that big sale", but anyway?!

 

[lambo.com]

I skipped stage 1. Better not get back and bite me in the ass.

Denial is coping mechanism

 

[Captdocs]

I need to sell more domains..

 

[MR Harrist]

Let me Guess, MR.Patil make more than $500k from domaining

 

[cordoba]

What about income from monetizing names? Does this count as domain profit?