question Likelihood of finding great domains on domain expiry sites?

[MrMDMF]

I know the answer is more nuanced than a simple 'Yeah, all the time' or 'No, don't bother' but is it worth trawling through hundreds of expired domains in hopes of finding a hidden gem nobody has snatched up - or religiously refreshing an expiry webpage as newly deleted domains are added?

Do all the good ones get taken via alternate methods or am I putting my time to good use by investing in the expired domain search?

-M

 

[bmugford]

It depends on what "great" means.

The odds of finding great domains are very high. The odds of finding great domains for low prices are very low.

In .COM for instance, there is heavy competition in almost every vertical.

You can find decent to good domains though, without as much competition.

There are several decent ones daily on GoDaddy closeouts.

Brad

 

[MrMDMF]

It depends on what "great" means.

The odds of finding great domains are very high. The odds of finding great domains for low prices are very low.

In .COM for instance, there is heavy competition in almost every vertical.

You can find decent to good domains though, without as much competition.

There are several decent ones daily on GoDaddy closeouts.

Brad

I think 'great' at my level of domaining would be xxx - low xxxx value.

Let me clarify, I'm aware that domains go through stages as they expire, as well as back-ordering & backorder auctions. So my question is the likeliness of a valuable name 'slipping' through these expiry stages and ending up on a deletion directory for anyone to stumble upon, snap up, and register

I'm currently using expireddomains.net, I use search parameters for deleted .coms and filter from there.

 

[bmugford]

I think 'great' at my level of domaining would be xxx - low xxxx value.

Let me clarify, I'm aware that domains go through stages as they expire, as well as back-ordering & backorder auctions. So my question is the likeliness of a valuable name 'slipping' through these expiry stages and ending up on a deletion directory for anyone to stumble upon, snap up, and register

I'm currently using expireddomains.net, I use search parameters for deleted .coms and filter from there.

Value to who? Investors or end users?

Basically with .COM, anything good to great is likely to have strong competition.

However, there are plenty of sellable domains in a $10 - $200 price range. Ones that have potential to sell for $X,XXX range to an end user.

Brad

 

[MrMDMF]

Value to who? Investors or end users?

Basically with .COM, anything good to great is likely to have strong competition.

However, there are plenty of sellable domains in a $10 - $200 price range. Ones that have potential to sell for $X,XXX range to an end user.

Brad

‘Value to who? Investors or end users?‘
Whoever’s willing to pay first

Jokes aside, I’m willing to hold onto a solid domain for the right end-user to negotiate a price or a BIN investor to purchase from me on the lower end and make a higher profit.

My expectations are tapered but if I can continue to register an expired domain every now and again - aligned with my budget and search time investment (currently $xx & a few hours) and achieve some level of success eventually, that’s good enough for me.

 

[NameMaxi.com]

Value to who? Investors or end users?

Basically with .COM, anything good to great is likely to have strong competition.

However, there are plenty of sellable domains in a $10 - $200 price range. Ones that have potential to sell for $X,XXX range to an end user.

Brad

I wouldn't ideally dismiss .coms as having strong competition. Sure the best ones do, but I have registered and sold some decent .com domains on expireddomains.net, even for handreg prices.

 

[Molly]

Do all the good ones get taken via alternate methods or am I putting my time to good use by investing in the expired domain search?

That’s a good question and one that I often find myself wondering. …Are all the good ones snatched up within minutes of hitting closeout by automated means? Is there any point in manually thumbing through thousands of pages of mostly crap domains? (That said, I do see some that are decent.)

 

[bmugford]

Is there any point in manually thumbing through thousands of pages of mostly crap domains?

Not in my view. It's an inefficient use of time.

You need to find a way to narrow down the list to a more manageable size.

For example, the odds of finding some gem that is 25+ characters and (1) year old is close to zero.

So, figure out what filters you can use to weed it down to a more manageable sized list.

Brad

 

[Future Sensors]

Is there any point in manually thumbing through thousands of pages of mostly crap domains?

It does indeed take an enormous amount of time, but I am convinced that doing it a number of times as a beginner can be a good learning experience.

If you download the daily available lists yourself and let loose your own regular expressions on them, you can learn something about regular expressions right away.

If you enjoy learning that, of course.

 

[Molly]

Much appreciated, gentlemen! And believe it or not, I think I actually derive pleasure from manually thumbing through those lists some days. …Good old fashioned bean-counting can sometimes calm an overactive mind.

 

[bmugford]

It does indeed take an enormous amount of time, but I am convinced that doing it a number of times as a beginner can be a good learning experience.

If you download the daily available lists yourself and let loose your own regular expressions on them, you can learn something about regular expressions right away.

If you enjoy learning that, of course.

It's good practice, especially when it comes to helping decide what types of domains you can weed out later.

I am fine missing 1-2 decent domains if I can save 10x the time by weeding out a lot of domains, of which almost all will be crap.

Sooner or later if you are looking at tens of thousands of domains a day, you are probably going to burn out and/or suffer secondary issues like eye fatigue.

Brad

 

[phaethon]

Expired domains is not useful only to find sell-able domains, but to learn domaining as well. You see what type of names companies use and then you calibrate.

 

[Future Sensors]

Effectively managing the number of domains to be checked involves filtering out as many low-quality domains as possible.

One straightforward method is to use filters available on dropcatch and auction websites. While this approach is powerful, it lacks originality since it's widely used. Alternatively, you can create custom filters using regex to target domains based on specific patterns or keywords of interest.

This principle also applies when generating domain combinations using prefix and suffix lists for manual registration, known as "handregs". Although this isn't about expiring or expired domains, it's still crucial to keep the number of domains manageable due to the vast number of possible combinations.

Fine-tuning your filters and regexes can be time-consuming, but it can offer a significant advantage over other domain investors who may not employ such innovative (or efficient) methods.

 

[Future Sensors]

 

[Future Sensors]

(had to insert this as an image, the editor didn't accept the submission)

 

[bmugford]

There are several decent ones daily on GoDaddy closeouts.

Brad

I picked up a newly listed one today for $50.

- Two Word .COM (14 total characters)
- 2009 reg
- Taken in com/net/org, hyphenated .com and .org.

I bought it because it makes sense, sounds good, and I have a similar domain that receives frequent offers.

My current filters bring the new .COM closeouts down to about 500-1000 domains a day.

I might weed out a little too much, but it's a trade off to save time and resources. I can still see the vast majority of domains I might be interested in.

Brad

 

[Kyle Tully]

I know the answer is more nuanced than a simple 'Yeah, all the time' or 'No, don't bother' but is it worth trawling through hundreds of expired domains in hopes of finding a hidden gem nobody has snatched up - or religiously refreshing an expiry webpage as newly deleted domains are added?

Do all the good ones get taken via alternate methods or am I putting my time to good use by investing in the expired domain search?

-M

There are gems dropping every day that fall through the cracks.

Not the obvious A tier names that are picked up at auction. Or B that usually go at closeout. But C/D tier that sell for 2-5k can be found with some good filters and an hour or so each day.

I have one name on hold right now that I paid 9.57 for 14 months ago and the sale price is 4888. This is quite a common occurrence for me

 

[Molly]

So now, sort of the inverse question… should one assume only crap domains drop below $50? Is looking at $5 or $11 essentially a waste of time and money? Keeping in mind, of course, that one man’s trash can be another one’s treasure.

 

[bmugford]

So now, sort of the inverse question… should one assume only crap domains drop below $50? Is looking at $5 or $11 essentially a waste of time and money? Keeping in mind, of course, that one man’s trash can be another one’s treasure.

I look at new listings daily, and generally pull the trigger on anything I want at $50. To me any domain worth owning is worth paying $50 for.

However, that doesn't mean all the quality domains go for $50.

I will put domains on my watchlist that I am still thinking about. The vast majority of domains I put on my watchlist get purchased at some point, usually before the $5 or $11 level though.

I have bought several domains in the $5 and $11 ranges, but the quality definitely starts to trend down as the number gets lower.

Brad

 

[alcy]

I know the answer is more nuanced than a simple 'Yeah, all the time' or 'No, don't bother' but is it worth trawling through hundreds of expired domains in hopes of finding a hidden gem nobody has snatched up - or religiously refreshing an expiry webpage as newly deleted domains are added?

Do all the good ones get taken via alternate methods or am I putting my time to good use by investing in the expired domain search?

-M

it's much more worth it afa sale potential to reg from expireddomains.net than to reg from your head ideas. I've owned and dropped maybe 6k names total since I start 2015. and 99perc of them were from that site. as long as u remember domains take years to master and tons of hard work and patience u will be fine.

 

[Kyle Tully]

So now, sort of the inverse question… should one assume only crap domains drop below $50? Is looking at $5 or $11 essentially a waste of time and money? Keeping in mind, of course, that one man’s trash can be another one’s treasure.

At 5-11 there are no obvious good names. It’s more niche and obscure words (plus pure crap) where knowing the intricacies of a market can really pay off.

 

[Jeremiah88]

I picked up a newly listed one today for $50.

- Two Word .COM (14 total characters)
- 2009 reg
- Taken in com/net/org, hyphenated .com and .org.

I bought it because it makes sense, sounds good, and I have a similar domain that receives frequent offers.

My current filters bring the new .COM closeouts down to about 500-1000 domains a day.

I might weed out a little too much, but it's a trade off to save time and resources. I can still see the vast majority of domains I might be interested in.

Brad

Do you filter the closeout through expireddomains.net or directly from GoDaddy?

 

[twiki]

Drops: I have built my domaining career entirely on hand regging dropped domains at registration cost. Specialized in finding value in those huge lists. I post sales often, you can check those in the sales thread.

Closeouts: Sometimes I purchase closeouts, but not that much. The names I personally look for aren't there, typically. Or I disagree with the price. Say at $50 + reg cost, the price is different than only reg cost. But it depends of course and others might be snatching good ones there, as per their own style.

Price: Most domains I have are sold in the 4-fig range. Currently having a STR somewhere close to 2%. No longer selling 3-fig unless in a special situation, not renewing something (changed mind about its value) etc. Holding just a bit under 2k domains today.

My opinion: It is indeed still possible to build on drops, but you're kind of (very) late I think. Got in years ago and needed to earn a lot of experience to get here, as in finding those gems.

And today, the drop is much weaker, particularly this year has been pretty bad; sometimes I don't buy any domain for 2 weeks or more. I used to get several a day, now the average when i register drops is just one per day.

Handregs: I do however sell handregs more nowadays, as in domains I "invent". Once you get experience in that, sky's the limit. But these are even trickier as they are NOT vouched by anyone else such a previous registrant.

Suggestion: Try to carve a niche and specialize in something instead. Blanket purchasing "drops" or "closeouts" won't likely bring you to profit. Oh, and without experience, you're likely looking at years of losses unless very lucky or born for this biz (it's rare). I broke into profit in the third year and I did have tools and sufficient money to invest (6-fig in $).

 

[DTR Alex]

ExpiredDomains.net already gives you dictionary words (capitalizing first let of the word, of course you have to set the filter), then use MS Word (wildcard search replace) to give a space between the words (of course remove the extensions), then use Google Keyword Planner, to get search volume............... this is also a way to know popularity of the domain name as well as SEO based keywords domains....

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Fantastic post by @twiki just above. I agree with all of the points he so clearly expresses.

Certainly in the most valued extensions the vast majority of expiring names will be acquired in auctions, closeouts, or having been on dropcatch orders, so most truly expired names are there for a reason. That is not to say there are no opportunities. If one is diligent and disciplined, and use filters effectively, one can find worthwhile names, particularly if you focus on certain niches.

I think the opportunities of expiring go up as the popularity of the TLD goes down (which yes, I know that means something).

Identify what you are good at, and focus on those drops is probably the way to go.

-Bob