discuss Looking for action-packed domaining

[Molly]

Hi guys. Like many of you, I quite enjoy domaining. It’s not about getting rich, per se; rather, it’s an exciting & creative outlet — when you can keep your inner addict in check.

That said, I obviously would like to make money at this in time. Right now, I’m mostly looking for action & trying to get a feel for how the game is played.

Is there a venue for those looking to “play” so to speak, with other creatives or thrill-junkies, where buying / selling happens quickly — even at the risk of lower profits? I’ve yet to try holding an auction; is that what’s missing in my life? Thanks in advance.

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

how much longer, do you think, until 5L is where it’s at?

Interesting discussion on that: https://www.namepros.com/threads/lllll-com-5-letter-sales-and-discussion-thread.426018/

And many others: https://www.namepros.com/forums/short-domain-discussion.152/

 

[Molly]

So, perhaps I’m getting desperate in my search for action. (Thanks for the offer, but it’s not that kind of action I’m looking for.)

I’m hoping it’s true that if you build it, they will come. I started my domaining journey telling a story — sharing a message, so to speak, and am trying to stay true to that goal.

What’s it going to take to pique your interest? I’ve tried posting some domains for sale on NP — at a discounted price, but am realizing you’re not the end-market.

A 25% discount off retail price may be meaningful for endusers, but what about you? Is there a max amount you’re willing to spend to acquire domains, or a minimum discount off retail?

 

[Molly]

Hi @twiki. I saw one of your posts where you describe under-pricing in hopes of quickly moving product. This is a practice I engage in, too — I crave action-packed domaining, so to speak, even if it means lower profits.

I’m wondering, do you use a specific rationale or formula when determining just how low to price? I sometimes worry I’m “devaluing” my domains in the eyes of potential buyers because they’re underpriced. Thanks in advance.”

 

[twiki]

Downpricing your domains is tricky and risque. You get a bit more adrenaline perhaps, but overall depending on your names, chances are you might bank a loss.

I generally do it only with domains I do not intend to renew, or I am torn about renewal.

It is not a valid overall strategy for most domainers. Unless you get your domains at registration cost, which I do for most of my domains (they are either drops, or hand regs).

It is especially not valid for selling retail value domains. You only lose by reducing price too much.

I do it for part of my names, that match the criteria above. Generally reducing gradually price before the domain expires.

I'm a discount domainer, but I don't discount much for valuable retail domains.

The trick is to match your domain with what seems to be an affordable price, yet not cheap. Just believable and a good deal for both you and the seller.

If you discount too much, you actually will hinder sales as it will be perceived as low value by the potential buyer. Yes, it is counter-intuitive perhaps, but that's how the mind of most buyers function.

-------------------------------
Edit: In summary: there is always a gap between the Ask and the Offer price (between buyer and seller).

If you do trading, crypto, you likely know about this. A sale is only made if one of the two goes past the gap.

I generally get good sales ratio by making my move across that gap, but not too far. Just to meet where I think buyer perceived price is.

That's how you increase your STR well while still maintaining an overall good ROI. But it depends on the acquisition price of the entire stock, must be cheap enough for this to be worth it.

 

[Molly]

Downpricing your domains is tricky and risque. You get a bit more adrenaline perhaps, but overall depending on your names, chances are you might bank a loss.

I generally do it only with domains I do not intend to renew, or I am torn about renewal.

It is not a valid overall strategy for most domainers. Unless you get your domains at registration cost, which I do for most of my domains (they are either drops, or hand regs).

It is especially not valid for selling retail value domains. You only lose by reducing price too much.

I do it for part of my names, that match the criteria above. Generally reducing gradually price before the domain expires.

I'm a discount domainer, but I don't discount much for valuable retail domains.

The trick is to match your domain with what seems to be an affordable price, yet not cheap. Just believable and a good deal for both you and the seller.

If you discount too much, you actually will hinder sales as it will be perceived as low value by the potential buyer. Yes, it is counter-intuitive perhaps, but that's how the mind of most buyers function.

-------------------------------
Edit: In summary: there is always a gap between the Ask and the Offer price (between buyer and seller).

If you do trading, crypto, you likely know about this. A sale is only made if one of the two goes past the gap.

I generally get good sales ratio by making my move across that gap, but not too far. Just to meet where I think buyer perceived price is.

That's how you increase your STR well while still maintaining an overall good ROI. But it depends on the acquisition price of the entire stock, must be cheap enough for this to be worth it.

Thanks for this, @twiki. Do you tend to use BIN, or make offer, more if you know it’s a domain you’re willing to part with on the cheap? I would imagine BIN, but it seems like many sales occur within the domaining community, who seems hellbent on buying dirt cheap — even if I’m listing 10-25% of retail pricing.

 

[twiki]

Only BIN.

I don't do much domainer sales, not worth the time for the low pay.

 

[Molly]

Just so you know, I haven’t given up on this. I’m still looking for action-packed domaining, and suspect many of you are, too!

As I’ve recently commented in response to the daily Namebio sales posts, many of those domain names are actually expired auctions benefiting only big registrars. Frankly, it’s a bit ridiculous the kind of crap people will bid on — up into the thousands, no less. For your entertainment, a couple of current examples:

LocalCloud.com is pushing $3400 with nearly two days left before the auction expires. Trenderr.com is at $6,400, and WheatBellyBlog.com at $4750 — both with about a day left to go. Seriously?! However, paying a fellow investor a couple hundred bucks for a fair two word domain feels unthinkable.

I think it’s a sense of scarcity that drives these sales. What if we could find (create?) a way to gamify domain trading for investors? Maybe a platform where we can make fast trades at say $20 or $30, or whatever, with some elements of “fun” added in…? Something that taps into the same feelings of scarcity and reward.

I seem to recall @Bob Hawkes asking @RyanEwen during his recent AMA if he might consider lowering the bottom on DNWE’s Dutch auctions. I suppose something like that — with low enough minimums, could work. It would just have to be gamified enough to garner sufficient interest from the community.
Your thoughts would be appreciated!

Is // There // Enough (com)
There’s // Plenty (com)
Scarcity // Isn’t // Real (com)

And no, I didn’t just reg those for this post.

 

[Future Sensors]

LocalCloud.com

That's a pretty good name @Molly

 

[Molly]

That's a pretty good name @Molly

Don’t lie, is it actually you winning that bid right now? Lol. Seriously, though, is it worth $3400 at auction? How long would you have to wait to flip that, and at what cost to make it worth the hold?

What if, instead — or in addition, you could trade 10 other “pretty good” domains in that time at a lower magnitude? Sure, maybe you’d be making a little less on each of them, but you’d at least be moving product — and even having a little fun in the process!

If we do it right, I think it could be great.

 

[Future Sensors]

Don’t lie, is it actually you winning that bid right now? Lol. Seriously, though, is it worth $3400 at auction? How long would you have to wait to flip that, and at what cost to make it worth the hold?

It's worth a lot, lot more than that.

I don't really believe in the concept of 'domain flipping', we are not on flippa here. This domain is a very strong asset that even deserves brokerage to get the right enterprise owner.

Have you done some research on these terms yet?

 

[bmugford]

Just so you know, I haven’t given up on this. I’m still looking for action-packed domaining, and suspect many of you are, too!

Domain investing is rarely action packed. It's kind of a slow burn.

It involves a lot of waiting around for the right buyer. There is no substitute for time.

Brad

 

[Future Sensors]

Domain investing is rarely action packed. It's kind of a slow burn.

It involves a lot of waiting around for the right buyer. There is no substitute for time.

Sounds pretty boring. Fortunately we can chat here while we're waiting for our domains to flip.

 

[Molly]

It's worth a lot, lot more than that.

I don't really believe in the concept of 'domain flipping', we are not on flippa here. This domain is a very strong asset that even deserves brokerage to get the right enterprise owner.

Have you done some research on these terms yet?

No, I haven’t. I appreciate the tip — I’m still learning what makes a good domain name and didn’t mean any offense. I was just using it as an example; it’s not the point of the post.

The point of the post is to brainstorm ideas about gamifying domaining to improve STR and have some fun, for those who might be interested.

 

[Future Sensors]

No, I haven’t. I appreciate the tip — I’m still learning what makes a good domain name and didn’t mean any offense. I was just using it as an example; it’s not the point of the post.

The point of the post is to brainstorm ideas about gamifying domaining to improve STR and have some fun.

I do think it is useful to investigate why we differ so much about the potential of this particular domain. When you do that thoroughly, it will make you a better investor.

 

[Molly]

I do think it is useful to investigate why we differ so much about the potential of this particular domain. When you do that thoroughly, it will make you a better investor.

Agreed 100%. It is interesting that we do, and so I appreciate you mentioning it. I plan to do some research on it and may have something more meaningful to say about it then.

 

[bmugford]

I do think it is useful to investigate why we differ so much about the potential of this particular domain. When you do that thoroughly, it will make you a better investor.

Yeah, LocalCloud.com is a great two word generic domain worth several thousand. At the same time, it would probably not be an appealing investment to me in that price range.

Trendrr.com is nothing special. I am sure it has something else going on than just the domain.

WheatBellyBlog.com obviously sucks as a domain. It has to have something else going on like traffic, backlinks, etc.

Also, GoDaddy has had a lot of issues with scammers bidding and auction rollbacks where you can't really trust the actual closing price. Many times the auctions have been rolled back to much lower prices when the high bidder(s) don't pay.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

No, I haven’t. I appreciate the tip — I’m still learning what makes a good domain name and didn’t mean any offense. I was just using it as an example; it’s not the point of the post.

The point of the post is to brainstorm ideas about gamifying domaining to improve STR and have some fun, for those who might be interested.

I sold a couple domains today.

1.) A generic branding term + consulting in .com for $6K. The term has many end users, but it took years for the right buyer to come along.

2.) A smaller city + homes in .com for $1,500.

You basically need names that have some end user potential + time.

Brad

 

[Future Sensors]

Brad, I'm convinced that this domain has way more potential.

"A local cloud, also known as a private cloud, is a cloud computing environment that is owned and operated by a single organization for its own internal use. It is typically hosted within the organization's own data center or on-premises infrastructure. A local cloud provides the organization with greater control over its computing environment and data, and is often used for sensitive or proprietary applications that require high levels of security and compliance."

"Local Cloud is a Cloud Computing model that allows companies and organizations to have their own private cloud infrastructure. This infrastructure is usually built on an on-premises server or data center, and it provides similar benefits to public cloud services, such as scalability, reliability, and cost-effectivenes"

 

[bmugford]

Brad, I'm convinced that this domain has way more potential.

"A local cloud, also known as a private cloud, is a cloud computing environment that is owned and operated by a single organization for its own internal use. It is typically hosted within the organization's own data center or on-premises infrastructure. A local cloud provides the organization with greater control over its computing environment and data, and is often used for sensitive or proprietary applications that require high levels of security and compliance."

"Local Cloud is a Cloud Computing model that allows companies and organizations to have their own private cloud infrastructure. This infrastructure is usually built on an on-premises server or data center, and it provides similar benefits to public cloud services, such as scalability, reliability, and cost-effectivenes"

It probably does. It is one of those domains where the value is obvious at first glance.

It could go up from there with more research.

It's still not the type of domain I would suggest noobs go after. You are competing against people with way more knowledge and resources.

Brad

 

[Future Sensors]

The cool thing is that Molly picked the domain to share it with us, but for an opposite reason.