discuss Mike Mann's sales - A look into mastermind investor's strategy

[abstractdomainer]

I was just looking at Mike Mann's post to analyze and see if there are any patterns. Here are some of the domain names that he reported selling, in the past month (see attached images for proof) :

SouthernCharmRealty.com - $15,000
PODGuides.com - $13,000
HawaiiShippers.com - $15,000
MyDID - $8,888
RealPropertyNetwork - $10,000
SourceHealth - $30,000
ManejoDeCrisis - $24,888

Here is the conclusion that I draw from these sales:

1) Mike Mann mostly owns and sells 2 and 3 word .COM domain names (I am talking about his .COM sales mostly).
2) The prices are all in 4/5 figures for the names an average investor would list for 20% of what Mike sells for. For example, I wouldn't put HawaiiShippers for more that $2,000 ever
3) Mike has a large portfolio. So he gets the advantage of selling unusual names for unusual prices (mainly because of the sheer number of domain names)
4) The pricing has been done very aggressively because of the luxury of time or domain name or liquidity or whatever other reason.
5) I think it's a numbers game - he has his maths around it (Investment made, pricing, sell-through rate, annual renewals, reinvestments, and so on. Accordingly, he has put a number that he thinks would work for him). We can do the same.
6) Sometimes, I think the reputation helps although I am not sure how popular he is, outside of the domain community, with the end-users

Learnings for us

1) Carve your own niche - Just because Mike sells 3 word for $20k doesn't mean you can too. It also doesn't mean you can't! Choose what fits you
2) Having a large portfolio with realistic sell-through rate will help plan for the long term - regular liquidity + distributed big sales
3) Some of the things I would never understand - Like the phrases that sell etc but I think that's the edge that comes with experience.

What's your thought on this? Any learnings that you have?

 

[bmugford]

Thanks! I appreciate the reply. But I think you missed my question, which is related to the older pioneers and regging dozens or more of domains in a speculative niche.

I think most would be more likely to buy higher quality ones on the aftermarket vs hand registering them.

Brad

 

[NameFu]

I think most would be more likely to buy higher quality ones on the aftermarket vs hand registering them.

Brad

Thanks... I meant to say reg or purchase.

My main question is about about of its common for them to invest (any means of obtaining) in dozens or more in speculative, unproven niches, *early* on, when a niche is still immature.

Have you seen this?

 

[bmugford]

Thanks... I meant to say reg or purchase.

My main question is about about of its common for them to invest (any means of obtaining) in dozens or more in speculative, unproven niches, *early* on, when a niche is still immature.

Have you seen this?

Yeah. It happens.

Domain investing is about speculation and people in the field for a long time often have a decent amount of resources to take a chance on future trend domains.

Brad

 

[NameFu]

I've been making some big gambles on industries that are nascent recently... I think many have here... And it's easy to get the impression that making a big bet with a dozen or more domains in an improven niche is a newbie's game, because you don't hear about the pioneers ("Sherpas") or the celebrities in this industry sharing stories about doing such. They probably don't for good reason, being that it's not good advice to recommend doing. But just curious anyway...

 

[Business Brands]

Is he even profitable?
If yes, then why has he dropped 50,000 domains?

 

[Ostrados]

Is he even profitable?

His business model can be profitable if he has reasonable pricing structure like for example:
80% of domains priced at 4 figures
20% priced at 5 figures and above

The 4 figures sales should be large enough (in quantity) to cover renewals.
The 5 figure sales should contribute to net profit

 

[Samer]

Note on Mann’s “8” pricing.

“8” is lucky multiple cultures, not just China.

Little bit of luck never hurt! End price in “88”

Samer

 

[Robin A.]

Is he even profitable?
If yes, then why has he dropped 50,000 domains?

Maybe to be even more profitable

 

[Samer]

Maybe to be even more profitable

It was reported, had a boost, why wouldnt he?

In theory, cutting down, boosts quality, but i looked through the list of dropped domains, and they werent as bad as i expected.

He’s smart to do so, as much as it probably hurts him. Hell — it hurts me when i do it, now imagine 50,000k or whatever.. wise decision. Cuts expenses, end of the day “it’s a business”

Samer

 

[Atone]

He has made his Money from .com
No doubt invested elsewhere.
He is doing alright.

 

[xbank]

Also everyone thinks differently, you can tag a price on a name and for some buyer it's gold, you might thing it's an avg name but for some people, it's like platinum and they go for it, everyone has a different mindset, it's like you going to buy a shirt and you see some clothes are too bad and you can never imagine if someone can even buy it and .. damn it's sold out .. because everybody has a different perception about the things and ideas, so yes it works that way.

I have seen good names not being sold and strange names are sold out even for an insane price, so no one is right and or wrong .. it's all happening!

 

[LUP]

SouthernCharmRealty.com - $15,000
PODGuides.com - $13,000
HawaiiShippers.com - $15,000
MyDID - $8,888
RealPropertyNetwork - $10,000
SourceHealth - $30,000
ManejoDeCrisis - $24,888

bad domains are sold like gold
my domain is much better than that

 

[LUP]

double post

 

[ATMDS]

bad domains are sold like gold
my domain is much better than that

would like to know about your domains , did you listed it here?

 

[LUP]

would like to know about your domains , did you listed it here?

see my signature

 

[TopRankedDomains1]

When valuating your domains...I see that many equate that to the cost of a click or lead...look at the value of the lead from the buyers perspective and then multiply accordingly. Example...financial names, can generate commissions of 3k-500k or more depending on the property being financed. Does it make sense to sell an excellent GEO name or a two or three word category killer for a specific loan type for 100 or 200 bucks? People price domains cheap and can't sell a higher price name because they don't understand the value...period!!

 

[monotheist]

One of the reason because he does not come here posting nonsense stuffs wasting his time and other people time.

Don't blame yourself please. its okay.

 

[abstractdomainer]

When valuating your domains...I see that many equate that to the cost of a click or lead...look at the value of the lead from the buyers perspective and then multiply accordingly. Example...financial names, can generate commissions of 3k-500k or more depending on the property being financed. Does it make sense to sell an excellent GEO name or a two or three word category killer for a specific loan type for 100 or 200 bucks? People price domains cheap and can't sell a higher price name because they don't understand the value...period!!

That is a fair point to make. But how do you suggest they capture value?
Wait for 3 years and give up or outbound and price higher? Or is there a third way they can better utilize and get value out of their domain name investments.

 

[TopRankedDomains1]

With the domains in your portfolio that you feel are highly Brandable or keyword rich...then I would build a lead page and start capturing leads. Sometimes investing a bit more in your better names will result in a much higher sales price or focus your attention on industry domains that you are an expert in. Many of my domains are in the finance and real estate industry which I know the value of and use for other reasons than just selling the domain.

 

[abstractdomainer]

With the domains in your portfolio that you feel are highly Brandable or keyword rich...then I would build a lead page and start capturing leads. Sometimes investing a bit more in your better names will result in a much higher sales price or focus your attention on industry domains that you are an expert in. Many of my domains are in the finance and real estate industry which I know the value of and use for other reasons than just selling the domain.

Could you share more light around the same? This sounds like an interesting use of the domain name. Do you also advertise, run ads on those names or is it just the type-in traffic that gets you the leads?

Because the two would make for 2 different businesses.

 

[TopRankedDomains1]

...as an example I setup the following site just last but have set up multiple sites over the years to create value and to sell them off. RentalHomeMortgage.com is just a 1 page site {still working on it}
also, PrivateMoney.com is another and that one has generated many many leads for my company over the years.

 

[TopRankedDomains1]

I don't advertise privatemoney.com and the other not ready to advertise quite yet...

 

[scithe]

I don't know if it's my lack of knowledge of the industry but I can't help but headscratch seeing HawaiiShippers.com going for 15k

I wouldn't spend $9 to handreg that domain if you told me it was available.

A quick search of state+shippers.com shows only 6 states are taken and 44 more are available for handreg.

From years mailing physical goods to Alaska and Hawaii, I do know that mail is slower to travel. Shipping things like cars or the contents of a home is probably a costly ordeal and 15k might not be a huge % of revenue for companies like that.

But HawaiiTransporters.com is available for Reg Fee, is HawaiiShippers.com really 1500 times more superior of a name?

Also, the name is currently priced at Afternic for just under 20k so...it didn't even go to an end user? Someone is under the belief that 15k was a good investment with room to flip?

I'm a firm believer that people who say "you can't" should get out of the way of those who are already doing... so I'll just sit here scratching my head and being impressed and wondering where I should go to increase my domaining knowledge.

 

[Dane]

I too would love to know how he gets as much as he does for some of these names.

 

[scithe]

If he doesn't have an outbound sales team then he must just mingle at a lot of bars and start talking about making bank on domains...people start buying him shots and suddenly they are imagining making big money on domains... though 15k to 19.9k isn't exactly a big flip...assuming that's the new price and not an old offering.