My First Year in Domaining – Small Wins, Frustrations, and Lessons

[truepng]

Hi folks,

I thought I’d share a bit of my experience as a beginner in domaining. I started in August 2024, and honestly, it’s been a rollercoaster.


When I first jumped in, I had no idea what I was doing (still don’t, to be honest ). I started with around 10 domains, just testing the waters and hoping at least one of them wasn’t a complete disaster. After about 3 months, I had my first real breakthrough: I sold CrashChat.com for $2,988. That was a huge moment for me; it gave me the confidence that domaining works if you stay patient. Later on, in March 2025, I made another sale for $375. Not life-changing, but it felt good to see progress. Along the way, I’ve also had a few tiny auction flips here and there, nothing major, but they kept me moving.

Looking at the numbers, I’ve invested a little over $1,000 (around 100 domains now, most of them garbage if I’m being honest). From that, I’ve sold 2 domains plus a few small auction names, so the ROI is decent. But I’ll be real, it’s also frustrating. I expected more liquidity, and sometimes it feels like you’re just stuck waiting for months with no movement.

Still, the sell-through rate on my portfolio has been encouraging (Roughly 2%), and I’m learning to focus on quality instead of quantity. One big lesson I’ve realized: it’s often better to start low, get some quick wins, and recycle funds rather than sitting forever on names you’re not even sure about.


I know many of you have been through this “beginner phase,” so I just wanted to share my journey. Hopefully, a year from now, I’ll look back and see more progress.


Best,

 

[alcy]

cool
dn take years to master

there is only one number that matters since you invest 1st dollar.. that's net roi

ie all sales made minus every dollar u put in and spend

for me that was negative number first couple years.. then slowly climbed up with hardworking and experience

the more time u put in the more money u get out

like everything else in life

 

[NameWise]

Appreciate you sharing this.
Congrats on the CrashChat.com sale.
Keep going, you’re on the right track.

 

[bmugford]

for me that was negative number first couple years.. then slowly climbed up with hardworking and experience

That's pretty common.

It's hard to turn a profit right away in a field with a 1% or 2% sell-through rate.

After enough time, you can turn the corner.

First you can cover your renewals, then turn a profit.

Ideally the quality domains you haven't sold tend to appreciate over time as well.

Brad

 

[tradenameNet]

I think you have a pretty good start. For me it has been over 1 year and a half now but I think I am still in negative because I bought several hundreds to 1000 domains , maybe I am doing too fast. I sold around 20 totaling $40k .

 

[sabrestar]

Curious to know which registrars you folks use and if there's a specific one for certain TLDs (without spilling too much ofc )

 

[alop]

Wonder what they trying to sell crash chat for if you got rid of it for 3k

Anyways time be flying

Good luck

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Hi folks,

I thought I’d share a bit of my experience as a beginner in domaining. I started in August 2024, and honestly, it’s been a rollercoaster.


When I first jumped in, I had no idea what I was doing (still don’t, to be honest ). I started with around 10 domains, just testing the waters and hoping at least one of them wasn’t a complete disaster. After about 3 months, I had my first real breakthrough: I sold CrashChat.com for $2,988. That was a huge moment for me; it gave me the confidence that domaining works if you stay patient. Later on, in March 2025, I made another sale for $375. Not life-changing, but it felt good to see progress. Along the way, I’ve also had a few tiny auction flips here and there, nothing major, but they kept me moving.

Looking at the numbers, I’ve invested a little over $1,000 (around 100 domains now, most of them garbage if I’m being honest). From that, I’ve sold 2 domains plus a few small auction names, so the ROI is decent. But I’ll be real, it’s also frustrating. I expected more liquidity, and sometimes it feels like you’re just stuck waiting for months with no movement.

Still, the sell-through rate on my portfolio has been encouraging (Roughly 2%), and I’m learning to focus on quality instead of quantity. One big lesson I’ve realized: it’s often better to start low, get some quick wins, and recycle funds rather than sitting forever on names you’re not even sure about.


I know many of you have been through this “beginner phase,” so I just wanted to share my journey. Hopefully, a year from now, I’ll look back and see more progress.


Best,

Well done. It might be worth reading this by Nikul as it highlights the perceived successes that others see only st the surface and the underlying challenges:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/almost-a-decade-of-domaining.1056328/

 

[VaibhavA]

Nice share, surely inspiring for newcomers.

Yes, it may take years to truly realize what you are doing in domaining. But at the end of the day, profit is all that matters. Experience can only be earned by experiencing and it can only come with time.

Best of luck!

 

[BaileyUK]

OK, I like that figure of growing from 10 to 100 domains in your first 12 months. This shows a good element of self-control. We all know where the new-commers fall down with 1,000 registrations over the same time period. Hopefully you've become your best critique of those 100 registrations. When you hold thousands of domains it can become too hard to see the wood because of all the trees

 

[Penitent_1]

appreciate you sharing your exprience, truly inspiring for newbies like me that gives us strength to keep going

 

[DomainBFF]

For anybody reading this, especially newbies, and even OP, I want to point out how statistically improbable that crashchat sale was.

With a portfolio that small and standard STRs, you realistically will never make a sale, much less one for $3k. Not knocking you OP or saying I don't believe you, but this makes it sound like domaining is easy and 3 months was patience.

Reality is most people will never sell a domain, much less for 4 figures, so please for the love of god don't read this and think you can do it to if you just wait a few months.

And to OP, congrats, that's awesome, but nowhere close to the norm, so be careful with unrealistic expectations. I have over 1k domains and names I've bought anywhere from reg fee to 5k that are collecting dust for multiple years now - not for lack of quality, but lack of the right end user, which most domains will not have.

Just wanted to give a warning as this scenario is not the norm! Cheers

 

[truepng]

For anybody reading this, especially newbies, and even OP, I want to point out how statistically improbable that crashchat sale was.

With a portfolio that small and standard STRs, you realistically will never make a sale, much less one for $3k. Not knocking you OP or saying I don't believe you, but this makes it sound like domaining is easy and 3 months was patience.

Reality is most people will never sell a domain, much less for 4 figures, so please for the love of god don't read this and think you can do it to if you just wait a few months.

And to OP, congrats, that's awesome, but nowhere close to the norm, so be careful with unrealistic expectations. I have over 1k domains and names I've bought anywhere from reg fee to 5k that are collecting dust for multiple years now - not for lack of quality, but lack of the right end user, which most domains will not have.

Just wanted to give a warning as this scenario is not the norm! Cheers

Thanks for the perspective. I completely agree that domaining is not easy and that most names won’t sell quickly, if ever. My CrashChat. com sale was indeed not “the norm” I see it as one of those rare wins that sometimes happen in this space.

I shared my experience not to make it sound effortless, but just to be transparent about what happened in my case.

You’re right that new investors shouldn’t come in expecting 4-figure sales after a few months. At the same time, I think it’s important to show both sides of the business: the grind where domains sit for years, and the occasional surprise sale that makes it worth sticking with.


Appreciate your input, and hopefully both perspectives help newer domainers get a more realistic picture.

 

[kmanX7]

True it is learning process.

After my 1st year I drop 90% of my portfolio as it was "garbage".

One question I always ask myself is: Why would I buy this domain and pay premium price?

Do not buy domain just because it looks good to you and you like it.

 

[truepng]

Just closed another sale, folks! Updating the post — that makes 3 sales so far, I will share the details later

 

[sellian]

I remember I sold one of my first handregged domains 3 weeks after starting my domaining journey back in 2020. It sold for $850.

I was so excited that I thought domaining was easy. The following 48 hours I regged around 150 domains driven by the excitement.

After that, I didn't sell anything for the next 1.5 years and dropped over 90% of that batch of domains.

I learned my lesson.

 

[Planet9]

Hi folks,

I thought I’d share a bit of my experience as a beginner in domaining. I started in August 2024, and honestly, it’s been a rollercoaster.


When I first jumped in, I had no idea what I was doing (still don’t, to be honest ). I started with around 10 domains, just testing the waters and hoping at least one of them wasn’t a complete disaster. After about 3 months, I had my first real breakthrough: I sold CrashChat.com for $2,988. That was a huge moment for me; it gave me the confidence that domaining works if you stay patient. Later on, in March 2025, I made another sale for $375. Not life-changing, but it felt good to see progress. Along the way, I’ve also had a few tiny auction flips here and there, nothing major, but they kept me moving.

Looking at the numbers, I’ve invested a little over $1,000 (around 100 domains now, most of them garbage if I’m being honest). From that, I’ve sold 2 domains plus a few small auction names, so the ROI is decent. But I’ll be real, it’s also frustrating. I expected more liquidity, and sometimes it feels like you’re just stuck waiting for months with no movement.

Still, the sell-through rate on my portfolio has been encouraging (Roughly 2%), and I’m learning to focus on quality instead of quantity. One big lesson I’ve realized: it’s often better to start low, get some quick wins, and recycle funds rather than sitting forever on names you’re not even sure about.


I know many of you have been through this “beginner phase,” so I just wanted to share my journey. Hopefully, a year from now, I’ll look back and see more progress.


Best,

Congratulations. Can you tell me through where these domains were sold? I still am not clear if domains purchased on Godaddy go into Goldaddy Auctions or Afternic Auctions automaticaly or if they are both one and the same. The few domains I've sold were from people who wanted to buy the domain at registered price but saw they were only available for $400 from Godaddy from me and they bought them from Godaddy. My big question is, once your domains expire are you renewing them? To me the initial outlay isn't the problem, it's renewing that's the problem. While I personally don't understand the idea of CrashChat and registering it, you did & it paid off. How did you price it? What was the basis if you used a Buy it now price. What was the $375 domain out of curiosity. Even in the beginning when I registered a domain like UKRealEstate.com around 1996I got no nibbles but I should have renewed it and didn't. The only saving grace is I didn't and haven't put that many hours into this stuff, maybe 100 hours a year at most, probably no more than 50 hours a year and it was my equivilent of buying lottery tickets but I got a better return on lottery tickets. That does not include time reading forums. If I could go back in time, I would have gotten some decent AI domains when they were available, but after getting butmed on things like .tech, .tv, .mobi- lol and other non Coms I just ignored any non com till matybe a year ago.

 

[Planet9]

Just closed another sale, folks! Updating the post — that makes 3 sales so far, I will share the details later

Wonderful another domain sold without a name. How helpful.

 

[Planet9]

I remember I sold one of my first handregged domains 3 weeks after starting my domaining journey back in 2020. It sold for $850.

I was so excited that I thought domaining was easy. The following 48 hours I regged around 150 domains driven by the excitement.

After that, I didn't sell anything for the next 1.5 years and dropped over 90% of that batch of domains.

I learned my lesson.

Wow! Good for you that you had such a fast sale and that you learned your lesson. I didn't sell anything for about 4 years and I wish I learned my lesson. I didn't but lowered the amount I'd spend on domains by quite a bit. Your experience reminds me of how 30 years ago I won $600 in a day using a system I had on blackjack and thought wow this is great, maybe I can make a living at this instead of my job. WelI I went back to Reno the following week which was about 5 hours away by bus and proceeded to drop $2,000! and that was it. I learned my lesson. No more cards. I haven't learned my lesson on Domains but will only spend including renewals about $600 a year.

 

[sellian]

Wonderful another domain sold without a name. How helpful.

What's wrong with you, man?

The civilized way of interacting should be "would you mind sharing the name?", or something along those lines.

No one owes you anything in this thread.