New to Domaining - $5,000 budget

[LegalGuy]

I am somewhat new to Puchasing domain names. I have $5K to work with. I am looking for ideas on domains to purchase (LLLL .coms?) or websites to create for flipping purposes? Does anyone have any ideas of web sources to study to help guide me in my process?

 

[gilescoley]

This is probably the best place to find that info, I would avoid purchasing websites if you are new to this, its a lot more involved and expensive

Read through this forum for weeks/months and avoid registering names until you get a handle on what names sell and how it all works

Have look here these for past sales

Namebio.com
DNJournal.com

Its not as easy as 99% of new domainers think, dont jump in and find a name you like and think businesses will love it so you register it, try and find end-users before you register a domain

 

[Keith]

My advice...don't spend a dime.

Look at auction houses and recent sales to understand the market. After researching, buy just one domain and attempt to sell. This will be a test to see if you learned anything.

 

[Casey L]

Agree with Keith, don't buy a thing until you know enough to make a 95% confident decision.

 

[nvdomains]

Please don't take quick investment decisions. Please spend time in reading blogs, good articles here and closely analyse the sales.

Sincerely follow Domain king advice - buy small number of high quality domains than large number of garbage.

I made most of mistakes in my 1st 2 years of domaining life due to lack of knowledge and patience.

 

[Mr. Meeseeks]

Domain investing and development are 2 separate, yet similar skills. Learning both at the same time could be costly. Try to focus on one at a time. Investing would be a good start.

Once you understand what people are buying you can then learn why they are buying those particular domains by developing a few of your own.

Good Luck

 

[dann-o]

Agree with all of the above, and additionally, once you are confident in what you're going to buy, don't spend more than half of your $5,000. You'll have renewals coming up, possibly some paid tools you'll be using, and you might still have made a bad purchase decision. Keep half tucked away for year two.

Don't buy anything else until you've tried selling your first few. Only then will you know if you bought the right domains or not. If you did, then buy more. If not, learn from your mistakes before you buy the next few.

As for the online resources you were asking for--I think the best places to get started are here at Namepros, DomainSherpa, Namebio, and then probably domaining.com, as it has feeds from most of the bigger domaining blogs. Those are enough to keep you busy for awhile, and they'll lead you to pretty much everything else in the industry in one way or another.

 

[LegalGuy]

What are some of the more safe investments at the moment?

Where is the best place to find deals on domains?

 

[DNGear]

Buy my brandbucket portfolio...

 

[LegalGuy]

Buy my brandbucket portfolio...

What?

 

[DNGear]

Just kidding...Browse all threads in NP before buying..

 

[DomainVP]

Stick to industries you know when buying at first, and don't be afraid to spend on good names.

One of my first domains I bought for $x,xxx and sold for a $10k profit.

You moniker is "LegalGuy", maybe stick to buying law names that are not in use - like Law+State

For example, LawTX.com is owned by a big TX lawfirm.
Meanwhile... LawPA.com is owned by HugeDomains and is for sale.

So you can reach out to HugeDomains and buy it, and then sell it to a big PA lawfirm for profit. The biggest mistake most people make is to just sit there and expect sales to come to yo and good domains to drop.

If you want a good DN, chances are you will have to buy them from an investor.

Or you could buy $1k worth of well selected GD expiring domains and then ask for $1k+ each and see which ones you can sell etc...

So in the end, maybe pick 2 GOOD domains to buy for $1k, and spend the rest on at least 50 GOOD domains through auctions.

To find out what GOOD domains are, read the forums, and do the research and don't rush to buy.

Domaining has risk involved and not everything is a 'sure thing', so don't overextend yourself.

 

[DNabc]

As I usually say: when everyone is after the same things I like to choose other paths...
Safer investments usually means lower ROI and can even be deceiving. There is no assurance in this market, it fluctuates like any other.
When I bought lots of 5N and 4L chips they were not guaranteed, were even considered garbage, but I had reasons to buy them...
I spend my days researching data to minimize my risks and I haven't found another way after close to two decades.

 

[1NiteStand]

5k is a good starting point. Now just pretend you only have 2.5k, and need to turn that into 5k... read here on namepros to see what makes a good name, what the trends are, what future trends are emerging, etc. learn about handpick reg fee names and after market names, how to grab expiring names thru backorder/namecatching servicess, etc., there is a lot to learn.. so your biggest ROI will come from learning and studying, rather than quickly jumping into this industry and making some quick flips.

 

[S-B]

Here's what I'd do:

1. Buy something for under $500
2. Try to sell it for over $500

Now likely your first investment won't be a solid investment. You should learn from your loss and do some more research. There's nothing like losing money to motivate you to do the work.

 

[David Wells]

I see the wisdom of started with a single domain name. I find that when I have hundreds of them it's difficult to choose one and focus on it. I tend to group them and try to figure out what to do with groups of them which is a different and more challenging problem and probably ultimately less profitable than working them one at a time.

 

[Silentptnr]

Here's a quick reference I found here on the forum that you might appreciate.

Chinese Premium (Chips):
Short .com domains (2L, 3L, 4L) without the letters a, e, i, o, u, or v.

Western Premium:
The quality of the letter composition can play a significant role in determining 3-letter valuations. General concensus states that the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T are considered premium letters. Other lesser high quality letters include: J, K, U, V, W. Lower quality letters include: Q, X, Y, Z.

Premium letter only domains tend to fetch a 500% to 600% premium (or more) over the Minimum Wholesale Price. Mixed letter quality domains have valuations somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.

WeChips are a mix between Chinese & Western. Ex: BHJK (Because J in Western is lesser high quality, but it does good for Chinese) and/or BHNN (all of 4 letters of these are good for Western and Chinese, which is call WeChips)

Good Luck and don't spend it all in one place!

 

[Silentptnr]

Oh, and here's one more:

THE FLOOR PRICES*

NN.com $900,000 (if containing 4)

NNN.com $100,000 (if containing 4)

NNNN.com $12,000 (if containing 4)

NNNNN.com $600 (if containing 4)

LN.com & NL.com $35,000 (if containing 4, 0, o)

LL.com $600,000 (if containing A, E, I, O, U, V)

LLL.com $20,000 (if containing A, E, I, O, U, V)

LLLL.com $300 (if containing A, E, I, O, U, V)


*The floor price is the minimum amount you can sell a domain name within a short (1-3 weeks) time frame.

Source: GGRG latest newsletter

- V