discuss No Domain Sales For A While

[lknights1987]

Last year with a portfolio of 500 domain names I sold 5 domain names priced at
$2888 , $2500 , $265 , $120 & $999 with my last sale in July 2022

The year before that I sold 7 domain names each sale was for $265

All sales were from Afternic apart from the highest sale $2888 which was on Dan.

I believe my domains are decent but with no sales what should I do? Reduce prices? Try another lander?

( I'm currently using Afternic NS3/NS4 landers )

 

[411domains]

Even worse, they thought giving it a human passing it off as a real broker would be ok. (As if we wouldn't know.)

This should have read, "They thought giving it a human name and passing it off as a real broker would be ok."

Wasn't the exciting announcement one that implied that human brokers would manage these leads, not bots?

Could you imagine how many brokers would walk if they thought they were being replaced by a bot? Just the whisper of it alone would be problematic.

Perhaps AI is in the works as the new GD brokerage?

Replacing brokers with Ai would be a very bad idea.

As @lknights1987 iterated, having the email verification first of a lead may really help allow humans to take care of the leads up front, rather than bots.

It's been the industry industry standard for decades. That's why I would have loved to be in the room when they overthought this solution.

 

[Domain Blaze]

I was concerned over my sales because I had a few months dry, then bang....Had a great sale through Afternic last month.

I've been away from domaining for 1.5 years and the difference is night and day. Not much happening for me right now but I believe if you have items for sale you will eventually make a sale, although it seems a lot of buyers have gone away.

 

[phaethon]

Well, I didn't have any sales since November and between 10 to 15 April, I had three totaling 7K. Domaining is crazy

 

[lknights1987]

Well, I didn't have any sales since November and between 10 to 15 April, I had three totaling 7K. Domaining is crazy

Did they all have BIN prices on?

 

[phaethon]

Did they all have BIN prices on?

Yep, all came through the AN premium network. I had multiple stalled leads on AN, I switched to BIN landers now, it seems too many inquiries go nowhere.

 

[Aibob]

Last year with a portfolio of 500 domain names I sold 5 domain names priced at
$2888 , $2500 , $265 , $120 & $999 with my last sale in July 2022

The year before that I sold 7 domain names each sale was for $265

All sales were from Afternic apart from the highest sale $2888 which was on Dan.

I believe my domains are decent but with no sales what should I do? Reduce prices? Try another lander?

( I'm currently using Afternic NS3/NS4 landers )

If you want to share the names I may be able to offer some insight on it.

 

[411domains]

This is me:

Every single time I see the following:





Meanwhile, the brokers are receiving all the same old garbage bot leads.

It's way too soon for Afternic to have any sort of lead automation.

Your number one priority after 2-3 years of being in beta, should be fixing the platform and allowing the BROKERS to do their jobs.

They're hungry. FEED THEM!

Do the right thing.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Could you imagine how many brokers would walk if they thought they were being replaced by a bot? Just the whisper of it alone would be problematic.

This is my concern as well. I switched all my domains over to Afternic over a year ago and last year was slightly higher than average at $136k in sales for the year.

GoDaddy had a layoff announced in February. I've been in several corporations and when layoffs are looming, productivity drops like a rock because of the unknown and negative vibe.

So my concern is similar to yours, where if there is a push for bots in addition to layoffs that have actually occurred (and could continue), is this negatively affecting my sales and negotiations?

My take is that the economy is really bad right now and is fully still headed in that direction. Personally my sales since the middle of November have been down 80-90% on 6,000+ domains. That is not an organic drop in revenue over a 6+ month period. There is something in play when things are down that much, in that short of a time period. As a comparison, in 2008-2009 during a major "recession" I didn't notice anything like this. If there was a drop, it wasn't significant enough to notice without reviewing sales numbers.

The good...it forces you into accurate thinking which results in a cleaner portfolio with only good and great domains in the end. Also, if you have cash laying around, you can get some great deals purchasing domains. As for me, I'm going to get out of sales in the under $5,000 range. The amount of sales that come from this range for me, as compared to the renewal expenses, doesn't make a lot of sense when compared to the other ranges.

I've also switched everything back to my old landers and will put lease options back in place.

https://www.biix.com/domain/dyntec.com

---

***----------------Update-------------***

I originally wrote this post on about May 23rd or so and left it in draft mode until now. In the next 4 days after my initial draft I had $37k in sales after over 6 months with no significant sales over $2k. Even though I changed my landers, the sales still came from Afternic. Just thought I'd share the before/after and what a stark contrast in viewpoints there could be in the same economy. Sales are still down for the last 6 month period overall, but the recent boost made a huge difference.

 

[SpareDomains]

This is my concern as well. I switched all my domains over to Afternic over a year ago and last year was slightly higher than average at $136k in sales for the year.

GoDaddy had a layoff announced in February. I've been in several corporations and when layoffs are looming, productivity drops like a rock because of the unknown and negative vibe.

So my concern is similar to yours, where if there is a push for bots in addition to layoffs that have actually occurred (and could continue), is this negatively affecting my sales and negotiations?

My take is that the economy is really bad right now and is fully still headed in that direction. Personally my sales since the middle of November have been down 80-90% on 6,000+ domains. That is not an organic drop in revenue over a 6+ month period. There is something in play when things are down that much, in that short of a time period. As a comparison, in 2008-2009 during a major "recession" I didn't notice anything like this. If there was a drop, it wasn't significant enough to notice without reviewing sales numbers.

The good...it forces you into accurate thinking which results in a cleaner portfolio with only good and great domains in the end. Also, if you have cash laying around, you can get some great deals purchasing domains. As for me, I'm going to get out of sales in the under $5,000 range. The amount of sales that come from this range for me, as compared to the renewal expenses, doesn't make a lot of sense when compared to the other ranges.

I've also switched everything back to my old landers and will put lease options back in place.

https://www.biix.com/domain/dyntec.com

---

***----------------Update-------------***

I originally wrote this post on about May 23rd or so and left it in draft mode until now. In the next 4 days after my initial draft I had $37k in sales after over 6 months with no significant sales over $2k. Even though I changed my landers, the sales still came from Afternic. Just thought I'd share the before/after and what a stark contrast in viewpoints there could be in the same economy. Sales are still down for the last 6 month period overall, but the recent boost made a huge difference.

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I've always used my own pages 20+ years or something like efty and the mls sales sedo/afternic still happen as those buyers come from distribution networks and not type in traffic. I'm personally continuing with my own/efty as I can always add 10% to Afternic prices to make MLS network sales ring in at 15% instead of 25% or Sedo sales ring at 0-10% instead of 10-20% depending how the buyer comes in. First time seeing your biix lander and looks pretty good. With that many domains under management I'd probably keep running it and just adjust a little up on MLS like I'm doing to knock the % cut down on MLS sales as not using their landers won't stop sales just bumps % cut up which you can adjust for.

 

[Yanosh]

This is my concern as well. I switched all my domains over to Afternic over a year ago and last year was slightly higher than average at $136k in sales for the year.

GoDaddy had a layoff announced in February. I've been in several corporations and when layoffs are looming, productivity drops like a rock because of the unknown and negative vibe.

So my concern is similar to yours, where if there is a push for bots in addition to layoffs that have actually occurred (and could continue), is this negatively affecting my sales and negotiations?

My take is that the economy is really bad right now and is fully still headed in that direction. Personally my sales since the middle of November have been down 80-90% on 6,000+ domains. That is not an organic drop in revenue over a 6+ month period. There is something in play when things are down that much, in that short of a time period. As a comparison, in 2008-2009 during a major "recession" I didn't notice anything like this. If there was a drop, it wasn't significant enough to notice without reviewing sales numbers.

The good...it forces you into accurate thinking which results in a cleaner portfolio with only good and great domains in the end. Also, if you have cash laying around, you can get some great deals purchasing domains. As for me, I'm going to get out of sales in the under $5,000 range. The amount of sales that come from this range for me, as compared to the renewal expenses, doesn't make a lot of sense when compared to the other ranges.

I've also switched everything back to my old landers and will put lease options back in place.

https://www.biix.com/domain/dyntec.com

---

***----------------Update-------------***

I originally wrote this post on about May 23rd or so and left it in draft mode until now. In the next 4 days after my initial draft I had $37k in sales after over 6 months with no significant sales over $2k. Even though I changed my landers, the sales still came from Afternic. Just thought I'd share the before/after and what a stark contrast in viewpoints there could be in the same economy. Sales are still down for the last 6 month period overall, but the recent boost made a huge difference.

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Show attachment 240249

Some stunning sales!
Congratulations

 

[Mindtellect]

Take patience.

 

[ArielT]

This is my concern as well. I switched all my domains over to Afternic over a year ago and last year was slightly higher than average at $136k in sales for the year.

GoDaddy had a layoff announced in February. I've been in several corporations and when layoffs are looming, productivity drops like a rock because of the unknown and negative vibe.

So my concern is similar to yours, where if there is a push for bots in addition to layoffs that have actually occurred (and could continue), is this negatively affecting my sales and negotiations?

My take is that the economy is really bad right now and is fully still headed in that direction. Personally my sales since the middle of November have been down 80-90% on 6,000+ domains. That is not an organic drop in revenue over a 6+ month period. There is something in play when things are down that much, in that short of a time period. As a comparison, in 2008-2009 during a major "recession" I didn't notice anything like this. If there was a drop, it wasn't significant enough to notice without reviewing sales numbers.

The good...it forces you into accurate thinking which results in a cleaner portfolio with only good and great domains in the end. Also, if you have cash laying around, you can get some great deals purchasing domains. As for me, I'm going to get out of sales in the under $5,000 range. The amount of sales that come from this range for me, as compared to the renewal expenses, doesn't make a lot of sense when compared to the other ranges.

I've also switched everything back to my old landers and will put lease options back in place.

https://www.biix.com/domain/dyntec.com

---

***----------------Update-------------***

I originally wrote this post on about May 23rd or so and left it in draft mode until now. In the next 4 days after my initial draft I had $37k in sales after over 6 months with no significant sales over $2k. Even though I changed my landers, the sales still came from Afternic. Just thought I'd share the before/after and what a stark contrast in viewpoints there could be in the same economy. Sales are still down for the last 6 month period overall, but the recent boost made a huge difference.

Show attachment 240248
Show attachment 240249

Congrats.

Have you made any change in prices recently or keeping the same from a longer time?

 

[lknights1987]

This is my concern as well. I switched all my domains over to Afternic over a year ago and last year was slightly higher than average at $136k in sales for the year.

GoDaddy had a layoff announced in February. I've been in several corporations and when layoffs are looming, productivity drops like a rock because of the unknown and negative vibe.

So my concern is similar to yours, where if there is a push for bots in addition to layoffs that have actually occurred (and could continue), is this negatively affecting my sales and negotiations?

My take is that the economy is really bad right now and is fully still headed in that direction. Personally my sales since the middle of November have been down 80-90% on 6,000+ domains. That is not an organic drop in revenue over a 6+ month period. There is something in play when things are down that much, in that short of a time period. As a comparison, in 2008-2009 during a major "recession" I didn't notice anything like this. If there was a drop, it wasn't significant enough to notice without reviewing sales numbers.

The good...it forces you into accurate thinking which results in a cleaner portfolio with only good and great domains in the end. Also, if you have cash laying around, you can get some great deals purchasing domains. As for me, I'm going to get out of sales in the under $5,000 range. The amount of sales that come from this range for me, as compared to the renewal expenses, doesn't make a lot of sense when compared to the other ranges.

I've also switched everything back to my old landers and will put lease options back in place.

https://www.biix.com/domain/dyntec.com

---

***----------------Update-------------***

I originally wrote this post on about May 23rd or so and left it in draft mode until now. In the next 4 days after my initial draft I had $37k in sales after over 6 months with no significant sales over $2k. Even though I changed my landers, the sales still came from Afternic. Just thought I'd share the before/after and what a stark contrast in viewpoints there could be in the same economy. Sales are still down for the last 6 month period overall, but the recent boost made a huge difference.

Show attachment 240248
Show attachment 240249

Congrats on these big domain sales. What was the hold time for these domains?

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Congrats on these big domain sales. What was the hold time for these domains?

Sorry for the big delay.


I had FindYourAnswer(dot)com for nearly 10 years, buying it in 2013 for $57. Then in 2015 I leased it for a year to a company doing an ad campaign for $40 per month.

I've had TheWorldOfWellness(dot)com since March 21, 2008 with no other offers since. I bought it on backorder for $59.

The most interesting part of the story is that I sold WorldOfWellness(dot)com (without the leading "The") in that same month in 2008 for $7,000 via a Sedo auction through a series of events and I thought it was the greatest thing of all time.

So in retrospect, I definitely could have sold WorldOfWellness(dot)com for much more than $7,000. So if you look at the 2 sales, I sold WorldOfWellness(dot)com in 2008 for $7,000, and TheWorldOfWellness.com(dot)com in 2023 for $24,500. So what changed? Mostly my perspective and research while creating NameWorth. I had shifted my thoughts on pricing after having relatively the same strategy for 15 years and previously averaging in the $1,xxx-$2,xxx range in sales price range with occasional sales in the high $x,xxx or low $xx,xxx range.

With more inspiration from Rick Schwartz and Mike Mann, I've been trying to evolve where my very lowest prices are now in the high 4 figure range and the core sales being in the five figure sales or above.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Congrats.

Have you made any change in prices recently or keeping the same from a longer time?

It's funny you ask this. This is what led to the big sale.

Because we had a 6 month period of almost no sales (which is normally $60,000+) we did something drastic with our pricing. My wife and I took all the domains under $10,000 and priced half of them at $2,450 and half at $450 to see if we could get any activity. Within a week or so we got a sale at $2,450 and one at $450.

Since we had moved all the domains back to biix, had confirmed sales activity, and we were now getting almost daily inquiries that week, my wife had a bad feeling that she needed to update all our low priced ($450-$2,450) domains that were being valued at over $10,000 (based on the NameWorth estimates). So she had changed the pricing within 1-2 days of the sale from $450 to the $24,500 NameWorth estimate. I think the domain was previously at $7,450 or so it got picked up in our experiment for domains under $10,000 and then subsequently priced down to $450.

Had she not updated the pricing, we were 1-2 days away from losing a huge sale had we not updated our pricing.

 

[Sutruk]

Mostly my perspective and research while creating NameWorth.

Have you thought about making it available to everybody without the need to register an account? Like the Godaddy appraisal tool.

I think your tool could be a game changer in the domain industry, if people could see your appraisals for free. You are just 1 step from it, in my opinion. Make it "mainstream" and your site could virtually bloom.

Then, with more visits, you could monetize the site with ads, or with some "premium" service, to access more than xx times the valuation tool per day, for example.

You could try to make it available for everyone for a while, to see how it evolves.

Just my two cents. And congrats by the way for your sales and for the tool!

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Have you thought about making it available to everybody without the need to register an account? Like the Godaddy appraisal tool.

I think your tool could be a game changer in the domain industry, if people could see your appraisals for free. You are just 1 step from it, in my opinion. Make it "mainstream" and your site could virtually bloom.

Then, with more visits, you could monetize the site with ads, or with some "premium" service, to access more than xx times the valuation tool per day, for example.

You could try to make it available for everyone for a while, to see how it evolves.

Just my two cents. And congrats by the way for your sales and for the tool!

I definitely would love to do that, but my solution runs off of real time data and it burns a bunch of data with each run. This is super critical if a previously unused brand is now being used by 2-3 companies. The NameWorth value should be increasing as it sees more usage.

Regarding the data. The cost for the data on the site is about 60% or more of the plan cost. So to give away a $10 plan, I would currently have to pay $6 out of pocket.

My 4.0 version that's in development will be using some in-house technology, which may allow me to make it more available, and at the same time providing increased reliability and accuracy.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

I definitely would love to do that, but my solution runs off of real time data and it burns a bunch of data with each run. This is super critical if a previously unused brand is now being used by 2-3 companies. The NameWorth value should be increasing as it sees more usage.

Regarding the data. The cost for the data on the site is about 60% or more of the plan cost. So to give away a $10 plan, I would currently have to pay $6 out of pocket.

My 4.0 version that's in development will be using some in-house technology, which may allow me to make it more available, and at the same time providing increased reliability and accuracy.

But maybe there is more I can do without users registering.

The only reason for the required registration process is to block most of the abuse, so I'd need to figure out a way to open up the system without allowing bots to abuse the process and potentially cost me a lot of money.

I'll do some thinking. I appreciate the feedback @Sutruk !