discuss Renewing domains in advance to increase sales?

[nomen]

So probably like the most of you guys and girls I've always been renewing my domains at the very last minute and in many cases transferring them out to reduce costs if possible. But just recently I've been starting to renew domains that I like much and tend to keep at least for a few yars way in advance.

My reasoning is that if there would be an end user looking for a domain for an upcoming product or service and he/she sees that the domain is about expire in, say, ~ one month, he/she might just want to see if the domain simply comes available (given that he/she is not that familar with the domain exp. process). It's not like he/she doesn't have a lot of other things to do.

This is all theory at the moment but based on traffic, inquiries, offer views (though pretty useless metric IMO), WhoIs counts and just plain old gut feeling, I renew selected domains even for a couple years. And as said, I just employed this tactic just recently and really don't know if there's anything to it yet.

Opinions? Thoughts?

 

[RJ]

Good observation. Based on my own experience I would agree with it. I think if it is close to expiration, some buyers will wait before making contact.

 

[nomen]

And to add to my point, it's often times better to use that $10 to renew a good domain (that you intend to renew anyway) than to buy some of those impulse buys/regs (that we all do).

EDIT: Or at least this is the strategy that I'm going to test for a while.

 

[hugegrowth]

If you have many domains it ties up a lot of cash to renew many years in advance. Might show people you are serious about holding the name or give it some importance. But I don't think it matters much for sales, if someone wants it they want it.

 

[TampaDomains]

I think you should register all your domains for 10 years so people will be much more motivated to buy them from you.

 

[DaveX]

Also, by renewing your favorites for more than one year, you get the current renewal price. No guarantee the renewal prices won't increase. I just got an email today that .org increased.

 

[hxp]

I completely agree with this strategy.

I've actually thought about it for a while, and there multiple pros, with pretty much just 1 con.

Pros & Cons (Considering .com names @ $10/year for 10 years):

- You can negotiate/do business, stress-free. There's no pressure to make deals, and you're not constantly watching your back.
- You have 10 years to make the sale. Who knows how many offers you might see during that time?
- You think twice, even thrice, about the names you invest in. Thus, improving the quality of your names.
- As you mentioned, it encourages the buyer to make an offer, instead of waiting/hoping for a drop.
- It offers the buyer value. Your price includes registration for a full 10 years! Great point to bring up during negotiations.

- $100 per domain, upfront. Could be a dud...?

If I could go back in time, I'd totally invest my first $100 on 1 name, instead of 10...

 

[campout]

Wow - I was just thinking about this the past couple days and here you have posted a thread on the exact theory.

Obviously, the downside is in the tying up of capital -- and that certainly is a downside to anyone (like me) who occasionally runs up against capital constraints (ie getting close to $0).

I think what we can pretty definitively say is that a name which expires further out in the future will be more likely to elicit an offer over a large sample size. I think the plan of adding some years to your best names is smart.

Last point: it's unlikely any of us will ever be able to know for sure if this is or isn't working, unless a buyer were to make a comment like, "I saw that this was renewed out through 2020, so I knew I had to approach you directly."

But I think the logic is good on higher value names.

 

[GoKaizen]

I had a sale recently and put the money into renewals for valuable domains and built websites.

You have to know what's worth renewing though. You don't always know what the future holds.

 

[nomen]

If you have many domains it ties up a lot of cash to renew many years in advance. Might show people you are serious about holding the name or give it some importance. But I don't think it matters much for sales, if someone wants it they want it.

Yeah, if someone wants it they want it... But want it bad and want it no matter what are too different things. In most cases, the buyer has A LOT of options to consider, many of them priced at the same level. And more time they have to think about it, more likely they come up with some not so great hand reg.

 

[nomen]

@hxp Stress-freeness is a great point, too.

 

[campout]

And more time they have to think about it, more likely they come up with some not so great hand reg.

Exactly. If they see that your domain is expiring in 2 months, they may say to themselves, "I will check back in 2 months to see if he renews it," and then they go off and lose the impulse to buy.

 

[nomen]

Exactly. If they see that your domain is expiring in 2 months, they may say to themselves, "I will check back in 2 months to see if he renews it," and then they go off and lose the impulse to buy.

Yup, and if it's a developer or even an already established startup the chances are the project is going change within X time. And the name they initially thought is long forgotten.

 

[ulasbbtr]

Renewing for 10 years will significantly reduce your ROI. Instead of spending 10, you will be spending 100 and paying renewal dues of the buyer in advance.

 

[nomen]

Renewing for 10 years will significantly reduce your ROI. Instead of spending 10, you will be spending 100 and paying renewal dues of the buyer in advance.

Sure but meant more like two years, three years... For a selected few.

 

[doubleU]

For whatever reasons people always seem to want what they can't have, domains with a expiration date over one year can cancel out any hope that the buyer has of acquiring the domain form expiration or deletion. It can change the mindset of some buyers and even make them want it more, leading to more bids and inquires.

I have two lists of domains I wish to acquire, one list for domains I think have a good chance of expiring and another list for domains that have expiration date far into the future.

You can guess which list I get my domains cheaper.

 

[AuctionBio]

So probably like the most of you guys and girls I've always been renewing my domains at the very last minute and in many cases transferring them out to reduce costs if possible. But just recently I've been starting to renew domains that I like much and tend to keep at least for a few yars way in advance.

My reasoning is that if there would be an end user looking for a domain for an upcoming product or service and he/she sees that the domain is about expire in, say, ~ one month, he/she might just want to see if the domain simply comes available (given that he/she is not that familar with the domain exp. process). It's not like he/she doesn't have a lot of other things to do.

This is all theory at the moment but based on traffic, inquiries, offer views (though pretty useless metric IMO), WhoIs counts and just plain old gut feeling, I renew selected domains even for a couple years. And as said, I just employed this tactic just recently and really don't know if there's anything to it yet.

Opinions? Thoughts?

Good points you discussed here. Yiu are right that end user can think of expiring the domins with in some months. So here I agree with you renewing good domains in advance, as it's also my habit to renew at the very last manure.

 

[briguy]

If it within my budget, I will renew a domain for multiple years. Simple reasons, I don't remember paying less for renewal than the previous year and the exchange rate between my currency and USA's always fluctuates.
Note I prefer to sticking to the same registrar rather than transferring out to save a few dollars.

 

[DomainVP]

I think that it's clever to add renewal years to your more premium domains.

From observing acquisitions of .COM domains, if an acquisition is not an urgent necessity companies they tend to wait 3-5 years to 'feel you out' to see if you will drop the domain.

If you add 5-6 years registration onto a name, it removes all question about your intentions on keeping the domain.

I have done this with a few DN's... sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

 

[iAchilles]

The longest I've gone to date is 2024 on one name.I suspect you might be right with potential buyers monitoring names. I recently got a series of price requests on Afternic right after I transferred/renewed a batch which I found very interesting.

My long haul names I renew for 2-3 years in advance. I didn't do it all in one lump sum though, each time I make a sale I reinvest a little into renewals of my existing portfolio.