discuss So are you INVESTING in domain names or just flipping them?

[Brands.International]

Generally, there is a big difference between long-term investments and short-term holdings. What is your personal approach? Are in in for long-term with your domain names (10-20 years+) or you just want to buy and sell in very short period of time?

Personally, I think long term investment is much more profitable, over longer period of time. Those who flips their domain names (or doing quick flips of real estate, stocks, etc) are usually ending without money and being POOR (general rule with tons of exceptions, of course). They do not let their best assets to appreciate over time, by simply not allowing enough time for their holdings.

I believe in following : to be financially happy in future:
buy good names, trust your names, and do not be so quick to sell

Your opinion?

PS: and keep your renewals low...​

 

[Fancy.domains]

I used to flip a lot, but not anymore.

I see my names as long-term (or semi long-term) investments.

 

[trelgor]

Flipping is rushing a sale. Rushing a sale is speculating that $200 now is better than an eventual solid offer down the line. It can be a strategy, but not for me. I believe that domains are crucial business assets and that selling under 2k is a disservice to yourself if you are serious about making it longterm. Don't acquire names that you don't see selling under 2k is my advice.

 

[xynames]

I think a lot of people who don't make any sales like to tell themselves that they're investing for the long term.

If you're getting offers, and turning them down, hoping for more later - that is something, but yes, I agree if no offers coming in that doesn't necessarily mean that more offers will come in on down the line.

 

[Brands.International]

I used to flip a lot, but not anymore.

I see my names as long-term (or semi long-term) investments.

I totally agree with this. Flipping is generally very demanding and profits are low. Exceptions are there, of course.

When I started with my niche (new gTLDs), I admit that was happy to get, what Brad @bmugford is calling "proof of concept" in his above post, and to prove myself my investments are not what @Joe Nichols describes above, naturally, as everything was new, and I was listening too much to other people and thought they know something. I sold great name for 1k, and I was happy. I sold a name for 5k and I was happy. Now I think I was pretty stupid to sell. I was quickly loosing my best names, and was not able to replace them cost-effectively. This is changing now, dramatically. Just few weeks ago I made a decision to delist all my names from venues like SEDO and Afternic, as actually I had lot of various interactions, but what I felt mostly offers coming from another domain investors. And I was not able to figure out who is the end user, really. I find it much better for me to sell directly, using platforms like Linkedin (now more then 10k connections) and have much more control over negotiations, as I know exactly who is the end user.

Personally, I am not interested to sell my best names to another domain investors (except those I plan to drop anyway), flip then quickly, just to have plenty of small sales. It is a fact, that if you have set of domain names, other people will try to get from you your best names FIRST (naturally). So you will have some sales (maybe plenty), and others will pat you on the back, but on the same time, you will loose your best inventory very quickly and your total income will be poor.

So long-term investment is the way to go, imo. Hold your best names, reject the offers. When you are in long-term, you will not maybe get instant gratification, but ask yourself : what will pay your bills when you will be retiring - opinions of others?

 

[LarryDomain]

I like to buy now and think later! So selling is always priority number 2..

Just buy until you have no more money and you'll end up with priority 2.. which is selling.

Priority 2 is now Priority 1..

Probably doesn't make sense but it's logical!

 

[Steven McEvoy]

This how we call long-term investment -- -- > 9 -10 years ..

z.company --- -- > 2029 .
s.company --- -- > 2029 .
f.company --- -- > 2028 .
b.company --- -- > 2028 .
h.company --- -- > 2028 .
y.company --- -- > 2028 .
y.company --- -- > 2028 .
w.company --- -- > 2028 .
m.company --- -- > 2028 .
o.company --- -- > 2028 .
q.company --- -- > 2028 .
v.company --- -- > 2028 .
etc.....

Sure i'm with long-term

The only millions you'll be doing is bumping those threads a million times....

 

[Recons.Com]

Doesn't "investing in domains" mean that within a year of purchase 1% or so of the names will be "flipped" and the rest will qualify for "investing" category? ))

That is if you are doing the typical domain investment.

And I realize that there is a smaller niche of true flippers that try to achieve 5% to 25%+ sell through, but this is never scaleable, as you run against constraint of your own time actively marketing and/or spamming.

 

[Brands.International]

My guess is that you know somebody who made a lot of money on long term investment and you think that this rule must apply to everyone and everything. I know guys(real estate) who lost 5 millions euro on a 12 years investment and in the same time others that have made money on long term investments. The same thing applies for short term investments, there are brokerage companies who are specialized just in short term investments(aka flipping) and they are doing huge amounts of money. No matter the investment, you can win big or loose big, depends if you invest at the right time and in the right assets and depends when you sell( meaning 'at the right moment').

I agree with you that "brokerage companies who are specialized just in short term investments(aka flipping)" are making lot of money, no doubts about that, but are their clients making lot of money as well in most cases, or just paying transaction fees?

 

[boker]

I agree with you that "brokerage companies who are specialized just in short term investments(aka flipping)" are making lot of money, no doubts about that, but are their clients making lot of money as well in most cases, or just paying transaction fees?

Probably the clients are making a lot less, but in the same time there are individual who invest themselfs, without brokers...and still using short term investments and sometimes they make lot's of money sometimes they loose. I think exactly the same can happen with domains, if you think that you are safe, just because you will wait 10-20 years, that's a big mistake. It would be enough to check the threads started in 2003, to see how many people lost money holding for years, probably 90% of the domains investors from 15 years ago lost money and they have given up. The old timers which you see today and which made money are just a small % of the total investors.

 

[lambo.com]

long term investor

 

[Peter Karpouzas]

I'm only new at this but I've bought a couple domains to try. I've sold one so far but still learning about profiting from domains. I've got domains but use them mostly for link purposes more than anything. I'm trying to understand some of the best domains that you can think of that have commercial viability plus two phrase domains and so on. My intention however, is to buy for both really, but the long term ones have good returns.

 

[Al Marri]

This how we call long-term investment -- -- > 9 -10 years ..

z.company --- -- > 2029 .
s.company --- -- > 2029 .
f.company --- -- > 2028 .
b.company --- -- > 2028 .
h.company --- -- > 2028 .
y.company --- -- > 2028 .
y.company --- -- > 2028 .
w.company --- -- > 2028 .
m.company --- -- > 2028 .
o.company --- -- > 2028 .
q.company --- -- > 2028 .
v.company --- -- > 2028 .
etc.....

Sure i'm with long-term

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I'm always wanting offers. I would sell any domain at any time if the numbers work for me.

^^^ This summarizes it for me as well.

While the analogies to real estate and financial investments are helpful, I think neither is a perfect comparison. I view domains as more like a product, something that has value and utility and that the goal is to have it noticed by someone who can use it effectively. While there are times that utility may take awhile to develop (like if you have a name in the leading edge of a new technology), I do not favour deliberately holding them to get a tiny bit more value. By the same token you should not sell a domain that you feel highly confident has great value to the first person offering anything for it.

You always need to weigh the price with the probability. Just because a domain might sell for $2000 does not mean that it is unwise to sell it for $1400 because turning that down may mean it will not sell for many years, or never.

That is why wholesale prices need to be much below retails, because the buyer is taking some risk it will never sell, and that must be considered in the price he/she will pay.

Bob

 

[IPBFlippers]

As with any investment, it also depends on what you are holding. Crap wine ages to still be crap wine. Only very fine wines benefit from aging. Same with domains.

Talking about good domains, it can be hard to figure what will be considered good names in the distant future.

My strategy is to ensure consistent sales and reduce my yearly renewals to the barest minimum while making profit.

 

[branding]

ٌ
Renewal : $9.99

I'll take your word for it. Nice. Definitely worth holding onto then.

 

[lock]

Wait them out yes heels in I do my best to deter low ballers. If I do get an offer I do consider whether I will get another but right now I probably need to build all new landers for my sites which could take some time.

 

[GenericDomainz]

I think that I am investor, not flipper. Because flipping is much harder than investing...

 

[Kai W.]

I don't think we can decide whether to get short-term in the long run. For me personally, I have a long-term plan, but if I get a suitable offer tomorrow, I will reverse them for a short time.

 

[Banezer]

I am a short term investor, but once I get a job or business that earn me monthly or weekly (guaranteed) only then I will swift fully to long term investment. For now I do semi long term

 

[trelgor]

I agree. It is very easy to kick the can down the road and expect things to change over time.
In reality if you are having success in the short term, it is more likely you will in the longer term as well.

Brad

F. Schilling once said that he thinks of it as a conveyor belt. Eventually a fraction of your names and a fraction of the inquirees for them will start dropping off that belt. Trick is to be there unfazed and undesperate when that happens, IMO. Everything else is a stepping stone.

 

[Al Marri]

I, personally, don't see this domains in 2028 sales chart. Investing is something you can know, but I think it's too far investment.

#1--> x.company Using By Google
#2--> x.com Using By Elon Musk
#3--> z.com Using By GMO Internet, Inc

 

[bmugford]

This how we call long-term investment -- -- > 9 -10 years ..

z.company --- -- > 2029 .
s.company --- -- > 2029 .
f.company --- -- > 2028 .
b.company --- -- > 2028 .
h.company --- -- > 2028 .
y.company --- -- > 2028 .
y.company --- -- > 2028 .
w.company --- -- > 2028 .
m.company --- -- > 2028 .
o.company --- -- > 2028 .
q.company --- -- > 2028 .
v.company --- -- > 2028 .
etc.....

Sure i'm with long-term

This really provides nothing relevant to the conversation. It is just thread spamming your list of domains.

Brad

 

[myfavorite]

I believe both are needed.

Flipping successfully will help to maintain liquidity and also fund renewals etc. It equally helps to keep your hope alive.

However, I try to determine what am willing to sale each domain. If a buyer comes early for ones I see as long term investment at that price good.

Adjustments in pricing is equally important with more information and development.

 

[GenericDomainz]

Enjoy watching video

Video is fake

 

[branding]