discuss Starting with $500, how soon can one be a full-time domainer with $5k a month?

[abstractdomainer]

Talking about sustainable income here, which means, this could be seen as $60,000 per year also in another light.

 

[bmugford]

In the current market this is highly unlikely IMO, unless you bring something extraordinary to the table.

Quality inventory costs too much and the typical sell-through rate is too slow to turn a $500 investment into $5,000 a month.

Those are just wildly unrealistic expectations in my view.

Brad

 

[alcy]

spoken like true clueless newbie

do u have any idea how many 100s of hours it takes to learn about parking b4 u can do what u said

 

[VadimK]

I guess it's possible, but not within the first 5 years, and no more than 2-3 people from a hundred domainers will arrive there. You need a special set of skills - very good analytical ability and lots of patience (and time to learn as well).

 

[bmugford]

I guess it's possible, but not within the first 5 years, and no more than 2-3 people from a hundred domainers will arrive there. You need a special set of skills - very good analytical ability and lots of patience (and time to learn as well).

The better question is if I start with $500, how long will it take to break even?

It can take many years of making the right decisions to reach a real tipping point.

Sure, one random person might get some random sale just by sheer coincidence, but that is not a sustainable business model.

Brad

 

[oppo]

in 4 days

 

[FolioTeam]

I'm paying my bills from 2016 doing this and I have less than 500 domains at any given time. I've reported tens of sales over the years, some sold as fast as 24 hours. I've invested less than $500 in domains in the last 30 days and sold two of them for more than a few hundred times more than what I've paid for them....others are doing it even better, lots are doing it worst.

OP's question wasn't about whether you can turn a profit from $500. He was asking about a consistent 5k a month from $500.

People who are making a consistent 5k every single month like clockwork aren't running their businesses with $500. The earlier example that someone started with $100 in 2007 failed to also consider the following:

1. That 2007 was 15 years ago and that profit made along the way was probably ploughed back into the business.

2. That said profit might not have even come in the first year so more money might have been invested to pay for renewals and buy better names. Thus, increasing the actual startup money to $100 plus all the additional money before the first break-even sale.

3. That acquisition cost in 2007 was a different ball game when compared to acquisition cost today. I don't even want to talk of the inflation rate difference between the two times. So, $500 back in 2007 could acquire better names than what you will get today for $500.

So, while I get the whole "I invested $100 15 years ago and see where I am today" story, the analogy doesn't quite work for what the OP is asking

 

[freety85]

The only way you can speed up the process with only $500 in cash would with outbound and flipping a few names. This won't be an overnight success either. You also need to learn what people want otherwise will be a waste of time and money... Good luck

 

[anunt]

Not even the smartest domainers can turn $500 into $5000 per month income today.
If u can, I will give you $500 and once u make it a $500 per month income, not $5000…just $500 per month income …
i will give you $5000.
You guys are talking about $500 to $5000 per month…
I am saying not even the smartest domainers here can turn $500 into $500 per month income.
People need to stop giving newbies false impossible hope about domaining.

 

[bmugford]

possible in domain parking need only reg one good typein domain, what cost 9 usd and generate 5000 usd per month

Good luck with that.

All you have to do is spend $90 and you are making $50k a month...seems plausible.

Brad

 

[jhm]

Agree with both @bmugford and @VadimK

Its possible, in theory (just about anything is). However, don't get excited. Would I bet on you doing it if you're special, maybe. Would I bet on you doing it if you're not special, definitely not. IMO

 

[FolioTeam]

Not even the smartest domainers can turn $500 into $5000 per month income today.
If u can, I will give you $500 and once u make it a $500 per month income, not $5000…just $500 per month income …
i will give you $5000.
You guys are talking about $500 to $5000 per month…
I am saying not even the smartest domainers here can turn $500 into $500 per month income.
People need to stop giving newbies false impossible hope about domaining.

He didn't even say per year.

At that price point, you will be looking at purchasing one domain and flipping it for say 60k, all within one year to average 5k per month. And if by some fluke you manage to do that, don't think it's something that can be replicated on a consistent basis.

Domains are not conveyor belt products, where you can apply a, b, c to get some expected x, y, z results. I have seen domains that sold within days. I have also seen domains that took years to sell. No rhyme or reason why one sold faster than the other.

That's why the requirements for domain sales are quality, quantity and patience.

 

[VadimK]

The better question is if I start with $500, how long will it take to break even?

It can take many years of making the right decisions to reach a real tipping point.

Sure, one random person might get some random sale just by sheer coincidence, but that is not a sustainable business model.

Brad

Well, if $500 is a literal figure, and someone decides to make an experiment starting from zero knowledge in domaining and spending no $1 more than $500 - I agree, it will be extremely hard to break even in the first year.
If this digit is a bit more of a figurative number only meaning a tight/limited budget only - it's definitely possible, I'd say. Also not easy, but possible. I did it in my first year. But I spent around $3000, made around 4000 and with around 250 dot com names rolling at the end of the year. Agree, it's much more than $500, but still not out of this world digit.

 

[karmaco]

My answer is never.

How many high caliber likely to sell aftermarket names can you get with $500? Very few. If you hand reg your way to the 500 your chances of selling even one for reasonable profit goes down even more.

If you just started domaining you will pick lots of bad. So no there is no way for a new domainer to turn a real profit let alone 5K per month on $500. Not enough money.

 

[dncafe]

If you were treating it like a real job and spending 8 hours a day it's possible to turn $500 into $5K within the first month.

If you focused solely on US city domains that have been deleted recently.

Only buying .COM with CITYNAME+SERVICEKEYWORD.com

and putting all your time and effort into out bound marketing.

With the goal to initially register 50 domains and aggressively market them

Have a relatively low price point, like $350.

$350 x 15 domains is $5250

 

[bmugford]

In your message have the reply. In 2007-2009.... It´s not the same invest in domaining in 2007, today we are in 2022 !!

Similar to bitcoin:
If you put 500 USD in BTC in 2009 and not sell any... Today you would be rich.

Pretty much.

You can't take extremely unlikely outliers and think that is the standard.

Almost anything is possible, if the odds are unlikely enough. Some people turn $1 into hundreds of millions when they win the lottery. It makes more sense to look at the realistic outcomes.

Turning $500 to $60,000/year is just a highly unlikely scenario based on wildly unrealistic expectations.

I think it is safe to assume most people who ever purchased domains for investment purposes have actually lost money. Until you can break even, there is no point worrying about other scenarios.

Brad

 

[FolioTeam]

I think that the main question is about becoming a full time domainer by investing $500 from your money and how many years it take to get there, the $5000 was an example and it doesn't say without reinvesting your profit. You can do 1k, 2k, 3k and be a full time domainer, 5k in New York has less value than 2k in Hanoi. You can use a simple search and go back to 2007 reported sales here on namepros and check what people were paying and for what amounts, the ROI achieved today, even with a hand reg, in short time, is much higher than what you could achieve in 2007. Lot's of $99-$199 acquisition prices and sale prices of 3-4k, nothing special, compared with today. If you talk about meta, defi, nft, crypto, xr and other domain prices, we are talking about a totally different business. Regarding inflation, we are comparing domains bought in 2007 and sold in 2007-2008 and domains bought in 2021 and sold in 2021-2022, so inflation doesn't have an effect in short term. Even so, $1,000 in 2010 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1,278 today, so not so big difference.

Well in his title, he clearly stated 5k a month. Probably, that's what he thinks it will take for him to do this full time comfortably.

Inflation does have an effect. You are forgetting that domaining is a global business. Not all domainers live in the US. So, using the US inflation rate as a yardstick doesn't work here.

Global inflation has been on the rise, some countries more than others. Presently, due to inflation and exchange rate, what I pay to buy a domain from the aftermarket or to register a domain today is twice the amount I used to pay in my local currency in 2020.

 

[BigTree]

Ask anybody who never done that and he will tell you it is not possible.

Yes it is possible and quite fast but you have to be somehow talented in this business.
You do not need to have many years of experience to be successful.
When I am looking for some names here you cannot imagine how horrible domains people send me and those people are members here for ten years or longer.
They just have long experience of mediocrity and practing bad habits. They are in a worse situation than you.

I recommend you to go out and learn what end users do....
Most successul people do not spend much time on forums like this.
They are too busy building succesful business.

Most domainers are average or mediocre and those especially love spending time on forums like this and write. Reading their vaulable opinions, idea etc. will work like brain washing for your beliefs - I guarantee you it will not help you in your domaining career .
Of course I recommend you to read, learn etc but much better and safer are domain blogs run by successful domain investors.
Everything starts and ends with brain so care about it.

 

[spigiv]

Been reading a lot here but not sharing that much but thought this thread really hit home for me

I invested literally 500$ myself 11 months ago (as a newbie). I bought several .coms (mostly crap with focus on GD value 1800+), some nTLDs and then a few .online names. Too sum up that investment I managed to barely break even (mainly from selling one of the nTLDs silver.rocks for 250 and the .coms on GoDaddy for 25-45 on fixed prices each).

From then I have bought and sold names both here and on GoDaddy, SAV and NameCheap with the main focus on turnover, turnover, turnover making a few dollars here and there in order to buy more names and sell more and so on. I have by purpose focused on not having 2% portfolio turnover per year but instead a couple percent a week (I need to generate profits to build the portfolio and it will not happen unless I gain volume in the portfolio).

Now I have 39 Premium names on Squadhelp (5 owned and 34 SH owned) and roughly 160 other names (mainly .xyz but also some .coms and nTLDs) and some money in the bank.

I made my first SH sale today (will have roughly 50$ payout for 12 months now).

So in one year it is possible to at least learn a lot and build a small portfolio but to make this into 5K a month will take time. I hope I can be at 500-1000$ before end of year and build from there.

The main earning to date for me is knowledge which I expect to capitalise over the years to come. Free education (unless counting hours).

In the retrospective: Should I have put all money (500) on 1-2 good names and crossed my fingers to sell them for 2-4K? Yes, it would for sure have saved me a lot of time BUT I would not have learned anything and not been able to reinvest a lucky shot success. So this process with high transaction volumes, interacting with many persons here and seeing which names sell to other investors and which don't - that have made me learn a lot.

Will see how I close this first 12 months within the next couple of weeks and hope to improve even more the next 12 months

 

[bmugford]

Really, if $500 was the budget, I’d only attempt Rick’s suggestion.

Take the $500, spend it on 1 domain. Sell it for $1,000. Spend the $1,000 on 1 domain & sell it for $2,000.

7 Sales Needed:
$1,000
$2,000
$4,000
$8,000
$16,000
$32,000
$64,000

Not a high likelihood of success, but if you are smart enough with the purchases and pick domains with ultra high demand, it could get you a great domain. Again, not likely to happen within a year without perfectly choosing the domain and and getting lucky with the purchasers looking to purchase at that exact moment.


The good thing to this approach is that if you are getting decent deals when purchasing, you have the chance of other investors purchasing in this price range, entrepreneurs, startups or corporations if it is within 2x of a “good deal” for the domain.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1275370852272439297

If only it were that easy.

Why not just sell a $500 domain for $64,000 and do it in one step?

Sales don't usually work in a linear direction like that, especially with low liquidity items.

It is also a lot easier to double your money on $500 than on $32,000. As you scale up it becomes harder.

Brad

 

[dande]

Not even the smartest domainers can turn $500 into $5000 per month income today.
If u can, I will give you $500 and once u make it a $500 per month income, not $5000…just $500 per month income …
i will give you $5000.
You guys are talking about $500 to $5000 per month…
I am saying not even the smartest domainers here can turn $500 into $500 per month income.
People need to stop giving newbies false impossible hope about domaining.

I'm seriously glad to take this challenge as I'm certain I can do it. How do we proceed please?

 

[FolioTeam]

possible in domain parking need only reg one good typein domain, what cost 9 usd and generate 5000 usd per month

Everyone would do it if it was that easy

 

[FolioTeam]

The only way you can speed up the process with only $500 in cash would with outbound and flipping a few names. This won't be an overnight success either. You also need to learn what people want otherwise will be a waste of time and money... Good luck

Even with outbound, a consistent 5k monthly from a capital of 500 is near impossible

 

[blogspotter]

Is it possible? Yes. People win lottery all the time.
Is it Likely? Naaaa....

But while you need some money, it is not the most important ingredient.

This is not like Index Fund investing, or even stock market when you can throw everything at the wall and wait.

99% of this business is learning how to buy right. Once you know how to buy right, then it is only matter of buying those names for the right price with a bit of patience and ass grind.

 

[theinvestor]

Forget domaining. Who can invest $500 in anything and it result into $5,000 a month income? It’s completely unrealistic. Maybe if you’re investing $500 a month….for a very long time can you generate $5,000 a month.

There are some comments above that I do not agree with though. If you’ve been in this industry for a very long time and were able to invest in the right domain names over time that will pay off. Can you do it if you started today? Maybe but you would need a much bigger investment. A lot more than $500.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

If only it were that easy.

Why not just sell a $500 domain for $64,000 and do it in one step?

Sales don't usually work in a linear direction like that, especially with low liquidity items.

It is also a lot easier to double your money on $500 than on $32,000. As you scale up it becomes harder.

Brad

I didn't mean to imply easy. I even mentioned it was not likely to happen.

I just mean that the quality that you can buy along the way is usually much higher.

When I was brokering an exceptional single word domain name, I received 2-3 offers of $200k-$300k just from other investors within a 1 year period. I would have also bought it for that amount as well if the seller would have been open to it. Yet, the domains I've sold in the $15-$25k range are never purchased by other domain investors.

This is because domain investors will pay a percentage of the objective price, and usually very little of the subjective price. A domain investor who is also an entrepreneur will pay more of the subjective price. Entrepreneurs or startups will pay either a percentage or the full amount of an objective price, and usually a larger portion of the subjective amount. The larger companies or well funded startups are the ones that would pay the highest subjective price.

I've seen many great deals in the $30-$70k range that I would have done had I better prepared to be in that position. For example, I like cars and would love to setup a garage one day whether realistic or not, so I purchased ClassicRides(dot)com. When I purchased it, I was ready to pay more than double what I did for the domain, which was what most domain investors would pay for the domain. I wouldn't pay $15k for it unless it was a "for sure" thing that I'd set up a shop one day. But if the opportunity to buy ClassicCars.com, I definitely would in the $30-60k range.