side note:
For people still strongly and actively handregging my word of advice is to chill the f*ck out lol. Look at the daily VR names dropping all from people who over extend themselves, refused to take advice, and chose quantity over quality. There are good members on here who've been doing this for years who give good advice with an actually desire to help you save money and be successful. You can rationalize the mass purchases saying you only bought it for $3 or $4 on promo and the all-to-often stated "Well, you never know xxxCrap.com sold for x,xxx"..... "WELL YOU NEVER KNOW" is not a business plan. That is a horrible way to approach the domaining business.
Treat it like a business and respect every $1 spent. Be smart how you play this game. The forum is your greatest asset. Ask questions. If you see someone post a great name you like- get in touch, ask him/her how'd they get it, use the follow button. Hell, make an offer. I've bought more VR names from members on here then I can count.
I haven't handregged a VR name in almost 8 months because I know how hard it truly is to sell names above x,xxx. I know it's tempting because new tech usage pops up but restraint and basic fundamentals will win out.
What I did when I started was create a list of lets say 500 premium keywords that would go great with VR (some of those names tend to fit most future techs), check availability, make offers, and I got some real steals. I bought some good names from members on here too. And don't be afraid to make offers to other domainers- cash is always king. Take advantage of the ebb and flow of the system. Learn the system first. Respect $1
jmo
Perfectly said James, this has been said so many times and there are still a lot of people hand-regging names on a daily basis. The names worth regging were gone not 1 or 2 years ago, but most were taken over 4 years ago. As BostonDomainer said, you cant go into a business thinking "Well if I get lucky, this domain might pay off" because this is not the right way to go about it, you will end up losing money like this. Its better to have 5 names that have a 50% chance of selling, rather than 50 names with a 5% chance of selling. Those renewal costs will come back to haunt you and its happening on this thread a lot in the last 2 years where people have just kept regging names in all sorts of extensions. There still seems to be a reluctancy for people to email a domain owner asking if a domain is for sale? just do it, you might pleasantly surprised at the price you get it for.
Yes, I know I have repeated this a few times (and others have too), but its important and hopefully people will save some money by just reading it and taking the advice, especially new domainers and those domainers that keep doing it.
Two other things I can add that have helped me over the years
1) I also think its important to know when to let a name expire, I am guilty of this too, we get attached to names and they become like one of our children and we dont want to let them "fly the coop"...sometimes you just have to let them go.
2) Dont just register/buy a name and sit on it, buyers often wont come to you as they might not think the domain is for sale. They may not go to the landing page and see a "For sale" sign there, its crucial to actively market your names using email, LinkedIn, Twitter etc etc, the more you get your name out there, the higher your chance of a sale is, unless you have premium names, sitting and waiting will not bring you sales.
Good luck all, the VR industry is certainly heating up now
