What are your WORSE domain investments that lost you money!?

[buohcom]

Share your biggest domain losses.
Mine was support.mobi, won at auction for $1k and let it expired.

 

[bmugford]

Mine are mainly handregs that receive no interest and I end up dropping eventually.

Mainly lower tier GEO or long (and too niche) EMD.

The cost is low on a per domain basis, but they all add up.

It's harder to let a domain go than buy it.

Though in fairness, I have done well with that type of domain overall.

If I am paying any serious premium for a domain, I make sure it is one I plan to keep long term.

Brad

 

[tld4me]

Bought a very short, unique .com that I kept registered for about 20 years. Hand registered the matching .net and .org shortly after I got the .com, to go with it. I wanted to eventually use it for a personal business or product. I never had the perfect use for it, so just kept it for the future. Had an old e-mail address for the domain contacts which I rarely checked. Had auto-renew off.... I think you can see where this is going.

The .com expired. I didn't realize it until about 3 months after it had expired. The company that bought my domain at auction, renamed their entire company to it. I felt sick. Still do.

I offered to give them the .net and .org for free. No response from them. They did however trademark the name. I let the .net and .org expire. No use for me anymore.

An Asian company re-registered the .net. The .org is still available.

.com purchase + registrations for .com/.net/.org for about 20 years. Maybe not the most expensive mistake of my life, but one where only I am to blame.

I'll probably remember this mistake for the rest of my life. Certainly will if the company that owns it keeps growing. It was much more of an emotional investment for myself.

Don't be me. Keep your contacts updated and auto-renew on.

 

[.tv]

Alright, so let me tell you, getting into the world of domaining has been an absolute rollercoaster, filled with its ups and downs and a whole lot of learning while I was at it. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've slipped up, making mistakes that cost me dearly, to the point where I've watched about half of what I initially made just vanish into thin air. But, despite all that, there's still a part of me that lights up with a bit of pride and joy whenever I see any kind of profit rolling in, even if it's just a small fraction of the earnings I had once upon a time.

Thinking back to the early years of the 2000s, I can distinctly remember the moment I sold my very first domain. It was such a thrilling experience, I felt as if I had just struck gold, perhaps even won the lottery. My excitement knew no bounds, and in that overzealous mood, I went on a spree, snapping up a whole collection of domains that, in hindsight, were nothing short of abysmal choices. All this, simply because I let greed get the better of me. The real moment of regret, the kind that makes you want to slap yourself for being so foolish, hit me when the time came to renew those domains, and the harsh truth dawned on me that I had made a colossal mess of things.

Not learning from my early blunders, I somehow got myself caught in the whirlwind of excitement surrounding .tv domains. Everyone was talking about these "premium" domains as if they were the next big thing, and without thinking it through, I invested a hefty sum into them, with some having renewal costs that skyrocketed to as much as $2,000 a piece. I held onto them for about 4 to 5 years, and it wasn't until the year 2008 rolled around that I finally managed to sell one for a whopping $25,000. However, when I sat down and did the math, the staggering amounts I had poured into the .tv domain venture had practically devoured all the profits I made from that sale.

Then, in 2006, I found myself diving headfirst into the world of .mobi domains, convinced that I was onto the next big thing. I spent a fortune on the aftermarket, snapping up these domains because they were all the craze on popular sites like Sedo and Afternic.

Eventually, I ended up letting go of all of them, but the ever-evolving domain industry, with its new technologies and the introduction of nTLDs, never fails to pull me back in, stirring up that initial excitement time and time again.

Now, here I am, still doing my best to resist the temptation of buying domains just because a whim strikes me, but I've got to be honest, it's tough. Old habits really do die hard, and every day is a new lesson in self-control and making smarter choices in the unpredictable world of domaining.

 

[BaileyUK]

Mine were all in the early days 1999 to around 2004. one prolific bad move was investing in a big bundle of 4 number dot nets and then keeping them. Dumb me hadn't realised why numbers with a four in the sequence were still available. The Chinese, the biggest buyers of number domains wouldn't touch the number 4. then compounded the error by thinking I still had something with dot Nets.

Little bit of early day confusion with American and English spelling .com's. Thankfully I turned out to be fairly successful in word and letter art creativity.. Eye-catching rather than particularly descriptive have served me well. Learned to stick with what I'm good at

 

[AEProgram]

worst domain related investment for me is the time I lost. Money can never replace the time.

 

[BaileyUK]

It's harder to let a domain go than buy it.

Oh yes. My days of random domain searches are long over. Not good for your posture, bank balance or mental wellbeing. If I can't visualize a domain in my head then torn-apart objectively, then it certainly isn't going to appear in any shopping-basket.

That's the problem with just random or general searches. your brains reward system is always going to compel you to push the Buy-button on something

 

[Casey L]

once bought a name for $8k, sold it for $3k to put towards a house down payment, ended up buying it back a couple years later for $3k again. still own it so it's not definitively terrible yet

 

[Lakshan]

Mine was heavy investment of LLLL.net domain names, just after LLLL.com buyout happened. Didn't sell when the demand was high in hope of more demand in future. But there were no demand after few months

 

[damance]

sold tulsastore.com for $1 at namepros
few months later it was sold for $2000

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Lost money in high 4 figures - https://www.abdulbasit.com/domain-investing/my-experience-with-numeric-domains

 

[Igor Mironyuk]

How do I do that Igor?

I mean: buy domains which are include common used keywords.

 

[manuelbroker89]

Plural noun
Unrealistic & Unapplication product noun
Mixed Named product
3N asset
non .com asset
Hyper Selfmade brand asset
Delusional selfmade brand name

My second year of Domaining was shambolic..

 

[bmugford]

Totally!

That's why learning to drop is really important.

Yeah, before you know it you can have (10) years of renewals into a marginal domain.

All of a sudden that $10 domain has cost you $100+.

I am sure I drop way more domains than I sell, but I still do very well with a standard STR.

Drop marginal domains. Replace with better domains.

That is a tried and tested business model.

Brad

 

[Sperry8]

Same as many here, losses were mostly hundreds of hand regs I renewed for 10 years and got no sales on. Dropped em. Now I see many of them sitting in HugeDomains portfolios and others for sale higher than I had them listed for. Frustrating but more power to them if they can sell what I couldn't for more money.

 

[Duk]

Mine is many little cheap domains that turned out to be worthless. Then there is the typical very good domain that seems that none actually agreed it was good... And then some cheap domains that got cheap but, unbeknownst to me the registrar increased the price and I did not know and they got autorenewed with a senseless extreme fee.

 

[GoKaizen]

Totally!

That's why learning to drop is really important.

It's harder to let a domain go than buy it.

 

[BaileyUK]

Ouch

"stick with what I'm good at" excellent but I do fear this is what holds back many from diversifying even in thought experiments. Being said, we do have safety in what we know and what works for us.

Oh I certainly do diversify in 'Thought experiments' mostly in emerging technologies. But very rarely am I willing or able to capture those thoughts in domains.
Mostly because somebody has already got there first and I certainly know the pitfalls of second best and also rans.
If I can picture a creative trade-related domain on the side of a van or business heading, then I'm normally in there. Categorize them correctly on Sedo, buyers turn-up.

Whatworks in co.uk was one of mine

 

[NickB]

Damn.....I went on a major splurge when I first found about domains...........dropped all but one after being told and more importantly researching and seeing why they were absolute garbage....cost me a fair bit......but you do learn quick when the initial curve is steeper than normal, stopped me holding onto shite for longer than necessary though - always look for the positives......

 

[Armageddon]

6 .xyz LLL premium by registry
One i drop because dont have standard renew price
The rest of 5 is standard 9.99$

So for all 6 - 2150$

One lost remain 5 but are renew until 2026 & probably i will renew until i sell

 

[GoKaizen]

Death by a thousand cuts.

It adds up.

All of a sudden that $10 domain has cost you $100+.

 

[Mikeyboy]

.cm auctions when they first came out

 

[HotKey]

Mine were all in the early days 1999 to around 2004. one prolific bad move was investing in a big bundle of 4 number dot nets and then keeping them. Dumb me hadn't realised why numbers with a four in the sequence were still available. The Chinese, the biggest buyers of number domains wouldn't touch the number 4. then compounded the error by thinking I still had something with dot Nets.

Little bit of early day confusion with American and English spelling .com's. Thankfully I turned out to be fairly successful in word and letter art creativity.. Eye-catching rather than particularly descriptive have served me well. Learned to stick with what I'm good at

Ouch

"stick with what I'm good at" excellent but I do fear this is what holds back many from diversifying even in thought experiments. Being said, we do have safety in what we know and what works for us.

 

[buohcom]

once bought a name for $8k, sold it for $3k to put towards a house down payment, ended up buying it back a couple years later for $3k again. still own it so it's not definitively terrible yet

Been there myself... seller's remorse.

 

[QDomains]

Invested huge money in hand register domains and at the end i have dropped almost 400 domains....