What do you do with those old unwanted domains?

[Phare]

What do you guys do with your old unwanted domains? You've tried selling them countless times, but nobody wants to buy them.

Do you just let them drop, give them away, or use them for some other purpose (that you'll explain in this thread)?

 

[Alex P]

Sell them to the people who buy in bulk for like $1-$3

 

[Name Trader]

I find it too much trouble selling them for $1 each. Sometimes even then they don't sell to domainers. I just let them drop (most times).

 

[MicroGuy]

I sold a domain once :gn but normally I just remove them from my account.

The good thing about Godaddy is I can delete them without waiting for them to expire. I usually keep them for 11 months then delete them out of my account. Occasionally, I will renew one for a year or five and then delete it from my account. IMO.

 

[npcomplete]

Usually I just drop them. Then every year around tax time I check to see if anybody picked up the domains after I dropped them. As a general rule, nobody else wants my crappy domains either! :lol:

Occasionally I find that they have been developed into full blown sites. oh well. More often than not, the ones that are picked up are just parked... and will probably be dropped again by the new owner.

I am just now starting my 2009 taxes (early for me on a relative basis)... and it looks like 2009 was a busy drop year.


.

 

[bmugford]

If there is no end user potential, reseller potential, revenue, etc. I would rather just drop them than sell them for a few bucks. It is just not worth the time and effort.

Brad

 

[DnEbook]

just let them drop or try bulk auction here ?

 

[yandig]

I find it too much trouble selling them for $1 each. Sometimes even then they don't sell to domainers. I just let them drop (most times).

Ditto. A lot of times, I don't even try to sell them - just let them go. It's not worth the hassle of selling for a few bucks.

 

[Alex P]

You lazy people, look after the penny's and all

 

[SpareDomains]

If there is no end user potential, reseller potential, revenue, etc. I would rather just drop them than sell them for a few bucks. It is just not worth the time and effort.

Brad

agreed, time is money and the time it would take to profit a few dollars could be spent working on improving domains that already produce $ so more productive.

 

[Phare]

agreed, time is money and the time it would take to profit a few dollars could be spent working on improving domains that already produce $ so more productive.

That's a good point.

 

[Blake]

Honestly if I haven't developed them, sold them, or bulk auction doesn't work...I give them away....I may have missed something and karma plays a key role in my life.

Give off good karma get good karma back Plus perhaps someone picking them up can really do something with the name. Never know now days

 

[Albert]

I drop them. it is too time consuming just to sell them.

 

[VURG]

It is sad that there isn't a domain name market leader that deals with matching owners of cheap domains to buyers of cheap domains. I have often dreamed of trying to meet this niche but I didn't have the resources. I think that you probably need start up capital between $100,000 - $500,000 to meet this niche and a very good marketing strategy and I think that it would end up paying for itself. I can't afford to take the gamble of trying to meet it but I think that there are domainers who can.

I think that eBay is the closest you get to a market leader for this niche but eBay is horribly inefficient for both buyers and sellers.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Hope HD buys them off you

 

[Vertibox]

It is sad that there isn't a domain name market leader that deals with matching owners of cheap domains to buyers of cheap domains.

But to what end?

Do you know if there are existing entities who are hoarding thousands or hundreds of thousands of low-value/junk domains? If so, what is their purpose in doing this or their business strategy?
As legible/pronounceable domain names get more and more scarce, and more and more people join the internet, the idea that the better and top end names will get even further out of reach and the lesser names become in demand, seems to have a basis. But does it?

Crap names will always be crap names, even if you put glitter on them. Or as Barry once said, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig".
It seems to me that there will come a point, for most people wanting to start a business, when faced with the prospect of registering crappyjunkname.com is repulsive enough for them to shell out $XX,XXX or some other large sum for their desired name, or register a better name with an undesirable extension.

We don't have large numbers of unwanted businesses, or homes or buildings in desirable areas, or products being made that few people want. Therefore, why keep domain names that have very low or zero value?

 

[VURG]

Sorry, I don't want to have a debate about something I said 15-16 years ago. The domain climate has changed since then. In many ways, it has become tougher and the need for high standards of quality have become more significant. I don't regret what I said but my stance is that it was relevant to the 2010 domain market. I am still a believer in the value of having organised liquidation markets for domainers to liquidate domains but I don't wish to engage in a domain quality debate as my focus is more oriented around working towards developing liquidation market technology and not in domain valuation methodology.

 

[Vertibox]

Sorry, I don't want to have a debate about something I said 15-16 years ago. The domain climate has changed since then. In many ways, it has become tougher and the need for high standards of quality have become more significant. I don't regret what I said but my stance is that it was relevant to the 2010 domain market. I am still a believer in the value of having organised liquidation markets for domainers to liquidate domains but I don't wish to engage in a domain quality debate as my focus is more oriented around working towards developing liquidation market technology and not in domain valuation methodology.

I don't see what you see.

Since 2010, many more extensions have been introduced and as a result, I think it is very likely that many more low value names will have been registered.
ICANN is launching even more extensions in the new future, maybe this year.

The idea of value doesn't change, only what it is at any given point in time, for a particular item or service.

You only have to look at any domain marketplace to see the many tens of thousands of junk names swirling around these sites. As I said, hoarding low value names doesn't sound like a proper business strategy and that hasn't lost relevance, no matter the passage of time.

And so what, exactly, is the point of a "liquidation market"? Who is going to buy and hold junk names, even if they were to buy them for $1 or less each? Renewal fees would make a sizable dent in anyone with a lot of worthless names.

Oh, and if you don't want to comment, you don't have to. No-one is forcing you to do so.

 

[VURG]

In terms of what I see, my memory is that 2010 had a different domaining culture than it does today. Social media has become more prominent and so many successful businesses don't use domains. Many domainers have switched to crypto-investing instead of domaining. Domaining has become a lot more leaner and tougher to make an income. The risks of speculative domaining have become larger. Some of the domaining strategies that worked in 2010 don't work as well anymore.

The point of a liquidation market is that people go into domaining and leave for a variety of reasons. The role of a liquidator is to help the seller liquidate assets as fast as possible. Many of these sellers own a mix of domains with some OK names and some rubbish names. Efficient liquidation markets allow for people to exit domaining and get a quick fast sale for whatever the market pays for their collection. For somebody like me, I prefer to drop domains than to liquidate domains that I choose not to renew because my time is too valuable to hunt for buyers. If there were better liquidation options, I might consider them.

 

[Vertibox]

In terms of what I see, my memory is that 2010 had a different domaining culture than it does today. Social media has become more prominent and so many successful businesses don't use domains. Many domainers have switched to crypto-investing instead of domaining. Domaining has become a lot more leaner and tougher to make an income. The risks of speculative domaining have become larger. Some of the domaining strategies that worked in 2010 don't work as well anymore.

The point of a liquidation market is that people go into domaining and leave for a variety of reasons. The role of a liquidator is to help the seller liquidate assets as fast as possible. Many of these sellers own a mix of domains with some OK names and some rubbish names. Efficient liquidation markets allow for people to exit domaining and get a quick fast sale for whatever the market pays for their collection. For somebody like me, I prefer to drop domains than to liquidate domains that I choose not to renew because my time is too valuable to hunt for buyers. If there were better liquidation options, I might consider them.

But you haven't explained what the "liquidator" does with the names.