discuss What is happening to domaining? Is it in crisis?

[infosec3]

This is an observation based on the low activity I see in the domain forums and other venues. For instance, lately, I have visited other domain forums and there are instances where you can see zero or only a handful of registered members connected. Even here on NamePros, the level of activity seems to have decreased.

On Clubhouse, for example, there used to be a lot of activity, with auctions where participants could count on at least a few sales per week (wholesale price).

But that is no longer the case. I know the economic crisis has deeply impacted the business, of course, but I ask myself if there are many domain investors who have given up and moved on? What do you think?

 

[eyedomainous]

To be clear, the domain crises is a consumer market crises...
as virtually every business now owns a domain and displays it alongside their address and phone number.

The vast majority of consumers do not own, or value, having a domain alongside their phone number.
This is The Domain Crises.

Further evidence is the increasing popularity of phone-to-phone digital business cards.
This direct-to-consumer method bypasses the need for a domain/webpage all together.

 

[blogspotter]

Yep. Look at how many Metaverse and Meta names were frantically regged after Metaverse.io sold for $175k

But it was not a random sale. It was the start of a very profitable trend. I myself sold a few. I know a few who sold in 6 figures

 

[forge]

It was the start of a very profitable trend. I myself sold a few. I know a few who sold in 6 figures

Are you still investing in them?

 

[Redouane]

My sales are still chugging along.

In the last week I sold -

- A GEO+Service.com for $2K.
- A random LLL.us for $3,500
- A medical related keyword .ORG for $5,950.

At the same time I reinvested about $2K of that buying -

- (4) 2 word .COM for $99 - $200 each.
- (1) Geo+Service.com for $99.
- (2) Geo+Service.com handregs.
- (1) Real Estate related .COM for $350.
- (4) .ORG for $110 - $299 each.
- (2) .NET for $110 and $250.

I have never really flipped domains or sold much to other investors.

Brad

where did you buy them?

 

[Jim Holleran]

Slowest time for me personally since 1998 when I first got in domaining. Let's see how things develop after Summer.

 

[Jim Holleran]

Yeah, it's not for everybody but for me it is more than enough time to wait and see the results which were not as per the expectations. I'm still in the process of repricing and it will take around a month for repricing most of the portfolio.

My minimum sale price is usually $1,988 and the target is to price a big chunk of the portfolio in this price range.

Also I'm more focused this year on savings and not to reinvest more because for more than a decade I've reinvested more than 90% back into domains and I'm in the process of changing this strategy.

Thanks!

Where do you have your landers going to? I just switched mine away from Godaddy back to Sedo personally. Also, congrats all your success Abdul, love your story!

 

[Jim Holleran]

My sales are still chugging along.

In the last week I sold -

- A GEO+Service.com for $2K.
- A random LLL.us for $3,500
- A medical related keyword .ORG for $5,950.

At the same time I reinvested about $2K of that buying -

- (4) 2 word .COM for $99 - $200 each.
- (1) Geo+Service.com for $99.
- (2) Geo+Service.com handregs.
- (1) Real Estate related .COM for $350.
- (4) .ORG for $110 - $299 each.
- (2) .NET for $110 and $250.

I have never really flipped domains or sold much to other investors.

Brad

Congrats Brad! Are you doing more than a 1 or 2% sell through rate?

 

[bmugford]

Congrats Brad! Are you doing more than a 1 or 2% sell through rate?

I have about a standard STR in that range.

When it comes to sales I really do the bare minimum.

I really need to go through and price more domains, and be more responsive to offers.

I focus more on buying than selling.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

where did you buy them?

It was a mix. Most were priced on Afternic, Dan, or SEDO.

A few were on DNWE.

I also made a $1K purchase directly from the owner.

Brad

 

[JB Lions]

Having my best year ever, pricing all my domains is really playing a part. Dan landers for all my names with the lease option enabled plus Afternic fast transfer seems to be a winning combo. Have to price your domains.

Also, picking up a lot of good names for under $100 at the NJ auctions, 8 out of my last 9 I'm the only bidder. People are just missing decent names for some reason, can't figure it out.Will do a post soon in that one thread with some recent pickups. Also happy I picked up a name again for $69 that I sold 6 years ago for $2500. Keeping a list of Sold domains and domains you didn't renew and having a look every now and then is a good idea.

 

[Ahmad jamal]

This is an observation based on the low activity I see in the domain forums and other venues. For instance, lately, I have visited other domain forums and there are instances where you can see zero or only a handful of registered members connected. Even here on NamePros, the level of activity seems to have decreased.

On Clubhouse, for example, there used to be a lot of activity, with auctions where participants could count on at least a few sales per week (wholesale price).

But that is no longer the case. I know the economic crisis has deeply impacted the business, of course, but I ask myself if there are many domain investors who have given up and moved on? What do you think?

Yes you,re right i'm also return back on namepros almost after 1 year and during this duration i have lost many domains due to not set auto renew option..

But now things going to better side again.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Where do you have your landers going to? I just switched mine away from Godaddy back to Sedo personally. Also, congrats all your success Abdul, love your story!

Thanks Jim!

I've been using Afternic ns3/ns4 lander since the beginning of 2020 and the results are amazing. I'll continue using their lander and hopeful to switch on LTO as well very soon.

Also I've priced 100% of my domains which are for sale and have Fast Transfer enabled as well to get the maximum exposure.

 

[topdom]

We need ns7/ns8 Afternic nameservers, which

-will make prices visible (without Beta !)
-if in review, show a page sending all leads to domain owner (otherwise there may be evil intention obviously)
-if not priced contact form contents should be sent to domain owner (just like Epik, btw Epik marketplace is not working at the moment, not just because we don't use it)
-make pages indexable, and also work in a basic version, if JS is disabled.

(suggestion/warning to all marketplaces ,..sedo/dynadot/..)

Also allow expiration date for listings, ..and then I may use afternic for all domains as well.

Icann should create a domain sale template, and allow slight modifications on it, and require it for domain transfers at marketplaces associated to registrars. Something like blockchanin (?) Enter domain to a block, enter money to another block, and then switch. Adjust commissions in advance, and it should be public info.

 

[Jim Holleran]

Thanks Jim!

I've been using Afternic ns3/ns4 lander since the beginning of 2020 and the results are amazing. I'll continue using their lander and hopeful to switch on LTO as well very soon.

Also I've priced 100% of my domains which are for sale and have Fast Transfer enabled as well to get the maximum exposure.

Great job, keep doing great things Abdul

 

[DomainMagnate]

I have about a standard STR in that range.

When it comes to sales I really do the bare minimum.

I really need to go through and price more domains, and be more responsive to offers.

I focus more on buying than selling.

Brad

Curious how big is your portfolio Brad? Is it like 2k-5K names?

 

[DomainMagnate]

Thanks Jim!

I've been using Afternic ns3/ns4 lander since the beginning of 2020 and the results are amazing. I'll continue using their lander and hopeful to switch on LTO as well very soon.

Also I've priced 100% of my domains which are for sale and have Fast Transfer enabled as well to get the maximum exposure.

Hi Abdul, could you share a bit about your pricing strategy? I'm a bit stuck on it. You mentioned $1988 min, but what the decision process for BINs for higher value names?

 

[mwzd]

~90% of the ~2 Billion domains online are inactive... and most of those are Banned "Domaining" Pages.

Ummm, 2 Billion domains? Where did you get that figure from? Verisign only counts ~360 Million

It is estimated that there are over 300 million new startups every year worldwide

Again, I don't think this data is correct, not by a long shot.

Are sales down, looks like it. Unless you're tonynames (twitter), he's killing it, as are a few other people it seems.

Should we be worried, we need to ensure liquidity, that's important.

Is domaining in crisis? Hardly. Bigger sales being reported all the time, 5 figure sales happen all the time, going up to 8 figures, even 5 years back, 5 figure sales weren't that common.

Just a question of having the right domains at the right time and having the end users find them.

 

[Lox]

Instead of guessing / thinking - research / DD.

For example State of EU tech H1 2023 or roll back 2022. Why to watch EU $... you'll figure out.

I'm not going to spoon-feed, so DYOR for the rest of the world - where you'll find that post-covid capital is moving into different direction/s, creating a new space / sectors f.e. beyond quantum, particles, robotics, energy, security... for fashion and cosmetics the *verse tech, for finance, health and automation, the IoT is reaching the targeted 2025 "deadline" in US and EU. Japan etc (east) IoT is already there, dictating the future expansion... etc. The Voice / Narration tech improvement is close to shake the way we use the Internet / day-to-day devices etc.

Regards

 

[VURG]

I am very excited about the potential of Blue Sky as that social network let's your domain name be your user handle. I think social media killed some of the flair of domain names but I am expecting that social media sites that integrate with domain names will attract young entrepreneurs into domaining to give it the vibrancy it needs.

 

[twiki]

Ummm, 2 Billion domains? Where did you get that figure from? Verisign only counts ~360 Million

Probably counting all domains that have been registered historically, most of which are inactive by now.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Hi Abdul, could you share a bit about your pricing strategy? I'm a bit stuck on it. You mentioned $1988 min, but what the decision process for BINs for higher value names?

https://www.abdulbasit.com/domain-monetization/how-do-i-valuate-domains-and-set-an-asking-price

This might be helpful for you

 

[Samer]

Some auctions here start bid $xxxx with a BIN of $xxxx.

These are not “auctions” and they piss me off.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Others told me they are on Twitter. I asked too prominent domainers about doing interviews the past month, we have done interviews in the past. And they told me not right now I like to hangout on Twitter and talk there. One of the reasons you can control the narrative, you can block trolls or people you don't like.

And Domainer Twitter is a real thing, there are things shared there, as far as sales, interesting commentary that never come to the forums. In the past they would always be on the forums at least in the second hand.

I think you nailed it here. A lot of my time has been on there, and I exclusively post all my sales there as well.