Dynadot

advice What's Your Biggest Current Challenge in Domain Investing?

NameSilo
Watch

Do you trust most registrars availability results

  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.
  • Yes all the time 99%

  • Mostly

  • Have to double check with another registrar

  • NO

  • Never even thought about it

  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.

Results are only viewable after voting.
I may do another AMA chat or some blog posts and wanted to see if the same problems i run into buying and selling domain names, are everyone elses biggest issues.

If you could take a second and post or pm me (in which case i will keep you name confidential) your biggest 1-3 challenges, or "pain points" as they say in the internet marketing biz.

What are you having trouble with, what do you need some advice on or new solutions and services.

As an appreciation for the time, ill send you 10 Topcoin (TPC) for any replies.

I'll start

Registry and registrar sites not working correctly on the basics.

More and more names are showing available, only to not be "on further review", mostly in the new tlds and premium names.

So hopefully godaddy was temporary last week but not being able to access my names, when i needed to, or have constant trouble with the bulk updates maybe happening or maybe not has been a frustration.

Enom is the biggest culprit, the were are aware of downgraded performance sign has been up for a year, and since we get names at enom form namejet, its a big deal.

Dynadot seems to have fixed their latency issue on registrations, i think the $6.99 special must have brought a heavy load.

And lastly im not sure i trust every search now for availability, as all the paths and feeds that go into an availability search may not be delivering pristine results, (moe on this in a future post)

thanks all for the input.

Page Howe
 
5
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
1> Price
People now are crazy with their price wars. From GoDaddy Expired Auction to DropCatch and NameJet, people are burning their money. I don't know how they can make profit with those prices. You take profit when you buy a domain, not when you sell it.
2> HugeDomains.
Our buddy is joining more and more auctions today. They use bots to track and place bid on GD Expired Auctions or snapping names on Close Out. It's not fair when human vs bots, but we have to see day by day. Now, i'm thinking that we become their 0-USD collaborators - We finding good names, place a bid then they take those through auction.
3> Registrars
- eNom has 42 days transfer lock policy , so the only thing we can do is wait once we have offer or sale.
- NetworkSolutions with their terrible customer services, 3-5 days to get Auth Code and another 3-5 days to complete a transaction. Holly shit !
4> Customers:
- You are extorting us with your current price.
- Why have you stolen our brands ?
- Are you drunk ? How can you sell a domain that we can easily reg with $10 ?
- Pode falar Português?
 
25
•••
Biggest challenge? BOTS

See @GeorgeQuang's post, number 2.
 
2
•••
The biggest challenge in domaining nowadays is acquiring domains at fair prices. Never has there been more competition than there is now. I am having to bid up to $500-1000 on domains that I would've got for $50-250 around 5-10 years ago.
 
11
•••
Prices aren't making any sense. HugeDomains and Dropcatch screwed everything. But hey, it's business.
 
5
•••
Well, if some interesting domain name is available, it is natural I better check it at various registrars.

This way, I can learn also about some interesting 1st year reg promotions (if there are any) and about other things. Cheapest registrar usually wins (if you deal purely with new gTLDs, you can not afford to have only 1 favourite registrar imo, you need to do "price shopping" on various registrars on regular basis).

If you deal with new gTLDs, competition is still relatively low, although it is getting strongger and stronger as time pass. But nothing to compare to com area, imo. So I would say, not big challenges atm, really :)
 
4
•••
Classic stuff George! "Why have you stolen our brands ?" LOL - more like "brains".

I'd have to agree with his point on HugeDomains and bots - I run a "No Bids/Aged Domains" section in some of auction posts, but after HG started actively targeting these areas (Aged, High Valuation, Low Letter Count, etc.) this area quickly turned into a wasteland.

These bots are like a Zombie Apocalypse, the horde of bots auto-bidding on whatever good auctions they find, and the key challenge is finding a few that they missed.
 
4
•••
I have to agree with the availability issue, it’s incredibly frustrating! On a more personal note the biggest problem I’m finding is getting that name that sells for big bucks.. but aren’t we all 😄 another thing I have come to learn is the ridiculous valuations automated appraisal tools generate for certain domains. They all have their place but it can be incredibly misleading. It’s not so much of an issue for more learned and experienced domainers but for those just starting out.
 
2
•••
1) Bots / Huge Domains
2) GoDaddy's spinning wheel. I got this last week right in the middle of a transfer - highly annoying.
3) Registrars that hold your funds until you reach a certain amount.
 
5
•••
1) Bots / Huge Domains
2) GoDaddy's spinning wheel. I got this last week right in the middle of a transfer - highly annoying.
3) Registrars that hold your funds until you reach a certain amount.
All of the above, well stated

Bots running prices up on newbies for one off domains is a huge issue. I am seeing many newbies get into bidding wars for $11-$20 domains into the hundreds, as they don’t know any better.
 
2
•••
For me....winning an expired name at auction and paying, only for it to be renewed and having to wait to be refunded. Happened to me on so many occasions.
 
4
•••
Be careful who is brokering your name. If you have a name with them and that buyer says no. Guess what they do for that buyer, they sell them one of the names from the inventory they have for less.
The control the lead, data and everything else. Go with efty and control your own future and data. If you have a six figure name then Andrew R is the man to go with as he is professional and is no BS. But don't sell your names on these other platforms. Your not losing just the 15% but your losing out on the entire sale by not getting involved yourself. YOU LOSE THE SALE!. I would rather have quality over quantity when it comes to a broker.
 
2
•••
The biggest challenges are the possible change of registry based pricing for .com, and the growing fragmentation of the internets, which decreases domains value.
 
1
•••
1
•••
My biggest challenge: Is this industry trustworthy?

There are so many rumors and suspicions, too many for my PoV. These do not have to be typical for the industry as they are daily reality in the entire internet. Nevertheless, I am concerned by the following stuff, for example:

- Has there been shill bidding in expired auctions of provider A by A staff? When this domainer discussion reached its climax my A VIP service guy suddenly disappeared without farewell. Since then I had no more sale on their connected sales platform B, before that I had one sale monthly. Coincidence or correlation?
- Now they talk about a huge domain seller C who is supposed to grab the best names in A auctions using bots. What is the truth, what are rumors?
- Is domain sales platform D fraudulent? Do their brokers try to sell own inventory first behind the scene when an inquiry for a customer´s name arrives?
- The king is dead, long live the king: For years the crowd has been criticizing parking/sales platform E, which is successful leader in sales reports for months now. Good or not good provider?

These are questions to myself.
I do not know the truth, if there is any truth at all.
I do neither expect answers nor discussion here.
 
2
•••
thank you for the contributions today, these are excellent points and ill try to meet these challenges head on.

keep em coming

page
 
0
•••
My biggest challenge: Is this industry trustworthy?

There are so many rumors and suspicions, too many for my PoV. These do not have to be typical for the industry as they are daily reality in the entire internet. Nevertheless, I am concerned by the following stuff, for example:

- Has there been shill bidding in expired auctions of provider A by A staff? When this domainer discussion reached its climax my A VIP service guy suddenly disappeared without farewell. Since then I had no more sale on their connected sales platform B, before that I had one sale monthly. Coincidence or correlation?
- Now they talk about a huge domain seller C who is supposed to grab the best names in A auctions using bots. What is the truth, what are rumors?
- Is domain sales platform D fraudulent? Do their brokers try to sell own inventory first behind the scene when an inquiry for a customer´s name arrives?
- The king is dead, long live the king: For years the crowd has been criticizing parking/sales platform E, which is successful leader in sales reports for months now. Good or not good provider?

These are questions to myself.
I do not know the truth, if there is any truth at all.
I do neither expect answers nor discussion here.


very interesting, if we all have the same conspiracies, and none of us talked to the other, does that make the likelihood true?
 
2
•••
Poll Results for you lurkers out there. thank you for those who voted. Here updated total for the early voters.

  1. Yes all the time 99%
    4 vote(s)
    11.4%
  2. *
    Mostly
    20 vote(s)
    57.1%

  3. Have to double check with another registrar
    3 vote(s)
    8.6%

  4. NO
    3 vote(s)
    8.6%

  5. Never even thought about it
    5 vote(s)
    14.3%
 
0
•••
ok so so far biggest challenges are Huge domains and other bots driving up auctions prices?
 
1
•••
Poll Results for you lurkers out there. thank you for those who voted. Here updated total for the early voters.

  1. Yes all the time 99%
    4 vote(s)
    11.4%
  2. *
    Mostly
    20 vote(s)
    57.1%

  3. Have to double check with another registrar
    3 vote(s)
    8.6%

  4. NO
    3 vote(s)
    8.6%

  5. Never even thought about it
    5 vote(s)
    14.3%
NO
 
0
•••
Since the bots have taken over, the average good domains have dried up. These used to be our daily bread and butter sales.

We are now trying to maximise the return on the existing domains and in turn loosing on offers as we fear we cannot replenish our portfolio.

So it a choice now either be happy with the bread crumbs or just aim for the caviar.
 
2
•••
the same conspiracies

Yep. Only conspiracies.

DNJ reports a "7 figure sale" under NDA and the domain continously points to the website of broker who reported it for months after the report. Hilarious. Comedy shows?, fake publicity?, price discovery?. Lot's of parked domains reported sold for 6 figures. True sales?

rs-shills.jpg


rs-ratsass.jpg

rs-gd-shill.jpg

rs-syndicate.jpg
 
3
•••
1 finding a broker

2 finding a broker

&

3 finding a broker
 
2
•••
I may do another AMA chat or some blog posts and wanted to see if the same problems i run into buying and selling domain names, are everyone elses biggest issues.

If you could take a second and post or pm me (in which case i will keep you name confidential) your biggest 1-3 challenges, or "pain points" as they say in the internet marketing biz.

What are you having trouble with, what do you need some advice on or new solutions and services.

As an appreciation for the time, ill send you 10 Topcoin (TPC) for any replies.

I'll start

Registry and registrar sites not working correctly on the basics.

More and more names are showing available, only to not be "on further review", mostly in the new tlds and premium names.

So hopefully godaddy was temporary last week but not being able to access my names, when i needed to, or have constant trouble with the bulk updates maybe happening or maybe not has been a frustration.

Enom is the biggest culprit, the were are aware of downgraded performance sign has been up for a year, and since we get names at enom form namejet, its a big deal.

Dynadot seems to have fixed their latency issue on registrations, i think the $6.99 special must have brought a heavy load.

And lastly im not sure i trust every search now for availability, as all the paths and feeds that go into an availability search may not be delivering pristine results, (moe on this in a future post)

thanks all for the input.

Page Howe
Hmmm, my main ones are not getting many offers for my names, or at least not many sales, and also a few issues like my issue with Namecheap (re: my.pe) but I have sold names like holylandpark.com for 4 figures and bought slabaugh.com for four figures, which is my last name.
 
Last edited:
2
•••
1. Trying to figure out what marketplace should be my ”main”.
2. Trying to figure out what should be my landing page.
3. Trying to get my first sale.

Oh I love to be a beginner.
 
7
•••
Back