You tell me!

[wot]

I have been around a long time and messing with domains for about 4 years and have done very well financially thank you.

But I still do not understand the business ie. how do you really determine which names will sell and which names you should dump - basically there is no formula - just look at some of the prices being paid for names many of us would not even reg let alone offer money for.

It would appear that I am now going to benefit from the lack of knowledge, or am I ? Two years ago I regged a name that when put up for appraisal on the various forums, it was appraised as useless and too long - my own opinion was that it was just slightly better than that.

Anyway, three weeks ago I decided to renew it one more time. Two days ago had the usual lowball offer and I countered with a go away high $xxxx ( I did not rate the name highly otherwise $xx,xxx) - it was accepted

It is now currently in escrow at sedo pending receipt of funds so can still go wrong- would not be the first time. :td:

Assuming it goes through are your thoughts- should I have countered with even more? If I had would it scare off the "buyer"? etc etc.

At the end of the day if the money hits my bank account I will be delighted, but always those little doubts. BTW, I never check to see if names I have dropped have been picked up and sold.

You tell me

 

[matt_bodis]

Two things.

1) Names that cannot be determined are only bought via end-users and are considered "lucky sales". 1 in a million, a name that you and the domain industry sees as worthless, can be worth hundreds of thousands to the right business or corporation.

2) No greed.

 

[VisualArtistFrankBonilla]

Gambling

I have always said investing in domains is alot like gambling:

1) There really is no definate proven method that says "this will gaurantee you earn money"

2) A domain rookie can come along, just like in gambling, find the right word, and bingo!!! he just made $xx,xxx!!

3) Like in gambling, some domain veterans, investing all the time, month after month, or year after year, don't hit "the big one".

4) And then, being at the right place at the right time, some of us (not me!!), hit the big one!! (just like in gambling)

5) "Those that have more money, are sometimes the one who make more money". If you can afford to buy the premium .tv domains, or domains for $x,xxx and up, sometimes you can wind up selling these for a lot more than you paid for them. Like gambling, I know a guy who just won close to $250,000 in 1 win on the slots. Of course, when he plays, he spends $2,000, $3,000 or more at a time.

In other words, in my opinion, a lot of it is a gamble. As stated by Wot, a domain appraised by Namepros members, or at other forums, as reg fee, could wind up selling for thousands!!

Ok, show me the way to the $5 slots!!!


Frank

 

[Ben42]

There is always that feeling of "Should I have gotten more", but at some point you have to realize making a sale and moving it is better than sitting on the shelf collecting dust.

I think you had enough dust on it, wish it well in it's new home.

 

[VURG]

I have always said investing in domains is alot like gambling:

Agreed, but I think it's more like Poker than the slot machines. Some ways of making money with domains are smarter than others. There is a bit of luck but at the end of the day you got to play your cards well to win.

 

[weblord]

im not even half of what you know on the domaining industry, could you pm me domains you have dropped

yeah it could be another man's trash could be another man's treasure. i think the appraisals are more than a guide rather than the conclusion you still decide what's the best price for your domains but still affected by constructive criticisms from your peers, as multiple minds works very efficient.

i think it could be second chance for you as well when you regged it the second time and maybe just maybe it needs to be get rid of right away and then move on with another domain at hand. As my peers used to say here business is gambling and majority are decided by chance if not all and as they say "I just got lucky."

as for the domain values Im still "blind" at them just following your set examples here and others who have attained domain sales already. Keep up the good work btw. and congrats in advance.

 

[Domainate.com]

It would appear that I am now going to benefit from the lack of knowledge, or am I ? Two years ago I regged a name that when put up for appraisal on the various forums, it was appraised as useless and too long - my own opinion was that it was just slightly better than that.

Anyway, three weeks ago I decided to renew it one more time. Two days ago had the usual lowball offer and I countered with a go away high $xxxx ( I did not rate the name highly otherwise $xx,xxx) - it was accepted

I sold a 2-word .org last January for $2,000 that I was seriously considering letting drop. The bid came completely out of the blue. Strange things happen sometimes...it's hard to explain, but more importantly, it's impossible to prepare for or make happen. You're never going to be able to foresee sales like that coming.

The way I see it, the domain business is like betting on sports. There's the group of people that blindly bet, knowing squat about the teams and players ionvolved, with some getting lucky and others not. There's the group of people that half-assedly research before betting, likely on average doing about as well as those that bet knowing nothing about sports. Still, some are getting lucky and some aren't. Then there are they people that do tons of research on sports and the teams and players, whether for the passion they have for sports, or their willingness to do anything to succeed at sportsbetting, and while again luck plays a factor, on the whole they do far better than the other 2 groups. Just like top poker players, top sports betters can make a living doing it. It takes hard work and determination though, and in the end they've earned their success, luck or not. I see myself in that last group, and I'm not surprised that I'm seeing myself succeed in this business given all the hard work in research and straight-up searching through hundreds of thousands if not millions of names to get what I get, heavily scrutinizing every reg I make. I think if you really work hard at succeeding in the domain industry, and you have a lot of confidence in yourself and make solid decisions based on wisdom and experience gained from research and searching, you can't go wrong, whether or not you're succeeding yet or will inevitably be succeeding in the future.

P.S. Wot: I just noticed you have CDz.biz...FYI, CDz.com&.org are on eBay with less than a day left: http://cgi.ebay.com/CDZ-com-CDZ-org...ryZ11153QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[kingster]

It defintely depends on luck and gambling. I mean just look at the sales section at Sedo and Afternic. Some 'weird' and 'funny' domains are being sold at very high prices.

 

[Lasher]

You are right about end users. I run an online (free) game called "Aardwolf MUD" , an animal that most people have never even heard of. The .COM has 2 inbound MSN links period, searching for 'Aardwolf' on google has my game as the #1 link, all remaining links are references on the animal and a single web design shop - IE, the market for this domain commercially is zero. There are no overture bids other than the generic ebay bid for pretty much every word out there and the previous use of Aardwolf.com was a failed porn site.

In spite of all this, the name has meaning to me so I offered the owner $2500 for it. Deal didn't go through, he wants 5k which I flat out will not pay. All the same, just one example of how a seemingly very low value domain can have value to the right person...

 

[movingconcierge]

I think it is definately like gambling. I bet that those on this board with 750+ names or 100+ premiums also had some other compulsion before they found the domain industry. I know I did.

I ran a garage sale newsletter in the San Fernando Valley called The Garage Sale Afficionado. I would advertise garage sales for free and plot them on a nice parchment four color booklet. It would cost me about $200 per week plus my time. I didn't make a penny back on the distribution because that was free too. So why'd I do it? I did it so I could get ahead of the dealers that knock on doors Saturday morning 6 am. You've got to be ahead of the game. You've got to find that pocket - that vein of booyah (Jim Kramer) that no one has found yet. That find that makes your stomach drop.

I had a few scores that kept me going:

1) My first - I paid zero, zilch nada for a stack of eighties nobody comics. Well, I had three of Albedo Anthromorphics prototype #0 in that stack. There were only 2000 made and I had three of them. I sold each for between $350 and $400. I still have the rest of them.

2) I paid $1.00 ea. for 27 diecast airplanes. They were made by Aeromini. A company that went out of business in the sixties. I sold 10 of the 27 for $1600.

3) I paid $25 for a box of 45 rpms. They were dusty and moldy. I bought a big bottle of D4 and a few velvet bars. They cleaned up nice and so did I. I had two pink label Feathers Nona 45's. They book for $3000 ea. I sold about 25 of the 300 45's for nearly $2800. They rest I gave to a family member to slowly sell.

What all of these have in common and in common too with domains (in case you're wondering) is that they were all gut instinct buys. I had no idea about any of them. I got them on a whim, but I put in the time to research the market and demand, followed leads and approached end users then I made the kill. Of course I also had a garage full of shit too...

I haven't gotten my legs on approaching end users of domains yet, but I will. Right now I think I've got a pretty full garage.

 

[BigCharlie]

You probably shoudn't drop too many names that you have acquired after your first few months in the business. Any asset in the world worth having is worth $8 per year in taxes/upkeep. You pay for all of the potential drops with one good sale out of nowhere.

If the names made sense at the moment of purchase, and you knew what you were doing, then they are almost certainly worth a few hundred dollars worth of upkeep for the next thirty years. You should be able to sell every name that makes sense within 30 years.

Now, if you can immediately buy another name that you like better then go ahead and let it expire and use that money to buy another. As a general rule I am always looking to get rid of my least favorite 10 percent or so of names, but I'll throw a bunch of names in a group and sell for a few bucks each as a package before I delete or let expire. Your worst names are likely much better than most newbie's names, and if you can sell a bunch of names to them at $20 each instead of letting them expire, then you are doing them a favor, and making money yourself.

Beware of an important trap though. It is much more important to spend time on your most valuable names than it is to minimize loss on your worst names. It is very hard to do, especially when you are staring at a bunch of names that you own that you aren't particulary fond of. That is why it is sometimes best to try to sell a group of your names and clear them from your screen (and mind). Think of how many hours are spent trying to get bailed out on bad names....if that time was spent doing simple Google searches for leads on your great names you would be way ahead of the game (you being most domainers who are new to the industry).

 

[equity78]

Good post WOT I have always thought a pre reg Mental Questionaire for yourself is an important part.

You think of a name, before you reg the domain decide which category it goes into:
1)Investment (Early adopter of a new area or technology, Generic you know will go up in value, or Waiting for the right end user)
2)Development IDEA
3)PPC
4) FLIP it (meaning regging a .com for $7 you know you can flip on a forum for $20)

Those are the four categories to me.

So if it is a flip just reg it if you know what you are doing you will flip these small ones.


So if it is 1 or 2 you have to ask yourself the questionaire

Who could use this name?
WHY?
How popular is this phrase ?
What are the prospects for future use of the phrase?
How Can I develop this name ? What purpose ECOMMERCE? INFO? Personal?

After you answer that I think you have a plan and I agree with Charlie you should not drop it, if you were honest with yourself PRE REG it worth at least $70 or 10 years reg.

Poker players realize you have to think PREFLOP domainers Have to think PRE REG

IMO

 

[Malaysia]

well as long as dun register really crap domain i think every domainer who have done ample research can earn money.. unless those who rush n come in registering tons of crap domains then its a waste of money..

i think most names are gamble domains where u hope a end user wud come by n pay XX, XXX for ur domains .unless u go for revenue domains. or premium domains

 

[ApeXX]

There is no proven formula that will tell you the value of a domain. Most appraisals, like the ones found here, are completely opinion - based off of the current market.