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I have just posted one $788 sale in the reported sales thread, I'm re-posting part of the comment here for everyone to be able to discuss. Feel free to comment and please do share your insight as well.
Note, this is just my own perspective / observations AND is a bit related to my portfolio as well. So it might not be the same for everyone else. But I'm very curious to hear your current perspective too. Anyway, see below.
1) For some reason, discounting domains to clear in the low-to-mid XXX range has gradually faded in the last part of 2021 and died this year.
At least for me. And in 2022 it has basically stopped. Whenever I discount a domain below $788, even if thousands of names are discounted at the same time, the effect is the unintended one - there is no sale further.
I have therefore decided to stick to the following prices:
- Regular price: above 1.48k: $1488 (the cheapos, non-renewables), $1688 (meh ones), $1988 and more ( good) etc etc.
- Discount price: $788 (but feel free to use $799 as well). Fixed price. (Edit - although I sometimes play with adding some min offer there but it still doesn't do anything)
I have no pricing between the two or below $788 anymore. Reason? They don't work anymore. Even at 1K, 1.2K, $500, whatever, everything in these price points did NOT sell anything for me (guess I had some measly $499 at some point but not worth noting).
Side note I only use Afternic and the GD lander (ns5/ns6), because this setup brings me the best results.
The $788 price has worked great in the past and it still works well for my clearances.
2) Having a min offer no longer brings offers.
My current strategy is to use fixed price everywhere (min price = floor = BIN). If someone wants a discount, they will reach me anyway via the broker. I sometimes get offers via DomainAgents, GD etc, but having a min price at Afternic is pointless nowadays.
Please note that I also have the ability to switch to the Afternic Bin and min lander I talked about in the past where there is both min and bin but even there there is no offer. (note, I get most sales via Fast Transfer anyway, so lander based sales are still a minority).
3). $299 and $199 prices = zero results. This is in sharp contrast with the past. And it doesn't depend on domain quality, good or bad, if you put such price you're wasting time (at least I'm wasting time).
And I know 100% sure that Afternic still promotes and sells such domains (for example at GoDaddy Auctions they are still listed in 45-day ranking increasing order until the 45-day windows resets).
I'm not sure what the reason is exactly for this. I can assume though that this was the pricing where small businesses and individuals purchased my names (it's the market range anyway) AND they either don't have purchase power now, OR, more likely, are to scared (or stingy, or can't afford etc etc) to spend $300 on a name anymore. So this market segment might be having a stroke or something.
The more I discount below $788, the worse it gets. Fast.
This has never been like this and I'm still baffled about why this thing which started in 2021 has gone here. I blame the pandemic effect (economy) + the war now. Anyway I personally also see a big reduction in XXX range sales in the reported sales thread too.
4). 4-fig sales still rock. Especially high ones up to 5-fig. It appears this segment has grown, while going weaker and weaker the lower you get with the price.
Takeaway = get less, but higher value names.
Edit: Also try a bit higher pricing - you might be surprised to see it actually increases the sale % as the domain might be perceived as having more value.
5). There is a weird (or not?) correlation between NASDAQ and domain sales. Whenever NASDAQ goes up, Bitcoin goes up, well, guess what - domain sales start going up. Whenever it goes down even by small percentages (say 3%) sales halt - at least for me.
Yeah, it was like that in the past too, since I have tech and finance names mostly anyway. But it hasn't been that strongly correlated before.
I bet its market panic, mood swings and the fight between greed and fear = the only 2 emotions that matter in life.
6) This is not new, but it has sharpened in comparison with the past: If you put a price just a bit too low on a domain you have, it will kill the sale. It used to be like, you reduce the price and it sells faster. Not anymore. If I have say a domain at $1488 (meh domain) and I put it at $1200 or $1K it won't sell anymore, but if I put it up I get a better chance to sell it (but not if I get too high up).
So you have to hit the nail in the head with the right price, and the window seems narrower than it used to be. (note I have mostly 1-word, 1-word modified and 2-word .COMs if that matters.)
7) There are huge variations from one month to another and there are gaps of say 2-3 weeks where I sell nothing (zero or say one sale) then in a few days I sell quite a lot of names. Is everyone getting paid in the same day over the world? (just kidding) .
Had a brief DM conversation with Abdul Basit (thanks again, @AbdulBasit.com for all your posts and advice etc) and he also said last month was really weird with no sales for some reason; which is not common for him. I had a slightly different interval but it overlapped with his pretty much.
Note, also in the last 2 weeks this month I had very few sales (I can consider that zero), and it seems to be driven by the NASDAQ wind. So now I watch this index closely and hope for some fresh sales when it gets momentum (heard Meta is up 15%, that woudl be good for us ). I had good sales though in the first 5 days of the month which covers my monthly profit. But then there has been an eerie silence.
There might be other things as well but this is what I recall at this point.
As a side note about my own portfolio size, I have reduced it to 8k and intend to go below 5k names while improving quality. I'm focusing on .coms mostly and at least for the near future, intend to keep it that way. 95% of my names now are .coms.
Feel free to ask me anything and comment. Thanks!
Note, this is just my own perspective / observations AND is a bit related to my portfolio as well. So it might not be the same for everyone else. But I'm very curious to hear your current perspective too. Anyway, see below.
1) For some reason, discounting domains to clear in the low-to-mid XXX range has gradually faded in the last part of 2021 and died this year.
At least for me. And in 2022 it has basically stopped. Whenever I discount a domain below $788, even if thousands of names are discounted at the same time, the effect is the unintended one - there is no sale further.
I have therefore decided to stick to the following prices:
- Regular price: above 1.48k: $1488 (the cheapos, non-renewables), $1688 (meh ones), $1988 and more ( good) etc etc.
- Discount price: $788 (but feel free to use $799 as well). Fixed price. (Edit - although I sometimes play with adding some min offer there but it still doesn't do anything)
I have no pricing between the two or below $788 anymore. Reason? They don't work anymore. Even at 1K, 1.2K, $500, whatever, everything in these price points did NOT sell anything for me (guess I had some measly $499 at some point but not worth noting).
Side note I only use Afternic and the GD lander (ns5/ns6), because this setup brings me the best results.
The $788 price has worked great in the past and it still works well for my clearances.
2) Having a min offer no longer brings offers.
My current strategy is to use fixed price everywhere (min price = floor = BIN). If someone wants a discount, they will reach me anyway via the broker. I sometimes get offers via DomainAgents, GD etc, but having a min price at Afternic is pointless nowadays.
Please note that I also have the ability to switch to the Afternic Bin and min lander I talked about in the past where there is both min and bin but even there there is no offer. (note, I get most sales via Fast Transfer anyway, so lander based sales are still a minority).
3). $299 and $199 prices = zero results. This is in sharp contrast with the past. And it doesn't depend on domain quality, good or bad, if you put such price you're wasting time (at least I'm wasting time).
And I know 100% sure that Afternic still promotes and sells such domains (for example at GoDaddy Auctions they are still listed in 45-day ranking increasing order until the 45-day windows resets).
I'm not sure what the reason is exactly for this. I can assume though that this was the pricing where small businesses and individuals purchased my names (it's the market range anyway) AND they either don't have purchase power now, OR, more likely, are to scared (or stingy, or can't afford etc etc) to spend $300 on a name anymore. So this market segment might be having a stroke or something.
The more I discount below $788, the worse it gets. Fast.
This has never been like this and I'm still baffled about why this thing which started in 2021 has gone here. I blame the pandemic effect (economy) + the war now. Anyway I personally also see a big reduction in XXX range sales in the reported sales thread too.
4). 4-fig sales still rock. Especially high ones up to 5-fig. It appears this segment has grown, while going weaker and weaker the lower you get with the price.
Takeaway = get less, but higher value names.
Edit: Also try a bit higher pricing - you might be surprised to see it actually increases the sale % as the domain might be perceived as having more value.
5). There is a weird (or not?) correlation between NASDAQ and domain sales. Whenever NASDAQ goes up, Bitcoin goes up, well, guess what - domain sales start going up. Whenever it goes down even by small percentages (say 3%) sales halt - at least for me.
Yeah, it was like that in the past too, since I have tech and finance names mostly anyway. But it hasn't been that strongly correlated before.
I bet its market panic, mood swings and the fight between greed and fear = the only 2 emotions that matter in life.
6) This is not new, but it has sharpened in comparison with the past: If you put a price just a bit too low on a domain you have, it will kill the sale. It used to be like, you reduce the price and it sells faster. Not anymore. If I have say a domain at $1488 (meh domain) and I put it at $1200 or $1K it won't sell anymore, but if I put it up I get a better chance to sell it (but not if I get too high up).
So you have to hit the nail in the head with the right price, and the window seems narrower than it used to be. (note I have mostly 1-word, 1-word modified and 2-word .COMs if that matters.)
7) There are huge variations from one month to another and there are gaps of say 2-3 weeks where I sell nothing (zero or say one sale) then in a few days I sell quite a lot of names. Is everyone getting paid in the same day over the world? (just kidding) .
Had a brief DM conversation with Abdul Basit (thanks again, @AbdulBasit.com for all your posts and advice etc) and he also said last month was really weird with no sales for some reason; which is not common for him. I had a slightly different interval but it overlapped with his pretty much.
Note, also in the last 2 weeks this month I had very few sales (I can consider that zero), and it seems to be driven by the NASDAQ wind. So now I watch this index closely and hope for some fresh sales when it gets momentum (heard Meta is up 15%, that woudl be good for us ). I had good sales though in the first 5 days of the month which covers my monthly profit. But then there has been an eerie silence.
There might be other things as well but this is what I recall at this point.
As a side note about my own portfolio size, I have reduced it to 8k and intend to go below 5k names while improving quality. I'm focusing on .coms mostly and at least for the near future, intend to keep it that way. 95% of my names now are .coms.
Feel free to ask me anything and comment. Thanks!
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