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?

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

I've seen obvious slowness in sales. Around 50% of my sales have been dropped considering I've doubled the portfolio since 2020. But I'm making some big adjustments in the pricing to turn things around and I'm pretty sure the sales will happen in the coming months.
Thanks!

Will you renew everything if sales remain slow or drop some names?

 

[korganian]

Marketplaces are getting worse, I think this is the main problem. They want lion's share from most sales by playing a mid entity while pretending to be the actual buyer or actual seller or both. They make landing pages invisble, hide them behind scripts, or hide price on landing pages, and instead say "call us", and actual domain owner will never know what the hell is going on. So we domainers are becoming slaves, and not complaining about it. Epik was great in landing page/marketplace sense, but unfortunately their only source of income is scam, and they refuse to correct themselves and insist on scamming, although they can no longer scam either.

Yes and the worst problems IMHO are that GD buys up every helpful company and makes us point our domains to them for a decent sales commission rate and then all the leads coming directly from our domains see a low valuation for our name from GD and the phone number to call GD. Then when a hot lead calls GD, the bastards tell them they have other domains to sell them instead of our name. It goes like this, Lead= "I want to buy bestdomain.com, how much?", GD="$8,000", Lead="Oh That's more than I was planning on spending!", GD="That's ok, let me recommend other names we have within your price range!" We are getting screwed over royally folks!

 

[Optixgroup]

I don’t want to put anyone on blast here, but if you’re that fed up with GoDaddy in general (and to be a domainer at any point in history is to be fed up with GoDaddy), or the behavior of the Afternic sales team, vote with your feet. Set all listings to BIN only, and/or set your sales landers to Sedo. People respond to losing commissions a lot more than they respond to forum posts.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Will you renew everything if sales remain slow or drop some names?

I rarely drop any more domains and even if the sales remain slow, I won't be dropping any of my domains due to slowness in sales. Dropping my domains is always based on the poor quality of domain.

Also I buy domains keeping in mind that I will never drop it.

 

[clarkemarketing]

- Elon just stole the @x handle at Twitter (which someone has used since 2007).
- Tiktok could get banned in USA any day
- Meta keeps tweaking their algo's lowering reach on IG & FB

It is now painfully obvious to most that building a business on social is highly risky. If you don't own a great domain, you need to question if you even own a real business.

 

[twiki]

It is now painfully obvious to most that building a business on social is highly risky.

Especially if you insist destroying it.

 

[twiki]

Question is: Why is domain dropping, Why is in auction.

There's many reasons for dropping but the most important is ... how many times ? Way Back - what kind of landers, ppc etc. If DN was developed and had lets say solid position (occupied cyberspace - read volume) for a very specific user base, I need to be sure there's prospect who is willing to expand in this particular direction or I need to be sure there's upcoming prospects worth waiting a decade + to sell domain name for 5+fig.

Auctions are dirty as F* and I don't want to participate in ping pong, shill aka pump up, etc, game.

5+Fig buyers are not stupid. If they're not familiar w the sh** show ... they'll hire pro to play w ___ .

I'm not saying you can't profit from auctions but a big % of auctioned domains are dirty, tired, butchered ... hard to sell for 5+fig

IMO


Regards

Not everyone here will get this, I'm afraid... I personally really appreciate though your effort in educating domainers here (me included), although such efforts will always had mixed results, and I've experienced that first hand in my own efforts at my own level and scale.

But of course, such methods aren't for everyone.

TBH - thinking now ... you have to have both a certain knack for the minutia and a highly organized mind /methods, plus most likely a good degree of lateral thinking to get such results, high-value sales.

(Like @Lox has)

 

[kor]

I'm making some big adjustments in the pricing

Upwards or downwards?

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Upwards or downwards?

Downwards of course.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Everyday lessons are: research, collect and analyse projects + potential rebrands, acquire or register turnkey domains, follow / monitor and wait for the right moment - time - to sell ... when user base or $ funding is big enough ... without thinking too much, the buyer will cash out to get that uplifting name.)


Regards

This is why is helps to study the naming conventions of startups on Techcrunch, Crunchbase and SH (esp top seller's names on there).

 

[twiki]

This is why is helps to study the naming conventions of startups on Techcrunch, Crunchbase and SH (esp top seller's names on there).

Some are quite weak, handregs. Not everyone pays.

 

[twiki]

Downwards of course.

This is not for everybody.

I'm downscaling my inventory, simply because I am changing my approach, a process that started in 2020-2021, long before this drop in sales. Therefore I can discount. Of course, as a top investor (Abdul) you can also do this.

But is it for everyone else? Probably not.

One has to calculate in the updated sales ratio and especially acquisition cost + renewal costs. If these get too high, you won't be able to cover the expenses. So reducing price might be a double-edged sword.

Edit: Let's not forget also that domain pricing is increasing from ICANN... yet again
Also if you do it without specific finesse, you might actually cut your profits or increase your money bleed. Edit: by discounting the wrong names.

Personal note. What did I do lately?

- I increased the price to my best domains significantly. Kept them there throughout the summer. Now I'm reducing them but NOT to former levels. This will entice some buyers to buy.

- I tested low xxx range pricing for clearances and didn't like the results. Right now the lowest domain price I have is $499, and that's for weaklings. Edit: Discounting below this has actually REDUCED my income by a lot. Why bother anymore with crappy pricing - they make your domain appear as crap. Few buyers know exactly what your domain is really worth so they might get negatively influenced by a too low price, which I saw several times already.

- I used to sell domains for $9 or so on NP. Not anymore. My price right now is $20 for everything, take it or leave it. That's all. Also not wasting time on too many transfers.

- I reduced the price on certain midrange domains, those ~ $1.5 k range. Not on everything, just on those I might not renew next year.

- As far as my 3k+ names, no discounts there. Although I might negotiate if you give me a decent price.

So it depends. As a top investor, @AbdulBasit.com can reduce pricing and will still be in serious profit. But I don't think it is a blanket solution.

This being said, I believe the time now is not necessarily for profit, but for holding and especially buys. Let some names go and get better ones. refresh and keep your inventory. There will be a time to sell.

I have bought a lot if AI names lately despite my overall income being in red, because I know they will pay off soon. So if you ask me, I appear to be selling, but in fact I am buying. Selling the weaklings, getting the better ones. It's a good time for that.

Later edit: My income is in red not from domains which have been selling rather okay, but from other business I do which has fallen sharply. But working on it.

 

[Tia Wood]

It's like a game of domain hide-and-seek! Jokes aside, you're right; economic fluctuations can affect activity. Some may have moved on, but remember, domain investing has its ups and downs. People come and go all the time. Sometimes people are just hidden too.

 

[Tia Wood]

Domaining is alive and well. Clubhouse was a trend that came and went. People are still investing as evident by the expired auction prices, and sales of good names are strong.

I've been meaning to explore Clubhouse, lol, I guess I'm late.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

This is not for everybody.

I'm downscaling my inventory, simply because I am changing my approach, a process that started in 2020-2021, long before this drop in sales. Therefore I can discount. Of course, as a top investor (Abdul) you can also do this.

But is it for everyone else? Probably not.

One has to calculate in the updated sales ratio and especially acquisition cost + renewal costs. If these get too high, you won't be able to cover the expenses. So reducing price might be a double-edged sword.

Edit: Let's not forget also that domain pricing is increasing from ICANN... yet again
Also if you do it without specific finesse, you might actually cut your profits or increase your money bleed. Edit: by discounting the wrong names.

Personal note. What did I do lately?

- I increased the price to my best domains significantly. Kept them there throughout the summer. Now I'm reducing them but NOT to former levels. This will entice some buyers to buy.

- I tested low xxx range pricing for clearances and didn't like the results. Right now the lowest domain price I have is $499, and that's for weaklings. Edit: Discounting below this has actually REDUCED my income by a lot. Why bother anymore with crappy pricing - they make your domain appear as crap. Few buyers know exactly what your domain is really worth so they might get negatively influenced by a too low price, which I saw several times already.

- I used to sell domains for $9 or so on NP. Not anymore. My price right now is $20 for everything, take it or leave it. That's all. Also not wasting time on too many transfers.

- I reduced the price on certain midrange domains, those ~ $1.5 k range. Not on everything, just on those I might not renew next year.

- As far as my 3k+ names, no discounts there. Although I might negotiate if you give me a decent price.

So it depends. As a top investor, @AbdulBasit.com can reduce pricing and will still be in serious profit. But I don't think it is a blanket solution.

This being said, I believe the time now is not necessarily for profit, but for holding and especially buys. Let some names go and get better ones. refresh and keep your inventory. There will be a time to sell.

I have bought a lot if AI names lately despite my overall income being in red, because I know they will pay off soon. So if you ask me, I appear to be selling, but in fact I am buying. Selling the weaklings, getting the better ones. It's a good time for that.

Later edit: My income is in red not from domains which have been selling rather okay, but from other business I do which has fallen sharply. But working on it.

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!

 

[Lox]

Some are quite weak, handregs. Not everyone pays.

VCs are in love w t projects riding on a weak, hand reg. domains. Fascinating $ROI logic ...

(* Don't forget, VCs raising funds also ... Fund I , Fund II, Fund III etc.. So follow VCs and where money come from... and you'll know ... niche, industry sector ... the next big thing that is going to happen in a couple of years. )

When ppl follow / reg. or acquire names based on ongoing / current trend ... I would like to remind .... only a small number of domains are sold ... 1000-2000 vs 100s of thousands registered @ first wave. So ppl need to focus on +/- 5 year investment, ideally 10 years.

Regards

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

When ppl follow / reg. or acquire names based on ongoing / current trend ... I would like to remind .... only a small number of domains are sold ... 1000-2000 vs 100s of thousands registered @ first wave. So ppl need to focus on +/- 5 year investment, ideally 10 years.

There was this tweet by @blogspotter that summed up what you mention about trend names:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1669195409791623169

 

[Reallybigidea.com]

So many layers

, domain investing has its ups and downs. People come and go all the time.

Domains arnt stocks.

I think it's because conflicts on Europe, and slowly moving to Web-3-0

 

[DomainMagnate]

What prices do you look to buy and sell at?

Previously I was focusing on
- buying $xx and $xxx names in bulk to sell to end users for low mid 4 figures.
- buying and holding short and brandable names like CVCV.com or VCVC.com to resell to end users or other resellers at higher prices - that actually worked well, but now the prices for them seem too high
- picking up some 4-5 figure names when prices are right for longer term holding.

 

[clarkemarketing]

There was this tweet by @blogspotter that summed up what you mention about trend names:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1669195409791623169

This is great advice! It's also important to diversify your portfolio of domains. My crypto / bitcoin names sold like crazy in 2020 and 2021, now they barely sell. My 5N .com names barely sold in 2020 and 2021, now they are flying off the shelf at BIN prices. The successful domainers I know own a variety of names... 4L .com, two word .com, one word .net .org .co .io some cctld's they never have all their eggs in one basket, this allows them to ride the ups and downs.

 

[VRdommy]

Marketplaces are getting worse, I think this is the main problem. They want lion's share from most sales by playing a mid entity while pretending to be the actual buyer or actual seller or both. They make landing pages invisble, hide them behind scripts, or hide price on landing pages, and instead say "call us", and actual domain owner will never know what the hell is going on. So we domainers are becoming slaves, and not complaining about it. Epik was great in landing page/marketplace sense, but unfortunately their only source of income is scam, and they refuse to correct themselves and insist on scamming, although they can no longer scam either.

A history of life I guess....

Every time there is a transaction, there will be those that try to put themselves into the transaction where they otherwise would have no part. ie debit cards come top of mind. But think on that one.

In this case, you have a choice who you deal with. Nobody is twisting your arm to sign with someone to be a go between.
You do this willingly.

If I am not getting the service I expect from what I am paying, I shop around, go somewhere else.
You do not need a agent to sell/buy a name. In this field, you can only enslave yourself.

If someone will not give me a price in 'one' query, I'm done. If you really have to have it, you are telling them so in your persistence to get answers. A way to understand the level of need or want.
You have to be a participant in a game. Or not.

But on the market in general, Investor sales are down. It has to do with the general liquidity of the economy.
End user sales are down, but that is a drop in start-ups from a couple of banner years following the pandemic.
One had to realize that was not going to last forever. But we all hope.
NDA type sales are up, lending a bit of mysticism of what is going on. But that has been a rising trend for more than 12 years. It tells you nothing though. It is by design.

 

[bmugford]

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

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

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. How long were your holding times with these?

 

[blogspotter]

July was my best month in sales. And I think August will beat July sales

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

July started a bit slow, but it was my best month ever

August will beat July record simply because I sold a name for 30K this week..

BTW, I also reported a random 3L. us sale in the sales thread for $3700
Maybe it contributed a bit to pex. us going so high yesterday lol.

Despite what we say, I think reporting sales do more harm than good haha
Everytime there is a sale, even if it is not repeated, sales of similar names on Auctions just go crazy.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

July was my best month in sales. And I think August will beat July sales

July started a bit slow, but it was my best month ever

August will beat July record simply because I sold a name for 30K this week..

BTW, I also reported a random 3L. us sale in the sales thread for $3700
Maybe it contributed a bit to pex. us going so high yesterday lol.

Despite what we say, I think reporting sales do more harm than good haha
Everytime there is a sale, even if it is not repeated, sales of similar names on Auctions just go crazy.

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