Dynadot

What I've learned after a year.

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch

Futurewizard

Established Member
Impact
175
I'm still new, but I wanted to share my findings after a year in domain sales. This is a bit of a ramble, but I just had my first 2k+ sale on Afternic, and this may help at least 1 person. These are my views and they're not rules. I just wasted a lot of effort and money on the wrong things.
  • Keep your prices consistent across platforms
    • This is a pain in the ass, but you don't want mismatched prices on Dan vs Sedo vs Afternic
    • I am now focusing on 1 single platform (Afternic)
  • If you have .co.uk sites (and in the US), remember that your whois info is public
    • Never ever ever ever ever make your whois info public
    • I receive calls day and night because my number was listed on a co.uk domain for a day
    • Robots/AI comb new listings 24/7 and add whois info to a spam list
  • Afternic is the way.My real earnings all came from Afternic. I am focusing 100% on this platform.
    • The interface isn't my favorite, and the Fast Transfer opt-in is a bit confusing (for me at least)
    • Bulk utility / CSV upload is great but the regular(and beta) interface is almost too simple
    • Landing pages are ok, not as good as Dan -
  • Dan landings are the most aesthetic, but I've only made one sale
    • I wish Afternic's landings were as good as Dan's, but theyre not.
    • I like Dan's interface and platform, but again, I feel like Afternic brings $$$
  • Parking sounds great on paper, but don't get your hopes up
    • I've moved away from ad-based landings and parking pages as I haven't received any earnings from it (even on my AAA sites)
    • Ad Blockers (UBlock) will stop landing pages before they have a chance - keep that in mind
      • The modern user won't see your landing page. Especially if it's not an https:// For this reason, I keep it basic, clean and honest. The price, the views, my details and references
  • Google Domains sucks for bulk actions. I use NameCheap and it works for me. My experience is limited
    • Google has great infrastructure, but it's not an ideal place unless you're actually building a site
    • It's pricey but secure/trusted
  • I've had horrible experiences with Flippa - Great for selling businesses, not ideal for domains
    • The platform is great, the amount of scammers/bad actors/con artists outweighs the pros
    • Be very careful with Flippa. Use Escrow.com. Don't trust new accounts. Don't rely on feedback, scammers trade fake feedback/sales
      • Tons and tons and tons of scammers. Assume it's a scam until proven otherwise
    • Don't pay 10$ to list your account unless you're sure your domain is bulletproof. It will only bring bad actors
    • I've listed 8-10 Flippa auctions, 7 of those ended in scammers making bids and wasting my time for months via Escrow.com.
    • 1 legit sale through Flippa/Escrow - fees ate most of the profit. I love Flippa's biz model, but the LOE is too high for the ROI
  • I receive lots of views on Sedo, but 0 leads/sales
    • I use Sedo for any .net domains under 99$ - I'm transitioning out in favor of Afternic - still unsure of where to do landers
    • I really like Sedo's interface and level of customization, but the landing pages feel a bit amateur compared to Dan (bad first impression)
  • Customers already know the domain they want, and walk-ins are rare, so don't waste time with custom landers/ads/promotion
    • Landing pages should be simple. Dead simple.
    • If somebody wants your domain, they should be able to get it in under 4 clicks.
  • Stay organized. I went crazy and got 300 domains. Bad move but I'm glad I did it - learning experience
    • Quality is more important, but I've learned more from diversifying
    • You can't teach yourself the 6th sense of what will sell. Experience is the way.
  • Follow your gut and don't be influenced if somebody says 'NFT's are a scam, these names won't sell', or "nobody will buy .net domains"
    • Everything is possible and a new generation of Web 3.0 is about to burst.
    • People buy .net domains if they're quality - mix up your portfolio and learn from every sale
    • If you believe something is about to get huge, go for it -
    • There's a lot of naysaying on various forums, and a lot of the traditional domain folks will shoot down new ideas
    • My biggest sales were NFT/crypto/video game-related. I was told not to waste my time with these domains - I've been told the same about anything but .com, but the majority of my sales are .net and well above est value/purchase price
  • Stay informed in the latest trends - if something is labeled as 'overhyped' or 'a fad', that doesn't mean it won't make you tons of money in the short term.
  • Learn as much as you can, but don't worry about opinions. You're you, and there are no rules. It's luck and tenacity.
    • What do you know that nobody knows yet? Think 5 years ahead
    • Revinvent this industry, don't follow anybody. Don't pay for courses because everything you need is free (besides the domains)
    • There are more Big Personalities in this industry than I'm used to seeing. Lots of hard opinions and firm beliefs. Nobody is right or wrong, no matter how many sales they have.
I'm a newbie and I'm sure a lot of this is covered in countless beginner FAQs, but this is my experience. I'm heavily caffeinated and I'm sure this didn't need to be as long as it was. Trust your gut. There's no right/wrong. Tech is moving so fast that the traditional methods won't apply in a few months. If somebody says your domains won't sell, prove them wrong. Be smart and research as many past sales as you can. Stick to it, sales take a long time and dry spells will last for months. It's an amazing way to make a living.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Remember, all of this is my experience and these are all opinions, not facts.
 
Last edited:
68
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Do you use Afternic parking?
Afternic domains are hard to manage when priced.
All marketplaces suck one way or another.
Sedo: gives our name and address to fake buyers.
Dan: Domain parking is completely dead (great landing pages but loads extremely slowly,
and they say everything is ok: very annoying)
Afternic: Hard to manage priced domains. Only 50 domains per page. No useful sorting (by date, or price).
I've only used Dan.com, but I'm open to try anything. I'm going through wave 1 of the renewals. It's tough letting some of the favorites go, but I'm keeping my list lean. Only the top .nets make it through. Having said all that I said, .coms do seem like the old standard. The Nikes of the domain world. I recently got into .nft, .x, .eth and .dao domains. I'm taking it slow, and I have 7 right now. They do not require renewals, so it's an interesting venture. It could totally flop, but I made sure to pick some personal favorites.
 
1
•••
Great post, I appreciate this. I spent around 5k on domains ONLY after spending a good week watching soon-to-be expiring auctions to see what were being bought and for what price. I advise anyone to do the same, watch the auctions, scale the prices, what was paid for what etc.

Good luck
This is solid advice. I stayed in my bubble of ignorance and assured myself that these long 3-word .net addresses were too good not to sell. Well they weren't! Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. Great advice, thank you :pompous:
 
0
•••
Google Domains sucks for bulk actions.

I know which one doesn't (or at least didn't when I had domains with them)--and that's Google Domains. I made multiple requests for bulk controls to be added before I ultimately moved my domains away from them. If that has changed, then maybe someone else can verify.

My guess is that Google has no plans to include bulk controls for their domain platform. (My quote is from 2020).

Nice article and observations, btw. Congrats on your sale, and here's to more in the future.
 
1
•••
Bang on post. Thanks for sharing.
 
1
•••
What an amazing insight. Thank you so much! :xf.smile:
 
1
•••
Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm so glad I was able to help some folks. Just keep the faith. The whole thing takes a while. You'll get the feel for realistic pricing. Try not to fall in love with your domains. I know all of y'all have some killer domains, but sometimes you just need to move the inventory to make way for things. Also, stay on top of everything. Marketing is the hardest, but most important, part!
 
0
•••
Back