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Long-time domainer / new here

Hi all,

Name is Rob.

I've been dabbling in domains for about a decade, seriously for the last 4-5 years.

I've accumulated several thousand, and now it's time to start selling some.

I'm a Kiwi living in Melbourne.
 

geodomains

Top Contributor
I've been dabbling in domains for about a decade, seriously for the last 4-5 years.

I've accumulated several thousand, and now it's time to start selling some
Welcome, but have to say dabbling is not really the correct word :D

That amount is massive, renewals would be a headache.

Don
 
Back again!

Reg fees until last year were just a big expense. Although I wasn't actively selling domains, I was selling enough via WHOIS enquiries to be profitable.

In the last year I've bought few, let many expire.

I've got only 100 or so NZ/OZ domains, and typically they aren't .com.au but meaningful nonetheless, like NZCheese.com

All are listed at Sedo/Afternic.

I'm slowly working my way through my portfolio finding some to sell.
 

findtim

Top Contributor
im sure you have a VERY interesting story from the first domain purchase, to the many domain purchases, to the dropping feeling, to the now consolidation of your investment.

i think it woud be great for you to start a thread and detail this as its the kind of stuff i like to read, the experience of doing is amazing.

tim
 
@Tim

Not worthy of a new thread, because my angle is atypical, not much for others to learn from.

Been on the web since it had pictures.
Never owned any domains I didn't use for my own purposes.
Had a successful PPC affiliate business (dead now) and we bought a few domains to build landing sites with.
In 2008 I was paying too much tax, and got hooked on the big gamble of domain investing. Figured if I only broken even profit-wise, I would at least be in a lower tax bracket when I sold them.
Bought roughly 2000 domains. In retrospect I initially paid about 5x more than I would now, and half of them I wouldn't have for free.
I had the luxury of screwing up and learning from my mistakes while still being able to afford to stay in the game.
Enough of my domains were good enough to make enough profit for me to not give up.
Inevitably my income fell and it is now time to sell my stockpile.

Some stats:

Average time to sell a domain = 20 years (so far, with time that average will drop)
Average purchase price = $100
Most I ever pay for a domain = $1000 (perhaps a mistake)
Average sales price = $1000
Biggest sale = $20000
Let expire = ~500
Current ratio... expire 20, sell 1, buy 3
Time spent: ~15 hours per week (spilt evenly between selling, buying and maintaining)

I'm currently pulling an average salary from domain sales, and it is my primary income. Until a lot more of my domains are sold it will be impossible to tell if I have profited from the exercise. I envy domainers who have a low stockpile and fast turnover, who truly understand how well they are doing.


Biggest mistakes:

.info
keyword domains that are not .com


Saviours:

brandables
short domains with any sort of vague meaning


#1 best advice: don't use metrics like keyword searches - few bargains to be had. Try to find domains that take intuition to recognise as good - there'll be less people to compete with.

Example, looks like I will pick up AdHoy.com tonight for $70 via NameJet. That means that nobody has noticed it via search algorithms. I'm not convinced it is a great name, but I feel someone might pay a grand for it.
 

findtim

Top Contributor
thank you for being so frank, its one of the best posts i have read and everyone will tell you i don't "suck up to anyone"

i totally understand what you did.

thankfully i had some good advice in my early days by dnt members and i paid attention ( mostly ) but i do have a few that are still biting me in the bum but i am getting there.

$19k, $12k, and a lot of $1-2k's , all worth every penny i say.

just giving back because of your honesty :)

its a good lesson for newbies, read read read dnt before spending, i did and i am happy with what i presently have in my folio but i'm only sitting at @ 400 and don't plan on increasing it for the same reasons you started dropping, being a developer that is just 2 jobs p/a to cover my costs.

thank you for your valuable insight into what you have done.

tim
 

snoopy

Top Contributor
@Tim
Average time to sell a domain = 20 years (so far, with time that average will drop)

That is actually pretty good. I think typical is about 100 years or so for a decent portfolio. e.g. someone with say 2000 names selling 10 per year.
 

petermeadit

Top Contributor
Hi all,

Name is Rob.

I've been dabbling in domains for about a decade, seriously for the last 4-5 years.

I've accumulated several thousand, and now it's time to start selling some.

I'm a Kiwi living in Melbourne.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with the sales.
 

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