AusRegistry specailist knowledge by George Pongas to Lifehacker article

[petermeadit]

This is the response from AusRegistry's George Pongas to Lifehacker.
There was an article this week where is was criticising domain names and there were claims premium domain name sales were becoming “increasingly rare”.

Lifehacker declined to publish George’s response.

Please read more on the AusRegistry news page here: http://ausregistry.com.au/news/response-to-lifehacker-how-can-i-sell-my-domains

 

[snoopy]

Disagree with a good 50% of what George has said in the article. The .com.au market is well down from its peak, I would say mainly due to search engines in terms of google putting the squeeze on exact match domains and I think it is undeniable that the rise of search engines (and Facebook, twitter etc) has had an effect generally. Prices may not be down in many segments but the domain name is no longer "key" for many businesses. If I was them I wouldn't be putting it up on my site either as as it is more sales pitch than arms length.

At least Ausregistry had the sense to to get George to write the piece rather than Adrian but the article is highly promotional and if I were lifehacker I wouldn't be promoting it for them either.

 

[Mick]

Good example is some of the TV ads where the voiceover and on screen animation just says "search blah blah blah" and don't even mention a URL anymore

 

[petermeadit]

There is a fair bit of info in a fairly shot article on this Lifehacker article.
(Posting original article here in case folks have not read it) http://ausregistry.com.au/news/response-to-lifehacker-how-can-i-sell-my-domains

We did see some pretty good reported .au domain name sales last year, with bitcoin and training to name some.
https://www.dntrade.com.au/threads/domain-sales-list-2014.8681/

We have seen some pretty good ones already this year with firstchoice and computer
https://www.dntrade.com.au/threads/domain-sales-list-2015.9693/

I think if we keep heading this way for 2015 we wont be looking too shabby... Would we?

 

[snoopy]

There is a fair bit of info in a fairly shot article on this Lifehacker article.
(Posting original article here in case folks have not read it) http://ausregistry.com.au/news/response-to-lifehacker-how-can-i-sell-my-domains

We did see some pretty good reported .au domain name sales last year, with bitcoin and training to name some.
https://www.dntrade.com.au/threads/domain-sales-list-2014.8681/

We have seen some pretty good ones already this year with firstchoice and computer
https://www.dntrade.com.au/threads/domain-sales-list-2015.9693/

I think if we keep heading this way for 2015 we wont be looking too shabby... Would we?

Are these good sales, $9,500 for computer.com.au? That is 0.45% of what the .com sold for (i.e. less than half of 1 percent) . Top reported sale for last year 36k? Is this a good number?

 

[petermeadit]

Yeah snoopy, not very big sales when you compare them to investmentproperty or cruises

 

[Rhythm]

If domains aren't key for businesses than why am I getting CEOs and SEOs and marketing execs asking me if my domains are for sale?

 

[Rhythm]

And there is no squeeze on emds believe you me. I use google a lot and emds almost always show up more often than not. Just today I saw an emd.net.au in the top 3 beat out a keyword.com.au

 

[eBranding.com.au]

I've had more enquiries (no agreed sales yet though) on my.com.au domains so far this year than my .com domains. I do own more .com.au domains than last year, but I still own a lot more .com domains in my portfolio (and many of these are substantially more valuable/desirable than my .com.au domains).

Personally, in the brief few years that I've been involved in .com.au domains, the market demand seems to be increasing.

 

[snoopy]

If domains aren't key for businesses than why am I getting CEOs and SEOs and marketing execs asking me if my domains are for sale?

I said, 'no longer "key" for many businesses', i.e. lots of business use Facebook, twitter and a domain, or Facebook and nothing else. The domain tends to be less important to a lot of business than the past. e.g. Of the restaurants I've been to lately some don't use a domain at all but almost all use Facebook. Of the ones with a domain the site is often out of date with no recent updates whilst the Facebook page is "current".

But that is not to say nobody is buying domains. I'm saying that its importance has waned. Effectively domain are losing market share, the saving grace is growth in the number of people online.

 

[snoopy]

I've had more enquiries (no agreed sales yet though) on my.com.au domains so far this year than my .com domains. I do own more .com.au domains than last year, but I still own a lot more .com domains in my portfolio (and many of these are substantially more valuable/desirable than my .com.au domains).

Personally, in the brief few years that I've been involved in .com.au domains, the market demand seems to be increasing.

I hope your bank will accept inquiries as payment.

 

[eBranding.com.au]

I hope your bank will accept inquiries as payment.

It's no secret that I only sell a small number of domains each year, but I make a healthy profit and the number gets bigger each year, I'm ok with that result.

 

[eBranding.com.au]

I hope your bank will accept inquiries as payment.

It's no secret that I only sell a small number of domains each year, but I make a healthy profit and the number gets bigger each year, I'm ok with that result.

To expand on this, I think the number of enquiries is not a bad proxy for the level of demand.
Over the years I've become much, much pickier about the domains that I buy and my asking prices have also gone up. Personally I think it's better to sell less domains for higher prices, than more domains for lower prices. For this reason, only a small number of enquiries will translate to actual sales, that's just the way it is. I was negotiating on an offer recently (.com.au domain), after some back and forth over a couple of weeks, a low-mid 4 figure price was agreed, invoice etc provided - then the buyer disappeared, radio silence. So yes not all enquiries convert, but I'm getting more offers on my .com.au domains, so there is demand and there will be sales, if the price is right.

 

[eBranding.com.au]

It's no secret that I only sell a small number of domains each year, but I make a healthy profit and the number gets bigger each year, I'm ok with that result.

Well how's this for timing, just closed a good sale ...and it's a .com.au

 

[petermeadit]

Congrats Demonoid

 

[petermeadit]

Care to give us any details Demonoid? ball park figure? Or maybe how many letters? Don’t mind me if you want to keep it private, just interested.

 

[eBranding.com.au]

Care to give us any details Demonoid? ball park figure? Or maybe how many letters? Don’t mind me if you want to keep it private, just interested.

Sorry, I don't share my sales details! Sometimes they'll be published (when they're through an intermediary platform), but either way I avoid spelling out the details. There's no great benefit to naming the price other than stroking the ego, but there's also a chance that it will aggravate customers, which is not great for business! I was happy with the sales price and the customer got a terrific domain, that's as much as I'll say

 

[petermeadit]

Thanks Demonoid. Totally respect that. In any case it is good for the DNTrade community to know the sales are flowing. Anyway, hats off to you on the sale.