mercury.com - $1.1m, smoking.com - $500K, mr.com - $350K, americans.com - $150K

[sasquatch]

Daddy,

very intelligent and articulate post. Points well made.

[Duke]

To further clarify, I would add that Duke is successful in this alternate TLD niche market precisely because it is a full time endeavor for him.

That is a far different case than a newbie kicking some tires and looking to get started.

If someone isn't going to do domains full time, I would suggest a bigger market, and that is .COM

And if they want to further increase their odds of success, they should open their wallet.

Only one problem with that. 99% of the newbies kicking the tires looking to get started don't have the tens of thousands of dollars they need to make a dent in .com namespace. "Further increasing your odds by opening your wallet" is no longer an option. If you do not open it from the get go (and have it well stuffed with cash) you are going nowhere in .com namespace. It was a different story just nine month ago (before Pool came on the scene and everything went to an auction model), but as I pointed out a lot of people aren't keeping up with what has happened in the marketplace, especially the rapidly growing demand for new TLD's (.info in particular).

I've shown you how you can start with almost no money and makes tens of thousands in less than 24 months. Hal has shown you how you can start with a 100K or so and make some money. You can look at your resources and decide what will work for you (both paths will work - one just requires a much stiffer entry fee). I have no more time to waste arguing the point - I'm off to make some more money. :-D

[sasquatch]

Duke,

very intelligent and articulate post. Points well made.

[NameTower]

Hey I started domains with 0$

And I think I'm doing pretty good.

I'm a .com man myself.

But .info seems to me as a great investment.. through the sales I am seeing.

That is why I attempted to make a move with .info

However I got scammed out of my money and a high profile .info :(

.info may very well be a good investment.

I will deeply consider going after some nice keywords.

- Jordan

[Duke]

Hey I started domains with 0$

And I think I'm doing pretty good.

I'm a .com man myself.

But .info seems to me as a great investment.. through the sales I am seeing.

That is why I attempted to make a move with .info

However I got scammed out of my money and a high profile .info :(

.info may very well be a good investment.

I will deeply consider going after some nice keywords.

- Jordan

Jordan, you have done a remarkable job in the .com space. The way things have changed the past few months has made it tougher than ever to land good domains there but you are still getting it done - and it's especially impressive that you have done it without a huge bankroll to start with. Proves that sweeping generalities (even mine ) are never 100% true. You're proof that the cream will rise to the top in any environment.

[Edwin]

The other point being forgotten is that newbies (generally - there are always exceptional folks who become oldbies faster than average) can't tell the difference between good domains and junk domains, not without having made a few (or many) mistakes up front. The limits aren't only financial, but expertise as well!

If their mistake is to take $10,000 and buy a couple of worthless .com domains (and don't tell me you've never seen somebody asking $x,xxx for worthless domains) then they just lost a whole heap of money and will probably quit the market/industry in disgust and spread the word to their friends that "those domain things are just a scam".

But at $7-ish a pop, there's massively more margin for error in the new extensions or in cTLDs. Either that or they have to be VERY VERY smart to beat all the rest of us by predicting a new trend/spotting a new niche and securing the .com. To give an example, I registered TerabitEthernet.com for regfee in June last year. Now it may cost me $70 or so in renewal fees, but trends in the networking market suggest that within a decade that will be THE standard and hence I'll be able to flip the domain for a hefty profit. This kind of approach requires time, patience and a good grasp of market trends.

So the new extensions or cTDLs are a great place for newbies to dabble (and for experts to make a nice profit off a stream of sales) without losing their shirts - whereas the .com space is pretty much tapped out for the person stepping into it in 2004 with no up-front/inside knowledge of the domain name industry.

[sasquatch]

I registered TerabitEthernet.com for regfee in June last year. Now it may cost me $70 or so in renewal fees, but trends in the networking market suggest that within a decade that will be THE standard and hence I'll be able to flip the domain for a hefty profit.

Nobody can predict what could/will hapen 10 years down the road. If there's anything we learn -- it's that the change is constant and rapid. So frankly, I find your confident assertion that you will be able to "flip" that particular domain for a "hefty profit" in 10 year time, a little bit premature, if not downwright immature.

What I find odd here, is that most people seem to be looking to make "hefty profits" "DOWN THE ROAD" by making highly speculative registrations, instead of orientating towards purey niche markets, where you can still make relatively easy $500- $2,000 per domain sales NOW.

[Duke]

The other point being forgotten is that newbies (generally - there are always exceptional folks who become oldbies faster than average) can't tell the difference between good domains and junk domains, not without having made a few (or many) mistakes up front. The limits aren't only financial, but expertise as well!

If their mistake is to take $10,000 and buy a couple of worthless .com domains (and don't tell me you've never seen somebody asking $x,xxx for worthless domains) then they just lost a whole heap of money and will probably quit the market/industry in disgust and spread the word to their friends that "those domain things are just a scam".

But at $7-ish a pop, there's massively more margin for error in the new extensions or in cTLDs. So the new extensions or cTDLs are a great place for newbies to dabble (and for experts to make a nice profit off a stream of sales) without losing their shirts - whereas the .com space is pretty much tapped out for the person stepping into it in 2004 with no up-front/inside knowledge of the domain name industry.

I think those points are right on the money Edwin. I did not sell a single domain my first five months in the business because I really had no clue what was sellable. In the next 15 months I have sold over 1,000 of them. IMO the risk/reward ratio has tilted in favor of the new extensions over the past 9 months. I've made enough money that I could now start buying some good .coms but with the high percentage returns I am making with very small capital risk I see no reason to switch strategies now. It ain't broke, so I'm not going to fix it.

[NameTower]

Jordan, you have done a remarkable job in the .com space. The way things have changed the past few months has made it tougher than ever to land good domains there but you are still getting it done - and it's especially impressive that you have done it without a huge bankroll to start with. Proves that sweeping generalities (even mine ) are never 100% true. You're proof that the cream will rise to the top in any environment.

Thanks Duke

[DaddyHalbucks]

Edwin wrote:

The other point being forgotten is that newbies (generally - there are always exceptional folks who become oldbies faster than average) can't tell the difference between good domains and junk domains, not without having made a few (or many) mistakes up front. The limits aren't only financial, but expertise as well!

If their mistake is to take $10,000 and buy a couple of worthless .com domains (and don't tell me you've never seen somebody asking $x,xxx for worthless domains) then they just lost a whole heap of money and will probably quit the market/industry in disgust and spread the word to their friends that "those domain things are just a scam".

But at $7-ish a pop, there's massively more margin for error in the new extensions or in cTLDs. Either that or they have to be VERY VERY smart to beat all the rest of us by predicting a new trend/spotting a new niche and securing the .com. To give an example, I registered TerabitEthernet.com for regfee in June last year. Now it may cost me $70 or so in renewal fees, but trends in the networking market suggest that within a decade that will be THE standard and hence I'll be able to flip the domain for a hefty profit. This kind of approach requires time, patience and a good grasp of market trends.
+++++++++++++++++

Nice points especially about margins of error.

There are still nice domains to be regged in the .COM space at the cost of a registration fee. The quantity is declining, but I find them every day.

I would assume a newbie will get a little bit of advice before plunking down $10,000 for a top .COM --perhaps even start with a $500 name or a $1,000 name.

Regarding [terabitethernet.com], even if terabit ethernet does become the standard, there is no guarantee of selling such a domain.

[wolfis.com]

really nice points made , however please don't forget some basic business rules for newbies:

1)to make money ,you have to invest money !
(sure they pay $ 7.00 for a new registration like : typreforsalebyowner.com and think they get $ xxx,xxx out of it a few month - good luck to those..

2) stay one step ahead of the game (have a 'nose') !
(pay $ 7.00 for a new registration like : ikd.biz (just an example) , wait a few years and sell it for $ xxxx - very easy to do , and a nice little profit .

3) same as 2) however sell: ikd.biz to a dealer for $ 50 within a couple of days ,maybe a month or so ... this is (calculator) ..hmm.. over 7 x your investment..
(i do that quite often ,when i'm bored)

4) put all your money together and invest it in something good .... a (maybe a few) top tier generic dot com one worders , and one day your name will be in the news too !
(still working on the news part - but i think after doing this for over 4 years , my time will come soon - i hope)

[Bionic]

But at $7-ish a pop, there's massively more margin for error in the new extensions or in cTLDs. Either that or they have to be VERY VERY smart to beat all the rest of us by predicting a new trend/spotting a new niche and securing the .com.

All the extensions have entry level names up for grabs, alternate extension probably
are worth looking into for small outlay, but its a buyers market all round.

Its just the amount of .coms makes it time consuming. I skimmed for
PHPLibrary.com the other day, $85 is as cheap as investing in an
alternate extension. As long as PHP keeps its popularity it *could*
compete with hotscripts as far as traffic.

.nets are a good investment for developers, the domains are low value
but hardly effect the impact of the site because many sites are .net.

If you can invest $xxx a month there's opportunity in .com, look at the
volume and low prices, lots of names to pick up, just be selective.

[dotNetKing]

I agree with you entirely Duke. I also started out with nothing and concentrated mainly on .nets (hence my nick!) and .orgs, at the beginning.

Congratulations on your successes in acquiring more highly competed .infos!

I also agree with you Edwin. With no money, you really have to start out with $8.95 (or whatever) a time domains and pick up experience that way.