I've got $500 to spend

[Spex]

(Hypothetical scenario of course, but would not hesitate to spend the money should a sweet deal come along.)

Whats kind of information should I be asking or looking for in order to determine whether or not a domain name is worth that much?

Is there a 3rd party site where I could confirm any stats that I would receive?

Are auctions the best and safest place to do business?

Also could someone explain to me how a drop catcher works? I've had a brief explanation in the past, but it never quite made sense to me.

Thanks

[stewie]

With a $500 Budget... What are your plans ... Hold it, Develop it or Flip it?

$500 will not get you too far.

Good Luck,

[fab]

You have the following options:
1. Purchase a domain parked earning revenue,
2. Purchased a web-site earning revenue,
3. Purchase a domain for reselling in the future,
4. Purchase a domain for developing into a web-site
Stats are mostly important for the first two scenarios. Verifying validity of stats is a complicated issue. I would start reading through some of the posts on this forum, through searching and continue from there.

[GAMEFINEST]

Do some research buddy..

[lordbyroniv]

Don't spend a dime until you do your research

then after doing your research I would suggest

Go do some more

[Carter]

Don't buy nothing now.
Study for some weeks...when you rise more money start to buy an LLL.net with premium letters.

[nameadvertising.com]

Buy one of my names............

[lordbyroniv]

Don't buy nothing now.
Study for some weeks...when you rise more money start to buy an LLL.net with premium letters.

.net is so dead

[Domagon]

A domain is worth what someone else is willing to pay.

Estibot is a good free service to get an idea whether a domain likely has some good value ... but Estibot and also professional paid appraisal services can be way off, since again, a domain is worth what someone else is willing to pay.

Auctions might be safer in respect to the venue, but not necessarily when it comes to the pricing part ... it's very easy to get carried away and way over pay in an auction.

Dropcatching is getting domains that are expiring or have expired - there's no one single place to grab them, since many registrars partner up exlusively with one or more dropcatchers. I'd suggest searching the forums for more details about getting drops, because there's a lot more to it.

With all that said, what is your objective? - buy and hold, flip fast, monetize, develop, etc ... it's important to have a clear objective in mind before buying anything to better ensure maximum value for your $500.

Ron

p.s. check out my Generic BLOWOUT thread in Exclusive forum - most are in your budget.

[nameadvertising.com]

A domain is worth what someone else is willing to pay.

I disagree with this point.

[acronym007]

Well, I would say $500 is a great price for an education. Don't wait forever to buy a domain. Buy a great domain, something worth $500 and flip it. Next you will have $1000 to spend on a domain and so on.

I would say one of the most important things about domains is that you don't make this process complex. Use common sense when buying, a generic well known term is worth allot more than something people never heard of.

Buy and learn. The only people in life that fail are those that never try to succeed.

Good luck!

[system0]

I disagree with this point.

in what respect? You could have the best 3 letter domain the in the world but if no one wants it it's worthless.

Lowfares.com recently sold for 365k dollars. I don't think it's an amazing domain but it's definately what a big travel company was looking for and they were more than willing to pay it.

[nameadvertising.com]

in what respect? You could have the best 3 letter domain the in the world but if no one wants it it's worthless.

Lowfares.com recently sold for 365k dollars. I don't think it's an amazing domain but it's definately what a big travel company was looking for and they were more than willing to pay it.

You are a very smart individual.

[Johnn]

Guys,

The OP asked for opinion and advice and not an invitation of debates.
Please only post if you have something to share.

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving!

[Spex]

With a $500 Budget... What are your plans ... Hold it, Develop it or Flip it?

$500 will not get you too far.

Good Luck,

My english isn't so good, so maybe this point was lost in translation. The spirit of my post was to see what good tools are available to educate yourself on the value of the name and avoid getting screwed. The dollar amount I quoted wasn't meant to be taken litterally. It was just my way of saying "I've got money to burn, so how do I spend it wisely"

I have a few developed sites that are making reg fee+ per year, so I'm just basically exploring the flipping side of things.

Another question I had, is how does one become successfull in flipping with all these restrictions and waiting periods?

[Carter]

My english isn't so good, so maybe this point was lost in translation. The spirit of my post was to see what good tools are available to educate yourself on the value of the name and avoid getting screwed. The dollar amount I quoted wasn't meant to be taken litterally. It was just my way of saying "I've got money to burn, so how do I spend it wisely"

I have a few developed sites that are making reg fee+ per year, so I'm just basically exploring the flipping side of things.

Another question I had, is how does one become successfull in flipping with all these restrictions and waiting periods?

Buy low, sell high.
The key is: good domains.
If you own good domains, you can make money.

[Johnn]

You need to lean how to walk first before you can run.
I don't think anyone can give you the right answers as domain market is big and you need to narrow down your market based on your budget and skills.

The first step would be to spend time to browse the forums to find out what you need to learn. This place has ton of information and it would take the time for you to absorb the information. Once you have the basic knowledge then you can start asking questions.

Good luck!

[Onward]

I would buy 5-7 dropping names from Namejet pre-release....Many of the names you can get for under $100 and can flip within the year for 10x what you pay....the key is picking the decent names which are overlooked.

[kmkirchner]

Domains are just like buying real estate You can buy a fixer upper or a million dollar mansion It really depends on what your golas are. Rehabber? Millionaire developer?


I look for domains that have some traffic and can be picked up on the expired domains list thru the various resellers out there.

I have picked up pr3 pr4 sites for next to nothing 10 bucks or so. You just have to research them and look for bargains.

I have seen domains selling for 1000 dollars with no traffic and no history what a waste of money unless you plan on building a site and traffic long term.

So what you have to ask your self is what I am I trying to do?
How long do I have to do it?
Do I want to spend the time to build up a site, buy it and flip it? or milk it for what it's worth. Remember buying it right is the key to buy & flip.

I have paid 5K for a site only to flip it for 3K not good business I have also paid 10 bucks and flipped a site for 5K just depends on buying it right like real esate

Kenny michaels

[zorag]

.net is so dead

.NET is alive and kicking!

And like most top level extensions like .COM and .ORG, are getting stronger and more expensive every day. In fact your average LLL.NET by this time next year will "probably" have doubled in value.

2/3 letter and premium .NET's are usually purchased because buyers can't afford their .COM equivalents - according to general consensus .NET is still THE next best thing and probably will be for a few years to come.

Buy an LLL.NET !!