Domain speculator: can make a living?

[pixelman]

How many here is a full-time domain speculator?
Are you able to make a living from this secondary domain market?

What is the average ROI on your domain investment? Big profit? Small profit? Or just manage to break even?

 

[abrams1117]

Return on investment.
Some ppl. have the guts,and the money, to find good domains and buy them from the owners,and then resell them.
If you buy it for 3k and sell it for $3,500 , its a nice return.
But, its a gamble better left to those who can afford to gamble.

 

[draqon]

i hear that Yun Ye (aka Ult Search) does OK for himself

 

[MBZ]

As with most speculative ventures, great rewards can be
reaped by those who get in early. At one time domains could
be quite lucrative, as were many early net enterprises. I think
today most speculators are simply fighting for scraps.

One problem with domain speculation is that there are simply
to many elements that are out of your control. You have a drop
and acquisition process that, in my opinion, is rife with corruption,
with virtually no oversight (no SEC or FTC. ICANN is a joke).

Domains are not equity, and they are not liquid. Even the best name can be difficult to sell, and often times the first offer you receive wil be the best and only one you're going to see. Unlike
most speculative investments, domains have no real market
worth, you have no way to determine your name's value in any
marketplace. As such, for re-sale, they are pure speculation, not investments.

 

[mole]

Many major name owners make their name through monetarising the traffic they can get, through affiliate schemes and paid redirects.

I doubt that the average Joe can survive purely by going to the Sunday market and displaying domains on a soiled blanket and hoping you can get some pennies to take home to feed your family.

Domain sales unto itself are too unpredictable to rely on for a monthly income. You may make that 10k - 50k or even 400k sale once a blue moon if you have the right names but that's pure luck.

 

[MBZ]

Something about "soiled blanket" gives me the creeps.

 

[abrams1117]

You may make that 10k - 50k or even 400k sale once a blue moon if you have the right names but that's pure luck.

------------------------------------
I read the owner of girlfriends.com was offered 200k and turned it down.
Then the tv show girlfriends came out -coincidence? Is the show still on?
Wonder what the name would fetch now?

 

[David G]

Originally posted by mole Many major name owners make their name through monetarising the traffic they can get, through affiliate schemes and paid redirects.

Yes, that's probably the only way to make regular money with domains for almost all of us, except for those who got zillions of good names in 1995-1996 time frame and sell them every so often.

The million dollar question of course is which affiliate programs really 'work' for low traffic web-sites? Any suggestions other than Amazon.com?

 

[domainduck]

I posted this on another thread:

My favorite is the Art.com affiliate program.

See www.ClickArt.com for an example.

The way that Art.com allows link building is excellent and their print / poster selection is unbeatable.

I also have it on www.TeenSpan.com.


quack

 

[RMF]

I could be wrong, but I think a lot of the "top" domain guys do it more as a hobby rather then a way to make money. A lot of those guys were rich before they even started playing this game.

RMF