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Domain summit 2024

If you are just getting started in domains

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WhoDatDog

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The odds are 95 percent of higher that your first round of names that you buy will be duds. Either that, or you will get the worst of it going up against an experienced domainer. This will cost you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, and when you get in the hole like that, you may then fall victim to the alternate extension scams, that even experienced domainers will peddle. When it comes to taking your money, even CEO's of corporations are scammers, like Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, who allowed himself to get bribed by the .Co registry and helped slaughter newbies with that dogcrap entention for a while. Now, he is on to a new pump and dump called Bitcoin, where he is drawing attention to himself by allowing bitcoin for his site. He is doing this for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to get FREE national advertising because he knows that bitcoin is in the news. Bitcoin is flawed because there is ZERO recourse if you get scammed. None of the cult like followers EVER mention that. You are at RISK every time you send someone bitcoin. They can tell you to go to hell, and have fun suing them or getting your money back....lol.

So, you have to be aware of the motives of the people trying to sell you something. My record is 100 percent in outing scammers. But back to the original reason for this post. Below is what I suggest. This is a PM I sent to someone who send me a list of not so good names.



Thanks for sending the list. I thing you should take a break and just read forums for 6 months. Pay attention to names that get sold, not names that are listed. Browse threads and when you see someone posting sold, write down the name and the amount. Build that list to 100 and always review it while you are building it. When you are done you will know more than most, as you will have the knowledge of what types of names sell. Take a break and save your money. I registered worse names when I started. It is tough to not get excited, but you aren't on the right track yet, but you will be soon if you follow my plan.


At the very least, slow down a bit. I actually spent $400 on a group of 5 names from another new domainer last week. He is relatively new, as well. He had a list of about 40 names. I think that I got the 5 that were worth registering, and they were actually pretty good. But the others were not even worth reg fee. So, whatever he did to come up with those 5 that I bought, he should keep doing. I don't think that he hand-regged them. The odds of a newbie coming out of nowhere and being to able hand register names that are available that are worth registering are as close to zero as you can get. It is almost a mathematical impossibility to be a success that way. There is usually a reason that those names are available to register. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. You must learn what types of names get sold before you can hand register names.

In the first few months of domaining you want to read. You will start to get what is going on. You must stick with dotcom. The odds are essentially zero that a new domainer can wake up one day, decide to get into domains, and be successful registering names that aren't dotcom. Don't fall victim to celebrated domainers, who are legends in domaining, announcing their scam extensions and doing publicity stunts to make you think that a new extension is worthwhile. There are ZERO documented cases of these LEGENDS OF DOMAINING ever selling a domain to a forum person or newbie domainer where the buyer got a good deal. This goes back a decade, and NOT ONE TIME did one of these known domainers EVER help out someone starting out by selling them a good name at a fair price. People used to always wonder how these guys were spending thousands on crap names at auction, but would NEVER buy a name from a regular guy on a forum. Of course, the auctions turned out to be fraudulent, with shill bidders, and likely kickbacks, and who knows if they paid the full price when the guy running the biggest auction was an admitted fraudster.

So, if there are zero examples of BIG TIME domainers EVER selling a newbie or regular forum person a good to great name at a fair price, and there are ZERO cases of a BIG TIME domainer EVER buying a name from a newbie at a great price, then that should tell you something.

There are plenty of decent names floating around that have value, but you have to be savvy, and that comes from experience, and I suggest that you should do as much reading as possible, and show restraint buying and registering names when you first start out. At least give it a month before you go crazy buying. You can buy a few names, but ease into the buying, because 99 percent of all domainers started out buying worthless names. For some, it only lasted a few weeks until they figured it out, but most everyone makes terrible buys at the very beginning.


WhoDatDog
 
Domain summit 2024

Shane

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I definitely agree that hand registered domains are not for novices. I still can't pick out ones that actually sell! I've had much better luck buying higher quality domains, paying $XXX-$X,XXX and flipping them. I've started 2014 with $6,000 in sales. Not bad for my second year in. Point is, buying higher quality names will lead to better profit, especially when you're new.
 

katherine

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Same here. Aftermarket domains sell for higher amounts than handregs. They are more expensive, but quality > quantity. After all, it takes money to make money.
The problem is that newbies don't know what to buy. They could buy bad domains at inflated prices. It happens every day. Watch the expired auctions for instance, some major TM domains, or typos like lnvestor (Lnvestor) get dozens of bids.
Many domainers have no clue. Sometimes it's sad when you are in auction for a good domain and you know you are bidding against people who don't know what they are doing, and will outbid you just for the sake of it. People are overpaying for a lot of domains. That includes the handregs, because many are not worth the regfee. Especially in the oddball extensions that were just released and will leave a lot of newbies with empty pockets and shattered dreams.

So you need experience. Experience is something that requires time, patience, an open mind and willingness to learn.
Most domainers will fail, due to their failure to realize right from the onset that domaining is a specialized trade. A lot of newcomers jump in with both feet thinking anybody can do it.
Anybody can register a domain name. Selling is another story.
 

Focus

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Good domain names sell themselves! :cool:
 

WhoDatDog

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Good domain names sell themselves! :cool:


Yes, and as a general rule, a good name needs no introduction. I have been making some marathon posts, but whenever I am selling names I just list the name, and will only mention anything at all about the name if it is information that is not obvious that will help the name.

The more noise involved with the sales pitch, the less valuable the name.

Below are the signs that a name sucks.

1) The seller mentions the words Generic or Premium. 99 percent of those who have ever typed in those words in a sales thread are trying to sell you garbage. There are a few exceptions to this, but if you see a name that is called Generic or Premium, run, don't walk away, as that person cannot be taken seriously, in all likelihood. If in fact they are selling an actual generic or premium name, then they still deserve to be shunned, because they either know that most all names at forums decribed that way are crap, or should know that, if they are paying attention.

2) Well over 80 percent of the time, if someone mentions Google searches, instead of exact type-in traffic, they are trying to peddle something that is crap. Additionally, if someone is selling a name that is not a dotcom, and they mention Google searches, or exact match, and then give you some numbers, run, don't walk away from this person.

3) A tricky area is also when someone claims to get an offer by way of PM. I would be willing to bet a lot of money that over 50 percent of those claims are fraudulent, and that these sellers are attempting to commit felonies by misleading potential buyers into a sale. Of course, this is impossible to prove, which makes it one of the easiest scams. Beware of someone making a statement that they have a PM offer for a certain price, that is just below the price they are trying to sell it at. If this happens to be connected to a name that doesn't seem very valuable at all, and yet the seller is claiming that someone has offered 4K, but they want "just a little more", then you could be looking at a scammer. Use your best judgment. My record is 100 percent in spotting scammers, though I have promised myself that I will not spend time exposing these cheats, since there are far too many of them.

This last sign that I just mentioned is very very tricky, as there are certainly many occasions where people do receive offers by way of PM. But it is so easy to start a thread saying "multiple forum post", and then claim to have received an offer that might not even have been from here. But once again, anyone who engages in this activity should also be sharp enough to be realize how easy it would be to tell total lies in this regard, and the fact that they still engage in this behavior, which if was a lie, would be practically impossible to expose, should count against them, because they are putting people in the position of being a detective. Some might say: 'If you don't like the name at that price, then don't buy". Well, I suggest that any system where you are better off lying is a bad system, and if the lies are basically impossible to prove, then people who always seem to operate in these systems should be watched closely.

4) Anyone who is not a brand new domainer who tries to sell a name, and then when asked about traffic, tells the potential buyer that they do not know the traffic, is a person who should be avoided at all costs. This is one of the only lies that 100 percent of the time is a lie. There are no exceptions here. Even if someone could claim that there is an exception, I would still say that the exception would make the situation even worse. If someone is trying to sell a name for any price above 50 cents, then they 1) know what the traffic is, or roughly what it is, or 2) if they don't know, then they are basically mentally deficient, and in that case, it may possibly be a crime to conduct business with them, since they may not be able to legally enter into binding contracts. Some people when asked about traffic, respond as if you asked them the most personal information in all of the world. I don't get it. Even on names that are being sold for the name value only, it will often help the sale if the buyer knows what the traffic is, even if it is 30 uniques per month, or even nothing. Some sellers will say: "assume no traffic", and that is fine. Many people who are selling inferior names will state that they are selling the names on their "true value", and consider it to be a moral crime if you ask about traffic. Those people just don't get it.

Most every name I buy is bought without asking about traffic. Occasionally, I may buy a name not expecting hardly any traffic at all, but I still might want to know. Imagine you were going to buy a car no matter what the miles per gallon was, but you decided to ask the salesman how many miles per gallon the car got. If he was defensive in any way then he is not a person to do business with, as if he is willing to cut corners on something like this, imagine what he would do to you if you engage with you in a grey area, where you could never prove that he was a loser (like the offer by PM scam).

5) Anyone who give a bullshit reason for wanting to sell a name or names is 99 percent full of crap. This is sort of like a going out of business sale, where the domainer is looking for money for a "new project", or is "getting out of domains". Like I said earlier, the more noise, the more likelihood that there is fraud going on, or at least deception, trickery, or general ugliness. There are exceptions to this, so maybe the number is 95 percent, and not 99, as I recall myself mentioning in either a sales thread or PM before, that I was selling out. It was a true statement, as I sold down to zero, or maybe 5 names at most, which might as well have been zero, as the names were low value at the end. Once a domainer, always a domainer. There will occasionally be a true circumstance where someone needs to cloud up a thread with white noise to explain why they are selling a name, but it is irrelevant, and the odds are great that if that person is willing to cloud up the thread with that crap excuse as to why they are selling, then they are also likely to engage in other behaviors that generally will result in you getting a raw deal if you do business with them.
 

A D

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Excellent and honest Posts WhoDatDog!

Adam Dicker
 

Focus

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I agree with most of this, but some people like a bit of background and info on a good domain name and there is a lot of relevant info that can be shared ahead of time to save everyone time and PM messaging back and forth - all leading to a more likely BIN deal. I have sold BIN domains on this forum in the past for up to around 50k and because it was a great deal and all the info was presented the buyer was able to make a buying decision without researching it for 2 days himself and asking questions back and forth. Experienced domainers and most people with common sense know a good domain when they see one regardless of what the seller says or does. Hence my comment "Good domain names sell themselves!" It is true, but in the sales and aftermarket world it also does not hurt to give it a little extra push and open a potential buyers mind as to the potentials with the name. Some of us do not look at every name from every angle and a good seller can help a buyer see the opportunity that may actually be very valid. Personally I have names I should be spending day and night developing (like EnergyEfficient (dot) c o m) but for whatever reasons I don't because I am lazy and that is not really my expertise. I buy and sell domains, rarely develop. I could write a 10 page sales pitch about that domain and it would all be true but it's not needed to be able to see it's a premium world class domain. Just a little introspective from a sellers point of view because sometimes something pitched as an amazingly awesome deal and opportunity really is, I have bought a six figure name myself on this very forum presented in the same light and we sold it for substantially more than what we paid for it not very long after. It happens every single day, there is a lot of opportunity in this business. :cool:
 

icedude

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Man, WhoDatDog, you need to write a book! I be trying to read you post, but mannnnn, too long! :)
 

Gerry

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I still love the game of finding and regging and selling a gem. This takes a great deal of time and reading tons of trade journals. It is not for everyone but for me it has paid off very, very nicely.
 
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