When Namethink posts, we'll know we've gone somewhere

[DnPowerful]

The famous "namethink" has forgotten more about domains than Ozzy after a wine-induced plane ride over the Atlantic....and when he starts posting, we'll know that the trash has been moved aside and the band is playing.

I take it as a barometric sign that he hasn't yet posted. The smoke and mirrors are too thick.

 

Miles (namethink) has posted a few times.

He's a great guy - I have always enjoyed talking to him because he thinks things through and doesn't agree or disagree with anything without a solid reason.

I have always respected people who disagree with me for a reason more than people who agree with me without one.

 

Originally posted by DnPowerful
The famous "namethink" has forgotten more about domains than Ozzy after a wine-induced plane ride over the Atlantic....and when he starts posting, we'll know that the trash has been moved aside and the band is playing.

I take it as a barometric sign that he hasn't yet posted. The smoke and mirrors are too thick.

DnPowerful, this is the biggest fib you've ever told. The day I know a tenth as much as you've forgotten (and sold a hundredth as much as you have), I'll be a happy man.

Between you and safesys, we have an online seminar in the business of domain names, and I hope everyone else on this board appreciates that. Seriously.

 

[mole]

I've always respected people who are able to see beyond the obvious. With prices for domains dropping by the month to such low levels and fewer and fewer significant sales, I often question whether it is real worth the time to continue investing time and money into this area for this shot in the dark for that "major sale".

What this industry lacks is gump and moving beyond the dotcom comfort zones we often like to hide in in the face of this sharply declining market value for domain names in general.

I was impressed with the industry of the guy who took upon to sell regpros.com (pretty compelling name) with a complete working site and all at only $300.

We talk about the value of dotcom as though it has a god-given right to all things internet. We cite history to back our case. I question, singularly, whether that is enough anymore. Is the e-economy of tomorrow one of continued risk taking, or one where every can only follow like sheeps to the slaughter.

 

You keep talking as though .com isn't selling well mole, which is at odds with what I am experiencing.

Prices are not continuing to fall, they have been stable for several months now.

But I am not trying to convince anyone of anything, I'm just getting on with running a business that has a proven track record and continues to bring in substantial revenues.

 

[mole]

safesys, I noticed you bought a lot of the better domains sometime in 1995-1996.

You may be one of the lucky ones, but for most, yes, the market is extremely difficult, to say the least.

I'm only comparing the kind of activity 2 years ago vs today.

 

We're actually headed towards agreement on this one mole.

Nobody said domain selling was easy and its certainly not a guaranteed money maker. There are several different ways that people play it:

some people register obvious tm's and then ransom them to the tm holders - thats bad for domain holders and the internet as a whole

some people look to sell all their domains quickly and use sites like ebay etc and sell for a small profit but with regular turnaround

some people have much higher asking prices and target end users and don't sell (or need to sell) as often but still maintain good revenues

some people don't look to sell at all unless its super attractive as they convert traffic into revenue (you wouldn't believe the kinds of revenue some people make doing this - its simply staggering)

I registered my first .com in late 99 (prior to that I concentrated in .co.uk). 99% of my .com domains are previously deleted domains and I was lucky to be getting drops back when that lanscape was very different to how it is today.

2 years ago companies would go out on a limb to buy a domain they couldn't really afford because they got caught in the "internet is golden" mentality (it wasn't limited to .com's the same thing happened with .co.uk's too - my average, and regular, .co.uk sale was $3k back then).

These days people buy only if they can afford - thats why the market has stabilized at the mid-higher end as the kinds of companies that can afford the asking prices still have more than enough money to buy them and are not taking a risk based on blind optimism.

The gap between low range names and mid-high range names has widened, as has the gap between reseller and end user pricing. The top end has also reduced in values - so now we have a more realistic and commercially sensible structure.

As with any business, some will do well, some will do ok and some will not make it. But its still one of the best opportunities if you play it right - just not guaranteed.

Anyone new to it needs to think carefully about whether they can afford to lose the money the invest to see if it will work for them - and they need to be prepared to research and work to find the domains that will help them turn a profit.

 

[chris]

safesys, great post!

 

I can confirm the post of safesys is 100% accurate as of the path and the conditions of the domain reselling business.

Now, where is that time machine to take me back to 1994?