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The DomainSherpa, Michael Cyger, gave me a domain investment challenge, I had one day and a budget of $180 to try and get the best domain or domains I could find. This came about when I brought up the 18 domain portfolio that was submitted last week, the submitter said they studied for a year and then they registered these names, they are retired and on a limited budget and the intention was to supplement their income with domain sales, I just wasn’t feeling it with most of the domains in their portfolio, domains like mCheckinJunkie.com, BigDAnalytics, APPlauseLocal.com, etc.
So I opened my big mouth and said that I could find better names with $180 and one day, as opposed to one year, I said $180 because 18 names x $10 (they might have used GoDaddy coupons but $180 is the amount I said), so Michael said OK, put your money where your mouth is, the Sherpa’s will be the judge, you get one day and $180 max.
I must say it was more challenging than I thought it would be, it was hard actually, the limited budget and even worse the limited time made it really tough, trying to find domains in a few hours that I think I can actually sell at a profit later was a challenge, and the jury is still out til I sell one I suppose. To find these names I used conventional means, no secrets, no scripts, no tricks, anybody could go find and get these domains.
I did some bidding at GoDaddy on auctions that were ending but unfortunately my budget kept getting outbid so the domains I liked the best I couldn’t afford. I found names at NameJet I liked but all of them ended up with multiple bidders so the auctions extended past my day and they were out too, if I was the only bidder I could have got names right away but that didn’t happen, if I had more time my strategy would be to get in on some auctions, I would rather have spent a few hundred each on some of the NameJet and GoDaddy names than the $20 – $50 each I spent on the names I ended up with, but I only had a day and $180 so that was the challenge.
I didn’t try to hand reg names, I know it’s cheap but I would probably have spent the whole day looking for names that are not available or looking at names that are available that I don’t like, it can be done but it takes more time than I had, I don’t do much hand regging except grabbing dropping names.
Since auctions were out I did most of my shopping at Name.com expiring lists, GoDaddy BIN names, the Dynadot.com aftermarket and expiring names, I scanned a few of the forums like DNForum.com and NamePros.com but I didn’t find anything that I liked that fit in the budget, I also looked around at Sedo and Afternic for a bit but again with the limited budget and the one day thing nothing panned out.
I stuck with .com mostly, I still like .com lol, and I look for domains that say something obvious and don’t need an explanation, also if it is a subject or niche I am familiar with or I think it is a subject or niche I could build out a site on that is good.
So here is what I got on my day, did I just throw away $180 or am I on the road from rags to riches? I am a bit nervous about what the Sherpa’s will say, they will be reviewing these domains on this weeks DomainSherpa show so be sure to tune in, in the meantime feel free to share your thoughts here.
AboutCraps.com – $20 – I got this at Name.com. I am always attracted to gambling names, I have sold a few “about” .com’s in the past for decent money, if I made a site About Craps this would be a good name, I don’t have to tell you what the site is about, it’s pretty self explanatory.
SolarGlassWindows.com – $20 – I got this at GoDaddy auctions. It’s a bit longer than I would prefer but I like the product, I have friends that sell these and people pay for these words on Google Ads, and I am sure solar products such as this will continue to increase in popularity so it could get better with age? Also I only had $20 left in my budget so this is what I found for $20, lol.
EnhancePotency.com – $40 – I got this at Name.com. I am 51 years old so I figured this is something I will start thinking about soon enough, maybe I can start another blog, lol. Potency enhancers are popular products, especially with all us baby boomers getting old, it’s pretty self explanatory, easy to say and spell and radio friendly.
WestCoastBrew.com -$ 40 – I got this at Name.com. I am from California, I love the West Coast, and I love beer, it’s another subject I could definitely make a site with and enjoy doing it, local breweries are getting very popular and beer will never go away, and I see quite a few using the term but no TM issues so I like it.
NewFarming.com – $50 – I got this at Name.com. This was the most expensive name I got but from here on it will just be a reg fee, this is a subject I am really interested in so I had to get it, New Farming Techniques and Technologies are getting lots of attention these days, increased production, less water usage, proper soil management, and new urban farming is getting popular too. I like this name and I think it has potential and a future.
Reunion.me – $10 – I hand regged this when it dropped. I have been selling alot of .me domains and I think I can sell this one at a decent ROI.
Legal disclosure: Domaining is not a game, do not try this at home, neither myself nor the Sherpa recommend getting domains under this kind of pressure, we recommend you take some time and spend your money wisely… 😎
To see the Sherpa’s Review of my Challenge watch the Sherpa Challenge video on the right…
Challenge given. Challenge accepted. I can’t wait to hear what the Sherpas think of your domains, Mark!
We’ll be taping Wednesday afternoon, airing Thursday morning. Stay tuned!
Well done. They’ll certainly like this list better than those 18 reviewed last week and hopefully the retiree will have a better understanding and approach going forward!
I would’ve preferred to see the best possible domain you could get for $180 or less vs this handful. I’ll take this challenge myself today just to see what results.
I would have also Tony, I tried, maybe next time…
And I will be looking forward to seeing what you might get today.
How’d it go Tony?
I wasn’t able to get anything yesterday. No regfee catches or even backorders. I assume the $180 keeps rolling over to the next day until I spend the $180?
Well if it rolled over it wouldn’t be a one day challenge, lol, that is what was so challenging…
But yea keep trying I would love to see what you can score.
Right. The terms of your original challenge are too difficult to execute.
Today, I hand registered these newly expireds for $2.17/ea via godaddy coupon codes from Domainingtips.com:
2drawerfilecabinet.com – 4400 Exact monthly seaches, $3 CPC, .net/.org taken
intentionaltort.com – legal term with 2900 Exact monthly searches
rockphosphate.com – 1000 Exacts, product domain, .net taken
petitejackets.com – 590 Exacts, $2 CPC
$8.68 spent. Just nothing at auction I wanted to overspend to get.
Getting 4 names you like for under $10 is pretty good mining Tony…
And PetiteJackets.com looks like it has the least searches but I like it the best, not bad for the price for sure…
I’ll update this thread until I reach the $180 with the main objective of getting the best domain for the price, if that’s OK. I now have about $170.
It’s gotten very difficult the past couple of years to get really good names without having to overpay.
Of course it is OK, and no pressure really, I am interested to see the best you can get without the time restraints. I was playing a game but the real name of the game is to get the best you can, taking however much time that takes, and it really does take some time, at first I thought the limited budget would be the big challenge but it actually ended up being the time limit, I didn’t really think of that when I said give me one day lol…
OK, today, a lot of backorders came through but first the hand regs for $2.17/ea with Godaddy coupons from Domainingtips.com:
anhnen.com: Vietnamese for “wallpaper”, .net taken
mometasonefuroatecream.com – 6600 Exacts, 1CPC, product domain, .net developed
speurders.org: registered for $9.17, Dutch for “investigators”, all major extensions taken
backgroundcheckusa.com: backordered for $19, alexa ranking which may mean it was once developed and all major extensions taken
washeranddryersets.com: backordered for $69, 14800 Exacts, $3.60 CPC, all major extensions taken
dixiehorn.com: won at auction for $74, 2400 Exacts and all major extensions taken
Total spent: $179.80
Final List:
2drawerfilecabinet.com
intentionaltort.com
rockphosphate.com
petitejackets.com
anhnen.com
mometasonefuroatecream.com
speurders.org
dixiehorn.com
washeranddryersets.com
backgroundcheckusa.com
I really like WasherAndDryerSets.com, nice job. What are you going to do with the extra 20 cents lol…
Thanks, Mark.
BTW, I check for your lists every day. Keep up the good work.
Great challenge. Several strategies at play. Cool fun. I would probably try a handful of hand registered domains at 1.99 to throw in the basket….. Good luck Mark, it looks like you got this one.
I stopped listening to appraisals when I first sold a hand-registered domain for four figures, ten+ years ago; the appraisals were quoting “reg fee”.
Valuation opinions lacking access to metrics, market analysis or understanding of how new companies function are more or less esoteric forms of entertainment.
Long story short: invest in domains without seeking affirmation; simply by using your experience and instinct.
None of the domains I got had good valuations at Estibot, I didn’t go by that, I found domains that had much better Estibot values but I didn’t see the value as much as in the domains I got so I went on my instincts and experience…
Just remind me of Robert Allen accepting LA Times’s challenge in the 80s(?)to buy properties in just one day with only $100. Thank you, Mark, for the fun.
How did he do???
I think it’s covered in his book “Nothing Down.” He used the $100 coins and a public phone to call owners for real estate deals with no down payment.
I like SolarGlassWindows.com and NewFarming.com.
Reunion.me is not bad.
Thanks Konstantinos, I am so glad you like these, seriously, that makes my night…
Cool challenge.
IMO it’s good to do this once in awhile to see how someone just trying to get into the industry feels.
Well done Mark. I not only like the challenge but also the cause for which you’ve utilized your Domaining experience so well.