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Here is one of my long TMI posts. If you are not getting new gTLD’s right now are you missing out on a big opportunity? I am not sure, I am getting a few here and there but I am not grabbing up everything as if it is a once in lifetime opportunity, maybe it is but we do have a little history to go by.
When I was talking on the new gTLD panel at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West I said I thought if somebody was just getting into domain investing today my advice would be to concentrate on investing in good, quality .com’s as opposed to new G’s (emphasis on good and quality not just any .com), Michael Castello commented that it doesn’t have to be one or the other, and I do not disagree with this, nothing wrong with a little diversity, that is what I am doing, and it’s all speculation, but I still think the most for sure thing is smart, targeted, research based .com investing.
One reason is because .com have a track record, there is alot of information available on .com sales and values, new G’s are pure speculation at this point, there is absolutely nothing to go by, as a matter of fact when I get a new G I do research but what I am really researching is .com’s, if I am considering forex.training I check the appraisal value of forextraining dot com, I look for how many .com’s are reg’d with the term forextraining in there, I won’t register a left.right if the leftright dot com is not registered, as a matter of fact I will register the leftright dot com if that happens, and at this time I would prefer to have the leftright dot com than the left.right new G, so for me it’s still a big .com world.
Also most successful domain investors did not register .com’s 20 years ago when they were free and/or available for a reg fee like Michael Castello’s Whisky.com or Gary Kremen’s Sex.com, most domain investors got in after that, like me I started in about 2000, and I made my living on domains that were already registered by somebody before me, I either picked them up when they were expiring or I purchased them in aftermarkets or auctions or offered the current owners direct. I could not pay my renewal fees with my hand reg or goldrush sales, it has all been after the fact domains.
Even Rick bought names like porno.com and properties.com, he did not hand reg these, Adam Dicker sold elephant.com for $1.8m, he did not hand reg this, he bought it for about $35k, I could go on all day with examples like this, Adam Dicker’s recent sale of download.net that he picked up for much less on ebay, Page Howe’s purchase and sale of seniors.com, he got it on ebay also, Michael Berken’s purchase and sale of YouPay.com, etc. etc. etc. So probably most domain sales money has been made on domains that had changed hands at some point or been registered before, like 99.99% of my domains and sales.
And my least successful venture was when I did get in on the goldrush and got a bunch of .us in 2002, Rick’s least successful venture was probably when he did the same thing with .mobi, and he is probably more confidant and sure about the potential of his recent purchases of SmartGlasses.com and TravelConditions.com than he is with his latest hand reg’s and new G’s, not that he got the best hand reg or new G domains, no offense Rick, but SmartGlasses.com and TravelConditions.com were great pickups, these are smart domain investments, these are the examples of how it should be done imo, and Rick would probably be the first to tell you to invest in .com’s like these he bought and do not spend your money on the hand reg and new G domains like he got, these were experiments, a drop in the bucket for him, he can afford to experiment because he knows what a real good .com investment looks like. Also when Elliot and Shane post what they pick up pay attention, they are buying and selling and making a profit.
I suppose the moral of my story is if you miss out on the new G’s in this first round I wouldn’t worry much, it certainly doesn’t mean you can not make money on them in the future if they turn out to be money makers, they will probably be dropping like flies in the next few years and you can probably pick up lots of them cheap on the aftermarkets in the next years, after they have more of a track record, in the meantime you can try and do some of this smart .com mining and investing like these above examples, I list lots of great .com’s that expire everyday and Shane and Jason list lots of great pre-release .com domains everyday, do some research, set a budget, and go for some of these, imo this is a good investment strategy, I don’t think .com is dead, and like me you might not get 95% of what you go for but the 5% might make you a living.
I have not been very aggressive getting .com’s in the last year, I bailed on lots of auctions that I probably should have kept bidding on, TrashCompactors.com was a good example, it ended at $3100 on GoDaddy a few months back, I liked it and wanted it, and Whirlpool owns FoodProcessors.com, MicrowaveOven.com and TrashCompactor.com so they or another big appliance manufacturer might be a good prospect for alot more than $3100, I do this kind of research when I am mining for domains.
But I did get a few .com’s in the last year (the 5% of what I went for) and they have already or will make me money, decent money, I sold (NDA) for $10k that I picked up for $50, I turned down $5k on CannabisUSA.com that I picked up for $50 because I am sure I can get quite a bit more than that, I turned down $1500 on NewFarming.com that I picked up for $50 because I think I will get more for it also, I sold WeedBomb.com for $1500 that I picked up for $30, I turned down a few $1k offers on MortgageMe.com that I picked up for about $200 because I am sure I can get more for it, there are more but these are what I remember off the top of my head. Also this is all just within one year of me getting these, I do not expect to sell my domains in a year usually.
I also recently picked up Madopskrifter.com, AmazingDresses.com and CarFinanceDeals.com for $300, Madopskrifter is recipes in Danish so I am sure I can sell that one for a good profit. Some other examples of stuff I picked up cheap ($20-$100 each) in the last year are Erosive.com, Emotionally.com, CreamyAss.com, GlamourPhotographers.com, LingerieAndToys.com, MMAResource.com, PornoFeeds.com, ShitXXX.com, Straddling.com, WhoTube.com, XXXSpy.com, ItalianFantasy.com, HomegrownCannabis.com, ColoradoGanja.com, CannabisPromo.com, OrganizedMove.com, HerbalSalve.com, HempUS.com, Cannabis-Products.com, AboutCraps.com, EnhancePotency.com, WestcoastBrew.com, TaosArt.com, FancyTiles.com, SexCoupling.com, GrungeStar.com, WasteHolder.com, BeautyPiercing.com. None of these are anything great but I have sold enough .com’s over the years to have confidence I can sell all of them at a profit.
I am not trying to show off my names, none of these are great enough to show off anyway, I am just trying to give an example of .com’s that can still be had for a minimal investment and can probably be sold for more than you pay. And like I have said before I have also made money on .me and .tv in the last few years but these were not goldrush or hand reg domains either, most of these were picked up at expiration and in aftermarkets, they had all been registered before, and they have a little bit of a track record.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been people that have made fortunes on goldrush and hand reg domains I am just trying to point out that it is always a risk with no guarantee and if you do sit it out or miss out and get in later you can still make money and will be in with the majority of most successful domain investors and domain sales.
Here are the domain picks dropping on June 9th 2014:
411Properties.com – I would guess a properties information site
ArtistsWorkshop.com – Artists and workshop go together very well imo
CatholicBroadcast.com – I like the new Pope, I might watch this now
Guest-Rooms.com – I thought it would have more searches but I still like it
Hangliding.com – It’s a misspell, should be 2 g’s but a common misspell
HireAHandyman.com – Nice call to action domain and who doesn’t need a handyman
HospitalityInn.com – Nice name with lot’s of NameJet bidders, not sure about TM’s
LAFZ.com – 4L that starts with LA? The Z probably doesn’t help much
PoolHelper.com – Seems like a decent name for a pool man or pool product?
SaoRafael.com – It’s a district in the city of São Paulo, Brazil
SilkHair.com – Quite a few sites using the term and multi bids at NJ
SolarWindHydro.com – Three great sources of renewable energy, I like it
CollectableCoins.net
FFinanceConsultants.net
FunnyBusiness.net
LesbianBondage.net
MarijuanaGrowing.net
Polluting.net
TheBitcoin.net
Vicariously.net
WasteRecycler.net
EcommerceManager.org
MySSL.org
SalesPromotion.org
ZeroPoverty.org
Exploiting.me
Linguistic.me
Molding.me
Warlock.me
ArtInstitute.tv
Conservatory.tv
Crawl.tv
Ingredients.tv
Joanna.tv
Originals.tv
Pile.tv
Artifact.info
Kirsten.info
Make sure you also check out Domain Shane’s Big List of names and Domaining.com for some other great domain blogs and domain name lists.
Domain of the day: Positioned.com – Make me an Offer!
Thanks for stopping by…
Thanks for that post, that’s the best tutorial that i have seen anyone give in the 5 years i have been doing this.
When i started this, it seemed like a sink or swim deal.
I remember asking a few questions on some blogs and they would never even respond.
It was like they didn’t want to give away there precious secrets.
Thanks mark..
Agree with Brand.
Great points summarized for new domainers.
i experienced the same things.
The takeaway is Research, Research, Research.
I just appraised Kirsten.info, up against my Jeri.info.
My Jeri.info had the same appraisal $1,100 when i bought it
Now it has lost value, it’s at $110 dollars now.
O’brother, just can’t win….lol
I am so sorry to hear you all don’t have any luck in your hand registration domains.
I have hand registered most of my domains at 99cent and sold for $$$$$ and as high as $$$$$(NDA)
how about marijuanaspices.com hand reg for 99cent and being offered for 6K but I turned down.
how about marijuanaguy.com for 99 cent and being offered for 6 figures and I turned down.
I can go on and on….
I have all the luck
Long or short I always enjoy your blog. And, in this post your comments and stats speaks for themselves!
Solid post. I substantially agree.
I’m always amazed at the great opportunities that still exist within the ‘.com’ drop lists every day. I wish I could buy them all but there’s certainly more competition these days pushing prices up, but even so, the harder I practice the luckier I get at finding very profitable names
Hope you don’t mind a shameless plug Mark but along with great lists at Shane and Jasons’ sites I also provide a daily drop list on my site at DomainSquared.
Good post, thanks Mark.