Domainer Stress: To Drop or Not to Drop....That is the driver

[Biggie]

there can be a lot of stress in this biz sometimes:


like trying to get bids in before deadlines or the head scratching when it comes down to bidding on this name or regging that one...or both


but one of the most stressful for me, is choosing which domains to let go



sure, you wanna cut those that don't bring anything to the table


those with no income, no offers and no hope for the future


but when i go back and look at some names i've dropped, most seem to end up at BD



are they just laying back waiting or maybe i should be holding longer?




uh oh, more head scratching

 

[Theo]

I can assist with that, PM me the domains.

 

[Vincent]

Bd = ?

 

[dcristo]

if BD is stalking your drops you must be doing something right.

 

[dmyre]

Bd = ?

I'm assuming BuyDomains

 

[HomerJ]

if that's the case why not pitch them to BD before you drop them? might get $20 or so on a domain you would have got nothing by dropping, they end up w/ it either way

 

[David G]

Agree with Don, deciding on renewing is a very time consuming huge issue and brings great stress. Doing all the steps I do to decide about renewing can take as long to check just 2 or 3 domains as the very annoying far too short Godaddy timeouts. If the checks I do are not good I often let it drop (already allowed about 1,500 to expire over past few years) but soon after the drop many of them are picked-up mostly by BD and also Nameadmin too lately. It always makes me wonder what value the heavy hitters see in them which was not obvious to me and what I missed or overlooked checking?

 

[katherine]

After all of that if the above checks are not good I often let it drop (already allowed about 1,500 to expire over past few years) but soon after the drop many of them are picked-up mostly by BD and also Nameadmin too lately. It always makes me wonder what value the heavy hitters see in them which was not obvious to me and what I missed or overlooked checking?

Same here. Looks like everything I let go is picked by Buydomains and others.
My conclusion is that the domains are not bad, it's just that resale in the near future is uncertain. It could take years so just being patient could result in a sale. On the other hand you have to cut losses to make a profit.
Many people are willing to take a chance for one year, and if the domains won't sell they will be dropped. Then somebody else will pick up where you left and repeat the process. Renewals are more painful than registrations.
Reality is that you have to trim your portfolio - it cannot grow on indefinitely because the revenue is not in line with volume.

Domaining is a constant game of arbitrage where you have to balance cash flow imperatives against the likelihood of a sale. Domain sales are unpredictable so it takes a lot of gut feeling. Domaining is more art than science

 

[dmyre]

Page Howe indicated that he registers domains for ~4 years (DomainSherpa video), which sounds about right to me.
I have sold/dropped several domains only to regret having done so, so soon.
If you're not willing to invest at least 4 years in a domain, then you're not that confident in it's quality to begin with.

 

[jasdon11]

if that's the case why not pitch them to BD before you drop them? might get $20 or so on a domain you would have got nothing by dropping, they end up w/ it either way

Top answer!

In past years I've done this, once selling over 100 domains for $xxxx - another time 20+. Strangely though, I'd forgotten to try this route despite dropping a few hundred names this last year or two.

 

[JuniperPark]

if that's the case why not pitch them to BD before you drop them? might get $20 or so on a domain you would have got nothing by dropping, they end up w/ it either way

I tried that with BD a few years ago, not with dropping domains but all I had at that time. They offered me $400. I said NO.

Over the next couple of years, BD itself sold about $100,000 worth of my domains from that group, and that's not counting sales from other brokers and sources... and now, many times that. Once again, this proves that some of these domain "experts" know nothing about the market.

 

[Biggie]

if that's the case why not pitch them to BD before you drop them? might get $20 or so on a domain you would have got nothing by dropping, they end up w/ it either way

this may sound illogical, but:

if deciding between getting $20 or letting BD bid in expire market like everybody else for them....


then let the auction begin




but i should explain, my model may be different than others


where it is based on traffic/revenue, than selling to sustain


therefore, reductions to inventory are driven by rev to sustain rev


names are added to fit that model and are dropped if they don't produce within a timeframe


but the timeframe can be the issue, sure i've held em 6 yrs and some nada and held some 3 yrs before they started producing.

then too, had names for longer than that, which have produced since acquisition.


the core group you never worry about, they provide for themselves, "plus some".


it's that "plus some" that used to invest in more domains, which perpetuates the stress cycle of renewals.

ya'll feel'n me

 

[DN BROKER]

dropping is very hard but sometimes you have to let go!

 

[Theo]

Dropping isn't hard. It's actually the time that you get your money back, provided that your business is domain-specific and you treat renewals and drops as expenses. In this model, registrations or acquisitions are expendable only upon a sale or a drop.

 

[airmax]

Everything always works better with real world scenarios

 

[David G]

No other extensions registered...In the last 6 months this domain has only received 20 uniques, with no income...

There are other factors to look at but those 3 reasons are major negatives and 2 of the 3 most important aspects, current income being much less important, imo, if other things are good.

 

[Theo]

Everything always works better with real world scenarios:

So I am going to throw one your way:

Domain Name: EducataionAlley(.)com (Good Keywords)

Registered: 2003 (Has some good age)...

No other extensions registered...

In the last 6 months this domain has only received 20 uniques, with no income...

What would you do, drop it, or let it ride on the Keyword/age scenario?

"Typo" of EducationValley. See if they'd be interested. Also EducationAlleyOnline .com exists, with a 2011 registration date but WHOIS protect on and no resolving.

 

[airmax]

"Typo" of EducationValley. See if they'd be interested. Also EducationAlleyOnline .com exists, with a 2011 registration date but WHOIS protect on and no resolving.

I was really trying to gauge what the average domainer would do in regards to holding, or dropping, given the circumstances, of keywords which could be industry friendly, and some age on it, but the dilemma of low traffic, and no income...

 

[urlurl]

list them here in the soon to expire section and see what interest you get.

 

[airmax]

list them here in the soon to expire section and see what interest you get.

This forum has an endless stream of names for sale, and some at pretty decent prices, but there is a serious lack of liquidity, for question mark names, but it is a good idea for someone who wants to recover something rather than nothing.