I have spend 432 USD on domains. Am I just being silly or what?

[erdinc]

I have spend 432 USD on domains in two months and I have no idea what I'm doing. I have bought 35 domains so far. The majority of them has cost me 9 usd and either I registered them or catched on snapnames again for 9 usd.

Apporoximately 15 of the names are not worth anything and when I look at them now they look indeed very bad to me. The other 16 names I guess I can sell for what I paid for.

Unfortunately the last 4 names I bought are weak names. I won them on auction on snapnames. I think I paid too much for them. Especially I regret buying the first two of these:

6619.net $60
5b4c.com $39
englishfair.com $29
findescorts.net $29

Should I sell all my names and quit this job? I have spend 432 USD so far. Could not sell a single name (I'm trying to sell them cheap on ebay) and parking revenue is 59 cents.

 

[Dale Hubbard]

The last one you listed might just make you back the $432 plus a profit.

 

[erdinc]

Well, lets hope so. I just won that name today on snapnames a few minutes ago. I didn't have even chance to park it yet. Its interesting that the owner has let it expire and nobody has bid except me. I thought all the crazy domain name people were reading snapnames lists on their free time. Well lets hope it is worth anything. The .net at the end decreases the value but lets hope it is still worth something. I really wan't to make some money, any money of this domain name business.

There seem to be some interesting alternatives to parking but as a typical newbie I couldn't figure out a way to get an adsence account.

 

[Dale Hubbard]

You have spent $432. That's $432 too much before you do a little research before entering this market. Hang around here for a while matey and see how it all works, and ask questions whenever you're unsure. Indeed, if you have time, building your own sites with a little content and AdSense could serve you much better than parking income. It depends on your personal skills, or what skills you have access to. Are you are web designer? Whatever your forte, use that as your first advantage.

To get an AdSense account, you'll need to show Google a site and have it approved. Not difficult at all.

Good luck!

 

[remf]

I'm sure I speak for a lot of people when I say we've all looked at some of the domains we've regged and just thought 'WTF'. A few times I've come home from the pub and thought I've seen a bargain and decided to snap it up as I thought it was the hottest name about, only to wake up the next morning and tell myself never to drink and buy domains again... However the postives outweigh the negatives, and it always instils a bit of confidence when you turn a profit which ultimately just means more beer money...! Stick with it, read the forum, and learn from the people here and good things will come.

 

[Andrew Shaw]

Exactally. Nothing comes easy, and life is filled with trial and error. You can read through the forum to get ideas, but the thing that matters most is your own nitch. Develope a nitch noone is doing. Thats how you make something of yourself.

 

[timothymevans]

I would agree ... you have to fall down a few times and and learn from your mistakes. A good rule of thumb whether it be first time registering, back ordering, or buying a name, would be to think if it is a name that YOU could build a site around (memorable name, catchy name, keyword rich, industry, etc.).

SnapNames & Pool can get expensive ... only use these for quality names you know you don't want to lose out on. I wanted CityCafe.com back in August (1996 registration date) from SnapNames ... there was like 25 domainers who wanted it ... I got as high as $600 on the first day and that was it for me. 3 days later it closed for $10,200+ (see DNJournal.com) ... the person who owns CityCafe.com now wants $25,000 and who knows how long that will take to get it.

Sit back and think about it a bit before registering or back ordering. Not to question your intellectual property, but what is 6619.net or 5b4c.net going to ever be? $99.00 on 1and1.com could have bought you 16 Overture Keyword Result names, all .com's, that could have some serious potential ... it just takes some digging.

Stay in the game, but think a bit before pulling out the credit card / debit card to register your names, and definitely don't quit your job! At least not yet.

 

[timothymevans]

Sell the 5b4c.net & 6619.net (bundled) on eBay for $30-$60 on a 10 day auction (extra $0.40) for more exposure, and take the money you make on that and buy some quality 2-3 (4 words at the very most) .com's. Check out the .com's on the weekly DNJournal.com sales report that sell in the $2,000 to $5,000 range ... some of them are long with 3 words to them. Just some more advice ... I'd stay away from eBay ... I think 2005 annual domain sales on eBay was like $13,000 and ebay sells $86 million a day worth or auctions.

 

[domaingeneration]

One important factor for success in selling domains is spelled PATIENCE.

In most cases we can't expect to sell a domain name days after a new registration or expire snap. You may have to wait a few months, a year or a few years to sell it at a good price.

The value of domains, esp. those with branding potential, involves many factors and opinions will vary. Even a professional may find it hard to determine whether it's worth acquiring or holding, a bit like stocks. And, buyers have their own reasons to pay our asking price.

For example, a company recently paid more than $432 for one of our domains, which'd likely get a very low $x-$xx price from domainers if we asked for 'appraisals' at forums. That's possibly a reason the previous owner didn't renew it. The company had their particular needs and this domain served their purpose.

It takes minimum 1,000 hours to learn a challenging skill well. The same with domains. As our skill level grows, you'll find that some of our domains are really not worth renewing - they're not worth registering in the first place. And we'll learn how to keep those good domains and generate earnings to pay for their maintainence (until an offer you can't resist comes along).

Best of success to everyone.

 

[andrejc]

Unfortunately the last 4 names I bought are weak names. I won them on auction on snapnames. I think I paid too much for them. Especially I regret buying the first two of these:

6619.net $60
5b4c.com $39
englishfair.com $29
findescorts.net $29

Isn't 60$ minimum bid at snapnames?

 

[DNjet]

One important factor for success in selling domains is spelled PATIENCE.

In most cases we can't expect to sell a domain name days after a new registration or expire snap. You may have to wait a few months, a year or a few years to sell it at a good price.

The value of domains, esp. those with branding potential, involves many factors and opinions will vary. Even a professional may find it hard to determine whether it's worth acquiring or holding, a bit like stocks. And, buyers have their own reasons to pay our asking price.

For example, a company recently paid more than $432 for one of our domains, which'd likely get a very low $x-$xx price from domainers if we asked for 'appraisals' at forums. That's possibly a reason the previous owner didn't renew it. The company had their particular needs and this domain served their purpose.

It takes minimum 1,000 hours to learn a challenging skill well. The same with domains. As our skill level grows, you'll find that some of our domains are really not worth renewing - they're not worth registering in the first place. And we'll learn how to keep those good domains and generate earnings to pay for their maintainence (until an offer you can't resist comes along).

Best of success to everyone.

well said

 

[erdinc]

Isn't 60$ minimum bid at snapnames?

Greetings,
You can get a name at snapnames for as cheap as $9. This is how it works:

The domain name "andreee.com" expires soon and according snapnames the estimated action start date is 6th November 2006 (This is a real example).

When you find this domain at snapnames firstly you see the estimated auction start sate and secondly you see that you can pre order (back order) that name for $60.

At this stage there are two possibilities:

1. Somebody will pre-order that name before the auction starts and then
1.a. if this is the only person who pre-orders than the auction will not start at all and he gets the name for $60 or
1.b. If there are more than one people pre-ordering that name before the auction has started then the auction will run for a few days, starting from $60 and ending at whatever the highest bid is.

2. If nobody pre-orders the name then instead letting the name drop snapnames starts the auction without any bidders. There are fixed prices. It is usually $39, $29 or $9 starting price in this case. If they think it isn't a very good name they simply let the auction start for $9 since it will drop to public access anyway if nobody takes it.

To see how things work at snapnames you can make any search and see it yourself. Make a seach where there are any results shown and then sort the results according "release date" and not according ton the "domain name" which is the default. For instance if you make a search for a domain that 1. ends with .com 2. contains "andre" 3. excludes hypens and numbers and then you will see 364 resulst. Now sort according release date and you will see many are going for $9 because nopbody pre-ordered them.

 

[PeterMan]

Greetings,
You can get a name at snapnames for as cheap as $9. This is how it works:

The domain name "andreee.com" expires soon and according snapnames the estimated action start date is 6th November 2006 (This is a real example).

When you find this domain at snapnames firstly you see the estimated auction start sate and secondly you see that you can pre order (back order) that name for $60.

At this stage there are two possibilities:

1. Somebody will pre-order that name before the auction starts and then
1.a. if this is the only person who pre-orders than the auction will not start at all and he gets the name for $60 or
1.b. If there are more than one people pre-ordering that name before the auction has started then the auction will run for a few days, starting from $60 and ending at whatever the highest bid is.

2. If nobody pre-orders the name then instead letting the name drop snapnames starts the auction without any bidders. There are fixed prices. It is usually $39, $29 or $9 starting price in this case. If they think it isn't a very good name they simply let the auction start for $9 since it will drop to public access anyway if nobody takes it.

To see how things work at snapnames you can make any search and see it yourself. Make a seach where there are any results shown and then sort the results according "release date" and not according ton the "domain name" which is the default. For instance if you make a search for a domain that 1. ends with .com 2. contains "andre" 3. excludes hypens and numbers and then you will see 364 resulst. Now sort according release date and you will see many are going for $9 because nopbody pre-ordered them.

Excellent information from a "newbie" !

About the names mentioned I think:
6619.net $60 - not a great way to spend $60 but it could have been much worse.
5b4c.com $39 - Maybe a waste of $39 (but a lesson learned)
englishfair.com $29 - Worth every penny of $29 I think!
findescorts.net $29 - Your best in this list for sure, you will make a nice profit off this one I think...

If the rest of the money you have spent is for names similar to these I think you are off to a much better start than most beginners!

Good luck...

 

[erdinc]

Thank you for all your suggestions. Since posting this thread I have got a new account at a registrar and I'm very happy with their cancellation feature. I have already registered, parked to test the traffic and then canceled the registration for a few domains. So I will have less problems with registering traffic expected domains.

The real problem I have are domains that I register or snap not because traffic expentancy but because their reselling value. For instance;
pabls[dot]com and
orientalism[dot]info and
banburyhotels[dot]com
are these types of domains that I snapped and registered. They have almost no traffic but I'm guessing they might have a value on the market. What should I do with these types of domains? They are at sedo for resonable prices and nobody makes me an offer. Should I sell them at ebay or should I develop them to adsense mini sites. Parking them is useless. Smillarly I have also many "townname.info" type domains for touristic destinations.

Hi elivate,
5B4C has a meaning in a "chinese like" langauge. And there was a webiste once with that name. It is might highest trafic domain with 25 uniques a day (mostly north america) but it has no clicks at all. The lesson I have learned from this name is to stay away from chinese traffic domians.

http://www.cojak.org/index.php?function=code_lookup&term=5B4C

 

[Duckinla]

Thank you for all your suggestions. Since posting this thread I have got a new account at a registrar and I'm very happy with their cancellation feature. I have already registered, parked to test the traffic and then canceled the registration for a few domains. So I will have less problems with registering traffic expected domains.

Now you're thinking! The cancellation option is the best thing that ever happened to domainers hoping to register traffic domains. Keep your eyes peeled, test out five to ten names a week. Hopefully you will keep 1 and it will pay for the other cancellation fees.

Treat this like a business, if you are young, it will be a great experience for you no matter what happens.

1) Set an expense budget, maybe $100 per month for 6 months.
2) Other than the $100, never spend more than you have earned.
3) After 6 months, only spend your earnings or revenue from domain sales.

This discipline will force you to be active in trying to sell or monetize your domains.

 

[Poker]

For sure, the bottom line is discipline. The domain market pays you to be disciplined...btw so does the stock market

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

When I first started I blew about $800, reg'd this and that etc.

It took me $800 to find out the best investments are in premium names. Sure people get lucky on new reg's and pick ups here and there,however Id much rather deal with that which is based on demand than luck.