My amazing stupidity involving 3 letter .us names

[David G]

There is a new thread where a member is offering more than 1,000 good letter us names for sale. After seeing abc.us sell for $6,000

I bid 6k for abc.us

there it got me to write this:

Soon after .us opened in 2002 my GoDaddy/WildWest acct exec offered me many of the same or similar names for $4 each if purchased in bulk, up to 4,000 choice 3 letter .us names, most all good letters, all $4. They even said I could renew them indefinately for just $4 each in future yrs.

I was so stupid as to decline the offer as for some incredibly stupid reason I did not see value in them at that time and did not have $16,000 to spare at the time (but I could have put them on a credit card or even got a bank loan so not a good excuse). She told me if I said no again she would offer another preferred customer the deal, not sure who that was.

Turning down the offer was the most stupid thing I ever did in my life. In fact, she called and emailed me me several more times wondering if I would change my mind and each time I declined the offer. How insane and stupid was I in that I could have got more than 4,000 good ones for the price of 3 abc.us's today! :emba: :veryangry :veryangry :veryangry :emba:

 

[Andrew Shaw]

Dont be so hard on yourself. Noone has the ability to predict the future. You could invest $16,000 in .be names, and then find that they are worthless 5 years down the road. Its easy to take a chance... but its also easy to take a chance and lose. Just take what you've learned from this experience and use it to your advantage.

 

[droplister]

the domain world is full of coulda shoulda wouldas. Learn and move on.


Real bummer though, and its hard to put down $16k a year on an extension before you are confident in it

 

[Rarethings]

^ I agree with both. Investing in a new extension is definitly a gamble. Take the .tv extension for example. There were some big sales (drugstore.tv for 500k, travel.tv for 65k), and while the .tv extension is starting to gain popularity just now (years after its release) it still isn't considered a worthy investment by most.

 

[StockDoctor]

How insane and stupid was I in that I could have got more than 4,000 good ones for the price of abc.us today!

Hey, there's a lot of us in that same boat with ya, Trader. Coulda shoulda. Keep your eyes open and if you're quick I'm sure you can take advantage of some bargains still. (Maybe from some poor schmuck that has to sell for the ex-wife or sumthin)

Misery loves company huh? How bout this? On that same list, I find myself bidding on a name I sold previously. Happens a lot. I not only didn't miss the original idea, but have to pay up later to buy them back. :emba:

 

[hugegrowth]

All you can do is learn from it and move on. That whole scenario might help you make a decision in a future deal. Kind of reminds me how I was making big 'paper profits' in the stock market boom in late 99, early 2000. I rode the market up and then didn't get out soon enough, and rode it back down. A tough learning experience. Another positive, at least you put yourself in a position to make a ton of income - you just happened to make the wrong choice in hindsight. Most people will never even put themselves in a position to make a choice like that - you did - and you probably will again.

 

[007]

The difference between people who are successful, and people who fail is that when successful people fail, they get up and try again.

Just be positive about it. Learn from the past and move on to bigger and better things. The past can't be changed, but what you do today will effect your future.

 

[katherine]

A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, a fool by his own :cheesy:

 

[labrocca]

I just sold 36 3 letter .us names for only $290. I just wanted to get rid of them. I am sure I will regret it in about a year or two (or today). It just seemed when I tried to get $15 each for them no one wanted them. It's frustrating and I didn't want to have to pay for renewal. None of them got bids at Sedo and I earned nothing from them for parking PPC either. So to me they are losers. All the names started with the letter Z but imho they were still good names but no one wanted them. Oh well...I have about 5 or so 3 letter .us names that are better quality that I can only hope to get $xxxx some day.

 

[labrocca]

There is a new thread where a member is offering more than 1,000 good letter us names for sale. After seeing abc.us sell for $6,000 there it got me to write this:

Soon after .us opened in 2002 my GoDaddy/WildWest acct exec offered me many of the same or similar names for $4 each if purchased in bulk, up to 4,000 choice 3 letter .us names, most all good letters, all $4. They even said I could renew them indefinately for just $4 each in future yrs.

I was so stupid as to decline the offer as for some incredibly stupid reason I did not see value in them at that time and did not have $16,000 to spare at the time (but I could have put them on a credit card or even got a bank loan so not a good excuse). She told me if I said no again she would offer another preferred customer the deal, not sure who that was.

Turning down the offer was the most stupid thing I ever did in my life. In fact, she called and emailed me me several more times wondering if I would change my mind and each time I declined the offer. How insane and stupid was I in that I could have got more than 4,000 good ones for the price of 3 abc.us's today! :emba: :veryangry :veryangry :veryangry :emba:

Also did you consider that EVERY year it would have cost you $16k to renew them. This is 2006...you would have spent $64k already on renewals. I am sure you could have sold a bunch off but it's not as amazing a deal if you calculate that into it. Your 64k might have brought back $100k+ but there are better deals to be had.

$16k into 3 letter .coms in 2002 would have been about $200-$500 each I think. Now they go for $2k minimum it seems. So 16k might have gotten 30-40 3 letter .coms which value today would be 60k-100k. And renewal fees on 30-40 names is nothing. Plus I bet you would have earned PPC from the .coms vs the .us you would have made NOTHING.

 

[actnow]

A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, a fool by his own :cheesy:

Hey, are you talking about me?
:-D

 

[Fearless]

Nitronet didn't buy abc.us. I traded it and a lot of cash for a revenue name from another member.

 

[EGS]

I had over 50 3 letter .us domains...premium pronouncable domains if that..which I sold for like $5-$10 each on the net about 2 years ago which I really regret. >_>

 

[actnow]

As StocDoctor stated, all of us have had opportunities we didn't act upon.

And, all of us have sold domains too cheaply from time to time.

As it as been stated a number of times, don't let those missed-opportunities
eat you up.

Learn from your mistake and move forward.

Incidently, that is why I started using this screen name when I got into
the domain business.

 

[clemzonguy]

There are still plenty of opportunities. I have made my share of mistakes along the way. You will need a lot of common sense and good business intuition in order to be successful. Information and foresight are your greatest friends in this game. But the most important thing you can do is take action while there is still time.

My friend had a quote on his profile today that said the following...

"You can't change the past or the present only the future. Live in the present and you will change your future. Don't waste your time trying to change or live in the past. The only thing you can do is learn from it. You can learn what not to do, but you may not learn what to do."

 

[WhoDatDog]

Any asset worth owning in the world is worth $7 per year in maintenance fees (renewal fees). That's the end of that story. Any domain name worth owning for ten seconds is worth owning for the rest of your life.....that doesn't mean that renewal fees don't have an impact on decision making, but.........Each domain name is like a piece of real estate that you have the right to own for the rest of your life......as long as you pay the taxes of $7 or so per year....just like regular real estate.

Also, we could all be billionaires with hindsight. You didn't want the 3 letter .us names then, because at that particular time they weren't worth it to you. If anything, that should give you hope that there are names out there right now that you can get pretty much have for free that could make you a ton.

Domain names are the place to be.

 

[4u-domains]

I think Labrocca's post is right on the money.
When you take into account the renewal costs and their abysmal PPC earnings, on average, then it doesnt look half as bad.

Besides.. You dont need to learn any lessons!
IIRC You have one of the better .us portfolios on here. :bandit:

 

[mole]

4,000 .US domains is a lot of domains to mother over, $4 or no $4.

 

[actnow]

4,000 .US domains is a lot of domains to mother over, $4 or no $4.

It is all relative to the total amount of domains you own.

If you have 5,000 to 10,000 domains, the 4,000 .us domains would be a higher
risk and burden then if you had 50,000 to 100,000 domains.

If your main inventory was making you money then it might be a good long term
purchase.

Or, the correct strategy would have been to purchase the total quantity.
Keep the best 1/2 for yourself. And, self off the other 1/2 at a profit to carry
you thru for awhile.

This exact situation will not occur again. But, similiar situations will.

Learn from it and move on.

 

[NavySeals91]

Speculation is hard, that's why the saying The Rich get richer, and the poor get poorer makes sense, don't be hard on your self, it is hard to part with 16k.