I can’t win a names to save my life. Unless I REALLY want a name and willing to pay more than I think I should I simply don’t win auctions. The last 20 auctions that I have bid in that were of any quality I have been out bid early or at the very last bid. With half of them being second to highest bid. And it doesn’t really matter what I bid, there is always someone willing to pay just a little more. It’s become very expensive to play in the auction game in 2018 and I think it only gets worse in 2019.
Take a look at the results of a few days ago. I wasn’t bidding on these but look at the final prices. These are not the best names in the world yet they are going for a car payment. Some are Ford Fiesta payments but some are BMW 7 series payments
BakeThenEat.com $351
BusinessEbooks.com $360
CocoBar.com $892
FuelBox.com $3350 ( I was in on this one towards the end)
RatCages.com $337
Slim5 $205
Polished.org $515
The names aren’t terrible but all are at a price that makes it expensive to build a portfolio of 500 if you are a new investor. They are also names that will require some time to sell. That fit the put on Afternic and wait type of name. I can see why Josh bypasses these types of names and concentrates on finding jewels at closing or drops for $12. He can sell one for $2000 and pay for 150 names. Can only buy 6 or so from this list and as good as Josh is at picking names he is just as likely to sell one from his 150 as he is that 6. You can do the math from there.
The difference is the confidence in bidding Godaddy auctions. There are others that think the name is good as well. So it has to be decent right? When you pick up closeouts that means that every domain investor that went through the list thought it wasn’t good enough to spend $12 on. How in the world could you possibly know better than them? You probably don’t. That’s why I would never tell you to do what Josh does unless you have proven your selection method. Otherwise you are going to build a giant shit list of renewals like most new domain investors do. Spending hours explaining why the domain is good to people that know its not. So what do I do?
I’m actually not sure. These recent price surges in the auctions makes things difficult and even myself, I am trying to pick my strategy. I’ve recently just been selective and put extra money into names I really really like. Paying more than I like and getting the name. I’ve passed on most of the names I kind of like and goes beyond what I want to pay. It’s left me only adding a few domains a month. I hand registered one name in the last 3 months and it was just the other day. I registered PolarBuffs in the dot com. I bought a few the other day and there were quite a few Google results so thought the $12 was worth the price. I figure I could put it up for auction and make $20 or more right now. But $20 profit doesn’t really pay the bills does it? Good thing I have no bills. Enjoy your Sunday. Here are today’s names. Click through to see the current price and to fund this daily list
Quote of the Day: “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” —Friedrich Nietzsche
Domain of the Day: RicottaCheese.com In my list of top 80 favorite cheeses
Namejet, Sedo, and other Names Up for Auction
XISP.com I think it goes as a pronounceable “Zisp”
uRan.com I make everything seem like a running name
DroneFlightSchool.com Most states are requiring you go to this and get a license. No bids
WERA.net No bids. Don’t really know if CVCV.net have any value
IDDN.com International something something Network
McKuen.com A last name so eventually a brand. 5 bidders
Lakome.com Used to be a Moroccan news site so it has some history
BeardedOutlaw.com Surprised how many brands use this . No bids
NapaValley.net No bids. My opinion only but this is a big enough keyword to give the net good value
Tabot.com 5L.com with no reserve
Ketchup.org Definitely deserves its own organization
Godaddy Domains With Multiple Bids
99220.com, 99330.com and 99676.com The total of these are $14,000 And they all dropped
Housings.com Top value according to GD and according to bidders who don’t like numbers
EliteTraders.com You just assume that they are good based on the title
BRFM.com All good letters. M for management, FM radio
CarbonLife.com Sounds like a video game
Colorism.com Not a real world in my dictionary but exudes colorful and that’s all that matters
BrandItUp.com A little cheesy but Brand stuff seems to sell.
AmericanSolarDirect.com Buying history rather than just the domain at this price
TShack.com Every place I’ve been to called something shack are pretty nice.
70011.com Two zeros, four figures
HumanCloning.org 212,000 backlinks and lots of history
iCharts.net It’s at $3K if you want it. Old site
Tunche.com Already the name of a video game
Wheemo.com Under $50 at press time
Zansha.com Smooth sounding 6L.com
UpMom.com Moms run the world
Godaddy Domains With One or No Bids
SustainablySourced.com Great idea but really really tough to say and spell
TimeshareGuide.com If you need a little help splitting up the purchase of a vacation home with 240 people
CommercialBath.com There are companies that specialize in commercial bathrooms. No bids
NaturalExtension.com Hair or science. One bidder
CuteCare.com Daycare name all the way
WhenIPlay.com Sounds like a marketing slogan
HereCapital.com “Where do you go if you need capital? Here”
Cullip.com Family name so brands are a coming
LondonEquity.com If there is a London company that needs this they’ll definitely pay more than the current price of $12
Famper.com There is a Portuguese company of the same name but I put it here because it was short and easy to spell
EvenAccess.com This is a want by many minorities
Speep.com If you believe my crying in the opening paragraph then this should fly past $100 because I like it
UniqueExercise.com Curious how its going to be different
Ladyscape.com Shaving or gardening
The Rest of the Names With Bids
24338.com
28077.com
30087.com
303606.com
5starads.com
70704.com
73066.com
778916.com
99cec.com
aiguophoto.com
Arafen.com
ArchitectsInternationale.com
au18k.com
Baishuihu.com
Benelux.org
biebelsworld.com
BurkHarts.com
CostumeIdeaZone.com
CreatTor.com
DoughPro.com
FCMoban.com
ForestsClimateChange.org
FragOut.com
FreeOnlineDice.com
GramCam.com
hzqyj.com
i-care.net
Idolza.com
Inpsd.com
JusticePartyUsa.org
KuangJuli.com
Loklov.com
lygtyly.com
Mchaorizi.com
MythologyDictionary.com
NonIusa.com
OutBets.com
OvoTech.com
PanOnTheDanforth.com
PatentLawyerUsa.com
PocketStock.com
qkhcmm.com
QueerAs.com
rj999.com
RMGuitar.info
RMXI.com
RomanianJewish.org
Ronisize.net
siodemki.com
sj1125.com
SSAA.net
TheBeautifulBrain.com
TheGrizasOnline.com
TheMgmt.com
TKiryl.com
TravelRetail.com
UnionWealth.comUpMom.com
UsBEasyCap.com
VaughanMedicalClinic.com
vegane-lebensweise.org
Velvor.com
VisaBay.com
WatchOnline-Movies.com
Wayyt.com
Xaltdl.com
ZengChunHao.com
LOL Shane this is how I have felt lately. I did win a smaller one for like $50 a few days ago, but prior to that I had lost by a bid on my last 20 or so auctions. I finally did win one that I thought I got great value on, (MudBogging .com), but then the person renewed it and it took a while to get refunded by GoDaddy bc of the holidays/weekend. I’m stubborn and don’t want to overpay for the names!
Only name I bought recently was an old forgotten back order at snap on a 6N. Ugh
Reason is godaddy is putting high valuations on lame duck domains. Even if it previously sold for that much to a business that failed likelihood that ever happens again is slim to none. To many newbies chasing the domainer dream of hemroids, and bad posture.
Ben,
I agree except these domains aren’t going in newbie accounts. Almost all in bigger domain investor portfolios
Yes, there is large warehouse companies in the mix thru automated bidding.
Taryn at NameJet has been in every big auction, even challenging some steep reserves, not shy to spend tens of thousands daily.
They have money to spend, and do not think the end is near.
A perfect storm brews.
I believe your comments of building a 500 domain portfolio today really outweighs the opportunity cost, as I am noticing domainers paying prices end users may struggle to offer, and you have to always factor in 20 percent haircut for commissions on the sell.
It’s almost a great time to take a domain vacation, you will probably save money.
Turncommerce has a lot of liability with versign price increases but sometime in 2016 they started hitting godaddy hard, and bought thousands of backorders and were using the loophole to really sneak many good names on the back end. Once the loophole was exposed, godaddy stalled in closing it to let these backorders to be spent.
Happy new year!
Fortunately I built my portfolio already. I am merely replacing names that I sold so its not as difficult. But that is who new domain investors are competing against. People that are selling names for mid four figures and five figures that they picked up for $100 10 years ago or more. That’s the problem I see. As for building a new 500 domain portfolio now. I agree, its a tough build right now. But its no different than California real estate. You step in now and things are crazy but its not as big of a deal to an investor that loaded up on land 20 years ago