I don’t know who actually flipped it, I only know it wasn’t me. As a constant watcher of Godaddy drops I came across a name I really liked, FederalAid.com. I always try and set a maximum before an auction starts so I have some kind of game plan going in. Things changed a little as I sold a name two days before the auction that gave me an extra few thousand to play with. As usual, nothing happened until the last few minutes and the price quickly surpassed my 5K but I decided I would go to 7K but that was quickly passed as well.
I made the mistake of going to valuate for personal justification (I know, I know don’t do that) and saw the $5300 value and started thinking too much. I started thinking that my gut feeling that this was a 25K domain was wrong. What did I know. I’m just a guy that buys and sells thousand dollar domains. Maybe I don’t know the difference between a $5000 and a $25000 domain. I bid it up a few more hundred and dropped. Two minutes after the auction I was already kicking myself. I felt I should have taken it to 10K. Who knows, the winner had a proxy bid that always seemed to kick in so maybe he had a 25K proxy and I never would have gotten it. I was only mad because I didn’t try. A few weeks later was started out as shoulda turned into a mental “I told you so”
Three weeks later I saw the domain up for sale at the DomainFest auction and with a 25-50K reserve. My initial thought what great timing. A huge auction right after a pickup is a fantastic way to flip a strong name. That being said, many of the good names were being passed lately in the live auctions. TRAFFIC had a ton but DomainFest seemed to be a little more active. Low and behold, FederalAid sold for 40K. A nice $31,200 profit in 23 days. Well played sir, well played.
Always great to hear these stories. It makes me think of Dane Cook when he says, “Why not me!!” 🙂
I think that’s one of the best ways to make quick money but it’s a hard game to play. FederalAid is a great name but plenty better sell less so it’s not something you can count on every time. Also my gut tells me if he put a 25k+ reserve he was going to bid more then 10k so I don’t think you’d have won that one. Also at 40k, he has to hand over 6k to the house.
By the way. I’m right there with you. I watched Gels.com sell for less then 7k and CatFood.com sell for 15k within the last year or two. Both sold for significantly more there. They were some of the best opportunities I’ve seen in that time.
I am actually watching few more domains @ snapnames right now. Those automatic estimator sites always under estimate great domains. For example check the value for movies.com on estibot.
Thanks for sharing. Always good to hear about a quick flip 🙂
These domains sell easy in general…
I flipped FederalLoan.org and FederalLoans.org just recently as well 10x ++ ROI.
I own the FAR-lesser below sorta related domains;
FINANCIAL911AID.COM
FINANCIALAID911.COM
FINANCIALAIDBAILOUT.COM
FINANCIALAIDBAILOUTS.COM
FINANCIALAIDFINDING.COM
FINANCIALAIDFUNDING.COM
FINANCIALAIDFUNDS.COM
FINANCIALAIDGOVTGRANTS.COM
FINANCIALAIDNEED.COM
FINANCIALAIDONLINE411.COM
FINANCIALAIDONLINEINFO.COM
FINANCIALAIDZONES.COM
FINANCIALASSISTANCEAID.COM
FINANCIALBAILOUTAID.COM
FINANCIALBAILOUTFUNDS.COM
FINANCIALDISTRIBUTIONS.COM
FINANCIALSUPPORTASSISTANCE.COM
FINANCIALSUPPORTGRANTS.COM
FINANCIALSUPPORTINFO.COM
What do you think they are worth? More than $1K, or less than $1K. Thanks for your opinion.
DaveATDavecummings DOTcom
Far far less. I would let them drop and save yourself some money.
Looks like it was Merlin Kauffman who flipped it. An experienced domainer that has been around for a long time.
Ahhh, Merlin. He’s a fun guy. I am jealous of what’s he’s accomplished at his age. We went out together a few times and he had a MUCH better time than I did at TRAFFIC and I had a great time. His scraps are better than my best…. except for my wife LOL
Shane, you cannot worry about stuff like this. Domain names in different hands produce different results. There’s too many variables.
Example what if you had won the name, and you submitted to the same auction, would your name have been accepted? Not guaranteed and I’ll tell you why.
The person who won the name and submitted could have had a particular reputation and pull with the people who decided what names to accept.
Let’s try this mental exercise here for a second.
Do you think Frank Schilling and your names will be viewed equally and without partiality?
No. I had read in a domain article somewhere about something called “Premium perception”
Take a half-decent domain name and place it in the forum for sale and you’ll find it may not even get $25 dollars for it. Take that same name that belongs to Rick Schwartz and he announces he is auctioning at traffic, you’ll get a completely different result.
And this is just one example.
I don’t feel bad If I sold a name to someone and that someone flips it for tens of thousands more. Why? I don’t have those contacts, there’s luck involved and a different set of selling skills…
Would you be kicking yourself if you had won that name, spent that money purchasing it THEN cannot flip it or auction it off?
Don’t sweat it.
@John,
Absolutely true and Merlin certainly is a power player in the industry. Give me a few years but I do think if a name is good, it really doesn’t matter who submits it, they will put it in. It’s when you a big player that you can take mediocre names and get them in
Yes, “Merlin” is a Wizard’s name , that may have something to do with it lol
John is right. Maybe someone had a good business or personal experience with him and bid more. Too many things come in to play. Sell to end users and cut out the bullshit =)