2015 Was A Solid Year

Now that 2015 has ended, I can share that it  was one of my company’s best years. Had I done a few other deals that I felt were less than optimal, I would have topped my previous best year, although I probably could have said that then as well. With the year ending, I thought I would share a bit of a high level overview of my year. If you want a recap of the year in the domain investment space, Ray Hackney did a pretty solid job of that yesterday on his blog.

In 2015, I only sold .com domain names. I sold quite a few domain names via NameJet auction, and I sold many privately to companies and individuals. Many  of my private deals were closed after outreach to end user and domain investor buyers, and quite a few deals  were closed by agreeing on a price after an inbound inquiry. The vast majority of inbound inquiries did not lead to a sale yet.

Nearly all of my non-auction domain name sales  were closed by me personally. Private deals that I didn’t close personally were closed via Media Options, eNaming.com (Tracy Fogarty) and DomainNameSales.com. I can’t think of other brokers who helped me close sales off the top of my head, but again, I manage my own leads for the most part.

I bought domain names from several domain brokers in 2015. I also used Sedo and Afternic to acquire domain names privately. The majority of my purchases  were via private acquisition or domain name auctions. I used NameJet, GoDaddy Auctions, SnapNames, DropCatch.com, and Pheenix to bid on domain auctions in 2015. I think I exclusively used Escrow.com for escrow services in 2015.

I used quite a few domain name tools to find great domain names last year. I shared my 5 favorite domain tools a few days ago. I also re-discovered Dropping.com during the final days of the year and have been using the service quite a bit.

I don’t want to jinx myself, but my prediction is that 2016 is going to be another boom year for domain investors who hold good domain names. I feel that I was able to make some solid acquisitions late in the year, and I hope that will lead to a solid start of 2016. I always feel like the first few weeks of the new year set the tone for the entire year.

As always, I invite you to share your overview of 2015, and you are also welcome to share any thoughts on the new year.

Wishing you much success in 2016!

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
  1. Congrats on the great 2015 and I am sure you will again have an awesome 2016. Very good points you made including getting some nice domains towards the end of 2015 that will put you in an awesome position in 2016. This is why I feel domaining requires a true balance of buying quality domain and putting time into selling them. Thanks for sharing.

    – Will

  2. Some thoughts and ramblings on 2015:

    Happy New Years to Elliot and his readers.

    I am small time domainer (1200 names) who purchase domains mainly as a long-term investment, with 8-10 years as my hold period.

    I truly believe we are in the early ages of the internet and are lucky to be in this space at this time.

    I buy mainly one and two word .coms.

    I do not actively seek out buyers, so no outbound emails and phone calls. But I do sell names as reasonable offers come my way. I know I could easily double my sales if I did sales outreach.

    I use DNS for all my names. Their brokers take over after 30 days. I sell a few names per year on Afternic/Sedo/Domain Holdings/etc platforms.

    China: Had many emails and sales to inquiries. I think I sold too early but did okay overall and am happy with final sales, they were spread out over the year.

    Offers: I receive the $10-$20 offers but most are very reasonable starting points….$600 and up. It seems most small companies will easily spend $600-$700 for a domain name….as this is common offer.

    I do not sell for less than $,$$$.

    I am active buyer on NameJet and Godaddy. The names need to have certain metrics..ie: age/extension/characters/search/etc etc.

    I see large domain companies purchasing majority of names at Godaddy auctions.

    I believe if you wish to be a full-time domainer, it is a game of scale. You need inventory and solid names for all types of customers….so that can take years of proper acquisitions.

    2015 was my best year in domain sales, and actually turned down $3 for every $1 sold. I don’t know if this is good or bad? I view it very positively.

    I plan to increase domain purchases by 20+% this year and concentrate on higher priced names.

    Good luck to all in 2016!

    Paul

  3. Excellent year and more to come!!

    4L domains I bought dirt cheap 4 yrs ago at $10 each,
    hand reg domains at 99cent 8 yrs ago are all getting $$$$$ offers.

    Love this “BullS” domain game.

    I see DG is using my” May the Domain Force be with you.”

    oh well…

  4. 2015 was a solid year for me.

    My domain sales were spread out over Afternic, GoDaddy, DNS, Flippa, and my direct sales.

    I picked up domains mainly on GoDaddy, Pheenix, and direct purchases.

    All the best to Elliot and everyone else here for 2016!

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