Big Week in Domain Aftermarket

Some big unreported sales as well

Nice work!

Closed a bunch over here this week too. Been a great quarter so far.

The period from 2009-2010 represented a distinct ‘panic opportunity’ in truly premium .com domain names.

I watched as that window cracked open while the economy melted down, we’re now watching that window of opportunity slam shut.

If you sat around lamenting about how it was ‘too late’ in domain names over the past couple years, you missed out what was probably the last real opportunity to get your foot in the door.

@ Anon

I agree, but I think there are still deals to be had. With PPC revenue down, many domain owners are still willing to sell good names at reasonable prices.

Yes, have been receiving a lot more inquiries on my domains than in the past. Something has changed.

I think people have more discretionary funds. Business is improving, and business owners are allocating (more) funds to domain name acquisitions.

Let the good time rolls AGAIN!!

I guess a smart move now would be to increase the prices on fixed priced listings 😉

Agreed. More inquires, offers, and sales in the last few months than since before the recession.

Something’s happening out there.

Folks who’ve been eying particular domains; regardless of reason and/or intended use; should probably try to make their purchases soon.

curious to your thoughts on my domain? visitlasvegas.xxx

Elliot, you tell us everything in the world except what we want to know…

Your sales data, domain name and price.

Isn’t it ironical that you made this post of other people’s sales data, while you find it repugnant to do so yourself? If you are against reporting the name and price on principle, shouldn’t refrain from posting Sedo and Afternic’s? I’m just saying.

@Uzoma

🙂

I no longer nod my head in agreement, I just smile.

“The period from 2009-2010 represented a distinct ‘panic opportunity’ in truly premium .com domain names.

I watched as that window cracked open while the economy melted down, we’re now watching that window of opportunity slam shu”

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Personally think 2011 was weaker than any of those years. Market is continuing to slide in my view.

“Elliot, you tell us everything in the world except what we want to know…

Your sales data, domain name and price.”

@ Uzoma

There are a few reasons, all of which I believe I’ve discussed:

1) I don’t want to discuss my income. It’s tacky to discuss how much money you make, and I have no interest in discussing it.

2) I am not going to give away competitive advantages. If I am selling a certain type of name, I am not going to hurt my business and my income by giving that information away. I know that Mike Berkens gives sales info away, but that’s because he owns 75k names and isn’t necessarily in acquisition mode. I am always buying names and if someone else is heavily competing with me for the same names, my costs and risk goes up. I would rather not blog than hurt my business. In addition, when Mike announces the sale of a Visit-city.com name, he owns dozens of other similar names, so it helps increase the value of his holdings.

3) Many people who buy domain names from me want this information private or expect it to remain private. Asking them if I can report the sale is just strange and doesn’t benefit them. That said, one sale I closed last week will be reported in a week or two because it will benefit the buyer.

There is no incentive for me to publish my personal sales information other than to boost my ego, and I don’t think that needs boosting 🙂

I am noticing good things since January. I have sold 13 names so far and thought I almost had another one but at the last minute (yesterday), they changed their mind.

Q for the commenters here, including Elliot

Where are most sales coming from being cited in the ‘good year so far dept’.

Are they from unsolicited inquiries and if so – would commentators disclosed which services bring the most inquiries? and if from self initiated sources, would succesfull commentator sellers describe their pitches that have resulted in such sales?

Appreciate some practical tips from the successful

Elliot,

I wish you’d reconsider, and give a ball park hint.

Such as price range, but certainly domain name must be disclosed if you are going to be the type of blogger you are.

Lastly, you can’t hold the position above and post after-market sales data, you risk being labeled a hypocrite, not by me, as I know you very well, and I don’t think you are, but others may not be as kindly.

Bottom line, Elliot, the reasons you stated above do not cut muster. You leave most of your readers yearning for that data. Think about it, and hopefully reconsider. If it wasn’t important, I wouldn’t insist.

@ Uzoma

I run a private business, so I don’t have to disclose anything regarding my domain holdings or sales. I don’t endorse anything for monetary gain, don’t accept paid posts, and it’s very clear who is paying me to advertise on my blog. I hardly ever use affiliate links either.

That said, you can see some of the domain names I have sold over the last few years: https://www.domaininvesting.com/projects-sales

None of those were brokered sales and they were all names I owned 100% without loans or anything else.

Elliot,

You are not addressing the issue at hand. I looked at the list, none of the prices, or date of sale were disclosed.

You keep telling me that you run a private business on every topic we discuss, as if that is a panacea to evade dealing with the issue; or, nobody else is running a privately business, but most importantly, you are the one who chose to be a blogger, and attempts to be helpful to readers, constantly giving advice on strategy and experience, so how can that be?

I have noticed that you give out advice almost on a daily basis to help people of lesser knowledge. How can you do that without being completely open on the most crucial issues? It almost comes across like you are doing those posts for Google traffic and positioning? Knowing you, I think you are being sincere, but it is quite stunning to read your vehement position when it comes to disclosing domain sales date. It is a shocking deviation from what is expected of someone of your caliber. I’m just being honest with you, Elliot.

@ Uzoma

If you don’t think this is a helpful resource, I am sorry.

A few years ago, I wrote a post about how I was selling names on Snapnames like crazy. I told people what types of names I was selling and how.

Guess what. A week later, there were hundreds (if not thousands) of similar names on Snapnames, and I lost a steady revenue stream that had been generating $x,xxx month from sales.

If I write a post about selling xyz.com for $xx,xxx, people will either try to sell me their x-y-z.info crap names, go out and buy similar names, and/or email the buyers of my domain names to try and sell them other names. I am not going to create more competition for myself and I am not going to say who my buyers are when deals are done in private to make it more difficult to sell my own domain names.

We have a different viewpoint on this topic, and I am not going to change it up because it will hurt my business and I am not going to do that.

I can’t understand why someone here isn’t willing to accept the fact that private sales are PRIVATE. Period. If Afternic/Sedo is publishing such info and bloggers are picking it up to write a post about, it doesn’t mean they have to share their personal sales data if they opt to share ALREADY PUBLISHED DATA. Gosh.

Good to see some big sales, thanks for reporting Elliot.

If LandmarkGroup.com sold for $50K, curious where that puts the value of my domain MintGroup.com

Any thoughts?

“If LandmarkGroup.com sold for $50K, curious where that puts the value of my domain MintGroup.com”

@ Dan

One thing about domain names is each one is unique, as is each negotiation. One sale, especially when it comes to a brandable domain name, has very little impact on the value of others. Unless a company called Mint Group wants to spend a lot of money and you are willing to keep turning down offers, it’s not going to sell for nearly as much.

Elliot,

I never said this is not a helpful resource; if anything, I’m saying it is an incomplete resource. Listen, if you are evading letting your readers know what/why/who/which/ domain names you are buying and selling at the present time, then what good is your advice? If you don’t want the competition that can follow from revelation, then it’s better not to give advice at all. I, like many people found your latest strategy of hand registration to be completely at odds to what you advised during summer of 2011. So, it’s very wrong not to be completely open when doing what you do. If you wont be completely open then don’t do this.

@Abdu

There’s a possible pinch of hypocrisy apparent in posting sales data when one is opposed to revealing it. That’s all. I’m giving Elliot a friendly advice on this. He doesn’t have to follow my recommendation, but I have to give it.

Elliot – Good points on brandable domains. LandmarkGroup.com is definitely an outlier, and significantly more than I’ve been offered or would expect to be offered. But I think there is some benchmarking that can be done when looking at domains with commonalities like “generic word” + “group”. In the least that sale helps reinforce to the market how much brandable domains can go for.

If LandmarkGroup.com sold for $50K, curious where that puts the value of my domain MintGroup.com

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Probably very little, one outlier sale doesn’t mean another weak name is going to sell for a similar price.

I agree with Snoopy. It’s good to know in the back of your head, and you could always cite it in a negotiation, but this does not mean names that end in Group.com or similar are worth any more than they were before.

@Elliot @Snoopy Thanks for the feedback guys.

Thanks, the list is good. I’m thinking of buying some domains to sell. Would you encourage me to do despite of dotcoms unavailability.?