For the last few years, I have found domain investing to be a bit less fun than before. Business has been quite good for the last several years, so it’s not the money issue that has made it less exciting. I haven’t really been able to pinpoint the issue until I was chatting with a friend this morning.
I came to the realization that my usage of buy it now (BIN) pricing on 90+% of my portfolio is making this business less fun. I have nearly all of my inventory listed on Dan.com and GoDaddy with BIN prices. After having the best sales year last year and the first half of the year on fire, I removed the Make Offer functionality on almost all of my Dan.com listings under $10k. People can either buy the domain name for the list price or purchase it via payment plan.
The result for me has been far fewer negotiations, and that has made this business a bit less exciting.
Previously, I had my domain names listed for sale via Afternic/GoDaddy, and the landing pages were all on my Embrace.com inquiry forms. There were many tire kickers, but even discussions with those people were interesting. I still use Embrace.com for all of my higher end inventory, but there are fewer negotiations these days because of the BIN listings.
One benefit of my BIN listings is that I don’t have to get involved in these negotiations. It saves me time and energy not having to deal with prospective buyers on lower value deals. They can either buy the domain name or not without discussing it with me. This has given me more time to spend with my family. For instance, I pick my kids up from school every day and twice a week I bring my daughter to soccer practice and play soccer for an hour and a half with my son. I am not attached to my phone answering purchase inquiries.
I have been trying to figure out why the day to day domain investing activities aren’t as fun or exciting. I think it’s because I am less involved in the sale of my domain names than I once was.
This is a BS stress free hobby and best of all making easy peasy money-..
No pressure, having fun and giving BS to others—love it!!
Hand reg at $6.99 at Sav and then resell for $$$$$ —
I hand reg shitmeta.com and bullshitmeta.com and got offers.
What happens to that guy that runs the Fragner blog spot ?
What happens to that guy that runs Voodoo, is he the only one that runs that company???
I like Voodoo
I agree.
I talk less with reps as well.
I have always found your interest, and excitement to be more on the purchasing side. You didn’t seem to address it here. Your concern tend to be on sales this time.
Good point. That aspect remains.
It’s always nice to receive inquiries and offers though, and that has been impacted by BIN pricing.
BIN pricing is limiting all upside. Buyer may have has a $100,000 budget but BiN was $10,000.
Told ya…all. BINs – can be very good. Rick’s way doesn’t have to be a no exceptions rule.
I just noticed “Nobody’s” comment there.
It’s not about being mindless about pricing. My best sales have been for domains with a BIN. And the flip side of that comment is also true – i.e. someone may be able to pay, but just needs a little “help” doing so.
That’s why you should include a contact link. My best sales were BIN + contact feature, not BIN alone. The buyer was reluctant, made contact, we talked a bit via email, then he was not only happy to pay the full BIN, but proceeded to buy another one for a great price too. Both five figure deals. Very happy about it and no concerns about leaving $$$ on the table which could have resulted in nothing till the day I die for those. Would I do that for every domain? of course not.
At some point you have to make decisions and risk losing imaginary potentialities for the “bird at hand” that’s worth “two in the bush.” Unless your situation is such that you can just wait till you’re 90 or dies with all your domains if you wish.
PS: I then immediately bought a really great domain for use costing most of that money and use it now. I would not have been willing to buy it otherwise even though technically I could have. The whole thing was divine providence and what you would loosely call a “miracle.”