Boost Part 2: The Roller Coaster of Domain Investing

A month ago, I shared the results of my first month with Afternic “Boost” enabled on my account. Technically, the Boost features were previously enabled for everyone, so it was the first month where people could either pay a higher commission rate on Afternic sales or opt out of the Boost program.

The first month of Boost was fairly strong for my Afternic-listed portfolio. I had 4 BIN sales and 1 LTO sale. I also had a DBS sale on a domain name I had delisted due to the Boost commission increase. I don’t keep track of this, but 5 sales on the platform in a single month was probably one of the best months I’ve had in terms of domain names sold. Because I delisted most of my higher value names above $2k, the revenue total was inconsequential.

This past month was an entirely different story. I did not have any BIN or LTO sales on Afternic since my last report. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

I think this perfectly illustrates the roller coaster-y nature of domain investing with a fairly small portfolio. Some months are very good and others are not.

While the higher value sales off of Afternic are what drive my business, the lower value sales are greatly appreciated beyond their revenue generation. Not only do all of these sales provide a bit of a dopamine hit, but they also show me that I am finding and buying the right domain names. Given their retail pricing below $2k, most of these domain names are considered marginal – purchased in uncontested auctions or even hand registered. Some were more expensive but had little interest over the years, so the prices were reduced to recover costs.

I can’t say that selling a $1,999 name feels as good as selling a $200,000 name, but there’s something special about selling a $2k name that I was able to buy for less than $100. It’s like finding a hidden gem that everyone else overlooked. Last month was a dud on Afternic, but I am sure things will get better. That’s how things roll.

Image via ChatGPT.