During the past few years, I have spent additional time and money growing my domain name portfolio. In some cases, I found niches that did well for me and hand registered dozens or more related domain names. In addition, I made a greater effort to acquire inventory-quality domain names in expiry and drop catch auctions. The results have been decent, but I am now more mindful of portfolio bloat.

One thing that I hoped wouldn’t happen but sort of expected was a drop in STR. Had my STR kept up with the rate of acquisition, that would have been fantastic. It would have been unexpected – but I would have been very happy. I can’t say for sure if it’s the market conditions or I am not buying the absolute best inventory, but my STR is down a bit in the last 6 months. It’s not at the point of urgency, but it’s a concern on my radar.

A couple of months ago, I struck a deal to sell a .AI domain name for just shy of $15,000 paid over 36 months. Wisely, the first payment and downpayment totaled a little more than $2,300 before the commission fee. Unfortunately, the buyer opted to not continue with the payment plan after the first month, and the domain name was returned to me.

Having a downpayment was helpful to me because Atom.com required that I add years to the renewal to ensure it won’t expire or need to be renewed during the term. The additional renewal fee at Namecheap cost me nearly $300.

When you submit a domain name for sale on Atom.com, it allows you to enter your desired price or click the “Get Price” button for a price suggestion. When a domain name is approved as a Premium listing, Atom will provide an approved price, with bracketing that allows sellers to adjust the price. Seeing a big number can feel good and make you think you are sitting on a huge opportunity. Sellers should not blindly trust that number.

Here’s an example of why you shouldn’t entirely rely on Atom’s pricing suggestion for the asking price. I submitted a .AI domain name I recently acquired, and the Atom “AI Value” is $35,500. This seems great considering I acquired the name for less than $250. However, I can see the same keyword .com domain name is listed for sale for less than $20,000.

I am in the process of transferring some Atom-listed domain names to the Atom.com domain registrar to take advantage of the Atom Edge program. In addition to the names I already transferred, I am starting to transfer domain names at auction-connected registrar accounts I need to consolidate.

In looking at my NameBright account, I searched for Atom nameservers to make this process a bit easier. This helped me identify domain names I have pointing to Atom already. I requested the auth codes and started the transfers.

Atom.com recently unveiled its Domain Hunter tool to help domain investors discover and uncover domain names that could have resale value. GoDaddy Auctions recently unveiled its “Hidden Gems” search functionality to find domain names on its platform. Both tools are ostensibly to help domain investors locate investment-grade domain names, but their primary purpose is to drive platform revenue.

Domain name discovery tools can be helpful. If you are brainstorming ideas or checking availability, they can save time and give inspiration for new ideas. I use them too – and I also use AI chat tools to help with that as well. That said, it is important for domain investors to understand what these tools are really built to do.

I’ve been fortunate to acquire some good domain names at very good prices because I had significant knowledge of the topic. The result of buying good names at great prices was helpful when I was able to sell them for market prices.

I didn’t spend time becoming an expert in a niche topic to buy and sell domain names. Most of the time, I became an expert due to life experiences, and that gave me a better understanding of specific domain names that came up for sale or that I targeted in the aftermarket.