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.

It’s the end of the year, so I am spending a bit of time consolidating some of my domain names into my GoDaddy account, where I keep the majority of my domain names. For many of these domain names held at different registrars, a pending delete auction win prevents me from transferring for the first 60 days, and I tend to transfer these names in bulk at the end of the year.

I just transferred about 3 dozen names to GoDaddy. I like NameBright and Namecheap, but I feel like I have a better handle on them if I keep them in all in one primary account.

I was chatting with someone I’ve known for many years, and he started to tell me something in confidence about his business. He asked the standard, “can I tell you something that you can’t share with others?” I think my answer caught him off guard.

Instead of agreeing and listening to something that he doesn’t want to have shared, I told him not to tell me. As interested as I was (and still am) in what is happening with his business, I declined to hear the secret he wanted to share with me.