Domain name lease to own deals are great. They generate monthly income, and if the buyer opts to discontinue paying, I get to keep all of the payments and have the chance to re-sell the domain name. One thing better than a LTO deal is when the buyer decides to purchase the domain name in full – – earlier than expected.

In my LTO purchase agreements, I give the buyer an option to pay off the deal early at a discount. The buyer can save anywhere from 10-20% of the total purchase price if paid-off early. The discount rate varies depending on my profit margin and the length of time for the payment plan.

It is dangerous to reuse passwords on different websites. Domain investors who do this can risk their reputation and/or domain names if one website is hacked or if password information is somehow leaked.

The Chief Technology Officer at NamePros issued a warning to domain investors today because of “an increase in credential stuffing attacks targeting domain investors.” Paul offers some good examples of how this can happen, and he also shared some advice on how to prevent it from happening to you.

Keeping a portfolio updated on platforms like Sedo, Afternic, and Dan can be a challenge. With sales and expiries happening on a regular basis, it can be easy to fall behind on updates. It is important to keep these portfolios updated so you don’t accidentally sell a domain name you previously sold or let expire.

I try to keep my portfolio updated in real time. When I sell a name on Dan, for example, I try to immediately delete the listing on Sedo and Afternic. When I let a domain name expire, I remove the listing from all platforms once I receive the final cancelation email. They key word is *try* and names sometimes slip through the cracks. Every once in a while I will do a comparison of my sale portfolios against my inventory list.

I am not a pro at Excel, but I want to share a step by step guide for how I am able to identify the names I previously sold or let expire that I forgot to remove from sales platforms:

I consider the number of registrations for a particular SLD (phrase to the left of the dot) to be one of the more important “signs of life” for a domain name. When I am evaluating domain names to buy in the aftermarket or at auction, I pay closer attention to those that have many other extensions registered.

Importantly, the number of registrations can be misleading, so there is some nuance that goes into my process for evaluating these domain names.

This morning, I was looking at a domain name currently in auction. I see there are 10 extensions registered, including the .com. Using dotDB, I see there are only 2 other domain names registered with this term. That was peculiar to me because usually if a phrase or term is registered in many extensions, there will also be other domain names registered that have the phrase within the SLD.