If you invest in cryptocurrency or follow the cryptocurrency business, you are probably familiar with HODL (meaning “hold on for dear life”), the term that refers to the strategy of buying and holding cryptocurrencies instead of selling or trading. I think domain investors can co-opt the HODL term when it comes to their domain investments, and I want to share a couple business examples from 2019.
I bought somewhere between 250 – 300 domain names in 2019 in private or via auction. This number is more than 2018 due in part to taking more chances on closeout purchases via GoDaddy Auctions. It also represents a fairly large number considering my portfolio stands at just about 1,000 domain names.
In 2019, I bought quite a few higher value domain names, including a few LLL .com domain names and quite a few one word .com domain names. I sold some of these domain names already, but I still own many of these purchases.
Ray Dillman-Neu is the founder of the MERGE conference, which is a domain industry conference that is on a hiatus this year. This morning, Ray shared a video posted by Stefan Pretty, CEO of a company called Subbly. When Stefan spoke at MERGE in 2018, the company was operating on the Subbly.CO domain name. The vlog posted yesterday by Stefan shares some behind the scenes look at his life operating his startup.
When a domain broker represents a domain owner by selling a domain name, the broker receives a previously negotiated percentage of the sale as compensation for a successful deal. When a broker is working on behalf of a buyer, the compensation structure can not be set up in the same way, as that would pit the broker’s interest against the interest of the client:
I don’t discuss my proprietary compensation model publicly (it was developed in consultation with my clients) but you are on the right track. What I suggest, in general, is that the broker’s compensation model ALWAYS be aligned with the client’s objectives.
— Bill Sweetman (@BillSweetman) December 11, 2019
Performing due diligence is a critical task before buying a domain name in the aftermarket – both private acquisitions and even on auction purchases. With GDPR in force, doing the necessary due diligence is more difficult, and as time goes by, it will become even more challenging. One area of due diligence that should not be overlooked is related to the registrant’s email address.
One of the best domain investor acquisitions in the recent past that I can recall was just announced by Andrew Rosener via Twitter. His company, Media Options, acquired Clear.com. The deal was first spotted and reported on Twitter by Jamie Zoch:
Excited to announce that @MediaOptions has acquired its exact brand match .com #domain https://t.co/xYR12Bs4ZP for our new CLEAR Domain Acquisition Service. Lots more to come! #IsYourBrandClear https://t.co/dJU2TdrXFr
— Andrew Rosener (@andrewrosener) December 7, 2019
