How My 2017-2019 End User Sales Are Being Used

I don’t always look back at how my domain names are being used after I sell them. I think this is primarily due to the fact that once they are out of “sight,” they are then out of my mind. I am sometimes curious about how a domain name will be used when I agree to sell a domain name, but I usually lose track of the names unless they are turned into something big or are launched relatively quickly.

I thought it would be neat to take a look at my end user sales from 2017 – 2019 to see how these domain names are being used today, and I wanted to share the percentages with readers. These figures might be slightly skewed because of the sales this year, and the time it can take to start a business or build a website. That being said, here are the percentages of how sold domain names are being used:

• Old name servers that I used: 17%
• Domain name does not resolve: 23%
• Registrar landing page: 13%
• Coming soon landing page: 10%
• Forward to another domain name: 21%
• Fully developed website: 16%

Out of these end user sales from 2017 and to date this year, 53% of them are not being used in any way shape or form.  I understand it can take time to develop a website, and I also understand some purchase were made and perhaps plans did not work out or have not come to fruition yet. That being said, it was surprising to me that such a large percentage of domain name I sold to end users over the past 2.5 years are not being used.

Not surprisingly, the highest value domain names are being used more than the lower value domain names.

Keep in mind, I only included domain name sales that I am almost certain are end user sales rather than sales to investors. I did not include any auction sales (I did not do auctions in 2018 or 2019), so it is possible some of those domain names ended up in the hands of end users but are not counted here.

I don’t sell hundreds or thousands of domain names a year, so my numbers are not going to be statistically significant across other portfolios. Put simply, I doubt these percentages would hold true compared to what other investors see, but you are welcome to share what you see across your end user sales. That said, I thought I would share in case anyone finds this interesting.

On occasion, I have read forum posts and even some comments doubting the veracity of reported domain name sales based on the fact that the domain names were not used or developed. Based on what I see from my own end user sales over the last two and a half years, buying a domain name and not doing much with it is more common than I would have thought.

Please note: I am heading out on a 60 mile PMC training ride, so moderated comments might not get approved as quickly as usual.