Earlier this week, I shared that I have been expanding my non-.com domain portfolio, and that I sold one of those domain names via Afternic. The domain name was transferred from my account at Namecheap, and I am awaiting the confirmation and payment emails from Afternic.
This is my first non-.com domain name sale since my .XYZ domain name sale back in 2022.
I have been expanding my non .com portfolio.
I have a non-.com domain name “On Hold” at @afternic. I paid a little more than $250 this year, and it’s pending sale at $4,595.
If it closes, it would be my first non-.com sale since my .XYZ sale in 2022.
🤞🤞🤞
— Elliot Silver (@DInvesting) May 27, 2024
Although I am not going to share the domain name or extension, I will say that I did not sell a .XYZ domain name. I want to expand a bit on why I am increasing my non-.com holdings.
From my vantage point, inventory-quality .com domain names are considerably more expensive to buy. The prices on expiry auctions have climbed over the last several years, and the overall ROIs have come down. Yes, I can still buy a name for $400 and re-sell it for $5,000 for a decent ROI, but if I am buying 10 of those a week, the portfolio costs have grown. I am still competing to buy .com domain names daily, but I am more strategic about those buys. I am banking on having a higher STR with non-.com domain names, albeit at a lower price point.
I have also seen many startups using non .com domain names. These might not be their ideal domain names, but they’re using them for better or worse. In looking at expiry auctions on Namecheap, Dynadot, GoDaddy, Sav, NameJet and others, there are decent prices to be had on meaningful keywords in non .com extensions. I believe I can pick up inventory-quality non-.com domain names at better prices right now. Mind you, my portfolio is still relatively small at around 2,000 total domain names.
I don’t consider any of the alternative extensions to be highly desired or premium. For instance, I wouldn’t list any of these domain names on my corporate investment portfolio page. As far as I am concerned, my non-.com purchases are generally in the $20 – $300 range with an expectation to sell for $1,000 – $5,000 +/-. These are inventory-quality domain names that I will be happy to churn.
Every day, I am still trying to buy good .com domain names in auctions and via private acquisitions. I am still a “.com maxi” if you will. When I see a funded, consumer-facing startup using a non-.com, it makes me grimace.
However, I’ve been buying some decent keyword domain names in non-.com extensions, and while this one sale could be an aberration, my bet is the return on my investment will be decent.
That’s great! 🙂 Now, I understand the withholding of the name. Could you share the reason the extension is being withheld? I only ask because it could be eye opening and educational for many of us.
How would it be eye opening and educational?
Some domainers may assume there’s an extension they’d think would never sell on the aftermarket. For an example, I picked up a name in auction recently which I thought was actually quite funny and just for that reason alone. Want to know what it was? BedBugs.WTF – It’s ridiculous. I buy .com’s mainly like 1 worders or high quality 2 worders. Shockingly, 4 days later someone actually reached out on my Efty page and inquired on purchasing (waiting for a response). That opened my eyes a little more and it tells me really, end users will buy just about anything if the keywords somewhat works. Did anybody reading this, find this interesting? I don’t know. Do you feel maybe revealing the extension will kill your deal? You’ve been in this business a longtime and I ask this so we all can learn from you 🙂
I reread my previous comment and forgot to mention not just 1 worders or 2 worders but some 3 and 4 worders and various extensions. A variety of different types of names. Many were for future projects, documentaries, humor, some for resale and 3 industry niches I buy lots of names for.
Fortunately, I received the transfer completed and funds sent emails yesterday.
Sharing any details will give my (private) data to people who will use it to find similar types of domain names that I am also trying to buy.
Oh, I understand now. If the sale report came out with the extension possibly not being exactly super common, so that if you mentioned the extension, people can sorta link it to you figuring out the keyword(s) and then figure out the rest of your portfolio to get an idea of the types of names you buy for mainly the churning side of business (which affects cost). Did I get it right? If yes, that helped me understand more on that side of business and that maintaining privacy is better in some cases. 🙂
Additionally, I only see several domain names of this caliber on the auction block each week. Giving the domain investor public this intel would likely bring at least a few additional speculative bidders into the fold. It would either cost me more money to compete or cause me to lose out on domain names. All of that would come with no benefit to my business.
Additionally, I only see several domain names of this caliber on the auction block each week. Giving the domain investor public this intel would likely bring at least a few additional speculative bidders into the fold. It would either cost me more money to compete or cause me to lose out on domain names. All of that would come with no benefit to my business.
What extension?
Dumb.. roll
The extension is dot BS
When I think of extension I think of the big pile of BS and then the other smaller pile of BS along the way in the toilet
Thanks dad you are my hero
If the extension sold was ORG, NET, AI, IO, CO… Elliot would say so. There is only one extension on the market with enough controversy to silence it.
You guess? Bingo!
That’s not a good assumption.
The only hint I gave about the extension is “I did not sell a .XYZ domain name.”
gtld registries are crooks on their TOS