My Sell Through Rate is Too High

A little while ago, I shared a bit of information about my domain portfolio sell through rate, and I want to add some commentary here. So far this year, I have sold a little more than 3.6% of the domain names in my portfolio. I have fewer than 2,000 domain names in my portfolio. One other fact is that I have acquired almost 3 times the number of domain names as I have sold.

I achieved these sales with a mix of closing deals via inbound inquiry, DAN and Afternic BIN sales and offers, and some highly targeted outbound email efforts.

The 3.6% figure would be decent if I was writing this article in December at the end of the year, but I think it is very high for a mid-year number. If I am being honest with myself, the number is probably much higher than it should be optimally.

Here’s the issue I have. In January, I have no idea how things are going to go. Even if February through June, I don’t really know how it will go. Last year, business was pretty crappy until the late Spring when things got really hot.

I make a living from the domain name business. I also grow my portfolio with the revenue I generate from domain name sales. This means I need to continue to sell domain names to generate the revenue needed for more domain names and to pay myself. Without domain name sales, I can’t do either in a comfortable way. It’s also boring as heck to not sell domain names (in my opinion).

Depending on various circumstances, I might be more aggressive about selling domain names depending on the time of year and how things have been going. Things might be slow in February or May, so I will sell for a less than ideal number. Things may be fantastic, but I just spent 6 figures buying domain names or paying taxes, and I want to drive revenue.

When looking at my stats for the year, things have gone pretty well. However, I think my sell through rate indicates that I am not pricing my domain names optimally.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

8 COMMENTS

  1. Are you happy with ROI in you sell through rate, to me thats more important… As you are adding more inventory to offset the volume sold through, the ROI on the sales made would be a good factor to measure in % terms without sharing revenue details.

  2. “However, I think my sell through rate indicates that I am not pricing my domain names optimally.”

    Like this anonymous troll told you just the other day, Elliot – you have a tendency to undervalue your own domains (even requiring me to occasionally even defend some of them against you the owner no less), while simultaneously overvaluing and buying into group think about ones which are not even your own.

    Keep enjoying my input and God willing it can only lead to your benefit. As well as the cause and the greater good.

    Cheers. 😉

    • Shorter domains are best. Long-tailed four and five word domains have little to no market value. Just look at sales stats over at dnjournal for proof

      • Long-tailed domains are worthless, at least from a sales perspective. You obviously haven’t been paying attention over the years.

        If there’s going to be real trolls here can’t we do any better than this?

  3. “This means I need to continue to sell domain names to generate the revenue needed for more domain names and to pay myself”

    The the big issue about your business- you need to sell and you need to replenish your inventory, the Q is…is it sustainable–always chasin the tail.
    So how much do you pay yourself?

    I can sense there is so much stress if domaining is a full time job. As for me, this is a BS stress free hobby and best of all, making money having fun…

  4. I feel domaining isn’t sustainable business which is why I turned several of my domain names into developed websites that bring in reoccurring revenue. I would love to be a full time domainer and not run websites, but it’s all about luck and timing. My 2 cents though.

    • I don’t know if I could do this as a full time business if I started today. I think it’s gotten to be much more expensive to compete on auctions and private acquisitions. I am fortunate to have built my portfolio to where it’s at, which has enabled continued growth.

      I think it would be very expensive to start a domain investment business today with the goal of doing it as a full time business.

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