Lately, domain sellers always seem to be asking each other if others are experiencing a slow down. I haven’t had a bad year, especially considering last year was my worst year by far, but this summer has been pretty slow in terms of domain sale.
From my perspective, it seems that many domain investors aren’t investing as much as they have previously invested in the aftermarket. A number of my clients are in more of a hold mode right now, presumably waiting out this economic storm. This has caused a slow down in my business, and as a result, I am buying less after market domain names. It’s a trickle down effect.
End user companies are still buying domain names as their needs necessitate. Because these needs are demand-based, it is more difficult to close domain sales. It also seems that deals that do close are taking much more time to complete, likely a result of tighter spending.
Because many companies need to spend their entire marketing budget before year-end in order to justify the same (or an increased budget) for the following year, we may see an increase in activity in a month or two. That may be wishful thinking 🙂
In the meantime, I am continuing to build out the websites that I have and continue to market those sites that are operational. Bahamas.co is nearly ready to launch, and I am excited about these prospects.
What have you been seeing in the domain sales market lately?
Yes, it seems like the last several weeks have been slow compared to the first half of 2010. Last year sales picked up in September through November after a slow start. Hopefully we’ll see a repeat this year.
August is generally a slow month anyway, but I have also noticed a lot of great domains being dropped – so many in fact, that I’ve REALLY had to control myself for fear of going broke! Does methadone work for domain after-market addiction?
Elliot – I’m sitting here staring at the Epik.com Developers Conference banner, so its obvious you believe in revenue-generation beyond PPC. I certainly do, and feel you are very smart to continue to built out and monetize your Internet Real Estate instead of wait on outdated revenue models. Your development efforts will reap big rewards in just a few short weeks. More domainers should do the same. Built like there is no tomorrow.
BTW, I own CozumelIsland.com and cant wait to see how Bahamas.CO comes out! No doubt I’ll be jealous.
Jay Lohmann
TagTeamCreative.com
@JALohmann