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Draperism

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Hi, I decided to start this thread either to meet and greet and to give some in depth point of view about this industry.
I lurked about it in the forum but i didn't found exactly what i experienced about this lucrative industry.

My journey started 4 years ago, during a physical recover after a car accident. As a former Realtor i was looking something that could leverage with my experience and with my surprise I landed on some contents about people who was trading domain names for profit.

This was mindblowing for me because i started to see many similarities with my previous business.

Domain Industry has been declared "dead" several times, but reborn like a phoenix does.

I started to dig deep, reading, and literally eating every kind of information i could digest (i bought my first domain after 30 days of full immersion on thread and topic all over the web)

I want to make a bit of clarity about "What Domaining Offers" as side hustle or more large investments.

There are mainly 4 kind of BUSINESS MODELS:

CATEGORY KILLER

This is the most expensive business model where the keywords are the exact match of a niche, service or product

Hemp.com
VirtualReality.com
Drone.com

These are the most valuable domains that you can only own if you have a large capital to invest or if you were a visionary decades+ ago


KEYWORD DOMAINS

These type of names are what people 'search' for. Their value is based on keyword search.
They differentiate from KILLER DOMAINS because they are a specific subset of keyword.

CbdOil.com is a subset of CBD.com
HotelsNearMe.com is a subset of Hotels.com

If you want to invest in these kind of domains you only want to buy keyword that have medium to high competition in ad and above 1000 in search volume


GEOs DOMAINS

These are a domains that represent a product/service targeting a particular city, town, state or Country

ChicagoWindows.com
LondonPhotography.com
NewYorkCitySeo.com


These are domains that most of 'domainers' love to flip even if they have a big disadvantage cause they have the lowest ROI in the market most of the times as often need OUTBOUNDS to be sold.


BRANDABLE

This is the 'last but not least' category in Domaining. The Business model that made domaining so 'Hot' in last few years but too many times misunderstood.

These are usually a joined keyword/phrases or Keyword that match well together like Colour+Animal. They can be also business niche combined (mash-up) with an adjective, noun or verb.

Intellizone.com (Intelligent+Zone)
HempWave.com (Niche+Word)
VrHome.com (Niche+Word)
FlowFox.com
BlueBird.com


Brandable domains are one of the most difficult but lucrative types of domains to invest in. They are lucrative because they can typically can be acquired for lesser amount than other types, but on the other hand give most of the times a HUGE ROI. Most brandable domains don't usually have an existing end-user so you are investing on these with the hope of a startup naming their company with the matching name.

Advantages:

- Lower acquisition
- Still plenty to be handregistered
- Has potential for the biggest ROI

Disadvantages:

-Very low chance to sell them actively
-Can take a long time to sell
-Low precentage of sellthrough rate

This could be the best business model if your at a low budget.


Price-Points and Sweet Spots

- $1000-3000 sale price : Acquired for between handreg-$50

- $3000-5000 sale price : Acquired for between handreg-$250

-$5000-10000 sale price: Acquired for between handreg-$750


This last one was my main business model on domaining and even if its not supposed be my definitive Business i consider it a great side business/investment to have a deeper understanding of the market online.

Its far to be a "Get Rich Quick scheme" and you have to do your homework before to invest in, but i can state based on my personal experience of hundreds fo sales
that can be approached in a very lucrative way if you master all the nuances.

Hope it helped...

If you have some questions or you want discuss it i am happy to respond..

Best,
G.
 
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Kid

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I have nothing against You but i kind of hate domain "buy for resale" market.
It just makes obstacles for new businessman, that otherwise could offer products or services with good names.

But i understand it.
I myself have a one 6 letter domain that i don't use right now and won't sell (unless for $1m ;) ).
Even once some poor guy offered me 80 bucks for it.
Still makes me sad thinking that someone wanted it but couldn't afford it.

Anyway, nice write-up @Draperism
 

Draperism

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I have nothing against You but i kind of hate domain "buy for resale" market.
It just makes obstacles for new businessman, that otherwise could offer products or services with good names.

Let's suppose you want to invest in Real Estate, so you call the Realtor so that he can show you a nice house that looks underpriced, something that give you the chance to achieve your "fat marginal profit"

On the other hand, there is a brand new couple (the sweet wife is also pregnant) ...and unfortunately they want to rent this house to eventually live the life of their dreams...

Nobody would dream to judge the "poor" investor, he's just doing his job...
Job?? What Job? He's investing in Real Estate bro! Ah ok...

It just makes obstacles for new businessman, that otherwise could offer products or services with good names.

Just to clarify...when you look for a shiny name for your unicorn startup, the registrar will tell you "You are lucky Bro! Your name is available! It will cost you only $10...wait Are you asking my money??? So let's clarify the "Available" meaning

I myself have a one 6 letter domain that i don't use right now and won't sell (unless for $1m ;) ).
Even once some poor guy offered me 80 bucks for it.
Still makes me sad thinking that someone wanted it but couldn't afford it.

So in 7 lines , you made a statement and its contrary...

Best,
G.
 
Last edited:

Shamira M

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Thank you for this write up. I mostly only buy domains that I intend on using but I came across a job posting on Upwork today that caught my eye. Did a little research and saw that Glovo who recently opened up shop in my country were yet to buy the domain since it was available. Not sure what the chances are that they’d buy it considering they don’t even own glovo . Com but we’ll see.
 
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Draperism

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Thank you for this write up. I mostly only buy domains that I intend on using but I came across a job posting on Upwork today that caught my eye. Did a little research and saw that Glovo who recently opened up shop in my country were yet to buy the domain since it was available. Not sure what the chances are that they’d buy it considering they don’t even own glovo . Com but we’ll see.

Hi Shamira,
I'm looking that Glovo.com it is not for sale, cause its developed (bad...but developed) so Glovo is now redirecting its business on GlovoApp.com
 

Draperism

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Glovo who recently opened up shop in my country were yet to buy the domain since it was available

Im not sure what you mean by this, maybe that if Glovo opens up, let's say in Poland, they have to own Glovo.pl?

Actually it doesnt work like that, cause register a name in whatever extension after a 'brand' has been trademarked could lead to a Legal Issue called URDP
 

Shamira M

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Hi Shamira,
I'm looking that Glovo.com it is not for sale, cause its developed (bad...but developed) so Glovo is now redirecting its business on GlovoApp.com
Yeah I saw that too. But that’s not the one. Mine is glovokenya.com which is why I said I’m uncertain they’d be interested in it since they don’t operate under the .com minus the app redirect.
 
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Shamira M

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Im not sure what you mean by this, maybe that if Glovo opens up, let's say in Poland, they have to own Glovo.pl?

Actually it doesnt work like that, cause register a name in whatever extension after a 'brand' has been trademarked could lead to a Legal Issue called URDP
Oh I didn’t know that. They actually already own glovo.co.ke so I guess they settled on that.
 

Draperism

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Oh I didn’t know that. They actually already own glovo.co.ke so I guess they settled on that.

Yes. That was only a way to point that investing (register or acquiring) on existing brand names hoping to gain traction by its traffic is not a Good Strategy.

It's a Zero Sum strategy and is also can be CyberSquatting cause you're trying to steal the value of the brand to make a profit.

Of course this is valid only for the "Big Players" or for those who have a solid business.

If you like a name, let's say, Buildo.com and a local russian company got a business on Buildo.ru that doesnt prevent you to acquire or register Buildo.com (dont look for it is not available :)
 

Kid

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Let's suppose you want to invest in Real Estate, so you call the Realtor so that he can show you a nice house that looks underpriced, something that give you the chance to achieve your "fat marginal profit"

On the other hand, there is a brand new couple (the sweet wife is also pregnant) ...and unfortunately they want to rent this house to eventually live the life of their dreams...

Nobody would dream to judge the "poor" investor, he's just doing his job...
Job?? What Job? He's investing in Real Estate bro! Ah ok...



Just to clarify...when you look for a shiny name for your unicorn startup, the registrar will tell you "You are lucky Bro! Your name is available! It will cost you only $10...wait Are you asking my money??? So let's clarify the "Available" meaning



So in 7 lines , you made a statement and its contrary...

Best,
G.
I know what you are talking about. I've been on both sides of this.

I don't want to sound too "feely" but what it seems is that people that just start in doing businesses are in disadvantage.

For many of them shelving out 3 thousands for a domain name is out of the scope.

Those who buy domains in large quantity, break even at selling 1 domain in 300(*).

This means that 300 new businesses don't have good domain without investor even making a dime of profit.

(*) assuming that one domain costs $10 and one sale is for $3000
 

Draperism

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This means that 300 new businesses don't have good domain without investor even making a dime of profit.

(*) assuming that one domain costs $10 and one sale is for $3000

I guess you are 'assuming' too much..
First you are giving for granted that if I register a domain name for $10 (let's say homeforrentals123.com) that's a name with value and consequently I am preventing a new investor from doing business with a 'good' name? FALSE

Second. Let's suppose i find a good domain and in a year a new investor pays me $x,xxx to acquire it.
It means that I am good at Mining quality like the old goldminers and I deserve to be paid for it, because (and this will blow your mind) most of my deals (hundreds of them) they conlcluded with a win-win feeling...like all the end-users that take advantage of great brandable marketplace to find their perfect name, like BrandBucket.com or SquadHelp.com to name a few.
 
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Ahmet1054

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Hi everyone,

As a side hustle, I bought some domains. I have my own method of picking and choosing domains. But I'm interested to know about your method? What criteria do you use to buy a domain? What sites/services/tools do you use? Are you paying for those services?

Thanks
 

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