Despite the recession in US economy and a certain amount of uncertainty in the domaining market July 08 have been pretty good for me. I had around $50k in sales, with over 2/3 of it being profit. While most sales were private and the buyers preferred to keep them confidential, couple of the top sales are through public auctions so I can mention them here:
Dickinson.com $12K on Bido
Krom.com $5,5k through AfterNic
Harlot.com $5145 on Bido (I owned 50% of this one)
I rarely disclose my earnings and report sales, however I feel this is needed to encourage others to see the hidden opportunities in domaining. What I like most about the industry are the large gaps. Appraisals always range widely and so do auctions and sales, it’s not unusual to see domains being resold for 2x and more shortly after.
For example I purchased the domain tude.com for $1k several months ago. It was clearly a bargain, however the state of the cvcv.com domains was such at that time that many bargains were available and there are still many, (this price might look low, but at the same time I saw another premium cvcv.com domain sold for just $25 (!?!) on domainstate, only to be resold for ~$3k few days later). Shortly after that I sold the domain for $3750 on dnforum and only a week later it was resold again for $7400! The domain also had significant type in traffic and revenue, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it change hands for a higher amount again.
The opportunities are countless and they are all out there for those who are ready make the effort and seize them!
I would be interested in knowing how you find most of your buyers. Or do they find you?
Thanks for sharing, nice to see what kind of results people are getting.
I’ve actually got some of my best deals in domains this year. Out of the blue, a drop company emailed me if I wanted to buy the .com versions of two domains I owned in .ca and .info. They started out asking high xxx but ended up selling to me for $100 each without much negotiation. One was a real estate domains (cityname + homes), and the other was a one word .com
also got a decent geo .com in a forum (a two word place name with a dash), and a medical term .org in a forum
There are bargains out there if you look, and sometimes they fall in your lap.
Sure there is money to be made.
Positive mindset is the key
Its nice to see somebody making money Domaining. You wouldn’t want to tell everybody your secrets? Hell if I did that much in one month a year I’d be set.
Yeah Tude.com was a nice flip indeed. 🙂
Great article Michael, looking forward to doing business again soon!
Best regards,
Stian
Good stuff, Michael!
IMHO there are no secrets …
There are the rules of demand and supply, ICANN, IANA, WIPO, W3C, etc.
Some “FingerSptzenGefuhl” is necessary, too.
IMHO best deals comes from buyers initiatives.
Success further on!