investing in domains

[quiet]

say you had a couple 100K you wanted to invest in domains... what would you concentrate on? adult vs mainstream, type-ins vs marketability/brandability (is that a word?), etc? this is one area i've pretty much ignored over the years, and is now something i want to learn more about.

i KNOW some of you have thoughts and opinions etc on this topic. let's hear them. please.

[Sly_RJ]

I have www.quiet.com. Interested? It's hush hush.

[jimmy3way]

Invest in the stock market, dude.

[chowda]

i think its harder to brand a domain rather than to have one that is just type in.

i still remember seeing the superbowl commercials for computers.com... now they dont exist anymore.

type ins are good. like porn.com milf.com or casino.com

but everything is IMO

I would personally go for very short, simple, type-in mainstream domains

[Krome]

Ask yourself this...would you have bothered to buy www.google.com ?

In my opinion a domain is only what you build there.

Although I suppose like property even an used piece of land in a decent area is worth cash.

[quiet]

i've plenty of cash invested elsewhere. this is just something i've recently become interested in, looks like a good hobby that also can pay off.

buying up type-in domains sounds very interesting. keep the comments coming

[KRL]

Since you have the resources Quiet, I would go for some mint domains. Cut a well structured deal so you can leverage your money either using time and / or opm. That way you can work it just like a real estate deal.

[RRRED]

I've had the privelage of being close to several people and companies who invest large sums of money into domains. You just gotta know what you're realistically capable of when it comes to building them if that's what you're buying them for.

Typeins are always safe if you have something in place where you can send the traffic to so you know you won't have to mess with turning them into a full time job.

Actually.... if you have a few minutes of free time soon I'd like to ask you a couple questions regarding your interest.

[KRL]

Originally posted by Krome
Ask yourself this...would you have bothered to buy www.google.com ?

In my opinion a domain is only what you build there.

Although I suppose like property even an used piece of land in a decent area is worth cash.

Not a good assement Krome.

A top domain is like buying a vacant lot on 5th Ave in NYC. You don't have to build squat on it. That land is worth a fortune with nothing on it.

Of course if you build a skyscraper on your vacant lot it will be worth even more.

[Freakster]

If you have the time and energy I have free-sex.com that could be a great domain to invest in.. bought it for a bundle a couple years ago though... never had the time to work on it..

[KRL]

There's a couple of really nice major domains people are interested in cashing out on. All 7 figs and higher.

[SleazyDream]

there's gota be tons of low but good traffic porn urls close to your niche that you could buy cheap and redirect to your main site.......

problem is finding them - although I've sceen programs that can do that

[ad-lib]

I don't have to answer this hypothetically. As this is what I have been doing for the past few years. Basically I tend to focus on generic type-in domains. This is limited to mainstream only, I suppose because I have no real experience in the adult industry. Additionally - The owners of generic premium adult domains tend to have irrational prices. Meanwhile, you can find a clueless, unsuspecting mainstream domain owner either desperate or oblivious to the gold mine he is sitting on. In addition to generic mainstream (popular one/two worders) I also like two and three letter domains. Lots of large companies are making this transition. In efforts of having something more memorable -- and easier to access. In example - Burger King owns BK.com, etc.

I say it's a safe and stable market.

Good luck in the game, it's thrilling!

[stocktrader23]

Originally posted by KRL
There's a couple of really nice major domains people are interested in cashing out on. All 7 figs and higher.

KRL, do you invest in anything that makes good money and what are your requirements before you would do business with someone?

[stocktrader23]

Originally posted by quiet
say you had a couple 100K you wanted to invest in domains... what would you concentrate on? adult vs mainstream, type-ins vs marketability/brandability (is that a word?), etc? this is one area i've pretty much ignored over the years, and is now something i want to learn more about.

i KNOW some of you have thoughts and opinions etc on this topic. let's hear them. please.

When do you want that ultra low risk 10% return to start coming in?

[Crypto]

Quiet I know you already know this, and if you dont, then you should.


ANYTHING in this world depreciates in value except for one thing.








Land.





I own 247 acres in Florida I was left by my parents, I have never seen it, I know where its at, I know what its worth, and I have seen the estimates for it in 15 years. Its only 5 miles outside of Naples Florida.


CHA CHING.


Domain name what? pffft.

[stocktrader23]

Originally posted by Crypto
Quiet I know you already know this, and if you dont, then you should.


ANYTHING in this world depreciates in value except for one thing.

Land.

I own 247 acres in Florida I was left by my parents, I have never seen it, I know where its at, I know what its worth, and I have seen the estimates for it in 15 years. Its only 5 miles outside of Naples Florida.


CHA CHING.


Domain name what? pffft.

In other words you are in real estate because your parents gave you land? And you question someone investing the money they have worked for in something else. pffft.

[goBigtime]

Originally posted by quiet
say you had a couple 100K you wanted to invest in domains... what would you concentrate on? adult vs mainstream, type-ins vs marketability/brandability (is that a word?), etc? this is one area i've pretty much ignored over the years, and is now something i want to learn more about.

i KNOW some of you have thoughts and opinions etc on this topic. let's hear them. please.

I have a unique money making idea for investing in domains.

Nobody here will come close to what this is about.

If you (or anyone else) would consider a partner of sorts on such a venture, lmk.



edit: I was going to say foolproof.. but never underestimate the power of a true fool

[Crypto]

No, because I know that right now as I type the land has been valued at $6,000 an acre, and in 15 years time it was estimated to be worth 11,000 an acre. Naples is the money pot in Florida, alot of stars have homes there. Land there is very valuable.

Doesnt matter how I got the land, he wants a way to invest money, hes looking for ideas, he is thinking domain names, i threw an idea out so go piss off.

[gideongallery]

Instead of investing in domain names invest in the whole package ask for a business plan what do you want to do with the domain. When i buy domains i buy them for a specific purpose.
(ie seekingsponsors.com was bought to create a pay per click search engine for sponsor ship programs). My problem is that i have to many domains sitting on the back burner because i just don't have time to get to them yet.
i host subdomains on a free host and submit to the tgps (it covers the registration cost until i have time to develop the sites)

[slapass]

Originally posted by Crypto
Quiet I know you already know this, and if you dont, then you should.


ANYTHING in this world depreciates in value except for one thing.








Land.





I own 247 acres in Florida I was left by my parents, I have never seen it, I know where its at, I know what its worth, and I have seen the estimates for it in 15 years. Its only 5 miles outside of Naples Florida.


CHA CHING.


Domain name what? pffft.

Your stupid statement filter is broken. J/K but tons fo shit goes up in value besides land.

Raw land is one of the hardest investments for most people since it has a negative cash flow.

[stocktrader23]

Originally posted by Crypto
No, because I know that right now as I type the land has been valued at $6,000 an acre, and in 15 years time it was estimated to be worth 11,000 an acre. Naples is the money pot in Florida, alot of stars have homes there. Land there is very valuable.

Doesnt matter how I got the land, he wants a way to invest money, hes looking for ideas, he is thinking domain names, i threw an idea out so go piss off.

No you knocked the idea of investing in domain names even though there are many millionaires from just that. And I don't think their domain portfolios were left to them by their parents.

[Crypto]

More people have gone broke buying domain names to invest in then people who make money from them.

[stocktrader23]

Originally posted by Crypto
More people have gone broke buying domain names to invest in then people who make money from them.

Gee ya think? Go look at the list of shit domains dropping every single day. That would be like paying $50,000.00 for a shack in the ghetto.

[swami]

I have invested in domain names.
I made $200,000 profit in 6 months buying domains. I have over 700 domains at the moment.Most wont sell but it only takes the sale of 1 for $1000 to pay for 100 of them.

Most of the ones I bought I paid only rego fee but I am now turning my attention to better higher grade domains and have bought a few .Probably paid too much for them but I figure patience is the key and they can only go up in value.Better than bank interest I reckon.

[SomeCreep]

Originally posted by Krome
Ask yourself this...would you have bothered to buy www.google.com ?

I would've. That would make a good domain for selling "baby/toddler" merchandise.

[Freakster]

Originally posted by swami
I have invested in domain names.
I made $200,000 profit in 6 months buying domains. I have over 700 domains at the moment.Most wont sell but it only takes the sale of 1 for $1000 to pay for 100 of them.

Most of the ones I bought I paid only rego fee but I am now turning my attention to better higher grade domains and have bought a few .Probably paid too much for them but I figure patience is the key and they can only go up in value.Better than bank interest I reckon.

Indeed patience is the key.. I don't have as many domain names.. 93.. but most are real good or bought.. free-sex.com costed me 20k$ which was high but I figure that with some seo work it can pay back real quick.. I'm just too busy to get doing it.. not for nothing I have 40 posts in a year and a half. :p

[ad-lib]

No you knocked the idea of investing in domain names even though there are many millionaires from just that. And I don't think their domain portfolios were left to them by their parents.

I have invested in domain names.
I made $200,000 profit in 6 months buying domains.

Nice profit margin - But buying draw.net for $12,000? Pass that good shit.

[swami]

Originally posted by ad-lib

Nice profit margin - But buying draw.net for $12,000? Pass that good shit.

I don't know your source but 12000 is actually 50% wrong.

Time will tell how good the shit was .

[Freakster]

Originally posted by swami


I don't know your source but 12000 is actually 50% wrong.

Time will tell how good the shit was .

6k$.. or 24k$

watcha think of my free-sex.com for 20k$? some say it's too high some say it's a good deal.. no one seems to have a good argument though :p

[KRL]

Originally posted by stocktrader23


KRL, do you invest in anything that makes good money and what are your requirements before you would do business with someone?

I usually only invest in my own deals now. Its very hard to find people who will be more diligent than me.

[nap]

good question.
if i had 100k i think i would invest more in mainstream because you never really know which site/idea/concept will make it to the ultimate goal (in my case being featured on oprah). i would def. buy with the intention of brandability instead of type in because if its a phrase or slang than with time those do change. i wouldn't put all 100k into mainstream though, have at least 20% invested in adult because it's not going anywhere. whenever i have 100k to invest in domains i will tell you what i did with it

[nap]

what type in value did www.ebay.com have before they created what they have? none. brandability. another example x + box = xbox.com cmon real original name there but ms branded it well.

[swami]

Originally posted by Freakster



watcha think of my free-sex.com for 20k$? some say it's too high some say it's a good deal.. no one seems to have a good argument though :p

Mate I am no judge on the value of domains.KRL is the man best credentialled for that.
It definetly would be worth that without the hyphen.
I do think you could do a lot more with it now than what you are,and without any more work .
You could approach sex.com and see if they want to manage it for you or at least stick some viagra ads , penis enlargement pills and other sex aids on it would be my quick evaluation.

[Ash@phpFX]

i believe abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com is for sale, i bet it gets some type in traffic too, hell, i typed it in

[Mr.Fiction]

Originally posted by swami


Mate I am no judge on the value of domains.KRL is the man best credentialled for that.

KRL paid a million dollars for a domain, that doesn't automatically make him an expert on telling you the value of domains, it makes him an expert on setting the value of a domain.

[swami]

Originally posted by Mr.Fiction


KRL paid a million dollars for a domain, that doesn't automatically make him an expert on telling you the value of domains, it makes him an expert on setting the value of a domain.

I think he has the track record of already knowing how much he can make off a name.

[Freakster]

Originally posted by asher
i believe abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com is for sale, i bet it gets some type in traffic too, hell, i typed it in

a "stupid" type in domains could be fuckyoubitch.com or even bitchonwheels.com, which I both own thanks to booze. :p

[Freakster]

Originally posted by swami


Mate I am no judge on the value of domains.KRL is the man best credentialled for that.
It definetly would be worth that without the hyphen.
I do think you could do a lot more with it now than what you are,and without any more work .
You could approach sex.com and see if they want to manage it for you or at least stick some viagra ads , penis enlargement pills and other sex aids on it would be my quick evaluation.

Well thanks alot for both your honesty and the tips ;) I know it can do much more.. with nothing on it it was pr4 and getting traffic.. but I trashed it with that new 2-word+banner page I've put on a day I was tired of looking for an idea... I should probably get a seo expert to work on it or something, alot of people say free-sex.com would be better than freesex.com seo wize..

[Mutt]

there are people who made big money by registering great domain names before the rest of the world realized the Internet was going to become what it has. Write off those people, their experience was a once in a lifetime deal and has no bearing on what the domain biz is now.

I want to know what kind of returns people have been making on their domain portfolios since 2000. Like the people who bought drugs.com for a million or whatever it sold for, what is it worth today? Gotta believe the same million invested in real estate or the stock market grew alot more.

[KRL]

Originally posted by Mr.Fiction


KRL paid a million dollars for a domain, that doesn't automatically make him an expert on telling you the value of domains, it makes him an expert on setting the value of a domain.

Yep exactly right.

Does anyone actually believe a painting is really worth $75 Milllion? Or a diamond which in actuality is just carbon is worth $5 Million?

Its all about creating a sense reality from unreality.

[BRISK]

Originally posted by Mutt
there are people who made big money by registering great domain names before the rest of the world realized the Internet was going to become what it has. Write off those people, their experience was a once in a lifetime deal and has no bearing on what the domain biz is now.

I want to know what kind of returns people have been making on their domain portfolios since 2000. Like the people who bought drugs.com for a million or whatever it sold for, what is it worth today? Gotta believe the same million invested in real estate or the stock market grew alot more.

Would be interesting to know how much business.com has made since it sold for $7.5 million in '99

[KRL]

Originally posted by swami

I think he has the track record of already knowing how much he can make off a name.

I know marketing more than anything.

[KRL]

Originally posted by BRISK


Would be interesting to know how much business.com has made since it sold for $7.5 million in '99

The original guys who had women.com pulled an $850 Million IPO using it.

[bawdy]

ha ha wrong thread

[swami]

Originally posted by BRISK


Would be interesting to know how much business.com has made since it sold for $7.5 million in '99

What I have heard on the grapevine is that only $400,00 changed hands for business.com.
The $7.5 mill was a publicity stunt.

[quiet]

sleazy: i agree.

stock: ultraquiet at mac dot com (though honestly not too interested in going into partnership/group deals. at all

crypto: a couple hundred k is less than 5% of my net. i already have millions invested in real estate and land... but thanks anyway

[Mr.Fiction]

Originally posted by KRL


Yep exactly right.

Does anyone actually believe a painting is really worth $75 Milllion? Or a diamond which in actuality is just carbon is worth $5 Million?

Its all about creating a sense reality from unreality.

I believe a painting is worth $75 million the moment David Geffen or Steve Wynn pays that much for it. Like Men.com.

[lock]

my current thoughts on domain values.
so many factors these days go so unappreciated. The original cost of a domain should be considered and length of time registered also with domains originally costing $35 x years the amount of traffic the wholesale value of traffic available. Even buying to sell is a good decision but with the right business plan.


At present with the market as it is a domain is most likely worth as much as its traffic. Non english speaking web traffic at wholesale 10,000 hits are worth $1 and english speaking 10,000 hits for $10. A newly registered domain is selling for $10
but has 0 hits unless that was getting unknown type ins it would need to hit the figures above to make whole sale traffic price.
Type ins would be a more likely success to a smaller active resell amount. Branding is where the real money has been known with domains selling for $1000s

we assume an english domain with 10,000 english speaking hits is worth more than $10 it is but you can pay that for traffic. To be selling something is what it will take to make it worth more and for that it needs a webmaster.

$10 will be lucky to buy you an hour of labour on the web.

If your buying keyword domains for type ins you will need to point them to programs to pay for the domain and investment.
EG if you bought NYdating.net LAdating.net you would want ot actually be directing them too dating sites to make up the investment.

After saying all this it is brandnames that have gone for the big dollars a small company offline with a name suddenly does well meanwhile the domain is owned buy another business in another country same name smaller market. They get offer big dollars to sell.

For every domain you buy i would recommend some sort of develepment or traffic redirection to spend 100K on names alone
would mean you have millions to achive your goals of development it would be best to invest a lesser amount on domains alone. A domain is said to be worth 4 months its income
i personally would see value of up to 2 years its worth.

Better to buy build sell. It would be better to buy a few run them with the prfits hire more man power to run more to their full potential. Buying tonnes of names eg 100k would be tough to last 12 months before another 100k are up and make 100k of sales.


On another thought a question that pends every year is to which domains should we reregister and which do we let lapse and see what happens and register it later if needed. Every domain i tried this with got snapped up in days of becoming available.