Current state of the domain industry

[RobM]

So I've just been looking over a couple of other forums.
There are literally hundreds of people who've entered the market in the past 6 months selling domains basing value on estibot, brandbucket, sedo paid appraisal whatever.
Nobody is buying - everybody is selling. The reason nobody is buying is because these domains are utter pigswill.
Why are these people still here? Any other industry they would be gone.
I notice more and more spreading to acorn - 'hey buy my newly registered premium .top name dasj0ij33.top - estibot value of $10,000 but you can buy it for only $9,999.'
Please......stop......
Am I the only person actually finding it a chore now to deal in this market? You want to buy a premium domain? Forget it - you'll only be offered newly regged rubbish. You want to buy a traffic domain? Forget it - you'll only be offered newly regged rubbish. You want to buy a domain for development? Forget it - you'll only be offered newly regged rubbish. The sad thing is these people have pages and pages of complete rubbish - it galls me to think how much money they are throwing at gospammy.
Anway it's a bit of a rant but it's so depressing time and time again to see such utter bilge thrown around with stupid price tags and no actual quality.
I should add that this has nothing to do with my recent thread where I was, thankfully, only offered proper domains (albeit not many because most people don't appear to be selling).

If you quote Estibot, if you quote paid appraisals, if you sell your domain on flippa, or ebay, or godaddy auction - chances are it's a very poor domain and we don't want it. You're not fooling anyone with glossy logos, large colourful fonts, spiel about domains (as if we don't know and are silly enough to believe it). You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still... well you get the idea.

 

[PaulK]

I've seen this before in the mobile phone industry, i was in at the start and had a good run until 2001 - by 2003 all the bottom feeders came thick and fast, that was the end of that.

The same thing's happening with domains, the smart money jumped ship 2-3 years ago.

There might be a few decent deals to done but no fortunes to be had.

 

[RobM]

Yeah it's quite depressing. Maybe I'll sell up and retire I just wonder how much money these people have to lose before they think it's a bad idea.

 

[dee]

The same thing's happening with domains, the smart money jumped ship 2-3 years ago.

There might be a few decent deals to done but no fortunes to be had.

I bought a premium of a well respected seller a few months ago and in our chats he said exactly the same thing. As someone who's just getting into it makes me wonder whether its worth putting in the learning curve.

 

[Adam H]

Anywhere there is perceived "easy" money to be earnt you'll always get the droves. It's even worse in an industry that promises potential recurring revenue, I remember places like digital point 10 years back, you'd have had a pink fit with that many

 

[PaulK]

I think unless you know something nobody else knows about drop catching, then at best its few quid for a holiday every year........................

i wouldn't be investing the family fortune in domain names.

 

[RobM]

I mean these are some thread titles from other places:
15 years Aged domains for US $ 99 - Estibot value US $ 1200
Prices reduces up to 50%, high estibot or with Domain Authority and/or Page Authority
Premium Dot Org SEXYS.ORG Ck Estibot for Value Please
Over 200 Domains - 95% at Sedo Appraisal Tool Prices

and some words of 'advice':
Look to check for a particular domain name value you can see estibot. Also you can see it's appraisal value and can judge a domain name
The (sedo appraisal) tool does not seem that good or accurate (Estibot seems to show more value often) so there are likely good and bad calls here on prices.

I'm just sitting here shaking my head lol

 

[bluerock]

I'm just sitting here shaking my head lol

Im shaking mine with you!!!

 

[gimpydog]

i wouldn't be investing the family fortune in domain names.

At the moment, I think godaddy stock is probably a better investment for newbies than godaddy domains.

At least you might still have something of value left in 12 months time.

 

[ian]

Probably because the cost of entry into this industry is actually very low. Not that we want higher renewal fees, but it would certainly thin them out.

You have no idea how much what you've said is true, struggling with this at the moment when finding the 'right' domain.

 

[dee]

Probably because the cost of entry into this industry is actually very low. Not that we want higher renewal fees, but it would certainly thin them out.

Although most of the new extensions charged some very premium prices for generics and one worders. They sold no problem. Not to be renewed it seems however.

 

[Sam]

Paul,

Is it that bad for you then ?

I think unless you know something nobody else knows about drop catching, then at best its few quid for a holiday every year........................

i wouldn't be investing the family fortune in domain names.

 

[PaulK]

@wizard

in what way?

i have a few premium .com names which are developed other than that most of my names are non premium catches, caught to flip and earn a few quid like everyone else.

do hope that wasn't my Gerald Ratner moment! (if your under 50 Google him)

To me it's a sideline, the point i was making was that as far as investing large amounts of money in domains for an easy return - that ship sailed a long time ago (imo)

 

[Edwin]

Part of the problem seems to be a rush into the domain market by non-English speakers*
(*as in, English is not their first language - I don't mean they can't speak it at all)

You can see it on this forum by the "flags" that show on a lot of profiles indicating where the users live (and by the content of their posts, of course)

If your command of English is less than 100% it makes the very difficult task of finding domains that might still have value impossible.

(NOTE: above, I'm only talking about domains that are supposedly aimed at English-language markets)

 

[gimpydog]

Probably because the cost of entry into this industry is actually very low.

Price isn't necessarily a barrier. There are plenty of idiots out there prepared to pay $xxx, or even $x,xxx for utter rubbish at some "pump'n'dump" type sites. Then $50/year+ in renewals.

All it takes is a few well placed articles on 'trusted' domaining blogs and, before you know it, half of Asia is knocking at your door.

Whoops, Mustn't give @RobM ideas, though.

 

[bonusmedia]

The more true premiums that filter through to developers/end users the less there will be available - they aren't making any more (outside of new words/concepts/industries such as bitcoin).
As long as I've been buying there has been floods of crap to sort through as soon as I mention a decent budget.
Personally I keep an eye on domainlore and here and might post a wanted thread once a year or so - beyond that I work out what specific names I want and go after them

Why worry about the crap? If people want to waste their money on rubbish and insist it's gold let them, the info is all out there for those with any sense, and those with a bit of humility will find plenty of people willing to give pointers.
The pay rate for arguing with newbie chancers with a poor grasp of English isn't worth it

There are definitely always deals to be done, we've spent more than ever in last 12 months, but my focus is on developed value, not resale - there's a big difference there - a reseller wants lots of potential customers, a developer doesn't care if they're the only possible end user in the world

If you're bored of trading, build something - the idea/planning is the fun bit!

 

[RobM]

The pay rate for arguing with newbie chancers with a poor grasp of English isn't worth it

The pay rate of wading through the crap to find opportunities isn't worth it. I've been in the industry since 2002 and thankfully it was good to me in those early days. A good person on DS gave me advice that made my fortune - he retired from the industry a few years ago because he could see the way things were going. I guess those days are here now. I really think I might just sell up and leave - this has long been a hobby now but I guess if a hobby becomes tiresome it's time to find a new one. So if anyone wants to buy domainview let me know Nah joking aside I think I'm just going to withdraw from participation. Leave these new guys to their .rubbish and estibot values.

 

[PaulK]

its kind of going wrong on 2 fronts - those who actively chase decent .com's will know that "dropcatch/huge domains" seem to be hoovering up everything they can regardless of quality and those they fail to catch fetch crazy premiums on namejet, pheenix and snap

Premium .co.uk domain drops are chased into the ground by some very good catchers and never really see the light of day on here, and to be truthful who on here is paying decent prices for names now!

DL is the catchers only friend unless they put the time in approaching end users and most domainers like the park & wait approach to domaining - and thats on its way out!

 

[ian]

Premium .co.uk domain drops are chased into the ground by some very good catchers and never really see the light of day on here, and to be truthful who on here is paying decent prices for names now!

DL is the catchers only friend unless they put the time in approaching end users and most domainers like the park & wait approach to domaining - and thats on its way out!

Exception to the rule here, the large majority of my catches are sold within days, if not hours, but I'd agree that for most, they still hold for the long game. Has that really been any different though? So many high quality domains registered from pre-1996 that have never had as much as a holding page on them; for me that is a waste, but I can see the appeal from a business perspective; and from a buyers perspective, always nice to buy a aged domain with a clean history.

Would agree Domainlore is invaluable though; a nice means of a quick turnaround at a 'reasonable' price.

Perhaps we are getting towards the later stages of usefulness with domains, but I'm sure this will turn into other opportunities.

 

[martin-s]

Not that we want higher renewal fees, but it would certainly thin them out.

We already have higher renewal fees, and yes, it is thinning the registered domains out!