Review: A year with Dropsystem

[fuzzer]

Review: A year with Dropsystem

As some of you may know, I only 'got into' domains a couple of years ago - spent the first year reading up on everything on Acorn - learnt about 'droplists' and attempted catching a few names with various dropcatchers with various degrees of success (not much to be honest - even lost £xxx with the whole ‘caught.co.uk’ debacle). So about a year ago I decided I wanted to take it a bit more seriously and had heard good reviews on here about Dropsystem's hosted catching. So I exchanged a few messages with Dale (aZooZa) who I found extremely professional, friendly and full of helpful advice.

Opting for a hosted system seemed quite daunting with the £xxxx costs, but with the reviews on here and after speaking with Dale I was pretty excited to go for it. So I gave myself a year's subscription as a bit of a project. I was a little worried about getting set-up as I didn’t have a Nominet membership – but Dale was on hand and made the whole sign-up process simple. After that – the system was set-up quickly and I was given some great instructions on how best to use it and how I could customise the polling times etc.

That year is now up - it was a great experience, I’d load the catcher daily (taking anywhere from 5 to 30 mins to load depending on how thorough you go over a list) – I believe I caught approx. 250 domains ranging from surnames, geos, brandables, LLLs, one words, high DAs etc.

The cost of the year can be broken down like this:
Dropsystem subscription – low £xxxx
Nominet membership – mid £xxx
Caught domain reg fees – approx. 250 x £6 (2 years) - £1500
Total – mid £xxxx

The good news is I’ve already sold about 20+ names, some on here, some on Domainlore and quite a few just from sticking up a sales page with SEDO – I’ve already made my initial costs back and some – and affectively have a portfolio of 200+ domains with reg fees already paid for the next year and a bit. Not bad going!

Here’s some of the names I caught over the year:
tmj
comparequotes
daytripper
amazingbreaks
myarea
vintagebikes
aquis
maxum
loveacademy
expressparcel
specialholidays
classicproperties
myweek
paylater
winafortune
varian
avow
greenfire
greensun
welovedesign
quando
kingsmark
gizbo
tract
beingme
optronics
somehow
hagon
starplan
caravanforum
aphex
numberfour
vivi
londonplasterers
expresscars
garvey
newfashion
urbansolutions
sportschat
kneel
starprize
fourthelement
aeronautics
fairmead
utilitymanagement
pretium
bedgiant
goldenstar
lowbudget
networkexperts
specialedition
threespires
claybury
jobforum
regenersis
traintoteach
southquay
globalassets
sexblog
globalinvestments
advancing
euroimport
vitale
familyweekends
positivequotes
tvchoice
greenerhomes
currencycomparison
driverlesscars
dataextraction
smallbusinessdirectory
storageshelving

+ many more of a similar ilk (just realised this is quite a good way to get them out there, offers always welcome… lol)

The reason I’ve decided to write this review is that regrettably, even after a fantastic year, I’ve decided not to renew my subscription – this is due to time factors for me, I have a full-time job (unfortunately not a desk job where I could get away with loading the catcher during the day), a demanding one-year-old and a stressed out missus. Due to these time constraints, I’ve generally found the time to load the catcher by staying up until the early hours with a couple of beers and watching crap on youtube at the same time…. I’ve absolutely loved it, but if I’d signed up for another year – I think she’d have my balls off. (Also, I’m hoping to spend a bit more time developing 1 or 2 names this year)

I literally gave Dale and Simon no notice of this decision, so knowing that there’s now a spare Dropsystem slot going at the moment and that they’re not pressure salesmen – I thought I’d do the honourable thing and give them the glowing review they deserve. Hope it helps anybody thinking of catching who doesn’t have a clue about the coding (like myself).


P.S. would also like to add – Dale threw in a subscription to DCE.co.uk too – very comprehensive droplists and also has a very interesting feature that I’m sure many here don’t know about – ‘Who Caught What’ – where it shows you what names were caught the previous day and by whom.

Thanks for a fun year Dale and Simon!

 

[aZooZa]

That was very kind of you Simon. Very much appreciated! Due to the nature of the beast we get little publicity, so many thanks!

 

[Brassneck]

That was very kind of you Simon. Very much appreciated! Due to the nature of the beast we get little publicity, so many thanks!

Just to echo the above, I did similarly well with Dale's system. I also have a full time job and family, and in the end just couldn't justify all the extra effort I was spending chasing domains.

Stephen.

 

[aZooZa]

Just to echo the above, I did similarly well with Dale's system. I also have a full time job and family, and in the end just couldn't justify all the extra effort I was spending chasing domains.

Stephen.

Thanks much Stephen!

 

[ian]

Whilst I've not had to pleasure of using Dales system, I have spoken to him a number of times on Skype; never pushy, always helpful and willing to offer advice. In this industry of individuals rather than businesses, Dale is by far the most professional I've dealt with, and feel that is very important when large sums of money are involved.

For myself, the only reason I didn't sign up was because I couldn't justify the cost versus chasing solely premium domains; but from fuzzers approach, he's had the right idea and got the most out of the service. I believe Dropsystem do offer a guarantee though, and work hard to further the development of the script.

 

[aZooZa]

Thank you Ian.

 

[fuzzer]

.

 

[newguy]

Thanks for taking the time to put together that write up. It's always nice to gain insights from other peoples experiences.

 

[Brassneck]

sport am i supposed to be impressed with that list? i can only see about 5 domain i would buy in real life, please explain me what you propose to do with the rest??!!

Well I suppose you have higher standards than most of us.

Do you think he would be better off working in McDonalds too?

http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/forum-news-feedback/131612-brassneck-stepping-down-4.html#post514774

 

[atlas]

if I’d signed up for another year – I think she’d have my balls off

A man should not be pushed around by his wife. Sure, she'll be happy for a while that you did what she wanted, but then she'll find the next thing she wants you to give up. You've done well with dropsystem - renew and repeat what you've done and take it to the next level.

sport am i supposed to be impressed with that list? i can only see about 5 domain i would buy in real life, please explain me what you propose to do with the rest??!!

The funny thing is it doesn't matter what you (or anyone else) thinks about the list - all that matters is money in the bank. And OP is saying he's made good money. It's not a tough choice: making money or impressing others.

 

[lee]

We all know that Roger fella is a bit of a bellend, but in this case I have to agree with him. I can't see anything on that list that fills me with much excitement. I would not reg 95% of them if they were free.

 

[PoshTiger]

I totally understand the decision not to renew again Fuzzer - catching is like a form of gambling - it has the highs and lows and can tend to take over your life.

The number of quality domains dropping is another factor - I've had a quick scan through and I can't see anything I want to chase in the next 7 days, so it's only a single domain with a pre-bid on the 22nd.

I'm also thinking about packing it in - even though I've been pretty successful over the past year because I need to clear £1k in domain sales per month to make it worth my while and I can't see that happening any time soon.

I think I'll give it another month and see how it goes, maybe try another host for my program but if that doesn't work, then I'm out and I'll have a bit more of my life back.

 

[fuzzer]

Thanks for most of the comments so far...

@atlas - many thanks - I like to think I'm just taking a break for a bit.

@ lee - I've noticed you've been selling a few decent names quite cheap lately - would you mind PMing what you have left, I might be able to make some decent offers.

@ posh - if you only go after the obvious ones - there might not be too many most days - but I was finding a few most days that seem to consistently sell for £xxx with not much effort - in fact, things seemed to be getting better in the last few weeks with the dominant tags seemingly not getting everything. I actually caught 4 on my last days catching - was quite a surprise!

@ roger - not sure if that was a serious question or not - but if I need to explain - this whole thing probably isn't for you.

 

[Retired_Member38]

Without seeing a full list of what you registered / sold its hard to read too much into the review. I realise Roger is trolling but he's right in that a fair portion of that list is unimpressive. I wouldn't register the bulk of them right now if they were ftr. CompareQuotes is good... but the list appears to rapidly go downhill from there. Unless of course you sold all the best ones, and didn't include them in that list? If you did, you may want to clarify that. Otherwise its hardly a glowing review... "heres a bunch of poor domains I got, and I won't be paying to renew"

 

[Murray]

I was on dropsystem for a year from 2013-14 and I made many times my money back.

Nothing but good things to say about my experience, return on investment & Dale

That being said, I've held off on commenting on this thread as I find it hard to recommend anyone to start dropcatching atm as things are quite different today compared to 2013 with:

co.uk & .uk splitting

Regularity of good names dropping becoming more sparse

Periods of only a few people using some kind of exploit catching (Darren, Sean etc)

Still money to be made of course, you only need to catch one nice domain in the year to get a good x,xxx figure, but it's just tougher all round.

 

[Lucky Luke]

Regularity of good names dropping becoming more sparse

and there's the rub....

 

[DaveP]

I was on dropsystem for a year from 2013-14 and I made many times my money back.

Nothing but good things to say about my experience, return on investment & Dale

That being said, I've held off on commenting on this thread as I find it hard to recommend anyone to start dropcatching atm as things are quite different today compared to 2013 with:

co.uk & .uk splitting

Regularity of good names dropping becoming more sparse

Periods of only a few people using some kind of exploit catching (Darren, Sean etc)

Still money to be made of course, you only need to catch one nice domain in the year to get a good x,xxx figure, but it's just tougher all round.

This, +1. Not just catching, but UK domaining overall is tougher. Unless you've got a real knack for hand registering, like Federer for example, it's tougher now than ever before imo.

 

[fuzzer]

Without seeing a full list of what you registered / sold its hard to read too much into the review. I realise Roger is trolling but he's right in that a fair portion of that list is unimpressive. I wouldn't register the bulk of them right now if they were ftr. CompareQuotes is good... but the list appears to rapidly go downhill from there. Unless of course you sold all the best ones, and didn't include them in that list? If you did, you may want to clarify that. Otherwise its hardly a glowing review... "heres a bunch of poor domains I got, and I won't be paying to renew"

Fair point about showing them all - I don't agree with your 'bunch of poor domains' quote though - all depends on your business model. From reading ya, you don't strike me as the type to bother selling domains for £xxx - but from my perspective as a relative noob - Ive learnt there's quite an easy/fun market for catching a 'semi-reasonable' domain i.e. generic brandable, 10+ 'not too hard to find' end users - and selling it on.

In regards to your last point - I think I've clearly stated my reasons for not renewing - if you can't 'hear' them, then they may be due to your empathy levels.

What I will add to my original post is: catching has also made me keep constant, daily, track of the whole market. Along the way I've learnt a fair amount about a lot of things, not just domains, and also picked up the odd good deal here and there too.

I'm also pretty happy knowing I have a decent portfolio of names (around 400 altogether) - I like to think that IF (and it's a big IF) I was ever to find myself out of a job - I'd have a nice 'plan B', where as I don't actively sell names too much atm - I'd be fairly confident hoping to sell most for at least low £xxx with a bit of googling, few phone calls and some emails - would be a nice year's work from the comfort of my own home.


I don't think I have too much to hide - so I'll happily share a good chunk more - with respect to my first post - I did say 250 - after a quick tally up I think I actually caught 260+ (although since June last year a fair chunk (70 odd) are the .uk equivalents - I must admit - I probably did just have a quick glance over and pick a list of the 'better' names first time round but I still like em: (I've left out the DAs)


sunbelt
britts
andrei
goldmann
aretes
bluecarbon
aslett
redknapp
skinclinique
bankman
zombierun
broomwell
sexperience
popple
kotak
hipwell
cambell
smeconsultants
judoschool
hugesale
justbrides
studentwelfare
siamesecats
learneasy
brion
rimes
sheng
olsens
mcardles
getpublished
globalview
ambury
sandleford
robeson
zombieattack
waterhall
sanden
greengas
bertling
nayler
karnak
megacorp
gofal
metrogolf
camelia
tantalum
fairhall
gallimore
denbury
triplem
modas
tarka
ayaan
fairmead
brightenergy
kelco
nazareth
urbanweddings
thinkblog
bankguide
hartill
larkspur
fleetwoods
blurayplayers
rhine
megadiscounts
shopcomparison
cableinstallations
savannahs
carthage
rickard
unitstolet
floorfitting
personalmanagement
learndriving
trajan
yourdna
bermudashorts
artbrokerage
piraeus
majestics
smartbot
sexhibition
secureshipping
plast
pcexchange
rosegate
manblog
resplendent
bigsociety
tradewell
boodle
octavo


Some of the above have already sold, some I've already had £xxx offers on and rejected and one has been sold today via Sedo - transfer pending.

 

[fuzzer]

@ murray and dave - are you saying you don't want anymore competition...hmmm?

 

[Admin]

To me being good at catching or registering domains is one thing, being good at selling them is something else. I've sold only one or two domains in the past couple of years as I do nothing more than chuck them on Sedo and wait, I don't even post them here often doh

You seem to have good success with selling, what methods do you use?

Admin


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