Today: The floor price of a 3-character .com’s / ChandlerProject.org sold for $9,211 / Buying A Gaming Domain – 1 or 2 Word Brandable – Budget: Up to $6,000.00 / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Buying 4L, 5L or 6L, only listed or approved on brandPa/brandBucket – Be sure to check your portfolio for one of these brandable four, five, or six letter domains. This buyer has a max budget of $300.00.

Buying Brandable domains – 5L.com, 6L.com – Do you have any five or six-letter, brandable, .com’s that meet this buyers guideline you would liquidate for up to a quick $30.00?

Fired.info – It’s a short, five-letter, .info gTLD that could be businesses or recreational related. Do you think that’s enough to give this domain value in today’s market? What is it worth?

Buying A Gaming Domain – 1 or 2 Word Brandable – Budget: Up to $6,000.00 – Be sure to triple-check your portfolio for a gaming domain name that meets this buyers specified criteria.

The floor price of a 3-character .com’s – Are you researching or investing into three-character .com domains? Check out what other like-minded investors are saying the floor value is and share your own thoughts.

ChandlerProject.org sold for $9,211 – That’s not a bad fifteen-letter, two-word, .org gTLD sales report for a high-four-figures. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than what it sold for?

Share your LLL.io domains without UHFYZQV – Are you investing in three-letter .io ccTLD’s and have some that don’t include the following letters: UHFYZQV? If so, share what you have and check out what other investors own.

Keyword domain or brandable. Dot com or ccTLD. Niche-specific metrics. Domain-specific metrics (age, past sales prices… if any, etc.), there are a ton of things that are on your mind if you’re serious about being a good domain investor.

Therefore, I don’t judge those who tell me they don’t care about politics-related stuff at all.

You’ve heard the narrative: that stuff just fills me up with negative energy, I stopped following the news a long time ago, I don’t even own a TV anymore, etc.

I get it.

But (because of course there is one!) you do need to understand that just like economics, there’s no running away from politics, there just isn’t.

If you think that as long as you’re a good domainer, you don’t have to care what your country’s politicians do, well… tell that to a domainer from the UK who invested in a bunch of let’s say one-word .eu domains and risks dealing with a business, legal and logistical nightmare in light of the entire Brexit situation.

If that’s too specific, think about scenarios involving the fragmentation of the Internet.

Michael COSTELLO (I know it’s Castello, just writing COSTELLO in the hope that he’ll drop by and say “It’s Castello… punk!” like he did when people misspelled his last name in the comments section back in the day… the good old days, heh!) has frequently voiced concerns about this scenario from a domain investor’s perspective and his arguments make perfect sense.

Currency wars (countries trying to weaken their currencies after a financial calamity, the Great Recession in our case) already escalated to trade wars from many perspectives… if any of those end up manifesting themselves in an “I’ll just pack up my toys and leave!” manner when it comes to the Internet, domaining as we know it will be in for its biggest test.

If you don’t know what currency wars or trade wars are, here’s a link to one of my one minute videos that’s about currency wars and here’s one about trade wars.

You probably already know a fair bit about the Great Recession, so there’s no point dwelling on that.

What I’m trying to say is that in an Internet fragmentation context, stuff would happen to domaining that would make past challenges (the post-Great Recession crash, new gTLDs and so on) look like a walk in the park and you need to keep your ear to the ground.

Is there something we as domainers can do to stop such things from happening?

Let’s face it… no.

Our industry is way too small for us to be able to influence things one way or another, the only thing we can do is voice our concerns whenever we can (during ICANN-related discussions, for example, or in other similar cases) and most importantly, plan ahead so that IF (not when but if… nothing is certain and there’s nothing wrong with hoping for the best) such a scenario ends up unfolding, at least we’re not being taken by surprise.

Therefore, yes, I’m afraid domainers do need to keep up with politics-related stuff.

Even if it only means spending 5-10 minutes each day reading the news. I’m not saying you need to invest a huge amount of time, I am however *strongly* recommending that you do something. You might hate it so much that you feel the need to shower right away after doing it but… yeah, sorry 🙁

Today: Can Non Chinese non Gov domainer from USA reg .gov.cn domains? / 2301.com sold for $24,250 / How to appraise a .FR ccTLD keyword domain / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Domain for Software Consulting Company – Budget: Up to $15,000.00 – Be sure to check your portfolio for a software consulting related domain name that fits this investors criteria.

Artists/Designers /Creators / Branders who Domain – Are you a creative and investing into domain names? Take a look at this like minded creative just coming into the industry with some great ideas and inspiration.

The current state of typo traffic – Have you been following typo domain name traffic over the years? What do you think the current state of affairs is with typo traffic? Take a look at what some domain investors said.

How to appraise a .FR ccTLD keyword domain – Are you investing into any niche keyword .Fr ccTLDs? What are some tips you can suggest for a better evaluation? Check out what other .fr domain investors are saying.

2301.com sold for $24,250 -That’s not a bad four-number .com domain name sales report for five-figures. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than what it sold for?

Can Non Chinese non Gov domainer from USA reg .gov.cn domains? – Does anyone know the restrictions on the ccSLD .Gov.Cn? Can anyone own one or do you have to be a Chinese based Government agency?

The formula of success for creating a domain name – Do you use a special formula when researching domain names to find the gems? Take a look at the formulas other domain investors are using and compare notes.

I don’t know about you guys but personally, the idea of someone like myself (who works on a computer for a living) also spending his free time online seems… just plain wrong.

Therefore, I just can’t see myself wasting countless hours watching cat pics on social media, I just don’t see it happening. Perhaps if my job didn’t involve using the computer so darn much, there would be more of an appeal, I don’t know.

However, as someone who is also in the education space given the fact that I run the One Minute Economics YouTube channel (where I teach people economics through one minute animations)… I’ve decided to change my attitude toward social media this year.

I mean look: I’m an economist who wants to teach as many people as possible economics.

Why?

Well, because the difference between knowing and not knowing your basic economics can frequently end up being the difference between being financially resilient and being extremely vulnerable.

I’ve noticed that way too many economists judge “the average consumer” for spending so much time let’s say following celebrities on Instagram instead of educating themselves… while I agree that it’s a problem, I disagree on what those in the education sphere need to do about it.

Whining isn’t going to cut it.

So I ended up telling myself that look, I agree that too many people are following celebs on Instagram.

But why not see it as an opportunity?

If so many are doing this, it means their attention is on Instagram. And if their attention is on Instagram, perhaps I can tap into that and convince people to also spend a little bit of time learning.

How?

By sharing anything from memes to infographics… whatever it takes 🙂

The same principle is valid when it comes to Twitter, Pinterest and so on.

I’ve noticed that economics-related memes tend to do well on Instagram. On Pinterest, people seem to really appreciate infographics, so I’m having a bunch of infographics made, one for each video that I’ve published.

… the list could go on and on.

That made me think about domaining.

Frankly, I haven’t seen that many domainers try to properly leverage social media and while it isn’t as obvious as with education-related projects what you can do, I can’t help but think there’s some gold in them thar hills 🙂

What I do know is that if you understand what makes each platform tick and immerse yourself in the community, there’s a lot of free* exposure to be had. Please notice the “*” because there is a significant investment of time required, especially until you learn the ropes.

I wish this post could provide some easy-to-incorporate domaining solutions… unfortunately, it doesn’t.

But I hope that by sharing these thoughts as well as my own social media experience (albeit with a project that’s not related to domaining), I made some wheels spin in your brain. Sure hope so!

Today: Outbound Buyer Psychology / Visionable.com sold for $7,900 / First Domain Sale – Hosts.app – For: $2,000 / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Wanted short brandable .com cannabis domain – Budget: Up to $4,999.00 – Be sure to check you domain portfolio for one of these brandable cannabis domains. This buyer is ready for a smooth transaction.

Buying: Word + “Tech” .com – TechFury.com / TechLabs – Budget: Up to $500.00 ea. – Double check your portfolio for one of these Word + “Tech” .com’s – (E.g. TechFury.com / TechLabs). If you have more than one, this buyer is ready to take them all off your hands if they meet their specified criteria.

Worst Legacy TLDs – Which one of the old legacy TLDs are the least popular to domain investors. Some investors seem to think there are several, if not most of the legacies that have fallen to the worst. What are your thoughts?

Outbound Buyer Psychology – Is there really such a thing as outbound sales psychology? If so, what would a strategy using such psychology look like? Take a peak at what some domain investors said.

First Domain Sale – Hosts.app – For: $2,000 – That’s a pretty cool four-digit new gTLD .app domain name sales report. Check out what some domain investors are saying about the sale.

Visionable.com sold for $7,900 – That’s not a bad ten-letter, single-word, .com domain name sales report for a high four-figures. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than what it sold for?

My experience pre-registering a .Dev – Has anyone else pre-registered a .Dev new gTLD extension yet? Check out the experience this domain investor had registering one.

The ideal scenario when it comes to domaining has always been acquiring good domains at low prices and selling them to end users. But as time passed, while many still hope to sell to end users, you’re left scratching your head if you were to analyze their business models.

Why?

Because two categories of domains stand out:

On the one hand, you have domains that don’t have end user potential because… well, because end users don’t want them. Or, to put things differently, there’s just no pool of potential end users for them.

A good example would be the overwhelming majority of LLLLL.com domains (five letters)… let’s be honest, the abbreviation potential is just not there and the likelihood of an end user contacting you about one is slim to none.

Even when it comes to LLL.coms, I distinctly recall a conversation I had back in the day with someone who had lots of LLL.coms for an extended period of time (with letters that were considered non-premium by Western standards but many of which would be considered premium by Chinese standards nowadays)… let’s just say end users weren’t assaulting him with offers 🙂

So, yeah… even for a lot of stellar names like LLL.coms, the end user game is not as easy as it seems, so if you were thinking about buying LLLLL.coms… don’t. At least not if your intention is selling to end users (but more on that a little later).

The second category is represented by domains that do have a decent pool of end users but have a reseller market value that’s more optimistic than the real end user potential. I’m referring to domains that are just so darn expensive these days compared to how much you could realistically sell them for to an end user that the numbers just don’t make sense.

For example (albeit an extreme one), any kid with a lemonade stand would love to own LemonadeStand.com but he just wouldn’t be able to pay all that much for it. In contrast, LemonadeStand.com could be auctioned at any half-decent domaining venue with no reserve and would most likely fetch a pretty penny. This would be an extreme example of a situation where there’s a disconnect between reseller market valuations and what end users can realistically afford to pay.

Oh and yes, I realize LemonadeStand.com could also be used as a great brandable domain, so let’s just leave that aside… I’m sure you get the point 🙂

What I’m trying to say is that domaining is a much more mature industry nowadays. This inevitably leads to low-hanging fruit being harder and harder to come by, it’s just the way it is.

Today, I brought two types of domains to your attention for which business models that revolve around end user sales don’t make any sense: domains that just don’t have enough potential end users on the one hand and overpriced domains on the other.

When it comes to both of these categories, it’s not impossible to make money. For example, your business model can revolve around flipping them on the reseller market or something along those lines. But the absence of any meaningful end user potential is, even in such cases, something that adds another layer of risk to the equation… so be sure to at least acknowledge its existence!

Today: Is the plan to make .com renewal rise to new gTLD territory? / Isometrics.com sold for $3,525 / “Farm”, “Hemp” “CBD” or “Lab” .COM domains wanted – Budget: Up to $500.00 ea. / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Logo for motivational clothing brand ($55) – Do you have some design skills and looking for some extra cash? Take a crack at this logo branding contest to see if you can win the prize.

Wanted DIGITAL or DIGI prefix names – .io only – Budget: Up to $100.00 – Do you have any digital or digi prefix domain names in your portfolio you want to liquidate for up to $100.00 in fast cash? If so, check out this buyers specified criteria.

FlexiTablet.com – This eleven-letter, two-word, brandable .com domain kind of rolls off the tongue nicely. Do you think it’s enough to give it value in today;s market though?

“Farm”, “Hemp” “CBD” or “Lab” .COM domains wanted – Budget: Up to $500.00 ea. – Be sure to check your portfolio for one of these “Farm”, “Hemp” “CBD” or “Lab” .COM domains. This buyer is ready for a quick wholesale transaction.

Is the plan to make .com renewal rise to new gTLD territory? – This is an interesting conspiracy theory, or is it? Have you ever seen anything to justify their opinion or is it just hype?

Isometrics.com sold for $3,525 – That’s not a bad domain name sales report for a ten-letter brandable .com domain for four-figures. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than what it sold for?

Metrics that increase a domain’s value – What metrics are you using to appraise a domain names value? Have you used any of the variables listed by other domain investors in this discussion yet? Check it out and share your own.

A lot of people believe they’d be the happiest humans ever if they could just start making good money via domaining… be careful what you wish for 🙂

As someone who has been earning a living online since pretty much forever, I can tell you the equation is more complicated than just worrying about the financial dimension.

When it comes to the money part, more specifically the “should I quit my job to become a full-time domainer” angle, I’ve written a post about it earlier this month.

Today, I’d like to bring something else to your attention: the emotional component of it all.

You need to be really careful which goals you chase after because even if you eventually reach them, you might just realize you’re… well, miserable.

For example, this entire idea of working from home as a domainer (or anything else, for that matter) sounds a lot more awesome than it actually is for most people.

If you’re an extrovert, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll hate everything about this lifestyle if you don’t add a *healthy* dose of human interaction to the mix.

Personally, I’m in that strange spot in the middle: not an extrovert, but not an introvert either. Therefore, I don’t need as much social interaction as an extrovert and can make this “do your own thing” lifestyle work. But since I’m not in 100% introvert territory (and, I believe, even if I would have been), I have to pay special attention to the human interaction dimension as well.

Those who have a regular job take their daily interactions with let’s say co-workers for granted. But once you don’t have that anymore, you’ll realize that “something” is missing and the dose of “something” that you need to add to your life to compensate depends on your personality.

Interactions with family members and friends, as such, become perhaps more important for those who work from home than for other people, primarily because you kind of depend on them for your social needs.

… I hope you see where I’m getting at.

There’s more to life than work or money.

If you make $x per year doing something you love and that goes along well with your personality, you can definitely be far happier than someone who makes $3x doing something he hates… as long as your basic needs are met. There’s more than enough research on this, so I consider such statements axiomatic.

Am I saying you shouldn’t work from home?

Of course not! I’m simply pointing out you need to put some serious thought into whether this really is the right choice for you 😉

Today: A tool that can tell you if a domain is eligible for transfer / Does it seem that there are more domain investors than end users? / Buying .com domains where at-least 5 other extensions are registered – Total Budget: $700.00 / And more!

Here are the new discussions that caught my eye in the domain community today!

Looking for pronouncable LLLL.com – Budget: Up to $500.00 – Double check your portfolio for a pronounceable four-letter .com if you are interested in their budget.

HempSupplies.org – I can see this working in a few extensions, but what do you think about it in .org? A hemp supply organization? What would a domain like this appraise for today?

Looking for a .com domain with the word ‘domain’ or ‘domains’ – Budget: Up to $250.00 – Do you have any domain names with the word “Domain” or “Domains” in them? If you’re looking for some fast cash, check out this buyers specified criteria.

Buying .com domains where at-least 5 other extensions are registered – Total Budget: $700.00 – Be sure to triple check your portfolio for one of these domains taken in over five other extensions. This buyer is looking for bulk in exchanged for fast cash.

Does it seem that there are more domain investors than end users? – I doubt it, but could it be true? How many domain investors are there in the world compared to the total domain name buyers market? Share some of your research and check out what other domain investors are saying.

A tool that can tell you if a domain is eligible for transfer – Is there such a tool out there that can tell you if a domain name can be transferred before you start to negotiate?

$46,500; Billing.io sold for $7,950 – That’s not a bad domain name sales report for a seven-letter, single-dictionary-word, .io ccTLD for a high-four-figures. Do you think it should have sold for more or less than it sold for?

… you might just die by social media, like many have 🙂

As someone who is also an entrepreneur, I share many of Rick’s concerns about social media despite the fact that for my career as an economist (books + videos), I without a doubt need social media platforms.

Understanding what role social media needs to play is the name of the game in my opinion.

Some say that since these platforms are just so darn convenient and easy to use, domains are obsolete. My only reply can be “Sweet summer child…” in such cases 🙂

I don’t agree that social media makes domains unnecessary, I don’t even agree that social media “complements” domains because the relationship I see between them is one of subordination. In other words, sure, social media platforms can be amazing traffic sources and they can without a doubt enable you to do awesome stuff with your brand.

But please don’t forget that social media is here to serve *your brand* and that domains should represent the core of your brand.

Whether you’re an economist who writes books and publishes videos like me or an artist, an entertainer or whatever, it would be the biggest mistake of your career to ignore social media.

Like Gary Vaynerchuk frequently says, and he’s a guy who *lives* in the social media world, he doesn’t really care about social media itself. He cares about attention and if people’s attention just so happens to be on social media apps these days, then that’s just the way it is and he’s going to leverage that.

Perfect mindset!

But that same Gary Vaynerchuk, who makes as much as six figures per public appearance by the way, is in no way dependent on one social media platform or another.

If facebook tells him to leave, no problem.

If twitter bans him, he will do just fine.

If all the social media platforms he’s on give him the boot, his brand is so strong that people will just search his name on Google and find out what he’s up to.

His brand, that’s the key term here.

Gary is not a slave of social media, social media is his slave. Therein lies the key to making this stuff work as far as I’m concerned.

Let’s be honest: perhaps the main problem with social media platforms is that you’re at their mercy. If you do something wrong, they can easily close down your account and there’s pretty much nothing you can do about it. You can appeal that decision but yeah… good luck with that. Even if you did nothing wrong and your account got flagged as a result of an error, it doesn’t matter, they dropped the hammer on you and don’t particularly care about your problems.

It is what it is.

Instead of saying it could never happen to you and building a business that *depends* on these platforms, I’d recommend assuming the worst case scenario will unfold and building a brand that, while leveraging everything social media has to offer, is robust enough not to depend exclusively on it.