One of the approaches I don’t agree with is the “meh… I might develop it later on” mentality.
Realistically speaking, domainers *won’t* develop most of their domains, the overwhelming majority in fact.
How often have you been guilty of thinking something along the lines of “meh… I might develop it later on”?
How often did you actually end up turning that domain into a profitable website?
I rest my case 🙂
You have to determine why you are buying that domain *before* making an offer or placing a bid.
If you’re 100% sure you WILL develop it as opposed to “might” then sure, it makes sense to pay close to retail or even retail, depending on what your plans are.
Just be careful and always ask yourself the following question:
Am I buying this domain as a domainer or as a developer?
This should be domaining 101 but strangely enough, most people don’t do it.
June 11th, 2013 at 5:05 pm
This also works the other way around: if a domain doesn’t inspire in you development ideas, don’t buy it.
June 11th, 2013 at 5:57 pm
@Joe: sure, the more development options a domain gives you, the more end user potential it has. If you’re left scratching your head when thinking about how you’d develop a domain, it probably means its end user appeal/potential is limited.
On the other hand though, the main purpose of this article was explaining that realistically speaking, you can only meaningfully develop a limited number of domains.
Therefore, buying domains with an “I might develop it later on” mindset isn’t a good idea unless you’re genuinely determined to go through with it.