Some top acquisitions of 2020

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on October 8th, 2020 42 Comment

Hi everyone,

I’m very excited to share some of my top domain acquisitions of recent time. My last post on acquisition was in March 2020.

Today I’ll start once again by sharing another 3L domain FLM.com which I recently acquired. This is my 3rd 3L .com domain purchase after GRO.com and EJH.com and I’m very happy with this domain to be added in the portfolio.

QMBS.com, MMDW.com and FOIK.com – As always I’m slowly acquiring 4L .com domains and I like the formula of Shane Cultra of having 7%-10% of 4Ls in a portfolio and I’m having somewhat around 7% of 4Ls in my portfolio as well.

TAQ.org and TAS.org – I’ve purchased a few 3L .orgs to date but so far no success. Though I’m very confident in selling 3L .org in the future.

LEN.CO, HIH.CO, HJS.CO, LiveStreaming.CO, Parkinson.CO, Comms.CO and Agro.CO – I’ve had good success with .CO domains by selling several domains in 4-5 figures. 3L and 1 word domains are good to invest in my opinion. Rarely I’ve invested in 2 word .CO domains like LiveStreaming and maybe I’ve two more domains of 2 word at max.

OnlineCharity.com – For many years, I’ve witnessed that “online” keyword is in constant demand and both these terms together makes it a good domain.

RehabMed.com – Short version of Rehab Medical, Rehab Medicine and even Rehab Media. I like this short one better than all variants. That’s just my opinion. What’s your take?

TheRay.com and TheToken.com – Domains with “the” keyword works very well and lately the prices are skyrocketing unlike in the past where we could buy such domains for a reasonable amount.

EmilyJane.com – This domain has a very interesting story. I sold this domain previously in 2013 for $5,165. Recently I checked this domain was not resolving to the page which it used to be in the past. I contacted the previous owner but they didn’t own it anymore. I found this domain was under brokerage of GritBrokerage so I had to get in touch with them to buy it. Thanks to Brian Harbin of GB for making the deal smooth and all ended well.

Vivante.com, WildThyme.com, EcoSun.com, FirstServe.com, RainbowCrystal.com, WireFree.com, EliteAgency.com and ArtWood.com – These are the types of domains I really like to invest in. With current hot auction prices, I’m now focusing more on private acquisitions and these are not easy to acquire both in terms of negotiation as well as prices.

Architeck.com – Another example of one word brandable domain.

PowerOfYes.com – Although it’s a 3 word domain but I believe it’s a good domain with positive meaning attached to it.

LeveragedFinance.com – Already have a very few finance related domains so this one was a nice little addition to the portfolio.

Torben.com – Quite a popular name as per LinkedIn which shows 19,000 people.

Labio.com – It means “lip” in Spanish language. Also it’s a 5L, pronounceable and highly brandable domain. Not only this domain can be used for lip surgeries, cosmetics, etc. But it can be used for other different purposes due to it’s catchy brand.

GlobalCrypto.com – A domain selling in 6 figures in the future 😉

Many of those domain acquisitions were private and I regularly use DotDB service for buying domains as it helps in understanding how many potential endusers already exist. So make sure you’re using DotDB and their PRO plan is recommended for which you can get a 7 days trial in case you’re not sure if it’s worth it or not.

Feel free to share your recent acquisitions and/or give your feedback on the domain acquisitions.

Posted in Domain Investing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Afternic experiment of September 2020

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on October 2nd, 2020 59 Comment

Hi everyone,

Before I start sharing last month’s Afternic results, I would like to inform you that this is the last post of the experiment. The main reason I started sharing with you all was to make aware how Afternic landers are performing for my domains so others can gauge and decide accordingly for their portfolios. I believe I’ve shared enough of this experiment and it’s clear how the overall results are. Just to clarify this decision has nothing to do with this. I already made up my mind right at the start of last month about this decision.

Also I’ve no complaints with Afternic and I’m very happy with the overall results as well as the brokers and my rep. I’ll continue using their landers.

So coming back to the point, this is the 9th and last post of the Afternic experiment series after I published January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August results which I believe you’ll like.

The last month started with the blast and surprise. The first sale happened on the very first day of September in the shape of Aumet.com for $29,888. The buyer came in via Afternic lander. This was one of the interesting sales for me and I’ll tell you why. I received an offer of $17,500 GROSS from Afternic senior sales executive Richard Green on 27th August. He informed me that’s the buyer’s maximum offer. Mind you, that 17.5K offer was not the initial and the broker has already worked upon that lead. I responded back with some explanation as to why I would stick with the BIN and the potential of this domain. On 1st September, I received an email about funds secured by Afternic! The best thing in this deal was that the broker was able to convince the buyer to purchase at BIN with no room for him to negotiate. That was the standout thing for me. So kudos to Richard Green for making this deal to happen and he deserves a big applause for his expertise and professionalism.

One of my friends asked me to share the hold time so let me share it. Aumet.com was acquired more than 1 year back.

The next sale happened on 9th September of NewHold.com for $7,500. Initially we received an offer of $5,000 and after the broker went back and forth with the buyer, they raised up to $6,500. I had set a BIN of $9,888. I requested to push the buyer one last time and see if there is room to revise their offer and finally they presented $7,500 which I gleefully accepted. This one happened with GoDaddy.com. Hold time 1+ year.

Third sale was Shoppery.com which sold for $6,888 and once again via GoDaddy.com. Hold time 5+ years. Then the next one StitchAndSew.com for $1,988 was again via GoDaddy. Hold time less than 1 year.

Finally there was a sale of Cleverr.com which happened via partner registrar which had a BIN of $6,888. Hold time 1+ year.

And then there was a blasting sale and that too happened via partner registrar, The domain is Exicon.com which actually had a BIN of $50,000 but after going back and forth, finally I agreed to sell for $40,000. The interesting thing about this domain is that I had a BIN of $39,888 just 1 month before I received this particular inquiry. I just got a hunch to increase the price of this domain mainly because of the potential of this domain. I’m not sure if this triggered the buyer somehow or what but I was still happy to accept the 40K GROSS. Hold time 2+ years.

Finally there were 3 more domain sales of WayneMedia.com for $2,000 which I had a BIN of $2,988 but I agreed to sell for 2K. This sale was generated via Afternic lander. Hold time 1+ year. The last 2 sales happened via GoDaddy and were SxPro.com for $1,988 and Eudai.com for $1,888. Hold time was 2+ and 3 years respectively.

The sales happened via partner registrars, reminding you that you must keep your domains at a registrar which offers Fast Transfers. That gives an additional exposure to sell your domains.

The number of inquiries for August was almost 550 and the total number of domains at the end of last month just reached 4,300.

Total cost of acquisition was under $6,000 and total amount of sales was $99,028. Though I missed the 100K mark but I’ve no issues. I’m more than happy and hope the sales keep flowing in like the last month not only for me but for all of us so we can prosper altogether 🙂

On the other hand, my friend Muhammad Aamir from DotCorner was happy to share once again his September sales via Afternic which I’ve copied below:

SeoQueen.com for $2,900.
bStores.com for $7,500.

In general, it shows that there will always be ups and downs no matter how big or small a portfolio you’ve. But to get rid of some inconsistency of your sales is to build up your portfolio with a good number of domains along with quality. Having both quality + quantity is the best way to go. I know it takes a lot of hard and smart work, time, dedication, cash flow, etc. And I’m telling you this from my personal experience as well as reviewing fellow investor’s sales and flow.

Thank you Afternic, Richard Green, my relationship manager, the entire brokerage team and everyone involved in making the overall experience so wonderful.

Feel free to share your Afternic sales and/or give your feedback no matter how good or good it is 😉

Posted in Domain Sales Tags: , , , , , , ,

How do you see it from your viewpoint?

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on September 25th, 2020 41 Comment

Hi everyone,

Today I received an email which I wanted to share with everyone. Usually I don’t share any emails on my blog but this is an interesting one.

Email ID: info@altid.com

Subject: why did you do that?

Message: Hello Abdubasit

My name is Daniel. I am a domainer and I have a question to ask you!

About 2 years ago, you shared some very important informations on you
blog/website that had a catastrophic impact on the life of all
domainers!

You said you wanted to help all the fellow domaines, but all you did was
making life difficult for us!

You shared the secret of how you buy domains and how you use Dotdb.com
etc.

I have followed all the auction houses and since that day ( it is
amazing how it started precisely after that post ) the prices of domains
began to climb slowly up!

You turned on the light but for the wrong guys ( not for the domaines ).

Ever since that day, all the rich guys with deep pockets and all the
speculators with tick wallets began to understand how they should pick
op domains from auctions.

As a result of that, today a domains that use to cost 300/400$ In
dropcatch or SnapNames, is now sold for 2000/3000$ !! All that thanks to
you sharing the secrets of domain picking!

sharing that sensitive knowledge only helped the rich guys to vacuum
clean all the valuable domains from the auctions. so it was a huge help
to the Chinese domain investors with limitless amount of capital to
invest in domains and a knife in the hearth of people like me and
yourself who cant afford to pay several thousands for a domain.

So you some how punished yourself (and the other poor fellow domaines)
in favour of the rich Chinese/american domain speculators.

If you wasn’t lucky to sell that fucking symphony.com for 375000$, today
you would be buying and selling domains for 200/500$! Allah helped you
to get success and as thanks, you fucked all the small domaines!

Now I have a question: why did you do that? was it to help domaines or
was it because you wanted to make yourself a name in the domaining
world?

You maybe a good domainer but you do not know any thing about the rules
of business.

Regards
Daniel Sommer

I was caught in a surprise to read it because of several reasons. First, I didn’t know my blog is getting such a huge traffic that it can change the domain prices in the aftermarket. Secondly, just because I shared a great service DotDB, I don’t believe things can massively change as far as the prices are concerned because any sensible domain investor would use several factors in deciding which domain to buy, what maximum bid to give, whether to buy or not, etc. and not only rely on one factor in their decision.

Just recently I published a post about NameJet where I’ve suggested others never use it and given the solid reason behind that. As said in that post, I believe some people won’t like me sharing such things openly and there may be more people like Daniel who will not like this post as well.

But… I’ll keep sharing what I want to, as far as I think it’s helpful to others.

Anyone is free to get jealous, angry or be happy. Neither I can please everyone nor I plan to do so. I’ll just continue sharing whatever I think is useful for others on a larger scale.

How do you see it from your viewpoint? Feel free to post your comments 🙂

Posted in Domaining

Why you should NEVER use NameJet

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on September 17th, 2020 10 Comment

Hi everyone,

I believe some regular bidders won’t like sharing it publicly but I don’t care for such mentality of people and I just love to share what I think is beneficial to others.

I don’t think this has been shared anywhere else but here you go…

Since NameJet and SnapNames have merged together for auctioning off domains, I see people still bidding at NameJet which doesn’t make sense. Let me tell you the secret…

When you place a backorder at NameJet, you pay 2.5% top of your original winning amount. Whereas if you win the same domain at SnapNames, you’ll pay only the final winning amount.

Also there is another reason for not placing backorder at NameJet and it’s the number of bidders are shown so anyone can sort by number of bidders to see what are the top most bid domains so they can easily enter in those which will ultimately create more competition.

So if someone doesn’t like this tip to be shared publicly, you’ve to think the other way around. Why to show a number of bidders and create more competition when you can place the same domain backorder and participate in an auction at SnapNames without showing any number of bidders? On top of that you’ll save 2.5% of your winning amount.

Feel free to give your feedback no matter how good or good it is 😉

Posted in Domaining

Afternic experiment of August 2020

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on September 3rd, 2020 53 Comment

Hi everyone,

When I first started sharing the January experience, I wasn’t expecting to continue sharing for this long but with the feedback I’ve received until last month has been exceptional. The main purpose of sharing my Afternic experience was for others to judge and decide for themselves whether to try their service the way I do or not. I know many of you have opted for Afternic ns3/ns4 along with BIN and found it more productive and few not as well.

Overall, I’m happy with my own results and others as well who were able to increase their sales which is what we need. SALES.

This is the 8th post of the Afternic experiment series after I published January, February, March, April, May, June and July results which I believe you’ll like it.

So July was the slowest month for me but August really covered everything and I’m very happy with that. Even though I’d no complaint that month as well but was slightly disappointed.

So coming back to the sales of August are as below:

The first sale happened on 12th of August (once again started late) in the shape of MicroBladingTraining.com for $3,500. I’d kept this for $3,988 BIN but after going back and forth, the Afternic broker was able to get $3,500. The buyer came in via GoDaddy.

Second sale happened on the very next day of GeoComm.com for $13,500. I remember having $15,888 BIN. The buyer came in with a $9,000 initial offer and $12,500 as final offer. The interesting and best thing about Afternic brokers is that you can easily trust them and they’ll give you the best in return. I actually said of accepting a $12.5K offer but requested to try once again and see if the buyer comes up… And fortunately he raised to $13,500. This is not something new for me as I’ve seen multiple times for myself and my fellow domain investors where the Afternic brokers have helped them get more than what the seller has accepted to sell it for.

Then again the very next day I’d another sale but this time the buyer hit BIN and acquired it. The domain was HarleyClinic.com which sold for $1,988.

And the best sale of the last month happened on 20th of August in the shape of BIN which was LivingLabs.com for $25,888. It’s a great feeling to have BIN sales happening at such price range. I’d this domain for many years and declined several offers including the highest of $5,000 when I used Uniregistry landers.

And then there was a sale of $5,000 which unfortunately I cannot share due to TM reason. I admit of acquiring the wrong domain but totally unintentionally so when the initial offer came in of $2,500, I requested to try and see if we can get anything above that mark or else accept this offer. So once again the Afternic broker did their job what they’re best at and got the buyer to $5,000. Apologies for not sharing the domain.

And the last sale of the month via Afternic was WeAreLiberty.com for $2,988 where the buyer hit BIN and purchased it.

All the domains were sold via GoDaddy except the GeoComm.com sale which happened via Afternic lander. Surprisingly no sale came via partner registrars. This shows the power of GoDaddy which is enough to make a good amount of sales for anyone holding good quality and quantity of domains.

The number of inquiries for the August was close to 550 and total number of domains at the end of last month were 4,170+/-

Total cost of acquisition was under $4,000 and total amount of sales was $52,864.

On the other hand, my friend Muhammad Aamir from DotCorner was happy to share once again his August sales via Afternic which I’ve copied below:

HavenGallery.com for $1,800 (Registerd $7.45 on 29th Jan, 2008).
ToonJam.com for $1,600 (Purchased for $10 back in March 2020).
PlasticRoad.com for $7,850 (12+ years old name – hand reg).

He also sold Peter.org for $8,855 privately which is another fantastic sale IMO. And the last sale was IronDecks.com for $2500 (registered for $5.99 on August 26, 2020 and Sold on August 28th DAN).

Aamir is a well experienced domain investor and he knows the ins and outs of this business so please don’t go on buying spree just because he sold IronDecks.com which was hand registered last month itself. He hand registered around 500 domains in a small period of time and from that this particular domain sale happened. It’s all about the quality, quantity, experience, timing, etc which matters in this business.

One fellow investor @Yusupbabay, the owner of Presiden.com shared one sale he made last month IndustrialHeart.com for a whopping $25,000. He acquired it for $59 and paid for 2 years of renewals. The reason behind this particular acquisition was that “I bought this domain because it was sold:
INDUSTRIALHEART.COM last sold for $ 22,500 on 2015-07-12 at DomainMarket”.

Honestly speaking, I would’ve never sold for that price, let alone asking that price. I just don’t get this domain but a sale is a sale and I’m happy for the seller. Congrats and thanks for sharing!

And I’ve a couple of answers to share which my Afternic manager was happy to share with me:

Q1) Does price reduction send any kind of alert to the past inquirer for that particular domain?

A1) We have measures in place within our automated email system to keep buyers engaged after expressing interest in a domain, but we do not automatically send emails to past inquirers when a domain’s price is reduced. This is an interesting idea, I will send it along to the team to review. As of right now if a seller is significantly discounting a sought after domain, they can reach out to our Partner Seller department at PartnerSeller@Afternic.com. We will be happy to review past inquiries on the domain and have the brokers reach out to drum up interest.

Q2) Also adding categories for domains make any increase in sales?

A2) Adding categories to listings does not have a measurable significance to sales velocity. The category information is not pushed out to our partner network. This feature can be used by our sellers to help keep track of their different verticals and can be seen on Afternic.com, but not across the network where the domains are distributed.

I believe this will clear out many of the investor’s doubts who were looking out for this and I’m very happy to see the detailed answers.

Thank you Afternic, my relationship manager, the brokerage team and everyone involved in making the overall experience so wonderful.

Feel free to give your feedback no matter how good or good it is 😉

Posted in Domaining Tags: , , , , , ,


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