Hello everyone,

This may be good news to some and not so good to others. But since I’m using Afternic landers and already happy with their overall services, I’m happy to see this news for my portfolio because I’ll be paying less commission going forward. Below is the news from GoDaddy I wanted to share it with you all:

“In recent years, the GoDaddy aftermarket expanded beyond GoDaddy Auctions and Afternic. The 2020 acquisition of Uniregistry and the 2022 acquisition of Dan added products and features domain investors love to GoDaddy’s aftermarket.

Scores of talented developers, engineers and brokers from these marketplaces joined the GoDaddy team to provide a world-class aftermarket experience and bring the best of each marketplace together for domain investors and our partners.

These four marketplaces produce thousands of domain name sales every week, but each one operated under a different commission structure, with fees varying anywhere from 9% to 20%.

To simplify commissions, effective Feb. 1, 2023, each marketplace is moving to a 15% commission rate for domain names pointed to Afternic, Dan, or Uniregistry nameservers at the time of the sale. If your domain name does not point to Afternic, Dan or Uniregistry nameservers, the commission charged will be 25%.

Importantly, the 15% commission rate for domain names pointing to Afternic, Dan or Uniregistry aftermarket nameservers includes domain sales closed through for-sale landers and sales facilitated through the domain reseller network. The domain reseller network includes 18 of the top 20 domain registrars. This equates to an ~5% decrease in commission versus the average sale using the prior model.

When we dig into what this means for domain investors in real terms, it suggests that many domainers will benefit.

Recently, we analyzed 38 random, publicly disclosed domain sales that occurred via Afternic. The sales prices varied from $188 up to $40,000.

We found that 95% of sales in this random sample would receive slightly higher net proceeds from their domain sales if closed via an Afternic for sale lander, compared with Afternic’s previous commission structure.

When deciding on this model, teams reviewed how domain investors using a blend of marketplaces may fare under the new commission structure using Afternic and Dan, an example of which is detailed below.

The old plan

The new plan

With Uniregistry and Dan joining GoDaddy, the simplification of the commission structure was a logical move, but one that wasn’t taken lightly. Months of discussions led to the new model that will benefit most investors using a blend of GoDaddy-owned marketplaces.

For a list of approved nameservers, and to learn more about the benefits of pointing your domain names to Afternic’s nameservers, please visit the Sales Acceleration page.”

For someone using Dan, I’m sure that’s a pretty bad news. But someone using Afternic, it’s a good news.

Also in the above “The old plan” screenshot, it shows 20% commission on the sale of $60,000 via Afternic which I believe is incorrect. Suppose a sale happens of $60,000 so the seller pays 12.5% (https://www.afternic.com/sell-domains) but from 1st Feb, for the same amount of sale, the commission will be 15%.

The new commission structure is good for small amount of sales using their landers as one will be paying 15% but for big amount of sales, the new commission structure is bad.

So how do you see this new changes for your portfolio? Did you like it or not? Let your voice be heard.

Hello everyone,

As of today I’ve just reached the portfolio of 8,000 domains. This is something very special because all of my domains are very selectively acquired with no hand registrations.

Today I wanted to share some of the pros and cons of domaining I’ve witnessed and can recall as of now. I’m sure there are many more which you would like to add.

Before I share the pros/cons, I would like to inform all my readers and friends that recently I’ve relocated to Turkey with my family. I’m sure some of you know that I moved and lived in beautiful Malaysia for two years and enjoyed every moment there. But due to some reasons, I had to move back to Pakistan temporarily before I moved to Turkey. If there is anyone residing in Turkey, feel free to get in touch with me as I would love to connect with like-minded people and possibly meet in-person as well.

Coming back to the post, let me share some of the pros of domaining:

1. You can work from anywhere and anytime and do anything you want in your spare time.
2. You’re your own boss.
3. The ROI is remarkable and unachievable compared to most if not all existing businesses.
4. Entry barrier is still low.
5. Domain renewal cost is very low compared to physical property or any other business expenses.
6. Have your virtual store open 24 hours no matter what.

Cons of domaining:

1. The biggest disadvantage I find is the illiquidity. You never know when the domain will sell.
2. There is no accurate way to evaluate domains. You learn with your own and other’s experience, past relevant sales, etc.
3. Fierce competition than ever before.
4. 5-10 domains won’t start your business engine. One must buy a few hundred if the target is to do full time domaining.

Feel free to share any other pros and/or cons you would like to add. Also if someone is living in Turkey and would like to connect with me, just get in touch.

Hello everyone,

It’s been over a year since I last shared the recent acquisitions post.
As always my purpose of sharing anything on this blog has been to make aware, share valuable information and something which could be helpful to my fellow domain investors. The shared acquisitions below can possibly help you to understand what kind of domains I acquire, why I acquire and definitely these types of domains do sell which is good to go through.

Today is the time I must share some of the domain acquisitions made in the recent past and I’ll keep the list a little longer than usual because I’m posting it after a long time:

DMSD.com – This 4L .com has been registered since 1991 and is the oldest domain in my portfolio. Have shared this separately from the below 4L .com domains mainly due to the most aged domain in my portfolio.

AVCM.com, JSPI.com, WWLS.com, SCDP.com, PGOF.com, KNGM.com, HLMS.com, NEID.com, CTNH.com, FRCT.com, NWBH.com, SPLG.com, AIVL.com, JNCH.com – It’s not important to acquire only pronounceable 4L .com domains but you can also buy random 4L .com domains which mainly contains premium letters such as (B, C, D, F, G, H, L, M, N, P, R, S and T.) Non-premium letters include: J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y and Z. I’ve sold several premium as well as non-premium letters 4L domains because it’s not at all easy to acquire pronounceable 4L domains as they’re very costly. I sold SMKT.com for $75,000 which was the second last sale of 2021 for my portfolio.

ErinKelly.com, TracyWood.com, Creelman.com, KateMatthews.com, BrianDrake.com, Avijit.com, ParkerAnderson.com – I’ve been acquiring 1-2 words of person names which are quite good to have a small portion in your portfolio. They do sell but at a slow pace.

DeskNet.com – Can be used for content marketing, sales, management, events and more.

YoungRich.com – Well I’m young as well as rich in health 😉 This one is good for wealth, money, health, beauty, etc. Highly brandable domain.

TotalHealthcare.com, VitaBio.com, AlfaMedical.com – Absolute perfect domains for the health industry.

MovingSystems.com – A great domain for a moving, relocation packers, freight and logistics company.

SmartCannabis.com – These two combinations of words make a great cannabis brand name.

MixReality.com – I know it would be a lot better had this domain be MixedReality.com but I’m happy to add this domain in my portfolio which is a fantastic domain for a company related to the virtual worlds.

MoneySecure.com – “Money” keyword definitely brings in more money if the other word makes sense with it.

NewsMania.com – A nice brandable domain for any news related media outlet.

LegalCrypto.com – Operate a legal crypto business on this domain 😉

Etherm.com – I can think of a company using for crypto related business.

ProfessionalSecurity.com – Perfect domain for a security related company.

SupStore.com – Could be used for superstore or any brandable store domain.

GreenStick.com – Such two word domains can be used for many purposes which is always a great addition to the portfolio.

Tanzo.com, Angla.com, Cauta.com, Butiko.com – These are the type of one word brandable domains which can be used for multipurposes like mentioned above (GreenStick.com) but those are two words.

TheFluid.com, TheCommunication.com, TheChildcare.com, – I’ve been slowly but consistently acquiring “The” keyword domains. I’ve sold a few in the past.

JIR.org, JSH.org – To make anyone understand easily, I would say that it’s always good to buy 3L .org in premium letters. Although this contains one non-premium letter “J” but I believe it’s a good one when “J” is at the start.

JbEnergy.com, GbMedical.com, JrTours.com, JaGlobal.com, EpSecurity.com – 2L + word is something I always keep adding in my portfolio. But keeping in mind that 2L are mainly premium letters and the word next to that is a strong keyword and is in demand.

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

Also if you’ve similar quality domains I’ve shared and are looking to sell at investment level, do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Hello everyone!

It was in July 2020 when I received an offer of $4,000 on BridgeMoney.com (acquired the domain in partnership with Jamie Zoch) which was then revised to $5,750 as the best and final offer.  At that time the BIN was $12,888. I declined. A month later the buyer came up with $9,000. Again the offer was declined.

Fast forward to 1st April 2022, the buyer came up with $20,000 (with BIN at $50,000 this time). I said that I’ll be accepting very close to the BIN. The buyer came up to $26,000 and said it’s their max budget. Again their offer was politely declined. I gave a deadline during which the buyer didn’t make a reasonable offer to be accepted.

Then on 27th May 2022, Afternic broker was able to bring the buyer up to $41,000 but because I’ve revised the BIN to $100,000, I said to give them $50,000 as floor price and provide them with a 10 days deadline for accepting the offer. Otherwise I won’t be selling even at this price in the future.

And today I got the good news that the domain is sold for $50,000!

Many congrats and thanks to my Afternic rep, the broker and my long time friend and partner Jamie Zoch!

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

Hello everyone,

I’ve been investing in .CO domains since they were launched in 2010. As of today, I’ve now almost 200 .CO domains and since the launch I’ve had a pretty good success selling domains in this extension. Although the total numbers are pretty less, the sales have always kept me engaged with this extension. Most of them are 3L .CO domains and in 2020 I acquired some ultra premium .CO domains which I’ve shared on my blog in the past.

This month I just concluded a sale of Electra.CO for $50,000 (BIN) via Afternic Fast Transfer and this is so far the highest sale for me in .CO extension. I acquired this domain almost 4 years back through an auction for mid 3 figures. It’s always nice to see the domain getting developed quickly and it’s one of them.

Feel free to give your feedback and/or share any of your recent sale(s).

Thank you!