Archive for the ‘Domain Investing’ Category

Some top acquisitions of 2020

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.

What websites/tools I use on regular basis for domain investing

Hello and Assalamo Alaikum,

Many domain investors have asked me on several occasions that what tools and websites I make use of which I consider very helpful and must be utilized by fellow domain investors.

There are actually many successful investors using different tactics and every one of them is doing well. Every one has their own way of operating the business and how they research and utilize those opportunities at their hands.

For myself, there are some essential tools and websites I use it on frequent basis and would like to share with fellow domain investors. Couple of things to note before I share it. First, this is not a paid post so I’m not trying to promote any of the tools/websites I’m going to share. It’s just what I personally use and would like to share with everyone to check and do their own due diligence. Lastly, it’s not necessary that any tool or website which is helpful for me can be helpful for others as well. So it all depends on how you utilize it.

I’ve written about Domain Name Analyzer Pro software in past which I still use it. There might be some changes with the versions and style which I’m not aware so you check out. However, I’m using Pro version 4 which is fantastic. This is one thing in domaining I use it on DAILY basis. I’ve shared about this important tool on my blog, NamePros and elsewhere as well and many have found it very helpful. It can be difficult to use at first, but after playing with that for a day or so, you’ll adjust pretty quickly.

There is an alternative of the above software as well which is FoxWHOIS. If you’re having any difficulties/issues, then try out FoxWHOIS which works in similar fashion. Better you can compare both these and get the one which fits for you well.

There is another thing which I use it on daily basis similar to Domain Name Analyzer Pro and that’s DotDB. Of course, there are many other sites which I use it on daily basis and are important like NamePros, Domaining.com, ExpiredDomains.net but here I’m trying to share what’s not that common among domain investors and especially newbies.

DotDB is one great tool which I recommend using it for your additional research in terms of buying, pricing and selling your domains. I’m using the Expert plan so I’ve many additional features available at hand. Better to try their 7 days free trial for Pro plan and thoroughly check it out. You may also check their different plans and what they offer in each of them here.

There is an alternative in the shape of DOFO which is another fantastic service offered by Macit Tuna and his team. I’ve published an extensive post in past about DOFO which you may want to check out for further information.

One more tool I use is Whoxy which is now more valuable to me after the crappy GDPR regulation. I use Whoxy mainly for checking regular WHOIS and Reverse WHOIS. With recent GDPR implementation, the WHOIS is hidden at many registrars but using Whoxy gives the advantage of old record of WHOIS which at least give some hope of contacting the current owner if not the old owner.

Also as mentioned above, I frequently use NamePros, Domaining.com, ExpiredDomains.net for which I don’t need to go into further detail as those are well known among us.

Feel free to give your feedback as well as share what do you use on daily or frequent basis in your domain investing business.

My experience with numeric domains

Hello and Assalamo Alaikum,

Usually I don’t invest in any type of domains where I don’t have a good grip and that’s the reason I never bought domains in huge quantity in short period especially when most domainers when coming in business simply start buying too many domains without doing their due diligence.

During the hype of 3L, 4L CHIP domains, we saw numeric domains got registered even 9Ns which was just ridiculous. Anyhow, I made a mistake of investing in 6N .com and bought around 15 for $7000-$7500 altogether. Since last couple of months I’ve been trying to offload all those domains at GoDaddy Auctions for less than $100 a piece and most of the time no one bothers buying it. So far I’ve sold half of them for little over $500 including GD commission. I don’t normally sell any domain for less than $1,000 but these were the names I just wanted to let expire and thought to give them try selling at GoDaddy and see if I can recover anything.

So in short, I lost few grands by investing blindly and at the peak time of 6N domains. The lesson is not to invest in any niche without studying, researching and putting in lot of efforts before you take any step further. I’ve seen Shane who’s been very vocal about his sales especially when he has lost money in any domains and most people don’t share their losses so that’s good from him to be open publicly. Appreciate that!

Now it’s time for 5N .com domains which I was lucky to invest some years back and bought at cheap prices when there wasn’t much demand for it. Unfortunately I didn’t had good knack on numeric domains so the focus was just to acquire at cheap prices and got ALL 5N domains which either had 0, 4 or both together!

I’ve been selling them as well at GoDaddy and was having around 10 of those and just left with one. Hopefully will sell that one in coming days. Overall, I didn’t made any profit on these and I see it break even while considering my time spent on finding, buying, money stuck for years, GoDaddy commission.

In future, I’ll try to be more cautious while buying domains as I don’t like to buy too many domains for test and trial. My buying strategy is to focus on those domains which I think will ultimately land in the hand of endusers.

It would be nice if any one likes to share their experience (losses) for others to learn, understand and not to repeat such mistakes in future.

Some of my recent best acquisitions of 2018

Hello and Assalamo Alaikum,

Going through the posts, I found that I haven’t shared any acquisitions this year and recently I have bought some top class names which I would like to share with my fellow domainers.

EquityTrading.com, CapitalTrading.com – I wouldn’t say anything about these names and would love to hear feedback from you guys if you like to give any…

MicroBox.com – Last month MicroMobility.com sold for $50,000 and couple of years back MicroCube.com for $40,000. I don’t rely or buy/sell domains looking solely on the comparable sales but MicroBox is great addition IMO. Highly brandable and can be used for multiple purposes.

Gramma.com – Love to have such short and brandable names.

VegasLine.com – Can be related to transportation, sports in Las Vegas. Anything more you can think off?

ResearchPark.com – Universities and research institutions or some science related project.

Bluesfest.com – Great domain for any festival, music, concert, etc.

UsCitizen.com – Some official site related to applying U.S Citizenship or some guide, informative portal to U.S citizen, citizenship.

IrvingPark.com – Neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois with a population of over 56,000 recorded in 2015. Usually I don’t invest in GEO names but this was difficult to leave out.

RunnersEdge.com – Some running shoes business, sports, running store.

PHLI.com, RIBX.com, ICSM.com DLEE.com – I’ve almost stopped buying 4 letters this year and only few acquired this year. Focusing more on quality than quantity. Just trying to keep 4 letter .com share of around 7-10% in my portfolio. Currently it’s at 9%. Not sure but I think Shane Cultra who operates DomainShane.com also likes to have 4L .com portfolio of around 7-10%.

MindsetMedia.com, HustleMedia.com – Media names are hot and will be more in demand as the time goes by.

CoolFresh.com – Spa, Perfume, Body/Face wash, Juice, Media company. Great to invest in domains which can be used for many purposes.

Infoscape.com – Can be used for many different purposes.

MetaSoftware.com – Great name for a software company.

Lonestar.net, Spike.net, Contra.net – 1 word .net are always good to invest which are highly brandable.

Rosemary.CO, Kicks.CO – It’s safe and great to invest in good one word names.

Feel free to give your feedback. Also if you like to share your recent acquisitions.

Beware of fraudulent activity by Pheenix.com

Hello and Assalamo Alaikum,

It’s been a great year overall and was hoping to end with something more good. However, I was hit with a bad news and that came from Pheenix.com which was a good platform some years back but for quite some time they are losing their reputation exponentially.

A week back I received an email from Pheenix that an auction has started for domain MEP.co and since I showed interest some time back (most probably the time of backordering when it was dropped in 2016) so I can participate in that auction which lasted for 3 days.

After winning the domain couple of days back I tried to transfer out and received authorization code. While transferring, the FOA (form of authorization) email was sent to some other email ID which looked suspicious. I went ahead and checked WHOIS and found the contact details are completely different than what I have set default at Pheenix.

So I decided to contact and explained the complete situation to Pheenix, they responded with “This domain is no longer managed by us.” That was strange response since I participated in auction, won and my card was charged. And they told the domain is no longer managed by us!

I replied with:

“But there was auction for this domain and I received email from you of winning the domain. Also your system deducted money from my credit card.

What’s wrong with you guys? If a domain is not owned by you then how can you auction and deduct money from my card and fails to deliver the domain???”

As expected it was another nonsensical response from their side:

Nothing is wrong with us.

The domain was mislisted. We have now reversed the charge so you should be good to go.
Please keep in mind that non com/net domain extensions may sometimes be mislisted in the Expired Domains marketplace and to double check whois to confirm that it is still with us.”

That’s utter nonsense from Pheenix by showing such irresponsible and unprofessional behavior. It’s run by a bunch of fraudsters. Now that’s not any domain buyer’s duty to check WHOIS before buying domain from auction platform like Pheenix because I’m not buying a domain from any individual where I need to check if the domain is stolen or not owned by the person I’m dealing with.

If that’s the case, we all need to keep checking WHOIS for all domains we regularly buy at GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet, DropCatch, etc.

Pheenix is no longer a trustworthy platform and I don’t plan to use them in future like I stopped using Flippa which is another dreadful platform… at least for me…

Well, there is nothing wrong or to blame the current owner of the domain. It’s the Pheenix who is responsible for causing this trouble and the least they could do was to admit their mistake but they have no regret of doing fraudulent activity.