Backordering .cc domain with Hexonet.net

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on November 16th, 2012 0 Comment

About 3 years back I joined Hexonet.net as they were just going to start taking backorders for .cc domains. I read their FAQ’s and found that if there are two or more person the domain will be auctioned. I thought that’s fine and I backordered one domain, made upfront payment. The domain was successfully grabbed by them. Later I found there were only two bidders including me so I thought it’s good and I will get the domain at bargain but I was surprised to see when they put up that domain at GoDaddy Auctions which was open for everyone to bid and can be the new owner of the domain!

This really frustrated me. I contacted Hexonet, the company’s CSO replied back and tried to make me understand that currently there is no auction platform of their own so they are auctioning at GoDaddy Auctions. I told them it’s fine but you must put only two of us and make it private auction which he rejected. I asked them to refund my money back and refused to place any more backorders in future. That domain went over US$1,000 whereas I could have easily got for US$200-US$300 if done privately between the auction participants only.

After a year or so they came up with their auction platform but I will never place any more backorders with them. I am not sure how their current auction platform is but I would never recommend anyone to give backorders through them. There are better places for .cc backordering like DomainMonster.com and Name.com which are having more successful ratio compared to Hexonet.net

Have you experienced with Hexonet.net? What are your thoughts and suggestions?

Posted in Domaining Tags: , ,

Tips, Secrets and Backordering of .IM domain names

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on November 15th, 2012 0 Comment

In my previous article about my experience with .IM domains I promised to share some tips and secrets about .IM domain names. As many people asked me what is the exact drop time of .IM domains so I think it varies from registrar to registrar. The timing I have noted so far is from 8:00AM – 4:00PM (Pakistan Standard Time). The domain drops exactly on the hour so you must check on hourly basis.

There is one secret about .IM domains which I would like to share with you. When the domain owner deletes the domain from his account for any reason than the domain gets available immediately for hand registration. But .com/.net domains goes into RGP (Redemption Grace Period) if deleted before expiration date. I have grabbed few domains in such instances and are listed below with detail:

Free.IM was sold was for $1,150 in 2008 but later dropped by the previous owner before expiration date and I grabbed it.

SEO.IM was dropped by the previous owner before expiration date and I registered and sold within a week for US$4,000.

Even Fashion.IM was dropped in similar fashion and I was always there to catch that.

I am sure everyone dealing in .IM domains must know the highest reported domain sale is Mobile.IM for US$7,000 which was dropped after normal expiration cycle and I registered that as well. I wonder why the previous owner let it go. Didn’t he spent a big amount of money for that one. I surely think so but finally he decided to let it go for me 😉

So my tip for you is to keep checking all the ultra premium keywords on daily basis and one of them might come in your way. Now you must thinking who the hell can check 500 domains on daily basis. No worries, I will be sharing the easiest solution for you in my next article which I am using it for the last 6 years without any trouble and it’s worth your money.

Some domainers have asked me if there is any backordering service for .IM domains. Short answer is not yet.

Do you have any tips and/or secrets to share with others? Let your voice be heard by everyone 🙂

Posted in Domaining, Domain Investing Tags: , ,

My experience with .IM domains

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on November 14th, 2012 2 Comment

In late 2009 I came to knew about .IM domain names through Namepros.com forum where one guy posted that he forgot to renew couple of .IM domains (Hotel.IM and Job.IM) which was really shocking to read because these are super premium keywords. Both of them were grabbed immediately after they were dropped and Hotel.IM fetched over US$3,000. I thought if such great keywords can get drop than there will be some chance of finding available gems to register.

First I tried to find the registrar which was offering .IM domains at cheaper rates and DomainMonster.com was the best by support and rates as well. I entered all top 500 keywords mostly used on internet to see if any .IM is available and to my good luck I found few and grabbed in immediately.

Today I have over 30 .IM domains under my belt. Some of them includes Social.IM, Mobile.IM, Free.IM, Download.IM, Data.IM, Fashion.IM, Movie.IM, Movies.IM. In the past 3 years I have sold very few with the notable sale of SEO.IM for US$4,000. In my experience I have done good at .IM domains but I would suggest every new domainer who is interested in acquiring must seek only ultra premium keywords because almost every end user is not aware of .IM domain and is difficult to make them understand the benefits and value of it.

In my next article I will share some tips and secrets about .IM domains.

Feel free to share your opinions and which .IM domains you currently own.

Posted in Domaining Tags: , ,

Getting into .cc domains

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on November 10th, 2012 0 Comment

It was late 2004 when my father told me that Traders.cc was available to register and we got that domain. Soon I developed a website on that with forum on phpBB. I didn’t knew how to promote my website so I started spamming to every individual trader and trading companies to register on my website and start discussion anything related to their businesses. I bought email addresses list from internet which was really a bad idea if you ever think of doing that because sending unsolicited emails is unethical and not legal. However, that was my just starting in developing and promoting a website.

I didn’t succeed in promoting well enough as per my planning so I stopped doing anything for that site and left that project as it is. In search of finding domain renewal coupons I found NamePros.com where I got GoDaddy coupon codes for the renewal of Traders.cc from where I started learning about domaining which was really exciting for me. As mentioned in my earlier post that I never bought lot of domains and was always careful. I just wanted to read and get complete knowledge about domains. It seems crazy but for several years I had only 15-20 domains only and most of them were .cc

Today I own 20 odd .cc domains including 4U.cc, Asia.cc, Guru.cc, Investor.cc, Sweden.cc. If you are interested in buying .cc domains today I would strongly suggest you to invest in premium keywords only because the demand from end users isn’t much. I will be posting more articles about .cc domains in near future so stay tuned.

Care to share your .cc domains you currently own and your thoughts about the demand for end users.

Posted in Domaining, Domain Investing Tags: , ,

My first domain name through backorder

Posted by AbdulBasit Makrani on November 9th, 2012 0 Comment

Before I start telling anything new I would like to rewind back and tell you about my first backordered domain which I did through SnapNames.com in mid 2006. The domain was TenTopManagementQuestions dot com which at that time had Google PR7. I wasn’t sure if that was fake or real Google PageRank. I just thought it has PR7 so let’s buy it and I can flip it for a lot more money. But as most of the domainers like me bought crappy domain which I had to drop next year. Although I had backordered another domain which was TenTopMarketingQuestions dot com and I was lucky to be outbid by the other person.

Lucky for me that like many other domainers I didn’t go crazy for buying lot of domains ever which to me is very good. I always wanted to read a lot and buy less in numbers. That’s why today I haven’t reached 200 domains mark but definitely be there at the end of this year.

So that was my first backordered domain and I would like to hear about your first back ordered domain ever.

Posted in Domaining, Personal Tags: , ,


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