Big Boys Selling … No Worries
By Alan on Mar 31, 2008 in Domain Sales
Namebio recently posted an article about iReit’s decision to sell a large chunk of their portfolio and Dark Blue Seas deal with Godaddy. One of the interesting quotes was:
“it may suggest that both companies are seeing major drops in revenue and are cleaning house and changing monetization strategies”
I really like Namebio so proper credit is given for reporting on this but now (in good fun) we must disagree that any such move is suggesting a major drop in revenue. These moves (in our opinion) are a better way to maximine revenue hence you are probably right in assuming both companies could be changing monetization strategies.
However, this change is not new – its simply time for large portfolio owners to take advantage of a market that is finally moving away from domainer to domainer sales.
Elliot posted a story about AmericanFlags.com– a true internet success story. The simple math tells us that in order to get corporate end users (the ones with really big wallets) we must first battle the war to obtaining approval from small business dreamers and owners on how much domain names are worth. AmericanFlags.com is a true example of this. How one name bought for $2,500 changed a mans life forever.
People are realizing this so it’s now time for iReit and others to sell assets which may never get $100,000 but will certainly get $2,3 or 5,000 because real buyers (not domainer to domainer sales) are starting to come.
It’s smart for iReit to cash in from the sale of domains which may not meet their development goals. I’m not sure if Afternic or BuyDomains was the right choice but the move was right for sure.
As for Dark Blue Sea – not Dark Deep Blue, all in good fun namebio 
, they have been selling names through GoDaddy for quite some time. Many of the names most domainers would not buy (even in a drop) while many more are simply great names at fair prices. I think the magic here is finding the right target prices for end users… there, I said it. End users, small business owners, vanity names for people with extra cash – that’s why this deal is great for both parties. GoDaddy has the end users – Dark Blue has the domains. Finally, a portfolio owner smart enough to go to the source (thumbs up Dark Blue).
Selling from domainer to domainer is a never ending moody circle of price swings. Oh, the world is ending, PPC is going down – why would I ever pay that much.
Let’s skip these people and go straight to the buyers who actually have development plans. Plans that involve a lot more than sitting home waiting for someone to click on your ads and then crying wolf when the company somebody else worked their butt off to build doesn’t pay you more. Lazy Domainers…. Let’s bypass them all!!
All I can say is it costs $6 to register a name for a year so you (as a domain owner) are essentially stealing property from the candy jar (it’s cheaper than a 12-inch sub) – If you decide to sell a good name for a couple hundred bucks than another domainer is stealing from your candy jar!
Hell with the candy jar robbers – let’s find the people who buy the candy. Next year we will find the people who make the candy.
Dark Blue has secured the system soooo many of us wish we had!!
One suggestion – if GoDaddy or Dark Blue are listening – can you release the sales information to DN Journal weekly. More reporting, greater values will come.
If you’re in this for the long run then this is your opportunity to pick up some great names. We were privy to viewing much of iReit’s portfolio a little while ago and there are a few good names at FAIR prices….Remember, I said FAIR, not firesale.
As for 100,000 good names?
NOT A CHANCE.
Over 98% of the portfolio just added to Afternic by iReit is JUNK! – Complete and useless domains your blind grandmother would not register nor be able to spell if Bob Barker was promising a gold house behind door number 3. It’s simply a collection of tens of thousands of typos, possible trademark problematic names, unbrandable words, hypens, meaningless phrases and utter junk with a few good names thrown in to help with a press release.
So, iReit dropped a couple hundred good names in the marketplace – what’s the big freaking deal?
In a nutshell, these moves by various portfolio owners only strengthen what we have always believed. Traditional methods of valuating names simply based on PPC earnings is going away – Large portfolio holders are once again opting to sell based on the keyword value of the name.
The world is not ending – it’s simply shifting in the right direction.
Susan Kishner | Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Nice writing style. I will come back to read more posts from you.
Susan Kishner
**NF** Thank you, however my english teachers would never agree
)
Michael Castello | Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
I said the same thing in 1999 and I’ll say it now. Develop your best names, don’t seek out venture capital too quickly and survive for the future. There will be lots of opportunities to profit from with lots of options. As long as you are growing your site, your traffic, your sales and along with it your livelihood, the bumps in the road and corrections we see this year will seem like a walk in the park because YOU will be in control. That’s a good feeling.
**NF** Very true Michael – Very True indeed.
Henry | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
I wished I had more cash !!!!!!!
rob | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
It just shows you don’t need 500,000 domain names to make money. You can build a profitable business with one domain and one website that can replace a full time job. What these big guys are doing is no different that the domainer with 150 names who lets some names go every year to rebalance the portfolio. They are just doing it on a bigger scale. Names they are selling for $500 or $1,000 they probably figure will never make that in PPC. You can only work on so many projects and websites at a time, so selling off part of a portfolio is just ONE way to keep the cash flow going.
**NF** Exactly, you get it!