Morning Folks!!
Since Day One I always believed that domains would be traded
like other collectibles. So far that has proven difficult. See, I would rather
trade one unique asset for another as opposed to a dollar value. So I am in the
midst of compiling a list of domains I would sell that don’t fit into my
overall business plan. Now what does not strengthen my collection may fortify
somebody else’s.
Most of these are prime one and 2 word domains. I am not a .net guy but I have some
superb .nets because when I could not register the .com, that may have been a
backup or I may have had the .com and wanted the .net and .org. Men.net,
Ladies.org would fit into domains like that. I have a number of NNN and LLL
domains. Once in a while I will sell these. Last month I sold 273.com for
$50,000 and this is the first time I am disclosing that. (Ron)
But when I go through my list of what I call “Orphan
Domains” they are only “Orphan” to me because I may be weak in that particular
sector and only have one domain that is related. I certainly would trade that
one which could be prime as a domain can be for another because it fills a
need.
Problem with domain trading is you have to have really good
domains to trade with. Back in the
1960’s I used to collect baseball cards. I had thousands and thousands and
thousands. We would “Flip” them in a game and win 100 or more at a time. We
would trade we would do lots of things. But there was this “Bob Uecker” card.
Number #195 I believe it was. In almost every pack you would buy you would get
the dreaded Bob Uecker card. That card was like a crappy domain. They were everywhere
and he was nowhere. Nobody ever heard of him. He did not make a mark on the
game and was a .200 career average which is about as bad as anyone next to a
pitcher. He did however make a name for himself as a broadcaster and did many
commercials. Mostly always making
fun of his unremarkable big league career.
My mother tossed those cards in the garbage when we moved to
Maryland. Cards that would have been way into the 6 figures or more today. But that is
another story for another day. Point is we traded cards. We filled in our
collections. We understood the value of the cards we had but at 12 years old,
we did not understand future value.
I am CERTAIN that if I assembled a group of domainers with
prime domains that could segregate a couple dozen that they would consider
trading and then pass that list around we would witness multiple trades. Some
domains could be traded for 5 others, like baseball players or baseball
cards. Some with cash. Some with other consideration. Since 2004 and many years
before that I have really wanted this to happen and there has just been no
appetite in the industry to do it. I always believe it is timing. So I will try
once again. I think being creative in this area is key.
The key to trading is if you want a domain that somebody has
you have to give them more than equal value. That is what motivates them to
sell to begin with. If I wanted a Mickey Mantle Rookie card I could hardly
trade for a Bob Uecker card. But a Bob Uecker and a Pete Rose and maybe we have
something to talk about. Or maybe 200 Bob Uecker cards to use for flipping
because they have little value and you don’t care if you lose some of those.
Point is there is a way and we are all missing a huge opportunity to grow our
businesses in a meaningful way. It really
is time to do this.
I have 7000 domains. Not a lot in the scheme of things. But
I could isolate 100 or 1000 of them that I would not get excited about to sell
for $10k or $20k or even $50k, but
would get very excited if I could trade one of those type domains for a plural
of what I have. Maybe a misspell.
Maybe just a close match.
But there is opportunity there that has yet to be exploited. Great
opportunity. I would even trade
income producing domains for ones with no income if I think it helps solidify
my portfolio.
This time I am going to do something different. I am going
to make that list of domains I would trade and make them public. I will
probably do it over the summer. I started a few months back. Maybe I will post
a list soon to see if there is any desire to do this finally. There truly is a
great opportunity here.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Domainer
Great idea Rick. As a matter of fact, I have 2 domains for you. One is plural of what you have. I will email you the names. An idea of categories/verticles of what you want to trade will be good to know at this point. imo.
Dean
Good Morning Rick,
I don’t think I have anything ripe enough or in your league, but I would love to see your list when you get around to publishing it.
Anthony Hanner
Good to see you moving forward with something like this, Rick. I had the same idea and threw it out on a post of Latona’s on his blog a while back. I had mentioned that if domainers got together in one place with their lists…just like a baseball card convention, then good things could happen.
Why don’t you do something like that at TRAFFIC Miami? One room…and let the trading begin.
Rob Sequin
In the mean time, post the domains you want to complement then post the list for trade for people to choose from.
I do like Anthony’s idea above about a trading room. People can post their desires on one side and domains for trade on the other.
No valuations needed.
Aron - XF.com
I’m always open to trades… it is a great way to keep things moving, and not worry about taxes, just yet.
Hit me up for sure when you have a list. I’m 100% confirmed as a domain trader :)
Steve Cheatham
Great idea. I have about 150 domains I would trade in a”baseball card trade”.
Steve Cheatham
BTW Rick. Where is that landfill with the cards in it? I feel like doing a little mining.
Howard
How about if we set up the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. booth at South Beach for trading domains.
Your partner
James
Good post Rick – i’m always game for a trade. A portion of my portfolio is at Namecake.com
steve
@Dean
Don’t say that. You can sell your domains as a package maybe for a single great domain.
Let Rick do his thing, he knows what he is doing. We have a great chance here so lets give it a try.
The people out of luck are the ones that made him mad posting their negative tirades.
If you have a domain that fits his style he may just give you a good deal for it. This is a chance of a lifetime.
Steve M
Excellent idea, Rick.
I’m always open to fair, sensible trade proposals; and would welcome a platform for facilitating such.
Perhaps Oversee, Latona, Name Media, Sedo, Fab, or someone else will launch such a system.
Done right, it could be highly profitable.
stage hire
its not a new idea
every forum has a section for trading names but all that hapens is that you get showered with crap
as you will Rick, when you post your list. i’d be surprised if you got one decent one to trade, as this is the problem, everyone wants to get rid of their crap
there was a great site, swapnames.com i think.
the ethically challenged snapnames came in and threatened them with lawyers etc and they had to shut
it was genuinely a site for people to swapnames
the cp was great but again, people just offered you a list of shit for your good names
good luck anyway Rick, and you have a great list of names and you have quite a big captive audience sio maybe you will get lucky
cheers
jeff schneider
Hello Rick,
Microsoft has just fired the first shot over the bow of all parked names. We all need to understand that if traffic revenues are weak and worse yet non-existant we will not be trading anything of value. DOMAINERS wake up smell the coffee it is burning.
Louise
That would be thrilling to view a list of domains you would like to trade!
Congratulations on your Christie’s watch auction, having it there in the first place!
It looks like Rob Monster has been paying attention to yours and Rick’s blogs: http://www.epik.com/blog/1st-annual-epik-developer-conference-sept-15-17-2010-in-seattle.html because he is holding a swap meet for trading domains at his conference, so he might beat you to the punch! :)
Altaf
Great & creative thoughts! We look forward to seeing the name-game.Good Luck Rick! Have a great Day!!
Graham
I might be interested in your list for a NAME REMOVED exchange.
The biggest camgirl site NAME REMOVED makes $250 million per year.
All you have to do is point Porno.com visitors at NAME REMOVED and it will be huge.
Al
hey all!
I was the founder of SwapNames.com, which changed to Zuho.com .. and eventually I took it down because I could not maintain it. If people are interested to put this up again, I will most definitely love to revive the project.
It will only cost about $100/month for the dedicated hosting and if I can get sponsor(s) or JV partners for it, it is a ready platform for the domaining community!
Do let me know…Thanks!
Al
Al
Hey guys again…
I found a video review of the domain swapping site Zuho.com in youtube. It pretty much gives an idea of what the swapping marketplace looked like before it was taken down..
http://bit.ly/b3gjg8
Cheers!
Al
Stephen Douglas
Excellent!
Now we have it official – you can use the”I’m consolidating my portfolio to those categories I want” for an excuse to get rid of domains, good or not!
Thanks Rick. Now when I say the exact same thing you say here about fine-tuning my portfolio, I won’t have some anonymous jerkwad posting that I’m just trying to get rid of”crappy domains”.
You’ve just legitimized the”strategy” for selling off/trading domains you don’t want, because they are”orphans” (I like that term for domains you like, but keep until you can flip them while you work on controlling your prodserv categories in your portfolio.)
Good post
Conway Anderson
Hey Rick,
Let me know if YoungSkin [dot] com and Revitalized [dot] com would be of interest to you.
Thanks,
Conway
Joe
Hi Rick, could you please confirm my friend request on Facebook?
3DKing.me
Rick,
Great Idea. I would like to see your list. Any 3D URLs?
Mark
3DKing.me
steve
Well since everyone thinks it will be a great idea, forget about it.
One thing I learned is the opposite is always correct.
Amanda
Love the idea. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got.
UFO
@steve
You sound like an idiot. Like all idiots you’ll take the musings of some investment pundits to the nth degree.
Next time on a busy road, when all the pedestrians are following the Do not cross sign, just follow your instincts and walk out into the street. It would be unsafe to stand on the sidewalk.
Idiot.
Rick Schwartz
Test
steve
@ufo
Wow. You make things personal because you have no intelligence to figure things out.
You make some broad point that I still can’t figure out.
I am doing just fine with my domain investments. I follow nobody. I have my own system. You know nothing. I’ve learned a lot reading posts to figure out how to make a profit. Thanks for your concern.
UFO
@steve
Steve, I thought I’d hit you because you are stupid.
The fact that you can’t see the broad point amplifies it.
Guess you tell the neighbours that all the droppings at your place are due to the racing pigeons that you keep… pity none have ever come home to roost.
steve
Just because you fail doesn’t mean everyone else will fail.
I can’t call you a liar because you don’t know what you are talking about.
My biggest loss to date was someone stealing from me. I will never get that money back but I press on.
So your words mean nothing to me.
Dave Wrixon
Seems to me people resort to barter when the normal medium of exchange cash is either absent or worthless.
Paul
Have you seen the domaintradinggame game?