Morning Folks!!
Have you ever stopped to think long enough whether you are a 'Domain investor' or a 'Domain flipper.' Some are both but there is a huge difference. The last thing I want to do when I buy a domain is flip it. Even folks that flip domains for a living may want to adjust.
The first thing I do is study the domain name. Most domains I buy are ones that I believe will have more value in time not less value. So I am never in a rush to sell. I want to know as much as I can. I want to see where it stacks up against my other domains. The process takes several weeks to several months.
I am never in a rush because in most cases I am dealing with an appreciating asset. Sometimes doing nothing can make you more money than doing something or even doing something stupid.
There is a lot of money in both. That is why this is such a great business. You can buy just ONE domain of value and sell it and you are in business. It just blows me away that folks would take their TIME and buy a $25 domain and flip for $50 and pat themselves on the back. Let's just say that is an under achiever attitude. If you can do it for $25, you can do it for $2500 or $25,000. Raise your game.
If you are a waiter you want to work at the busiest restaurant with the highest prices as you will likely make the most money there than a slow cheap restaurant. There is a parallel in domains. You decide which one you want to be.
Just remember it takes the same time and effort selling a $25 domain as a $2500 domain and I surely could make the case it is MUCH EASIER to deal with folks at the $2500 level than the folks at the $25 level.
For me it was a balancing act. How do I hold my domains for 20 years and still establish a market? That meant I had to pick my sales carefully. What I was building was a foundation of value long before there were outlets to sell domains. I had to point to examples that I achieved. Now I have the luxury of a thriving marketplace. Domain sales are 24/7 and there are countless auctions. Each establishes foundations and that is helpful.
I no longer have to count my own domain sales to prove something. I don't have to prove about leaking traffic from .co to .com. What we have discovered will now be verified with 3rd parties. They no longer have to believe me or you. WE can point to Mr. Johnson and what he learned and his words.
'Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, 'a good portion' of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.'
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Anunt
I was planning on hand registering some .xxx domains, but now that Mr. Johnson has spoken…i changed my mind!
Dot Com rules…Ask Mr. Johnson!!!
Sem
Rick,
It was a good article until you hit the .co thing again. .co is a fact. The abbreviation for”Colombia” and”Colorado” existed a long time before .com. It’s a fact in a changing market environment. I’m pretty sure the .co registry won’t be closing up shop any time soon.
Sem
This is really trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Almost everyone goes to Overstock.com. Not O.co or O.com. Compare the charts for all and you’ll see what I mean. Really not worth making any hoopla over.
Gene
Your question is a very good one: And the other domainers always seem to ask it backwards, i.e.,”why aren’t you making a living flipping domain names?”
Investing in domain names, albeit a luxury (and I don’t fault those whose primary means of income is flipping), is the way to maximize returns.
BUT WHAT’S NEVER DISCUSSED is that the flippers are unintentionally harming overall asset values – which also harms the reputation of all domainers, because, as a consequence, we’re ALL viewed as pump & dumpers.
So, for those folks that can afford to not continually flip – and keep prime assets off the market -, they should do so for everyone’s sake(s).
Rick Schwartz
Gee, guess I hit a nerve. The .co registry will do just fine. I really don’t care about that either way. I am a domain INVESTOR and as an INVESTMENT. .co is not the best extension to invest in. Plain and simple. You can argue that FACT until the cows come home. But ask Mr. Johnson what he thinks.
Doobaya
This is so true, the domains above 10k are so much easier to sell then the cheap ones. The most sales i have done are above 5k range.
Before two weeks i have sold amati.com for 20k, the domain which i have purchased for 4200$ at 2007. If you compare that to investment in stocks or real estate, i will loose money on both in the same period.
Domains, Oil, Gold, Land, and Food
@Sem…..don’t forget the abbreviation for”company” also, or whatever other hack one might deem appropriate.
Sem
Rick,
Why do you dwell on this nonsense? It’s clear you are trying to jump on and inflate/exaggerate the situation. It really isn’t a big deal. This so-called”issue” of spillage had been addressed thoroughly by many members in the domain community well before open registration. We all knew there would be some. Especially until people get educated about”extensions”, which takes time.
The point I was making is that .co will continue to be available for investment regardless of spillage. It’s not such a big deal, really.
It’s probably more credible to state the whole quotation by Mr. Johnson rather than just pick out a snippet that suits your agenda.
Rick Schwartz
Sem,
So in YOUR world NOTHING has changed with that BOMBSHELL?? Look up the word”Confusion.”
The POINT here that folks that really do have an agenda, like you is missing is that you CAN NOT promote a .co without owning the .com. If you own both, NO PROBLEM!! If you don’t own the .com, you are SCREWED if you want to be a big player. That is with ANY extension but even worse with .co because of the confusion. SO SIMPLE. What part don’t YOU understand?
Rick Schwartz
Sem it really is a BIG deal. :-)
The issue of spillage is one thing. HEMORRHAGE is another.
This was the latter and that is clear.
I dwell on it because this is the FIRST TIME an end user verified it after pissing away millions. That makes him very qualified. Sorry, .co is no longer an”Investment Grade” extension. imo.
That does not mean you can’t flip them and make a few dollars here and there. Just means there is a ceiling on the value. You see sky, I see ceiling. :-)
Mike
Hi,
Investor
Altaf
@Doobaya
Thanks for sharing your sale.But I do not see any type ins around the name. What made you to invest so much in that domain & how did you sell it? Appreciate, if you share your story please.
asdf123
This so-called”issue” of spillage had been addressed thoroughly by many members in the domain community well before open registration. We all knew there would be some. Especially until people get educated about”extensions”, which takes time.
—
Nothing was ‘addressed by the domain community’ regarding traffic leak. Anyone can rationalize anything by fabricating any bullshit excuse, but plenty of people saw this train wreck WELL in advance. In the case of Overstock.com, they spent millions (and probably lost millions more) to learn this lesson the hard way. Yet again, a textbook case of mind-boggling lack of very simple foresight on the part of some people- many of whom spoke VERY LOUDLY about it, before the o.co disaster.
Also, as far as it being an abbreviation for”Colorado”, I have yet to hear anyone explain to me why that is relevant to .co, but not a relevant value driver for any of the other ccTLDs that represent state abbreviation that no one cares about for that purpose.
There are untold numbers of good people in this country who are out of work, really hurting bad. People who would kill for a single $XXXX windfall, like the kind that we take for granted. I often wonder why it’s so easy to make money with domains when making money in general can be so difficult for so many, then, I realize… It’s because the competition in this space is just so weak. For every 1 who is shrewd, savvy and intelligent, there are 10 who are basically hardly much more than retarded monkeys.
You seriously ‘don’t get’ why .co is a marketing disaster in a .com world? You’re a guppy in a shark tank. Take up something else. You’re destined to fail here.
Fero
Amati for violin .Amati violin shop.
BullS
what don’t you all understand…dot com is king.
Plain and simple.
Fero
Rick is right about the .com , i have developed few blogs in .com
and without much work they all rank well in Google i registered and developed one .co extension and am working hard to jump in to the first page of Google but it’s not ranking well .
Also when i tell to friend to visit name.co extension they reply to make sure, was it .com they can’t remember .co
George Hong
Rick, Great Comparisons.
Another powerful statement from an end user on why .com is the king
“As we developed and changed focus to the business and enterprise market, it became clear that the company needed a trusted, enterprise-worthy domain that aligns with the product that we’ve built. That’s why today we’re excited to announce that Box is moving from Box.net to Box.com!”
http://blog.box.net/2011/11/17/bye-bye-net/
Christopher Bon
The dead horse is turning into a pulpy mess.
Rich
altaf@ amati is a chech .co that makes brass instruments.
Rick@ i do think you have an agenda.
If your Mr.Johnson was so brilliant why did he spend millions on o.co ? and then pulled back!!!!
So you want us to fallow a men that later he admits he make a HUGE mistake? Give me a brake,and then follow you when you said you bought 2,700 .co and then dump 2,350 of them? you might be a pioneer in the domaining business, but we are not all that stupid.
I’m a domain investor,i bought 1,600 .co’s i get daily offers of 1k to 4k witch i refuse because i now is not the right time to sell,but don’t turn this ccTLD,saying its a piece of shit just because Johnson didn’t take his time with the o.co and he failed.
Rick Schwartz
Rich,
I do have an agenda. It is to stop listening the BULLSHIT that folks that really do have an agenda, like you, and sem and Christopher keep spewing in the face of EVIDENCE that does not support your positions. So you all go ape shit whenever I make sense and REFUSE to swallow BULLSHIT.
You can invest in dog shit for all I care. Just don’t tell me BLACK is WHITE!
.Co happens to have a BIGGER problem than any other .whatever. That is how I see it. PERIOD!
Altaf
Thank you.
Rich
Whatever Rick,time will tell.
Rick Schwartz
I dumped most of them because they were defensive registrations and I found out it was FOOLISH to worry about that with .CO.
I would rather have some FOOL build an empire on one I own the .com counterpart. Sounds like a smarter strategy to me. I hope you guys picked them up!! :-)
Plus it freed up $50,000/year to invest in domains with more value and more upside.
See, I learn from new information. I don’t ignore it. I don’t see it as a threat. I just re-adjust to new things. I never go down with the ship.
Rich
Yes Rick,I picked up one from you”visithongkong”
Christopher Bon
Excuse me, Rick? Wtf are you doing calling out my name like that. What bullshit am I spewing? You shouldn’t shit on readers. I have an opinion and for you to say or suggest that I have an agenda or am spewing bullshit is not only disrespectful and rude but also unprofessional. I’m not impressed.
Rick Schwartz
Christopher, I would label you a .co whore. How’s that? :-)
trpsn
Unbelievable, the same .co shills end up commenting all the time, just give it a rest already. Every single time. Go start your own .co blog, no one wants to waste their time reading about your failed investments.
Rick I hope you keep quoting that o.co quote on every blog post; it really is striking a nerve! Some people can’t face the facts.
Jerry
Rick. What’s your opinion of authorize.net It seems to me you can build an entire brand around a .net… but it takes more work…
It would sound weird if authorize.net moved to .com… You’d have to call it just Authorize then… or something…
thoughts??
Christopher Bon
@rick
Whatever, man. My estimation of your character has plummeted. I’m sure you don’t care but you should know anyway. I watched your interview on DomainSherpa and thought you were a really cool and down-to-earth guy. Now you call me a whore because I bought .co? I bought a fraction of what you bought so what does that make you?
Rick Schwartz
Christopher, you are the one running to the blogs minimizing and defending .co. You can ignore new info. That is up to you. But I don’t appreciate having to swallow BULLSHIT. I reject it. I think it is a bombshell. You think it is a blip. I have a reason for my views based on something I have been waiting over 15 YEARS to hear. Now it is out there. It is not from a domainer. It is from an end user. That has MUCH more weight. What .co experienced is not and will not be unique to Overstock or .co for that matter. Value went DOWN with that statement not up. You put the wrong variable in your equation and IGNORE the real variable. You will need to read my post on”Equations” later this week and THEN maybe you will understand what I am telling you.
Hope is not reality. Hope in the face of news that does not support hope can not be ignored and swept away. I reject that type thinking and always have. I deal with reality and when a situation changes I analyze it. With .co we started analyzing it over a year ago. Many stated what certain things would mean if it happened. Guess what? It happened. The birdie died.
It does not mean .co has no value. What is DOES mean is it probably won’t have GREAT value. Maybe you can buy a .co for $50 and flip for $500. But there is now a ceiling on the value of .co.
I just don’t deal well with folks that ignore IMPORTANT information and try and put lipstick on a pig. That is what your .co comments are about here and thedoamins.com and other places I am sure as the subject comes up. You are entitled to believe what you want. But you are not entitled to go unchallenged when you minimize something as HUGE as this.
“Mr. Johnson said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots,”a good portion” of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.”
Do you know the meaning of”a good portion” is? It isn’t 10%. It isn’t 20%. It isn’t even 30%. It is likely between 50% and 75%. Maybe even more. Numbers don’t lie, people do. Even domainers that KNOW the difference screw it up AT LEAST 50% of the time. Personally I am about 75%. That means the AVERAGE guy is even higher. Will it go down over time? YES! But nobody can survive losing so much for so long. And even after the world KNOWS the difference, 25% will still make the mistake.
Tell ya what. Add 35% to every bill you have and cut your income by 35% and tell me how things work out for ya.
Altaf
Rick,
Kindly tell us about .Com.Co. Where does that fit into. Is it under .Com or is it .Co? Has such domain got any value at all? Does it get any type ins? are there any end users for or who will need them? Is there any secondary market for those? What is the future? Thanks. Gratefully,
Christopher
Rick,
You sound a bit paranoid. Nobody is feeding you bullshit or anything. I have a different opinion than you. Is that not welcome on this or any other blogs? I don’t run around minimizing and defending .co any more than you call (prematurely IMO) for it’s death. Think I’m overstating? THE CANARY IS DEAD! THE CANARY IS DEAD! Sound familiar? That’s because it’s you. I don’t know why you go on and on about it. Is it because you are pissed that you lost some money after regging so many .co domains?
I just think that you’re beating this one .co example to death and beyond. I don’t have an agenda. If I was flipping then I would want domainers to think they had a lot of value. I have only sold to end users so far and the return is excellent. I (unlike Mr. Cline) think that talk of the extension beating .com is waaay overstated. You have to admit though, for a company, it’s a nice looking extension.
Does .co get type in traffic? absolutely not…it gets no natural type in traffic and that’s why you can’t sell it for too much. Nobody is familiar with it…hell, 15 years ago a lot of people didn’t know what the internet was so things change.
The thing about this extension that was exciting for domainers and newbs was that it was a chance to get some really nice domains at good prices…let them mature…hold on to them….just a few top quality domains. I went overboard buying them, absolutely, and I will let a lot of them drop. With the right domain, however, you can sell a handreg for $1500 or, if you are lucky $15000. The chance of doing that with .com is next to nil.
Now can we get along and stop the name-calling? Being called a whore (for having a contrary opinion) by the”king” is beyond lame.
Rick Schwartz
I call some of my best friends whores. Ask Monte. lol
You took it way too personal. Is an adjective used when you oversell something.
Doobaya
At the time i bought it it was a PR6 domain, there is a company in Czech Republic that is producing music instruments called Amati, Mazda has quit a plan for the luxury sub brand called Amati in 90`s but who knows maybe it will do it in the future and at last Amati violins are worth 700K at auctions these days. So i did my homework and i remember i decided i will go to 8k, eventually i paid it 4200$.
When i buy the names i look at many factors. Type in traffic is not my game. I prefer to buy domains that have developing potential to end user. If for example i see bananas.com , first it looks appealing but then what is developing potential for end user so i avoid domains that are to generic. I remember i have bought test.net for more than 20k in 2007. For a year i have tried to sell it for a small margin but with no success. In 2008 i was lucky and received an 30k offer from a buyer and immediately sold it. From then i have learned my lesson.
Silver Eagle
I usually get new domains and I put work into making them rank. As they gain rank and age I usually want to use them for project websites.
I mostly have .com and .net domains.
I do think that if there is any spill over it would be to a .com and not the other way around.
Melisa
I’ve seen a lot of people investing in buying domain particularly in flippa. Purchasing $10 domain and sell it in higher price. What I observed that most buyer are opt for .com domain.