Are you disappointed with the state of domaining ?
There is a member on Namepros that posted the following:
Hi All,
I just had this thing on my mind and feel I had to rant.
There are so many domainers out here who have grossly overvalued their domains. They are very highly unlikely to sell their domains at the asking price especially to domain resellers on this forum.
I attribute this to the lack of knowledge and also on businesses fooling people with crappy TLDs.
10 years ago domaining was fun, competitive market. Now it’s full of people with few domains in their portfolio thinking they are sitting on a treasure chest.
< End Rant />
I get where Leo is coming from but imo this statement “I attribute this to the lack of knowledge and also on businesses fooling people with crappy TLDs.”
It’s too simplistic
There are a lot of factors on pricing and most should not infuriate a domain investor who believes they are knowledgeable.
1) Domaining is a hobby for many
For a few it might be a substitute for the daily number or betting on horses.
I think that’s something that many overlook, there are people who eat, sleep and drink domaining, they take it seriously, it’s how they earn a full or part time living. They tend to think that everyone they come in contact with feels the same way about domaining.
They don’t!
This can make it difficult to get deals on a wholesale marketplace like Namepros.
2) People are trying to emulate their heroes in the business
It’s only natural that people read the stories about people like Rick Schwartz, Mike Berkens, Mike Mann etc….
They see their sales, they read their tweets. They say, “Wow, that name sold for how much?”
They figure they are following in the footsteps of successful domain owners and price their names accordingly.
3) Some people have no clue on pricing
Some domain investors truly have no idea how to price a name, some price it based on a current financial need, whether or not that defies logic is immaterial to them.
4) Markets change
There are many different niches out there, I remember a guy telling me he lucked out a couple years back. He priced all his “ugly” 4L.coms with a buy it now of $1,500. He had fellow domainers tell him he was nuts back in 2011, and he probably was for a name like xzqj.com. But the CHIP charge in 2015 helped him sell out for great prices.
Some people probably price their names a little higher in hopes of another surge in prices.
5) The folly of others can work to your advantage
If you are correct that others are pricing in error, well then you should sell more by pricing competitively, being in proper tune with the domain market you are selling in.
A domainer complaining that his fellow domainers price their inventory too high and it upsets him, boohoo. This domainers should make his own opportunities instead of crying cause he can’t afford the opportunities others offer.
I agree. If others are overvaluing their domains, it makes properly valued names more attractive. Think about it in terms of any other industry.
Your theory, and that of Hackney, holds only if the complaining “Domainer” is a seller, if he is a buyer, he has a good reason to expect reasonable prices.
Besides, it may be his opinion that we are all in this together; therefore, his desire to pull back wayward sellers, who may remain aloof without intervention.
We are not all in this together. And as people blasted the op on Namepros they were addressing him as a buyer and not a seller, he wants other people’s assets cheap.
Well he can’t have them, go find another job.
One thing that is lost on most people, is that, in a closed niche, or “economy”, such as domaining, if everybody is doing well, then everybody is a potential buyer; if only a handful is doing well, then, you can only sell to end-users. Imagine if your fellow domainers can buy from you because they are doing okay, and you also get to sell to end-users. So, we may not all be in this together, but we should, as much as possible, without turning into communism. We’re only limiting this meaning to simple advice as was done in this article; reminding greedy, or new sellers to be realistic.
A lot of domainers think they know it all, and are averse to allowing other opinions, I hope you are not one of those. I prefer others to voice their opinion freely, without intimidation, or ridicule. I’d rather hear from everybody than just you.
I agree that people need to learn to price their domains more realistically