This may sound funny, but sometimes I think I am a cheapo! Mainly, I just feel like I find great deals and work Smart and hard at it. When people start writing to me and say things like "I’m sure you got it at a steal" or "What, did you pay reg fee for it?" etc. it makes me laugh.
I wish I could be Very Open on some of the prices I pay for domain names, but I just can not be Exact. I can say a couple things. I have never paid more then $1,555 for a domain name. That was for a 2 character domain (2008). I have sold domain names in the 5 figure range. I do own a great deal of domain names that are High and low four figures, and some that are worth 5 figures and many other $xxx domains. When I say "worth" I mean would sell for!
I have never owned a 3 letter .com domain and I will not unless I can find one for $4K or less. 
So if you see me selling one, you will have a good idea what I got it for. lol
Now the reason I am writing this is because today while I was on DNF.com, their are a couple members that Always have nice Gems for sale. I mean Gems. Nice one word Generics. Premium LLL.com’s, Very nice VCVC and sweet 4L’s as well. So behind closed doors, I always check and see if I can see a pattern of how or where these guys are buying from.
I have seen some patterns and I think I am onto one of them. The interesting thing is, I think he is buying all these gems from Other Domainers! I was pretty suprised really. The whois patterns went like this…
- Original owner(many years in whois)
- Domain company-Domainer (owned for a short period of time, sometimes 1 week or less)
- Then the current domainer (member at DNF)
Now the reason I am suprised is because I think he is buying from a domainer, who is going to charge at least "reseller" prices. Then the domainer puts these domains up on domain forums and sells/tries to sell etc. Many hit Sedo or go to Moniker events and I’m sure are purchased by Other domainers.
Now the question I have is, I wonder what his ROI is? I buy a quad premium LLLL.com and sell it for $1,500. Big deal, happens daily. Oh, I forgot to say I purchased that quad premium Last Week for $7.20 (reg fee), sell and get paid via Mass Pay (no fees). Profit is $1,492.80 for me. That doesn’t happen daily.
So let’s say some of these gems are getting Purchased at $4,000 and being sold at $4,500. A $4,500 sale LOOKS good when you do not know what the person paid for it. Well Looks are not everything. Little do you know when you see X domain sold for $4,500, my $1,500 sale brought in nearly 3 X’s more profit then what the person who sold for $4,500.
So just because you are not selling these GEMS all day long like others, do not feel bad, because it’s all about ROI!
The people really making the big bucks are companies like Tucows who just keep expired domains and pay renewal reg fee on the premium one word generic’s or LLL.com’s etc and then sell.
People who find great deals and follow the old saying…. Buy Low, Sell High!
Also the people that purchased back in the early 90’s and have held domains for nearly 20 years. I bow to them because I really do not think I could hold a domain name that long. Keep in mind reg fee was Free way back when, but it was also around $50 a year in the 90’s and you had to register for 2 years at a time, send snail mail etc.
So I will keep doing what I am doing and only buy when it’s a great deal, as I know my ROI is HIGH and my risk is LOW. I won’t look cool because I sell premium generics or LLL.com’s all the time, but again, it’s all about ROI!
