Many people look for something to make them rich overnight but if you face the truth, this in real life doesn’t happen! Yah, you may get lucky and win the lottery but you do not get the money "the next day" either! Let alone the chance of winning the lottery is very, very slim!
Something you can do is buy a domain name, sell it the very same day and Get the money that day! Now is buying and selling domain names "a get rich fast" business? Yes and No! The best thing about investing in domain names, is YOU have that chance and it’s a pretty good one as well!
What do you need to buy a domain name? Many times, under $10 but a few thousand is best! You need to know where to buy and get the best deal. (search around here on DotWeekly.com and I have explained many times on how and where to do this). A great "gut"! Most of my domain name buys are done off of my "gut feel". (you need a computer and email address as well)
Need some proof that you can make money buying and selling domain names online? Here is a step by step process of a recent domain name that I purchased and sold.
I was doing some searching of expired domain names that were in auction at Godaddy.com on about 12-15-2008. I used the free tool FreshDrop.net to search. (again, read around DotWeekly.com for more indepth how to’s) I happened to notice the domain name BailoutBill(.)com that was in auction and the current bid price was under $100. I "watched" the domain name until the end of the auction which was 12-19-2008.
I placed a couple bids on the domain name and won it for $161 USD. Although I was ready to "pay more" for the domain, it does take Two bidders in an auction to raise the price. The other bidder must of thought they were overpaying for the domain name and stopped bidding which resulted in me winning. Now how did I know what to bid? Like I said above, you have to have a great "gut feel".
Now my gut feel has about 5 years of domain knowledge behind it, but if you can put two and two together and hold some common sense… that’s all you really need to be a domain investor! To me, BailoutBill(.)com makes great sense! A lot of people are talking about, searching for it on the internet and I personally do not think this term will be "going away" anytime soon! All this equals "a good domain name" and at the purchase price, my gut was Yelling at me that somebody would pay me a good deal more then my $161 I invested.
Since when you win an expired domain name at Godaddy.com, you have to wait 7 days until you get the domain name. Sometimes, but not often, the old owner of the domain name can "renew" the domain and in the end, you would end up with a refund of your purchase. Trust me, having the domain reclaimed doesn’t happen all that often. So I got the domain name in my account on 12-27-2008.
Quick recap. Purchased on 12-19-2008 for $161. Domain goes into my account 12-27-2008.
Since I won the domain 12-19, I had already been thinking "What should I do with the domain". Since it’s your domain, you can do anything (almost) that you want. I really, really thought about "making a website" with the domain name. That was option #1. Option #2, was I could offer it For Sale.
After hard thought, I went with option #2 because I could use the money! So, I used a free service called "Domain Parking" with Fabulous.com . Not only can you make money with the ads that are placed on the domain names "Landing Page", Fabulous also allows you to select the option to put up a "for sale banner". This for sale banner allows people that go to your domain name / website, know the domain name is For Sale and I think in a very clear way!
6 days after I "parked" BailoutBill(.)com, I got my first offer to purchase the domain name. No promoting besides one for sale post on a domain forum but it didn’t get any interest. This offer may of come faster, but it was also the holidays.. So on 1-2-2009, I got an email from Fabulous.com with the owners contact information and the interested parties "offer".
The offer amount? $1,000 USD. Hmmm I thought to myself. I just purchased this domain a couple day earlier for $161. That’s making money already if I so choose! So with anything you own and may want to sell.. You have options. I could simply Accept, Counter Offer or say No Thank You (if you changed your mind and it wasn’t for sale anymore).
Again, using my gut feel I had a price of $3,300 USD in my head, so that is what I countered back with. Not only did I counter back, but your reply to this interested party is important. I wanted to educate and provide Why I thought the domain name was worth my counter offer price. So my email reply was as follows (actual email reply):
Thank you for you interest in BailoutBill.com and your offer. With this one of a kind and extremely rare commodity, BailoutBill.com is a masterpiece. Why would I call it a masterpiece? Bailout happens to be one of the most searched terms in 2008 and since the Bailout Bill was not signed until Oct 3, 2008 it didn’t take long for the term "Bailout Bill" to be a household name. With over 2,100 + daily searches for "Bailout Bill" according to Wordtracker and the fact that no bill has ever been approved like this before, makes the term and BailoutBill.com a piece of History.
When the average person hears the term "Bailout Bill" they instantly what it is. Getting 100 people to know what a term means, is not easy to do. Having the term Bailout Bill known by Tens of Millions is something that is outstanding. Now convert this into an advertising term! You have a term that is already very familiar to Tens of Millions of people. When they hear the term and or see it, they Know It and Remember it. This makes TV ads that will perform. This makes Print Ads that will perform. Priceless really…
Your domain name is used to get people TO your site. This is done naturally by those who already know what they are looking for. Just type BailoutBill.com if you are interested in the Bailout Bill. When people hear or see the term BailoutBill.com, not only do they Know the term, but they remember it. This in return brings in your audience, which is the ultimate goal.
Now the pricing for the domain name BailoutBill.com . I had a hard time setting a price for this one of a kind piece of real estate. If I sell it, I can not replace it. It’s that simple. One simple print ad can cost $10,000 and once that ad is run, it’s done. BailoutBill.com can last Forever with it’s One Time purchase price. BailoutBill.com is an asset as well. Like that print ad, once it’s run, it’s done. Purchasing BailoutBill.com is not only an investment that can bring in revenue 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it also can gain value as an asset and be resold.
The current asking price for change of ownership of BailoutBill.com is $3,300 USD. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Thank you again, Jamie Zoch
A short time later (next day) I got a follow up counter offer in the amount of $2,000 USD stating this was the final amount allowed to offer. (the offer came from a law firm, acting on behalf of a client)
Again using my gut feel, I had to decide if this was really the last offer they would make? Do I ask for more then $2K and stick to my $3.3K? My gut tells me NO and I accept the $2K offer (1-3-2009).
Payment was done using Escrow.com in which I requested the buyer cover the fees of the transaction, which they did.
Now is domain name investing (domaining) risk free? Get rich over night? NO. You still have to make the right choices in what you invest in, how you are going to make it known the domain is for sale or build your website (you can make money doing that as well). Can you make money online buying and selling domain names? YES
I won the domain name on 12-19-2008 at an investment of $161 USD. I got the domain name on 12-27-2008. Offer came in 6 days later on 1-2-2009 via email and an agreement was reached 1-3-2009 for the price of $2,000 USD with a short process to finish payment (can range but normally is 1-14 days).
This is a real story! No fluff and I’m not trying to "sell you something"! I have 1,839 reasons to keep investing in domain names and thought I would tell you about it!
Picture Proof from my Godaddy account of winning the domain for $161
Picture Proof from my completed Escrow.com account of the $2,000 payment
Now can the buyer of BailoutBill(.)com make money with it? Heck Yah! It can be resold for a higher amount to somebody else or a website can be built and money made by selling something, providing news and selling ads, a service etc!
E
Great story. How many domains do you buy like this vs. how many do you sell like this? Many people buy hundreds of names, lucky if they break even. Takes long time to distinguish gut feel from constipation.
**Jamie Says**
When I first started domaining, I would buy A Lot of domain names but over time figured out that Quality is much better then buying A Lot of so/so domains. I would say I “could” flip Every Domain that I buy now but I mainly wait for the buyer to come to me which normally leads to a higher sales price.
Alan
Why are you killing my lottery dreams
)
Good article – thanks for sharing.
Tony
That’s a great story, Jamie, and very inspiring.
I’d like to add that it takes a LOT of reading and dedication to develop that ‘gut’ instinct ie if you aren’t the few great domainers that have it naturally. Personally, I’ll use intuition to narrow down the good names but I try to be as quantitative as possible when it comes time to set the maximum amount I’d pay for each name. I think that’s one of the harder aspects and the area I have improved upon most over the last year.
I love domaining and sometimes I find myself trying to share that with other people just like you are. But I realize that when we share stories like these, people get an impression that domaining is very easy. It’s like I can show someone how to do a root canal in 30 minutes but that doesn’t mean they will actually be able to do it. To be good at this business, you really have to read voraciously and obsessively and be diligent in finding those gems.
Jamie Parks
Man that was an awesome story! Your response letter is solid. Well done Mr. Zoch, well done!
John Bomhardt
Jamie, that was a very clear and fantastic example you’ve shown about flipping a domain name.
Many people new to domaining still find it mysterious on how that particular process in detail works.
You’ve shown it
BTW – you’re right about the gut feeling. I tell people to learn by “doing”, spend some money and hone the skills to find what works and does not. Only experience will teach that “gut” feeling…
John
http://unplain.com
Frank Michlick
Thanks for sharing Jamie and what an excellent reply to the offer.
**Jamie Says**
Thank you Frank. BTW, gotta Love your email address
RKB
Congrats!
Domaining is hard work and some luck.
Its not easy get rich scheme.
Thanks for sharing.
Ritz
Now this is what i call Genuine!
Well done for the deal Jamie
and TFS this story !
Steve
Great Post, very useful response letter.
RegFeeNames.com
Great Post!
I think your on the ball there Jamie!
You have been in the industry a long time and seen lots of change – I cant believe the people I speak to that think there names are worth millions and infact there worth nothing more than reg fee!
This industry can make you rich but you must work hard and do your homework.
BailOutBill was god example.
Regards,
Robbie
Jeremy Driver
According to the WHOIS, the domain is still under your name. Did you pay yourself???
WHOIS of Bailoutbill.com
**Jamie Says**
Hi Jeremy,
You may want to try and use a Whois service that is more reliable before you make a claim like that! Try Whois.sc http://whois.domaintools.com/bailoutbill.com
Namecake.com
Great response letter. I hope you don’t mind but i’ll be lifting part of it for my own replies.
Well done on the sale.
Tim Davids
great story to read during a slow economy… Your blog gets better all the time…it shows that your working hard here at dotweekly!
Adam
nice sale and post.
I’d be curious to see what their responses were to your letter. In my experience the lengthy explanation sales pitch letter doesn’t really help much. They already made a solid offer (not a lowball). They already know why they want the name and want significance it has for their organization. You may be shorting yourself in fact if the name has more value to them then what you have tried to explain.
Also, in hindsight of this negotiation do you think you may have done better if you shot for a higher mark in your counter ?
**Jamie Says**
Hi Adam,
Since the interested party was a law firm acting for a client, the replies were very short and in “lawyer talk”. lol They did hint that the $2K offer was the final offer they were given to act on. Now this could be the truth or not but I also think it’s where many sales are lost. They could of went back to their client with my price but my gut told me the $2K was the final price they would offer. If my asking price were $10K let’s say, I simply may not of heard back or I could of got a higher reply offer then the $2K. It’s really hard to say but I was happy with the offer, so I took it.
Ace
I’m sure this is one of your many success stories Jamie. But removing the common multiple that is “luck”, I would say that “gut feeling” is not so common.
Great article, nevertheless.
**Jamie Says**
I do agree Luck always has a play in anything, but I don’t think it played out that much if any in this transaction. It’s a very hot topic right now and the buy “get’s it” when it comes to domain names IMO.
Tony
Jamie,
People are using the word “luck” because I wasn’t bidding against you. :-p
Reece
Luck would be rejecting the $2000 offer and ending up with a higher one imho. Congrats on the great start to 2009 Jamie!
**Jamie Says**
I agree Reece, I would consider that Luck! Thank you for the Congrats!
Jeff Paul Internet Business
There are some amateur internet marketers that think about renting domain names for promoting their sites. Well honestly it’s a bad plan but it also can be a good business idea.