(Hey - sorry if the title of this post is a little brash - just trying to get a little traffic I suppose...) I've been going though a lot of the DNs for sale on these and other forums, ebay, and some of the DN seller sites, and, frankly, a lot of them are just *really* bad. Admittedly, I am somewhat of a newbie to domaining (although I have been heavily involved in various aspects of the dotcom era, the internet, and technology for about 10 years) so, perhaps I am missing something here... But, I just can't believe people registered some of these DNs in the first place and, even more surprising, is that people are re-purchasing them. It reminds me of the last 5 years or so in real estate. Irrational impulse buying based on a collective idea that DNs will only get rarer and more expensive. Will they? (And I'm not talking about 4letter generics or developed sites - I'm talking about recent undeveloped speculative DNs only.) If so, can someone please refer me to some good sources regarding the future of domain names? I spent a few hours one night listening to a bunch of Domain Master podcasts where Monte Cahn of Moniker interviews a few of the "big boys" in domaining. Funny thing about all these interviews - at the end Monte would ask the person being interviewed what strategies domainers can utilize today to become successful at the game. Usually the answer was some sort of vague BS. Fact of the matter is, all of these big boys have been in the game since the beginning or not too long after. They grabbed all the prime generics in the late 90s. I don't begrudge them their success. But, it was, more or less, a being in the right place at the right time sort of thing. I look at at all the awful DNs people are buying and selling and wonder what the future holds for domaining. Is amassing DNs in portfolios and trying to hawk them for as much as possible really going to work for the long term? Comments? I am open to discussion about this.
Most people that sell domains have no idea of what the business is about. They buy some crap like qzkzs.com and then start a dumb thread like "wow, check this out, I am selling a wonderful 5 letter domain!" But the real gems are the ones that try to sell something like business.gz and say "hey, business.com was sold for millions a while ago! This is a great opportunity!"
I think you answered one of your own questions here... The problem is that people are re-purchasing them. Without digressing to far off topic, in my community, many people continue to be surprised over the fact that MLB players make millions and millions a year and yet there are kids starving all over the world... The fact of the matter is that as long as there is a market for something, it will continue to be a valuable commodity so as long as people are re-purchasing them, why not? (Side Note: I completely agree with you however. I had someone try to sell me a domain the other day which consisted of 12 random characters. Aside from redirecting to some porno site, what good is such a domain, heheh.)
BTW Fryman, qzkzs.com is an available domain. Think I'll go snatch it up and try to sell it for a couple grand. Wish me luck, heheh.
There are too many n00bs in domaining today. I have a solid portolio of domains in several different markets, but they are all decent .com's. I have seen several people that would claim to have a great portfolio of domains but they all have hyphens, numbers, or are weird extensions. I think the biggest problem is that some people don't understand that .com is king. (Sure there are other good ones, however if you are going to sell your domains in the US market, you should research similar sales prior to listing..) And don't even get me started on eBay!
But ARE people re-purchasing? I'm not so sure they are. It's rare to see anything that has actually sold for good money. I think it's just a case of people TRYING to sell at crazy prices and getting stuck with the useless domains. I have never resold ANY of my domains. Maybe I've always tried the wrong sites / methods ? Anyone recommend the best place to sell?