Anybody made any money with domain flipping?

Yes, but difficult

Just search WF there are many good wso on domain flipping but it takes time and effort to make money in DF

I would not recommend buying any domains before doing 100 hours of research.

The one thing nearly every domainer has in common is the the first 20 domains they ever bought are crap. For some it is the first 50, for others it all of them.

Like any business, this one is easy to screw up. The main difference between this and many other businesses is the low barrier to entry.

Do your research, then proceed thoughtfully.

Domain Flipping is difficult if you go about it the way most people do. Most will register domain names that they like or they think sound great, then try to sell them. You'll go broke fast doing that. The key is to research markets first to find pools of potential buyers, then register domains that suit those markets well.

You can make lot of money with domain flipping. Many factors affect price of a domain. If you are a newbie, I recommend spending some time (several days) finding the factors that influence the domain price. Many people buy junk or fake PR domains and waste their money. If you do domaining correctly, you can succeed.
good luck
Alex.

My best assets are my domains and my knowledge. Every month I sell several undeveloped domains for 4 and 5 figures each, but that is far from the original goal for them because...
I reinvest everything again! I spent good 6-figures every year just in domains.

It's better not to think about the dozens of thousands of dollars I wasted until reaching this point. If anyone tells you it's easy to sell common names for 4 or 5-figures, they are lying. It can be done, but you need to know what you are doing.

Even today I still drop lower quality domains, that others grab right away
I don't have time for $200 or $300 quick flips, the negotiation and transaction time alone would make me lose money.

I have sold a couple to local businesses with domains that I created myself e.g.
reliableplumbernewbury.com

These were easy to rank on page one of Google and then I sent emails to the owners of each trade or service.

I only paid $2 for each domain and sold the domains for $100 each, but there were a lot that did not sell and this method takes a long time.

Hope this helps
Ged

I haven't, but I've lost money. A lot of courses on it are just rebranded PLR with fake case studies.

A lot of questionable/shady tactics out there to do it.

E.g : Email 48 hours after buying domain - "Do you want this (unregistered similar) domain as well? I can register it for you for $75".

I have made some decent money with domain flipping.

Flipped some domains here and there. Nothing spectacular. $1,500 or $2,500 for domains that I just registered.

And yes, there is an excellent WSO out there that shows how to do it.

Thanks everyone for the responses to this thread, I got some really good info to take back to my drawing board.

So it sounds like the value of the domain is more in the traffic that the domain gets and not in the face value or number of letters (the majority of the time).

Here's my question to u. With penguin over the past year and the latest update reeking havoc on poppup / micro niche sites... How do u build sustainable traffic over a short period of time so that u have a substantial taffic report to show your potential buyers? I would guess buy domain, make into blog, outsource content and then cross your fingers and hope for the best. I would have added build backlinks but with penguin and google updates... Who knows how much trouble u can get into with the wrong ones these days.... After maybe 6 mo of steady content, contact biz owners of businesses in the same niche, or list on flippa, rinse and repeat.


I really don't see how someone could make money doing anything like just randomly thinking of a domain name (like sausalitonewhomesales.com) listing it on flippa and hoping for the best.. its all about traffic right?

Also, what if u bought a domain like sanfrannciscomortgages.com ans then send an influx of traffic via fiverr to develop a faux stream of traffic to the site, print the analytics report and hope for the best. What do u think about that tactic?

Anyways, thanks for all the good discussion guys, this has been an interesting topic to me and ill be sure to share what I learn

Thanks

You need to use the internet to find potential buyers. .Info domains will be hard to sell unless they are very premium. Use Google, LinkedIn, business directories, etc…

no, no.

Do not, under any circumstances, send false traffic to a domain in order to build stats for selling. It is fraud, and karma is a bitch.

I wouldn't say that traffic is all that matters. It is one factor, and often the important one when coming up with value. But not always. There is a market for good, descriptive, intuitive names.

It takes practice, experience and a few failures to get a good feel for it though.

NO! It's NOT about traffic. It's about researching the market and registering a domain that is extremely appealing to that market. I've been selling domain names professionally for over 10 years and NONE of them had any traffic to speak of.

It can be hard to make a lot of money out of flipping domains, and the profit margin is usually pretty small. It's been mentioned in this thread already, but make sure you do a LOT of research before purchasing a domain or you could lose a lot of money.

Yeah I've made money with domain flipping. I did a test once. I purchased a popular domain for 10 bucks and flipped it for 100. I have worked with people who buy one set it up for a particular niche then flip it and then they get 1000 for it. But it does take a little time. Definitely possible.

Not likely that you will get a domain worth a million without a lot of work though!

Well, that sounds much better. Thank you for the clarification.

The best analogy I know is to real estate. Generally speaking, there are two types of buyers. Those that buy investment properties and those that buy homes to live in. Now, transfer that to domains.

Investors are looking at the existing cashflow or strong potential for biz op. If that is what you have to sell, then they will know how to recognize what they want and will make their offers accordingly.

Those that are looking for domains as an end-user have a much more emotional connection to make. They are contemplating "living" in their domain, so buying is a much more personal process.

Would you buy a house based on a really good sales letter? Or would you keep looking around until you found the one you love and that meets your needs on your budget?

Your potential buyers will do all the necessary calculations, then they are going to buy the best domain they can afford and "remodel" it into their own vision. I wouldn't bother trying to develop them out too much, beyond a simple landing page.

You can meet them more than halfway by identifying and registering domains that are high quality, and then identifying likely prospects for them that make sense. A good sales job won't get you that far. The quality of your inventory is critically important. People with very good domains are constantly contacted by interested parties. You will likely have to work harder than them to get any attention though.

jt47000 (JT), are you sure you wouldn't waste your time, energy, and money to start domaining in this day and age? Are you sure there aren't better ways to invest your resources?

This may not be popular to say, but the golden age of domaining has long since passed. I started domaining back in 1998. Built up my portfolio and usually carried between 1000-2000 domains at a time. Not just any domains either. These were tier one and tier two level domains. I was fortunate to have discovered domaining by accident when almost all the best domains were still available and there was a fortune to be made.

Back in the day you could use DRT (Domain Research Tool) and other automated tools to find domains by the thousands that would get both a huge amount of 'search traffic' and 'type-in' traffic and you could make a small fortune with litterally no effort at all. I had domains that earned six figures a year just from parking. Sold numerous domains for 5 figures. Averaged approximately $2,500 per sale. It was easy money!

Then, several years ago I learned about mini-sites, and started building my own mini-sites using automated tools to rank them instead of using parking companies. It was a fantastic thing to behold.

Unfortunately, shortly after that all the Internet marketers discovered combining domaining and mini-sites, and automating too. They sold programs for thousands of dollars marketing exact-match domains, mini-sites and auto-blogs to the masses.

Unfortunately, it got out of hand and Google caught on to it. Google stopped sending searches directly by type-ins. Then, they stopped favoring exact match domains, mini-sites, and auto-blogs. Now they no longer rank well, nor sell well. At least not like back in the good-Ol' days.

To get in on domaining now would be a lot like entering a game of Monopoly when the game is almost over. You might make a little money but you will never own any major properties, unless by hard work, great skill, and sheer luck.

Some Warriors may tell you to go for domaining, but I say that train has long since passed. I've only kept a couple dozen of the most brandable domains to use myself. If domaining were still worth my time I wouldn't have let hundreds of them simply expire.

Everyone knows is the Internet is always changing. There are better opportunities right now than domaining is or will ever be again. I wise man once said, 'investing is a lot like catching a train. If you missed the last one, just wait... there will be always be another train going your direction'. I would add, enjoy the ride while you can because sooner or later it always comes to an end.

And some people take the wrong train and warn everyone that trains won't get you to where you want to go.

Do the research yourself folks. If you want to achieve something in life, whether it's real estate, movie production, auto racing, football or domaining, listen to those who are doing it successfully. Not to those who aren't.

But, I made my money domaining and moved on to the 21st century. It appears you are stuck peddling domain and buggy whip train tickets in 2013! Real domainers don't have to sell tickets to trains that have already left the station, but apparently you do. It's right there in your signature block.

I would agree with you there is still money to be made with domains. But, as with buggy whips and gold prospecting, there are better ways to make money nowadays.

Just FYI, the reason domainers use automated tools is because there are millions upon millions of possible domains, some availble/some not. There is not enough time to even begin to scratch the surface.

Real domainers use automated tools (software) to find available domains, and eliminate those not worth further investigation, then drill down to the ones that may even be worth even considering (about one in ten thousand). Only then do they even begin consider 'handpicking' domains.

Finding domains by hand is a lot like crunching numbers with pen and paper. You may find an accountant who still does taxes that way, but it would cost you a lot of money if you were paying them by the hour.

"Domaining" is not a monolithic thing. There is more than one way to do it. And depending on your goals, there is still plenty of opportunity. But, yes, the gold rush is long over and the margins are smaller than they once were for the typical portfolio.

The industry matured and evolved, as most things do. That is all.

im also interested in domain flipping.. I will be taking training here soon I will post any results from it

Yes. Once you know what you are doing its a great way to make money.

Mr. Meharis, what are you and Mr. Pimentel bashing me for? This was only my second post here on the Warrior Forum, and I obviously gave JT (jt47000) an honest and heartfelt answer to his thread. Cut me some slack! If you don't like me giving JT my opinion, too bad, I wasn't speaking to you or Mr. Pimentel, I was speaking to JT.


If Mr. Pimentel disagreed with my post, he could simply have stated his reasons why. Instead, Mr. Pimentel chose to 'bash' me by saying... “some people take the wrong train and warn everyone that trains won't get you to where you want to go” and “listen to those who are doing it successfully. Not to those who aren't.” I think Mr. Pimentel was just rude.


I made a great living domaining, but I moved on when the gold rush was over. Now I do other things successfully. When I made my money in domaining, it took very little time and effort to make a lot of money. Now it takes a lot of time and effort to make just a little money. Domaining hasn't changed. But the profit margins have... drastically! The only domainers making a lot of money nowadays are the ones who built their portfolio when great domains were in abundance. However, great, untarnished domains are rare. Even the search engines don't respect domains anymore. I guess that's the dirty little secret.

Show us your portfolio! I can understand why people don't want to revel their websites or niches, but domainers? Domainers love to promote their domains so they can sell them! Mr. Meharis, Mr. Pimentel... show us your domains! Let's crunch some numbers. Or, is that against the forum rules?

Poor Richard, if you took my factual comments as being rude, that bothers me greatly. I don't "bash" anyone. I respect differing opinions, no matter how far from my own. I see comments like yours often in this forum, and when I do, I am obliged to express my experienced opinion.

My opinion is, some people take the wrong train and warn everyone that trains won't get you to where you want to go. The word "people" is plural. It is directed at anyone who attempts to project their own failures on others.

My opinion is not simply an opinion. It is factual. I teach people how to profit with domains on a daily basis. Here's one of my recent students: John Carter Testimonial - YouTube

The fact that you think "the train has passed" may be your reality, but is very far from my reality, or those who I teach. There is more opportunity in domaining today that there ever has been in the past. You are simply on the wrong train if you can't make money in domaining.

And I'll repeat. Those who want to achieve something in life, whether it's real estate, movie production, auto racing, football or domaining should listen to those who are doing it successfully. Not to those who aren't. That is basic logic that shouldn't offend anyone.

And by the way, my "portfolio" has never been hidden. I have never used privacy settings on any of my domains. Anyone who can use Google has access. I have posted many of them openly on this forum as well as others. More than half of the domains I sell never make it to a portfolio. They are researched, registered and sold.

it not about missing trains and long gone ages

it's all about value

the only question is:
are you able to register a domain that has a value of some kind to somebody?


what factors make a domain valueable?


I 'd love to hear your opinion on that

make up some rules, kind of check list
and bingo you know f a domain has any value

Frank
domainsamples.com

get a great aged domain at domainsamples.com

It is tough but you have to remember that the quality of the domain is a huge factor.

I used to do it in college quite frequently. I would buy up Domains with registrar coupon codes for $0.99 then resell the domains for $50+. It wasn't unheard of to fetch $500/each.

It's incredibly difficult and takes a ton of work and research, it ended up not being worth it for me in the long run.

It's a difficuly business to get into.
It's not stable at all. :x

For all those of you who could not comprehend my allegory about the Internet gravy train having already left the station. Don't worry! There are still plenty of trains and planes for you! Never said there wasn't. You'll just have to ride coach, because all the best seats were taken by me and others, long ago.


Unlike those of you with many posts, I've been a full time professional domainer (1995-2010), probably longer than most people on this thread. I've bought and mastered almost all the software and domaining courses there was available while I was domaining full time. But, I learned more from experience and hard work than from all those courses put together.


The only reason I got out of full time domaining is because I sold most of my portfolio to spend more time running my growing companies. For all the years I was domaining I kept the most valuable and most brand-able domains for myself. I've grown them into companies that help a lot of people and do a lot of good. I could probably sell any one of my companies for a lot more money than internet marketer here can sell their domains.


I spoke the truth about the current state of the domaining industry, and not one single person could answer my challenge to back up Mr. P's statement, “There is more opportunity in domaining today than there ever has been in the past.” with FACTS, because they can't, and there aren't any.


I've read so many factually incorrect and misleading statements on this thread from people with many posts and those trying to sell you something, it's like putting lipstick on a pig.


But, I never said newbies can't make money in this business. In fact, one of Mr. P's students put up a testimonial video saying that he 'made around $500 just the other day'!


To all the newbies out their considering getting into this business full time, I would say this. There's more FREE information on both the Internet and Warrior Forum than you'll ever need. So, save your money and don't quit your day job just yet.


I normally don't comment on the Warrior Forum or anywhere else because it is really a bad use of time. But, I thought just this once I would write a post and give my honest, unbiased, professional opinion based on 15+ years of experience for the benefit of any newbie considering just now getting into this business.


JT, you said, “I flip residential real estate and would really love to see if domain names offer the same returns”.


My honest, direct reply... NOT UNLESS YOU'RE REALLY BAD AT FLIPPING REAL ESTATE!


There is a saying; those who can, do. And, those who can't, teach. Some people here will try to sell you stuff, I won't. Some people here write a lot of posts, I don't. In fact, this is my last post, so all you haters can bash me while I'm busy making real money and running real businesses while you're here wasting your time and your breath.

That's a whole lot of words for saying nothing new.

I have a saying for you too sir/ma'm; Those who speak the truth do not hide their identity.

Have you been so kind as to alert Rick Schwartz, Adam Dicker, Ron Jackson and the hundreds of other professional domainers that they missed the train and the millions they currently make is just a waste of time?

Domain flipping is a pretty risky business...you had better know everything about it before taking it up.

Hi JT,

Domain flipping is an incredibly competitive, but lucrative market. Knowing what you're doing is a must, and as with anything, it takes time. A lot of time.

There is something worth looking into. There a few hundred new TLD's being released very shortly, some can already be reserved. This is going to completely change the domain market. Getting on top of that now could prove to be worth your while. Current domain flipping methods could apply however due to the sheer amount of new TLD's that are going to be available soon, things will undoubtedly be different and we will all have to shift as a result.

One of the golden rules of flipping domains is that the domain is only worth as much as a buyer will pay for it. Just because it's 3 letters and sounds catchy, doesn't mean it's an expensive domain. Sounds pretty basic, but everyone falls for it at some point. Look for a need, and fill it.

Best of luck.

Domain flipping is not so easy now but still there is a lot of money in domain flipping.

Not sure about the wso but I've seen almost a complete video on youtube about domain flipping.

There are thousands of free videos on domain flipping on YouTube and other video sites.

Only to the extent that I have recovered all my domain expenses by selling a few domains (i.e., made enough money that basically my domains are free). But then again, I am not a domainer ...

For those who say that the golden age of domaining has passed, one thing you seem to miss here is that as time goes on, new products are being created which are super niches themselves, and thus profitable and super selling domain names can be crafted from them. One example is the iPad, which did not exist about five years ago

It's very much like saying - The Gold Rush died in 1855. Therefore selling gold is no longer a good business.

There aren't a lot of hand registerable $8.75 domains out there anymore. Most good domains are going to end up being sold by the registrar at auction before they're released to the public. Then, the drop catchers are going to get them and put them up for auction.

So, to make any money nowadays domain flipping you have to watch the domain auctions (namejet.com, godaddy's auction, etc.) and even then you have to be willing to spend some money to make money.

Sure, I've hand reg'd some domains and then flipped them for $500 each, but that's not the norm now.

Hi, I've bough may domain flipping wso products but actually I am doing good with website flipping than domain flipping.If you want to start domain flipping then I think at first you should start learning about the all hard step you may face at the time of domain flipping.Don't take any risk without knowing that subject properly otherwise you'll loose money and time.Thanks

Domain flipping can be a profitable business, but you must get the knowledge first, and there is a lot of knowledge required.