.co.uk 'closeouts' or expiring/deleted domains?

[pugdomains]

Hi guys,

New member here. I've been dabbling a little bit in .com domains recently (I've bought, developed and flipped before, gave that up when Google Panda rendered all of my EMDs near worthtless in April 2011), and have built myself a nice little portfolio from godaddy closeouts & expiring auctions.

But I'd never even owned a .co.uk domain before a few months back (and that's for business use, not for flipping), so I'm on a learning curve here.

Despite being from the UK, I feel that I know a lot more about .com domains that I do .co.uk domains. They feel like a bit of a minefield if I'm honest, so I'm approaching these with great trepidation.

I'm beggining to learn how different the UK market is to the US market, just by seeing the types of domains which have been dropped and not been picked up, which would be worth a fortune as a .com to the right US end user but in the UK aren't desirable.

But I'll like to have a dabble nonetheless. Just wondering how or where uk domainers monitor expiring & deleted domains, and whether there is an equivalent to godaddy closeouts for .co.uk domains. I've had a bit of a play with expireddomains.net, any others?

Also, I've had a little look around acorndomains.co.uk to see if there is a place where people report 'completed sales' (like the equivalent thread on namepros), but didn't find one, is there one or are you guys just too professional to boast when selling a domain?

 

[pugdomains]

Forget the bit about 'completed sales', I must be due an eye test... found the 'Sold Domains' forum!

 

[pugdomains]

Could somebody also please tell me whether that 'edit' button has a time limit, or whether (like namepros) people can go back and edit out a domain name etc if they think it would jeopardise a sale?

 

[DaveP]

There's massive difference between .com and uk, of course the reason being the audience for .com is far greater really. I first started out in com before and when I came into uk a few years back I made the mistake of registering domains that would hold good $x,xxx value in .com but were absolutely worthless in .uk as I came to find out. Heck, some domains that sell for $xx,xxx in .com (take superseats.com for example), probably wouldn't even sell for £50 in UK.

The type of domains that have value in .UK are LL's, LLL's, category defining keywords, high CPC keywords with plenty of advertisers, one word brandables and SEO domains with quality backlinks (backlinks from .ac.uk, .gov.uk, BBC etc). I wouldn't bother with two word brandables or more unless they're really good (things like [Colour][Animal].co.uk would be a waste of time, but something like GoldStar.co.uk would do well I imagine.

The best chance you'll have of getting any good names from the drops is to become a Nominet member and registrar, then get into catching, or if you're lucky and can backorder really early a public catcher may get lucky from time to time (a public catcher did get mrs.co.uk recently).

Good luck!

 

[pugdomains]

A few days ago I hand regged.....

Tijuana.co.uk

It is a Mexican city of 1.3 million inhabitants right on the border with the USA. It is hugely popular with Californians hopping over the coast for a jolly up (and probably cheap drugs).

If it were a .com it would probably be a $$$,$$$ domain.

But it is difficult to see how anybody would ever want to own the .co.uk domain, unless it becomes the next fashionable place for Brits to visit.

That's the first lesson learnt.

That was, I suppose, the equivalent of registering marbella.us....... nobody in the US is interested in Marbella.

 

[Skinner]

It sounds like your thinking right, think like a UK resident and not like an American or on a global scale.

The Marbella / Tijuana is a perfect example of the thinking.

Brandables which mean nothing (think brand bucket names) also typically don't do very well in the .uk domains either.

 

[DaveP]

Brandables which mean nothing (think brand bucket names) also typically don't do very well in the .uk domains either.

I should've clarified. By one word brandables, I meant quality like success.co.uk, clever.co.uk etc. Not names like Moobo.co.uk.

 

[scottmccloud]

I should've clarified. By one word brandables, I meant quality like success.co.uk, clever.co.uk etc. Not names like Moobo.co.uk.

The Moobos. Like the MOBO awards but celebrating men with moobs.

 

[pugdomains]

Have you tired domainsherpa, they don't know much about .co.uk either - might be helpful.

Is such negativity towards newcomers conducive to achieving a thriving market with strong prices, considering that such a high proportion of domain sales take place between domain investors?

Still, I suppose the perfect way to answer such pessimism is to achieve and share some impressive sales, and that's my aim.

I don't believe that I'm the typical gold-rush newbie sharing a list of 100 awful domains that they've registered on namepros with an unwillingness to accept that their domains are trash and they've wasted their (non-coupon) reg fees.....

.... in fact, I've already determined myself that my first .co.uk purchase was trash.

Still, I'm looking forward to the day that I can share my first .co.uk sale on here, really looking forward to dabbling in this extension.

 

[grantw]

You can get free droplists at domainlore.co.uk also worth keeping an eye on that site for mainly domainer to domainer auction sale prices.

There aren't really many auctions for expiring .uk domains, until recently domains had to drop, there has now been a change that allows certain registrars to take ownership of expiring domains though so you may see more appearing in the future. You'll need to look in the dropcatching section for information on backordering domains or getting into catching yourself.

And ignore roger_hazelwood, he's new too and going by his 2 posts to date he hasn't got much of anything to say!

Grant

 

[bonusmedia]

And ignore roger_hazelwood, he's new too and going by his 2 posts to date he hasn't got much of anything to say!

He's ticked off because people think his posts are tacky

 

[instaunt]

Is such negativity towards newcomers conducive to achieving a thriving market with strong prices, considering that such a high proportion of domain sales take place between domain investors?

Ignore him Pug, he's just a troll. He has set up an account here for the sole purpose of seeking out arguments with people. Check his other posts. His comments are not real.