A Hugh

ian · Aug 4, 2016

Does anyone have a decent contact email for Andy Hugh? On the Alan Drury SIGNS tag.

Considering his portfolio, I'm finding that none of his domains lead anywhere or have any means of contact!

Skinner · Aug 4, 2016

I'd say your pockets probably aren't deep enough, but theres a whole load of information on Denys' blog. I can't find the email address I had from way back.

Marcoose · Apr 8, 2017

I just wanted to bump this thread to see if anyone does have an email address or phone number. It has always puzzled me why when he owns so many domains, he makes it sooo hard to get hold of him. Anyway there is a name I would like to enquire about so if anyone can help, it would be appreciated.

Skinner · Apr 8, 2017

Edwin · Apr 8, 2017

Marcoose said:
I just wanted to bump this thread to see if anyone does have an email address or phone number. It has always puzzled me why when he owns so many domains, he makes it sooo hard to get hold of him. Anyway there is a name I would like to enquire about so if anyone can help, it would be appreciated.

Possibly because he prefers to sell a handful a year at high prices? Anyone going to the trouble of tracking him down and getting him to respond must be a serious buyer.

It's a different business model (that Rick Schwartz has notably perfected - he's got over 6,000 domains and sells about 1-3 a year for an average of 7 figures a year in total sales) but it can work if you have enough desirable names and are prepared to keep saying "no" enough times.

aZooZa · Apr 9, 2017

He passed his domain business to his daughter a while ago as I recall. Very difficult to make any contact with him/her but you might try this: andyhugh(at)tagnames.co.uk. Worked in 2011 when I was last in contact with him by email and phone. I think he only sells a few on Sedo now and then, to cover renewal fees.

Marcoose · Apr 11, 2017

aZooZa said:
He passed his domain business to his daughter a while ago as I recall. Very difficult to make any contact with him/her but you might try this: andyhugh(at)tagnames.co.uk. Worked in 2011 when I was last in contact with him by email and phone. I think he only sells a few on Sedo now and then, to cover renewal fees.

Thanks Dale.

Marcoose · Apr 11, 2017

Edwin said:
Possibly because he prefers to sell a handful a year at high prices? Anyone going to the trouble of tracking him down and getting him to respond must be a serious buyer.

It's a different business model (that Rick Schwartz has notably perfected - he's got over 6,000 domains and sells about 1-3 a year for an average of 7 figures a year in total sales) but it can work if you have enough desirable names and are prepared to keep saying "no" enough times.

You'd just think that there are lot of people with money to buy their names but most of these people can't reach them in the first place. The missed opportunities by making it sooo hard to contact TAG Names, surely outweigh the odd higher sale, from their perspective. If it is a conscious business decision then IMO it's a bad one.

martin-s · Apr 11, 2017

I guess when you've got a big portfolio, the admin overhead becomes a consideration.

keys · Apr 11, 2017

The portfolio may be an investment for grandchildren. The hurdles to make contact support high prices, and provide a way to fund renewal costs with minimum effort.

Marcoose · Apr 12, 2017

keys said:
The portfolio may be an investment for grandchildren. The hurdles to make contact support high prices, and provide a way to fund renewal costs with minimum effort.

But how many enquiries are they missing out on from people who would pay that high asking price anyway, if they were just able to get hold of them? I understand the psychological factors of being somewhat elusive but being as far off the radar as A Hugh is beggars belief. That is assuming he's actually interested in selling his names in the first place.

aZooZa · Apr 12, 2017

He's the master at last-minute renewals as well.

keys · Apr 12, 2017

Marcoose said:
But how many enquiries are they missing out on

It is only conjecture. This is a crude but effective filter, which has been that way for years, so I conclude that it works. Lowering the barrier would mean dealing with a lot of enquiries, and probably no significant increase in high value sales.

Marcoose · Apr 12, 2017

keys said:
It is only conjecture. This is a crude but effective filter, which has been that way for years, so I conclude that it works. Lowering the barrier would mean dealing with a lot of enquiries, and probably no significant increase in high value sales.

But for example, how does having an email address on whois affect sales value to the extent where it makes sense to ommit? That is if you aren't using any conventional ways to market your domains.

Or a landing page with a fixed sales price on it (that politely says something like "don't contact us unless you're willing to pay £XX,XXX). I can understand not wanting tyre kickers wasting their time, but when 99% of potential buyers (a fair % would be willing to pay high prices) just can't get in touch in the first place, it seems a bit counter-productive (if they are interested in selling their domains).

Not having anything such as a website, published whois email, individual domain sales pages, avoiding SEDO, etc seems like overkill to me.

Edwin · Apr 12, 2017

It effectively shouts: "We have zero interest in selling our names".

So anyone willing to do the detective work comes in with an expectation that they're going to have to pay REALLY BIG money because they're not dealing with a "domain seller".

If you have a sales lander it's effectively the other way around. The domain's clearly on sale - only the price is up for grabs.

Again, it only works for particular portfolios and for certain temperaments. But it definitely does work.

It may seem baffling that anyone with a large number of unused domains isn't a domain seller, but once you get over that hurdle the psychology makes a lot of sense.

He's not the only one - I can think of at least half a dozen major tag holders who evidence similar "hard to get" behaviour. And it's no coincidence that they have some of the best domains around.

Marcoose · Apr 12, 2017

Edwin said:
It effectively shouts: "We have zero interest in selling our names".

So anyone willing to do the detective work comes in with an expectation that they're going to have to pay REALLY BIG money because they're not dealing with a "domain seller".

If you have a sales lander it's effectively the other way around. The domain's clearly on sale - only the price is up for grabs.

Again, it only works for particular portfolios and for certain temperaments. But it definitely does work.

It may seem baffling that anyone with a large number of unused domains isn't a domain seller, but once you get over that hurdle the psychology makes a lot of sense.

He's not the only one - I can think of at least half a dozen major tag holders who evidence similar "hard to get" behaviour. And it's no coincidence that they have some of the best domains around.

Assuming he isn't a "domain seller" (or doesn't want to come across as one) but will sell domains for the right money, what difference does it make having his email on whois? This wouldn't scream "I am selling this domain", it just shows that he is the owner. If he wants to filter out crappy enquiries then with the value of his holdings, why not hire an assistant to forward only the best enquiries to him (or whoever is making decisions)?.

aZooZa · Apr 12, 2017

@Edwin I can only think of three sane reasons for this behaviour:

1. Guardianship of a portfolio to leave as an inheritance as @keys suggests.

2. Waiting for a better market whilst treating the portfolio as an investment.

3. Awaiting development.

Obviously it's not (3) in this case. I'm guessing it's (1).

Would you agree with my assumptions, or is there another psychological possibility?

Edwin · Apr 12, 2017

Why should he if the current system works brilliantly for him?

Edwin · Apr 12, 2017

aZooZa said:
@Edwin I can only think of three sane reasons for this behaviour:

1. Guardianship of a portfolio to leave as an inheritance as @keys suggests.

2. Waiting for a better market whilst treating the portfolio as an investment.

3. Awaiting development.

Obviously it's not (3) in this case. I'm guessing it's (1).

Would you agree with my assumptions, or is there another psychological possibility?

I disagree and I've already explained why. But I'll try again.

People can sell 100 domains at £1,000 each or 1 domain at £100,000 each and end up with the same amount of cash. But the effort and expenses of doing the latter are much much less.

If you:
A) Have an amazing portfolio
and
B) Are prepared to hold out for a very high offer
then there's no reason why the occasional sale won't realise more than many domain sellers might make on hundreds.

But that only works for tip-top portfolios and very resilient domain owners. Most people would want to see some regular cashflow from their investment in registrations/renewals.

NOTE: I am not advocating the above strategy. I am simply pointing out that it can be a strategy (one of many)

--------------------

Rick Schwartz is very open about his sales successes. If you look in the left-hand column of his blog, you'll see his sales listed and the prices he achieved. http://www.ricksblog.com/ (the site's not updated these days so some of the links won't work)

He has 22 "priced" sales listed (all the recent ones made it into DNJournal so they're as verified as any other domain sale) adding up to just over US$23,000,000. That's about 1 sale a year since he's been in the business. I believe he has between 6,000-10,000 domains. If we take the very top end of that range, his renewals to date have cost him less than US$3,000,000 even if he held every single domain since day 1 (which he certainly did not)

He is a vocal supporter of the strategy I outlined earlier in this post, and has talked on many occasions about how important it is to keep saying "no" again and again and again in order to hook the occasional massive fish.

Marcoose · Apr 12, 2017

Edwin said:
Why should he if the current system works brilliantly for him?

I'm going to assume that if it is working for him, it is working in that he is selling less names with the goal being long-term investment, or as Dale says, to leave to family. If he wants to sell his names, even for high-end prices, it just doesn't make sense to be as far off the radar as he is. I strongly believe this, even if I have far less experience than him and many people on here, in the domain name industry.