We're all very lucky.....

[stevebrowne]

Domaining is very well placed in the current economy, leaving us all in a very good situation.

In the *real* world, you have people who are earning pounds and seeing food and energy bills going up faster than their pay, due to inflation and exchange rates. We offset that by having some revenue in GBP, some in USD etc.

Also, people want to invest their cash in assets, but property, the old favourite doesn't look so good at the moment. Domains on the other hand are extremely cheap to hold in comparison to other assets such as property, art, wine etc. Domain names also EARN money while you hold them. Don't see many bottles of wine doing that. (Art I'll give you, as you can rent works of art out)

So, are we likely to see a hug bubble in domain prices after this current slow down? I still feel that the Ad Agencies with BIG budgets have yet to "get it" about domain names, let alone the old school pension companies etc. I mean can you imagine a pension company buying out some of the large US based domain holders? Just a constant income stream, with capital values increasing at the same time.

I'm in this for the long game. Buy, park/develop/ignore, sell if an offer catches my eye, or wait until I retire. But if we start to see real bubble prices, and many more end-users interested, then we should all do very well indeed.

 

[GreyWing]

I'm having my best year on the domains front and online sites.

I thought they were just scare mongering about the recession until I noticed the local paper's job section last week. There used to be 5 full double pages of jobs. When I looked their was only about 15 jobs on half a page, and most of them were junk jobs.

Having been lucky in what we do, I don't think it's always luck. I think whilst you are right a little, we have all gambled a lot to persue the path that we have. Personally I think it takes a lot of balls to put your own money where you mouth is and buy names and sites with our own cash.

That's what makes us different from people who thought they were playing safe in steady jobs.

 

[boxerdog]

speaking of "art" does anyone in here know much about "raoul duffy"? i have found a water colour by him of ascot. it was in an old cottage loft. in an old frame with the name and date on the back but i cant find any info on it.

 

[Systreg]

"raoul duffy":

Are you sure it's Duffy with two f's?

There is a Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953) who did a simple sketch of a paddock at Ascot, see here:

Raoul Dufy (French), 1877-1953 - Featured artist works, exhibitions and biography fromMiriam Shiell Fine Art Ltd.

1934 - 1935
Visits England where he paints at Cowes, Ascot, and London (Bridges on the Thames and the Parlement).

 

[boxerdog]

sorry yes your right raoul dufy
its colour and called:

preparing for the start "1935"

 

[stevebrowne]

Yes, GW you're right. It takes a lot of work to be this lucky. And the harder I work, the luckier I get. Outsiders looking in seem to think it isn't fair.

 

[Systreg]

Just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed my time here since I joined, learnt quite a bit from the old hands through reading the posts on the forum, still have a lot to learn, though, but I'm getting the hang of it now and know which course I intend to take domain wise.

A fair few of the rash purchases I bought when I first started have been sold, not done too badly with those, some sold cheaply, others did fairly well by my lowly domaining standards. In total, I've bought 65 UK domains so far, sold 41 of those, and of the 65 I bought, 27 were paid for from donations I received from putting up reg fee lists, so anything I made on those was pure profit.

I've set myself some targets for the next year, firstly, make sure nothing is parked, complete waste of time unless you have very decent type in traffic names. Secondly, I plan to get as many domain names as I can online as affiliate stores, hopefully, at least 40 - 50 of them, they wont all be great names to start with, but with any profits, that will be ploughed back in to buying better names to replace them with, and then sell the lesser names on.

I made £51 sales commission from December to January 15th with some of my new reg fee store domains, and since then, I have added another £95 commission up to Feb 15th (pending payment from the retailer), things are going along nicely.

So, I figure, if I can get a load of stores online, even if each one only made £10 per month, it would still be a tidy turnover, and from any money I make from those, I can then enter the realms of buying more expensive/better domains with better type ins etc

I like this domaining lark, addictive, isn't it

 

[accelerator]

Also, people want to invest their cash in assets, but property, the old favourite doesn't look so good at the moment. Domains on the other hand are extremely cheap to hold in comparison to other assets such as property, art, wine etc. Domain names also EARN money while you hold them. Don't see many bottles of wine doing that. (Art I'll give you, as you can rent works of art out)

I agree, domains are an excellent asset class. Let's hope that there aren't any major game changers such as regulatory changes.

Rgds

 

[disruptive]

Yes domains are a bit addictive!
Some of the revenue is addictive......and then the very high figure sales...makes it a lot of fun. Plus it can be done on a small scale as people suggest, the barrier to entry is so low. No mortgages, no huge deposit, just a domain, an idea and some webspace and a lot of time.....

 

[aZooZa]

My business has grown very significantly since the start of 2009. I think the original post is spot-on.

 

[disruptive]

I think as we move towards the upturn, more people will see the benefits of the online marketplace. This is no time to have bricks and mortar. Fact is people want to shop from home when they like and are driven by the power of comparison engines.

Quite frankly the dominance of the highstreet shop is numbered. Certainly it makes not sense with the current biz model to have a shop that only sells for a fraction of the time and requires staffing and storage. Its not good use of these assets. Time to realise online shops do not have to close their doors. Of course as commercial rents fall its going to be easier, but still times are going to be tough.

Thats means great news for Int based businesses!

 

[stevebrowne]

>> Thats means great news for Int based businesses!

Indeed. And we are all here at what is still the beginning.

 

[retired_member32]

I think as we move towards the upturn, more people will see the benefits of the online marketplace. This is no time to have bricks and mortar. Fact is people want to shop from home when they like and are driven by the power of comparison engines.

Quite frankly the dominance of the highstreet shop is numbered. Certainly it makes not sense with the current biz model to have a shop that only sells for a fraction of the time and requires staffing and storage. Its not good use of these assets. Time to realise online shops do not have to close their doors. Of course as commercial rents fall its going to be easier, but still times are going to be tough.

Thats means great news for Int based businesses!

we are a long way from the upturn,we haven't even hit the bottom yet,house prices will drop at least another 10-15%,and i can't see the upturn till mid 2010,but the idea of online shops will increase in popularity has the highstreet suffers.

mark

 

[Pred]

we are a long way from the upturn,we haven't even hit the bottom yet,house prices will drop at least another 10-15%,and i can't see the upturn till mid 2010,but the idea of online shops will increase in popularity has the highstreet suffers.

mark

yep, i agree