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Question Why do we even bother?

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I've only been on this forum a short time. I am however old enough to have seen the internet evolving from the BBS days.

I see a lot of brilliant dictionary names, or very short ones being offered here for quite low amounts of money.

So my question is, why bother?
 
It's a fickle business and prone to ups and downs. You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right domain to get the big bucks. Most of the people here are also developers or resellers, so not expecting to pay end user prices.

Worth persevering with though.
 
@netaer, for end user sales, people either have their own site with their domains listed for sale, and at the same time, they may list them on Afternic, Sedo, GoDaddy or any of the many other aftermarket platforms.
 
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I've only got mine listed on Sedo at the moment. The problem is, that just feels like nobody will see them unless they are actively looking for that exact domain name, like "Lvpl.uk".
 
As is often the case in business, you make your own luck. You could list the domains and sit back and wait / hope for an end user, and you may be lucky. Of course, the more domains you have, the more places you list them and the more relevant they are to a larger market, the better your prospects.

Even better, you invest the time and effort to engage in outreach to potential buyers. A few interested parties and you have leverage to negotiate. But even if buyers are genuinely interested, it doesn't mean they can afford a domain, or the domain makes business sense to them. In the past I've written physical letters to companies identified through Companies House, emailed similar or relevant websites, and reached out on LinkedIn.

Or you accept lower margins but a faster turnover by selling low and bulk. But those in the industry will still only purchase when they see value.

My biggest sale (mid £xx,xxx) was very lucky, I had a great domain which I had acquired off-market at a reasonable cost (low-mid £x,xxx), and the perfect buyer subsequently approached me for it 4 years later as it was very relevant to his small but quickly growing business. But this does not happen often! Though I've made a good return on domains in the past 20 years, this is very much a side gig for me and most sales tend to 3-5x profit after holding my domains 5+ years. It's not a get rich quick business, but I see it as a good 'and strategy'.

I caveat this by saying that there are some people who do exceptionally well out of domain names. But if you don't have the resources to invest, outreach, or missed the early-adopter advantage, then you're going to have to work harder for a return, whilst possibly enjoying the occasional spell of luck!
 
So where do the wholesale resellers then sell their domains to attain a margin?

Good morning @netaer, for the UK market, especially wholesale and reseller-level deals, the two places I would look at first are DomainLore.uk and UKBackorder.uk.

DomainLore is probably the best-known UK domain auction venue at the moment, particularly for .uk names changing hands between investors and resellers.

UKBackorder.uk is also very active and, as I understand it, works more like a group/cooperative of dropcatchers using their own catching technology and then auctioning or reselling the names. DomainLore has a similar auction/resale element too, with names coming from both its own catching activity and outside sellers.

So, in simple terms: Acorn is more of a friendly discussion/forum/free domain classifieds website, while DomainLore and UKBackorder are more directly focused on UK domain auctions and wholesale liquidity.
 
For end user prices you need to wait for an end user who wants the domain, which could take several years. Or not happen at all.

If you want to offload it quicker then you're probably selling to a someone who thinks they can eventually sell it to an end user, but they will pay a fraction of the price.

Just as an example, I sold a .co.uk/.uk pair at the end of last year for ~$8k through afternic but I'd held it for 9 years. In those 9 years I would regularly receive £xxx offers that I would turn down in the hope of eventually finding a buyer.
 
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