We're Fusible

Nowadays, you get alot of people telling you Domaining can only be done with lots and lots of money, rather than doing it on the cheap.   Everything is so focused on the short-term and huge profits that there’s not a lot of focus on hand-registering names and the long-term — at least from what we’ve been hearing.

But did you know that for $10 or less you can still hand-register names that could break records in terms of sales some day just like some of the names purchased years ago that are selling today?

Domaining: Patience can be the Key, not always money

Due to the fact that not everyone has lots of money, most of the new domainers getting into the field, can’t afford to buy the candy dotcoms of the world or even lesser names worth $25,000.   But did you know even some of the Big Time domainers who got into domaining in the nineties still hand-register names?

They’re still using some of the same tactics that helped them to get rich years ago.

Just because you don’t have thousands of dollars, doesn’t mean you have to miss out. Lots of new domainers are doing the same – and if you don’t think any of the big time Domainers aren’t still doing it, take a look.

The Castello Brothers

On DNUnderground in a story that appeared online yesterday, David J Castello offered the following comments about some debate over a quote by Rick Schwartz, which also highlighted their hand-registration tactics:

it’s not all about people like Rick or me and my brother who got our names in 1995-1997. Every year we also hand reg names that we could easily flip in no time for 500%-1000% profit, but we hold them for long term gain/development. Even the best stock can’t do that.

Rick Latona

In an interview with Chef Patrick that appeared online in November 2008, Rick Latona admitted he could very well be one of the most prolific hand-registering domainers:

I hand registered 4000 names in the last 30 days. I am finding new ways to make money on HR names all of the time. You’ll find out what I’m registering now, years from now when I’m trying to sell them. I can give you a clue though, they are all .com names or ccTLD names. I never touch mobi, info, biz or alternative gTLD names. ccTLD names have a lot of growth potential.

If you have $500 or less, give it a shot

Chances are pretty good that a number of the big time domainers who don’t talk about hand-registration, are still just as involved in the business of hand-registering names as they were 10 to 15 years ago.

With many of the Big Time domain portfolio owners slow to develop many of their category-killers, National A-1 is expected to be launching several.  The launch of their category-killer domain Antiques.com, is expected this month. 

According to the page that’s online right now, it looks like Antiques.com will be a fully developed, Antique MEGASITE. 

The megasite will help you find dealers, local shows, auctions, flea markets and more.   It will offer resources such as Appraisals, a glossary, free listings and who knows what else. 

You can get a sneak peek of the website by going to Antiques.com to learn more. 

99 percent of the links don’t work, but if you’re an Antiques vendor the Free List Form does work, while National A-1 builds up their online Directory so they  have resources available for visitors at Launch. 

Writers of High Quality Antique Content Wanted

Are you an author with expertise in the field of antiques? We require unique, original content from authors/columnists/dealers/appraisers/etc. such as articles, how-to’s, FAQ’s and book chapters from published authors.

Antiques.com has Two Goals

Antiques.com is brought to you by National A-1 Internet, a leading provider of Internet content since 1995. Antiques.com will be launching in November 2009 with two goals; to be the premiere resource for shoppers in search of antiques and various antique resources and to be a marquee venue for antique dealers, shows, auctions, flea markets and appraisers.

List Your Antique Business for Free!

We invite all antique dealers, shows, auctions, flea markets and appraisers – whether you have a showroom or work out of your home – to take advantage of the Antiques.com free directory.

YummyNames owns dozens of them, Mike Berkens owns literally hundreds of them.  “The” niche names are the focus of many buyers, even selective ones. 

In this week’s DNJournal Sales Report there were some four figure sales of “The” names including theintroduction.com and thethesis.com.

Is there interest?

According to NameBio, notable sales in 2009 included:

thePrivateDetective.com $1,000
theJob.com $15,000
theExpert.com $2,560
theShapeofDays.com $1,655
theLove.com $11,000

Have you taken a look at Mike Berkens’ MostWantedDomains.com? He owns tons of them.  And there are some good ones, even some funny ones.

TheBartender.com
TheBastards.com
TheBestShit.com
TheBeerBong.com
TheBlonde.com

Mike owns hundreds more and of course, it’s probably no suprise to many since he runs the popular blog TheDomains.com.

YummyNames owns dozens of the names ranging from theHills.com to theOpera.com.

You Can Still Find Plenty of Them for Hand-Registration

A lot of “The” domain names definitely have potential, even if it’s longer term down the road.

Most of the big domain sales boards like Namebio rely on feeds from Sellers like Afternic or NameJet in order to report domain sales.  And the feeds that are provided, aren’t always complete. 

While we’re definitely interested in what’s selling for serious money so we can better adjust the value of similar names we might own, we’re also very interested in what’s been selling on the cheap, especially when the names have a lot of potential – from development to flipping to long-term holds.

That might sound like small-time thinking, but we think within our budget – and any given day with thousands of names dropping – there are a lot of deals.  And any day we can buy names like PoliticalScientist.com or LoanHeaven.com for under $100 (which we did, like dozens of other names) – is a good day.

Of course, publishing all the names that sell each and every day would be almost as challenging as pouring through all the various drop lists every night – but it could give you an indication as to what’s been slippling through the cracks.

Domaining, is unlike any other Business

Like many domainers, we’re curious about domain sales – especially when you compare the sales price to the price paid.  It’s unlike any other business.  When you can hand-register a name or get a bargain on the aftermarket – and sell if for much more, it’s definitely encouraging. 

Though we’d probably never get around to reading through a Sales list of names each and every day, it’s fascinating when you find out that names purchased for $$$, sell for $$$$ or more.

While SnapNames, Lawyers, and Domainers sort out The Halvarez MESS, our guess is that many people who would otherwise be buying-up Domains on SnapNames, are avoiding it like the Plague.

That’s GREAT news for Domainers like us, on the hunt for deals.

You don’t need a big-wallet approach to get in on Domain Names.  That’s a myth.  A BIG myth.  And with a MASS amount of names regularly deleting now because of the fears of the economy, it’s the perfect time to see what you can find.

With Bloggers, news organizations and others creating so much buzz about the SnapNames scandal — many are staying far far away from the Aftermarket platform. Despite the situation, RIGHT NOW SnapNames is still up and running – and you can still buy names.

Many won’t touch SnapNames with a 10 foot pole

The SnapNames platform has obviously lost credibility among Domainers at all levels, but fewer buyers, creates a BUYING opportunity for others.

The current November Showcase Auction at SnapNames, only has 7 bids, with nearly 240 names listed — and reserve prices may come down.

It’s important to tread carefully no matter what you do, but right now at least, we’re hunting around to see what we can find.