If You Are Selling Domains Mainly on Domain Forums, You Are Doing Something Wrong

When I started out in domaining years ago I would mostly post domains on domain forums in their auction sections. The principal reasons were that it was free, no charge in commission if the domains were sold, and it was the easy thing to do. The problem was, and is, that most names did not sell and if they did, it was either for less than the registration fee or far below the value of the domain.

I spent a lot of time creating the auction posts in compliance with the forums’ rules, then watching the posts and bumping them so as not to do it too soon or too late, etc. Eventually, with experience, I came to realize that the time to benefit ratio did not make sense. I placed too low of value on my time and the benefit (money made from sales) was just not worth it. Everyone gave me positive feedback and I had a perfect trade rating. But in reality I was losing more money than making. It also taught me that I really had to rethink what domains to invest in.

Today, as I scroll down on the popular domain forums to view the latest posts, I see mostly posts with domains for sale, whether that’s in auction format, make an offer, or fixed price. And it’s sad to see many such posts of multiple pages filled with the seller just bumping their own post (i.e. posting to their own thread to move it to the top of the forum). Thus, showing to the whole world that no one is interested in their domain but they are just determined to sell. They believe that one day someone will make a bid. It reminds me of people that sit in casinos pulling a lever at a machine all day. And just like those people at the casinos, you may get some domains sold and get some money. But it will be peanuts compared to the money and time you already spent.

The problem is that on domain forums you are selling to other domainers, who are looking for cheap deals. The domainers with deep pockets are extremely picky as well. For example, they will want a 10,000+ dollar domain for around 1,000 or less.

You may reason that you are selling domains that you won’t renew anyways, so might as well get something instead of just letting them drop. And there are people looking for such domains, but they will offer you a dollar or a couple of bucks, if they are even interested at all.

So you need to ask yourself, what is my time worth? The time to create the posts and staying on top of them. The time to transfer away or push the domains. Multiply that time for all of the domains you are doing this for. Could you use that time in a way that can make you real money? And if you are selling mostly on domain forums and to other domainers, then what does that say about the quality of your domain portfolio?