When I first started out online back in the late 90’s I got caught up in the big Domain Goldrush that was going on online. The big news back then was when some guy sold Business.com for millions of dollars and next thing you knew… domain speculators were buying up every domain name they could create, and I was one of them. At one point in early 2000 I owned over 3000 domain names. Yep… over 3000! I know that sounds crazy, and thinking back it probably was.
Actually the first 2 domains I ever registered were MakingMoneyOnline.com and MakeMoneyOnline.com. Then about a week after I registered them, some guy offered me $1000 for MakingMoneyOnline.com… but I turned him down. For the next week this guy kept bugging me about buying the domain, actually even calling me on my home phone leaving me messages. His final offer was for $35,000, which you can see by this site… I ended up not taking. In hindsight I probably should have taken it and used the money to finance my other domains, but oh well… at least I still have it now. Of course I made sure my wife was on board with me not taking the money… and she was 
As for the rest of my domain collection… for a year or so everything was awesome… domains were easy to flip for a HEFTY PROFIT. I was selling several domains a week, many for between $1000 – $2000 each, and some for even more… which was a nice little profit. I believe the best place to sell domains back then was Afternic.com, which is still in business today, but with different owners.
One of the most popular parts of the site was their Domain Appraisal section, where I spent several hours each day. It was a free service where once you registered a domain name you could post it there and then other people would appraise your name for you. In all honesty… it was an absolute joke, as most of the people doing the appraisals were other domain owners, and everybody would give each other overinflated appraisals as they wanted you to do the same for their domains. I cannot tell you how many domains I owned back then, where people appraised them at $100K each. I remember one day I added up the averages of all my domain’s appraised values, and on paper I was worth about 8 million dollars. You can imagine how excited I was at the time… but unfortunately those millions never became a reality.
As I mentioned above… everything was awesome for about a year or so. People were spending crazy amounts of money on domain names to create all these startup businesses ventures with no real business plans, and the venture capitalist kept forking out the cash. At the time I was doing pretty well with my little domain reselling business.
Well as most of you know, those Free-Spending Days came to a sudden halt with the much publicized Dotcom Bust, and next thing you knew it was hard to get $100 for a premium domain name. Well those new darker times went on for quite some time and in the next few years my domain collection dwindled down significantly. Some I sold, and many I ended up letting expire as I did not want to keep paying the renewal fees. To be honest, a large percentage of the domains I originally registered were not really that great, but back then I just registered everything that popped in my head. Out of the original 3000 or so domains that I owned, after selling some and letting others expire… I ended up keeping a little over 400 domain names, and today I am down to just under 300.
So how is the domain reselling business doing in general nowadays? As for me, I have not really been trying to do much reselling lately. I have done an occasional flip here and there, but nothing much to speak of. As from my post last week you can see that I tried to test and see if I could sell a complete website via a post on Making Money Online Dot Com, but have not had much luck with that so far. I am actually thinking of adding a “Domains for Sale” section to our site and try and shrink my collection to a more reasonable amount, but we will see.
As for domain reselling around the world… it seems to be doing great. I am a HUGE fan of the website DNJournal.com, as they always have good articles about the industry, as well as great interviews with top domain resellers. But the main reason I check them out each week is they list many of the top domain name sales from the previous week, plus they keep a running total of the biggest sales for the entire year. Checkout some of the domains that sold last week and what they sold for:
- Brazil.com – $500,000
- Payment.com – $250,000
- ChinaTours.com – $200,000
- Payments.com – $150,000
- Grafikkarte.de (“graphic card” in German) – $73,828
- BookHotels.com – $70,500
- iPal.com – $59,000
- CouponNetwork.com – $59,000
- LMK.com – $58,500
- DomainAppraisal.com – $52,000
And if you think those were some crazy prices, checkout the top 10 sales so far for 2009
- Toys.com – $5,100,000
- Candy.com – $3,000,000
- Fly.com – $1,760,000
- Auction.com – $1,700,000
- Webcam.com – $1,020,000
- Server.com – $770,000
- Brazil.com – $500,000
- Talk.com – $500,000
- Top.com – $464,750
- Body.com – $400,000
So as you can see, even with this bad economy… there are still people and businesses spending BIG MONEY on premium domain names. Unfortunately, it is a little late to try and get into the game unless you know what you are doing and have a lot of money. But it is not impossible.
One option would be is if you could snag (register) yourself a great domain name that relates to a new industry that is just starting to develop. That might be worth a lot of money to you. One of my good buddies who I have done some domain reselling with over the years (who actually bought MakeMoneyOnline.com from me years back) registered the domain MyBlog.com. He registered it back when blogging just started becoming known. Well he ended up selling that domain a year or so later for $400,000. Now that was a pretty good return on his investment. So there is definitely possibilities out there, you just need to stay on top of the next new and greatest thing.
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The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 1:22 am
Four — Hundred — Thousand? I mean, all the other numbers are amazing, but I think $400,000 sticks out because you’re friends with the guy who sold it. Jeeze, I wonder what he’s doing with all that money! On another note, would it be fair to say that buying and selling domains nowadays is much harder, mainly because most of the domains were grabbed from the get go? I always have trouble finding good domain names for niche sites of mine. :/
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet´s last blog ..CommentLuv NOT Coming To iBlogPlanet Soon
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 1:35 am
He’s used it to support himself and his other business ventures. He has definitely done pretty well for himself.
Buying and selling domains is much different than it use to be. Yes, like I mentioned at the end of the post, you can still register new domains related to new industries that are just being formed, and those domain could have the potential to be worth something.
Now most of the big time Domain Brokers get their domains 2 ways.
1) Grabbing expired domains. This is pretty tough and you really need to stay on top of things to be able to get a good domain.
2) Buying premium domains at discount prices. There are a lot of people out there that don’t know how much their domains are worth and a smart reseller who knows their value can sometimes buy them for way below their actual worth. Also, there are people that are in need of money right away and will sell their domains cheap.
Lee Ka Hoong on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 6:43 am
In my opinion, buying premium domains is not our business or it’s out of our circles, because you need to invest a lot of money to get those premium domains, at least you need modal.
Between Doug, is there any site where we can check the current estimate value of our domain name?
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 9:13 am
Lee, this post was not intended to encourage anyone to get into the buying and selling premium domain business. I was just telling my story of how I got started online.
There is money to be made in that business, but you really need to know what you are doing, and you need money to get started.
As for a site for checking the value of your domain(s)… there are sites out there where you can get your domain appraised, but none of them are accurate… as a domain’s value is really “what a person is willing to pay you for it” and nothing else.
Over the years I have tried many domain appraisal companies and not one was ever close to what I actually sold my domains for. They were always way too high or way to low in their appraisals.
Lee Ka Hoong on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 12:19 pm
I get it now and I strongly agree with you “what a person is willing to pay you for it”, perhaps someone offers $1000 for a premium domain and another might offer $10000 for the domain, it depends on how people look at it.
Doug you were doing well in the past, at least you earned before, and you’re still keeping this great premium domain makingmoneyonline.
I wonder what was the best offer that you had for this domain “makingmoneyonline” Doug?
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 12:40 pm
Yep Lee… that is how it works. MakingMoneyOnline.com is a good example of a domain is “What people are willing to pay”, as I have been offered as low as $100 for it and as high as the mid 5-figures for it, as well as seen appraisals of it in that same range, so you can never trust domain appraisals.
Lee Ka Hoong on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 7:35 pm
Yea Doug, I think you will be regret if you sell it in $100, lol! I believe that the value MakingMoneyOnline is not as low as 5 figures, it should be 6 figures. Then I need to always catch up with the blogopshere to see what else new out there, I may buy some domains for future investment too.
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 11:53 am
Yeah, I bet he helped him boost his other business ventures drastically.
Definitely not as easy as it used to be to be successful in buying/selling domains, but possible nonetheless.
After reading this post, I decided to visit the GoDaddy Auctions, and must I say, I didn’t think so many amazing domains were up for auction. Some come with a hefty price tag, but others aren’t all that expensive.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet´s last blog ..CommentLuv NOT Coming To iBlogPlanet Soon
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 1:31 am
3,000 domains sounds about right – at my peak during my Rich Hermit days, I had over a thousand. Never did get into flipping them, however.
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog ..False Profits – Why you should NEVER trust online income earning claims
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 1:38 am
So do you still have many left Barbara?
Greg Ellison on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 4:27 am
That is a lot of domains there Doug. If you have the right domain or the right idea anything is possible. Greg Ellison
Greg Ellison´s last blog ..Google Custom Search Engine
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 9:14 am
True Greg!
Lee Ka Hoong on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 6:36 am
Oh my god! $400,000? I already become Millionaire in my country after the conversion! I’m still curious how you all were able to grab these premium domain name, since what year blogging started to be well known?
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 9:33 am
I did not own MyBlog.com… it was my buddy. As for being able to grab the domain, there is not much to it, but like anything… it is harder to do nowadays as lots of people try it. They key is you just need to stay on top of what is new and hot starting out online and off.
Another example would be when Private Label Rights started to become known. I jumped on my registar and started checking to see what related domains were available. I grabbed a few domains and one of them was PrivateLabelArticles.com. Now I was not planning on selling that one, as I was thinking of starting a PLR Article Membership site. Then a month or so after I registered it I was contacted by this guy offering me some good money for it and I ended up taking it. The sad part to that story was less than a week later why I was in the middle of transferring the domain to the new owner, someone contacted me and offered me several thousand dollars more for it… but it was too late
Again… all domains are not created equal. You need to be very picky when you register domains… or you will just be throwing your money away.
Lee Ka Hoong on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 12:16 pm
No Doug, I didn’t mean that you own MyBlog dot com, “I’m still curious how you all were able to grab these premium domain name”, I mean makemoneyonline and makingmoneyonline, lol!
So sorry to hear that you sold in lower price, but it’s fine as long as you made a sale and earn some money, then you can invest in more premium domains. I get your idea, then we should always catch up with the blogosphere and see what is the hottest topic, then immediately we grab a domain that relates with the topic, then we may make some money by selling the domain.
I’m new to domain reselling business and I need to learn more about it, it’s difficult but not impossible too right?
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 12:33 pm
Gotcha Lee. MakingMoneyOnline.com and MakeMoneyOnline.com were not registered yet back in late 1998 so I grabbed them.
Here’s another funny story… well not funny for me. Back in those days there were only 2 main Registrars (I believe), Networksolutions.com and Register.com. The cost of registering domains when I very first started was $35 a year, and you had to register each domain for 2 years, so it cost $70 to register a domain.
When I first started I was just buying a few domains here and there as I didn’t have a lot of cash. So I ended up getting a line of equity credit on my house so I had some money to play with. As soon as I got it I went to Register.com and I registered just over 100 domains in one order, which cost me just over 7 grand.
The very next day a new registrar, Dotster.com opened it’s door and they only charged $15 to register a domain name and you could register them for a year at a time. As you can see… if I waited one day I could have saved $5500
From that point on… for at least the next several years I only registered my domains at Dotster.
Oh well… you live and learn!
Lee Ka Hoong on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 7:42 pm
Year 1998? It was quite a long time as I just knew about internet and online thingy 2 years ago. =.=” I was only 11 years old in Year 1998, haha!
So sorry to hear that Doug, but we don’t know what will be happening the next day, so don’t be sad of whatever you did. You’ll doing pretty well today and you can earn x100 profit than what you spent in the past, worth it right?
I didn’t know it was so expensive to register a domain in the past, it’s about $8 only for a domain for a year right now!
Within the 300domains that you own now, is there still any one word domain left?
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Stefan on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 7:50 am
A lot of things on internet is still built on a bubble, including domains. Unfortunately a lot of people thinks their domains are worth thousands of dollars simply because others is it. I can understand why domains like toys.com and brazil.com are worth money, but for some reasons people think traveltochinawithplanetoday.com are worth a few hundred dollars. Extreme example, but you see my point.
Stefan´s last blog ..AdSense Generator in French and Chinese
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 9:41 am
Absolutely agree! I know lots of people that register new domains and they think they are going to make a fortune reselling them… and most of them are worthless.
It is REALLY HARD to register new domains now that are worth more than the cost of registration, as almost every good domain is already registered.
Again, I am not encouraging anyone to get in this business, as you really need to know what you are doing, and it is really hard to sell a domain name.
Asswass on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 7:57 am
You need to have a very well structured business plan for your site if you want to recover $3 million in only domain costs.
Hey Doug I have an idea for you. It would awesome to know in how much time is your investment of keeping MMO going to payout. Maybe you could show your income every month and your costs and make it as a case study. I bet you’re going to attract a lot of new readers; well at least that’s how John Chow did it.
Asswass´s last blog ..Where the Hell is Matt going to dance next?
Asswass on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 8:49 am
Nice move Een. I will advice you to wait a little longer
.
Asswass´s last blog ..Where the Hell is Matt going to dance next?
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 9:48 am
$3 Million in domain costs? What is that number from Alfredo?
As far as creating a monthly income report like John Chow did, I probably will create one when I start making some significant amount of money with this blog. Right now this site alone does not generate enough income to even talk about, so there is no reason to do that.
Asswass on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 1:11 pm
Doug didn’t you say that http://www.candy.com was acquired for $3 million?
Well, I thought it would be a nice experiment. Sorry.
Asswass´s last blog ..Top WOP of the Week: Is Caster Semenya a man or a Woman?
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 1:23 pm
Gotcha Alfredo! Yes… you would think you would have to have an already pretty successfully established business to lay out that kind of money for a domain name… or one hell of a business plan.
Een Rockstar on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 8:05 am
I have one domain which I want to sell..but I don’t know how to sell it..The domain was registered at godaddy.com..the domain is robowarrior.net which I took from Transformer’s movie..
Een Rockstar´s last blog ..Five Powerful Ways To Make Your Blog Writing Clear
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 9:57 am
I have no idea how you would sell that domain myself, except for maybe listing it on a domain broker site like Sedo.com or Afternic.com. Also, .net’s are usually a lot less desirable, which in turn makes them much less valuable. But as I said, “a domain is worth whatever someone is willing to pay you for it”. I wish you good luck with the sale!
bbrian017 on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 8:07 am
I’ve purchased and resold many domain names but I never made enough money to brag about it. I’m amazed by how many domain names you actually owned holy crap Doug!
That’s a lot of money spent and you’re still sitting on 300 CRAZY
I have 11 domain names right now!
blogengage.com
seomkt.com
preerp.com
yawoop.com
iknownil.com
upspam.com
yoursourceforinfo.com
blogserp.com
sexyxo.com
gaswhere.com
theforumgeek.com
Think any are worth money?
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 10:01 am
I think you could get some good money for BlogEngage.com, as long as it came with the site
As for the rest… who knows?
bbrian017 on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 5:45 pm
I was thinking that yawoop could be very brandable…
bbrian017´s last blog ..Friday Blog Traffic Report 4
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 10:42 am
Yawoop could be quite brandable, in my eyes at least. The name is very catchy, and it’s already stuck in my head sort of.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet´s last blog ..Second Time’s A Charm!
Doug Dillard on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 11:25 am
I agree… Yawoop is definitely brandable.
Lee Ka Hoong on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 11:52 am
Yes I agree with you guys, between these domain names, yawoop is the most brandable domain. Are you going to sell it brian?
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..Make Money Online Selling Online Products
Benjamin Cip on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 12:50 pm
I just registered a domain name recently for my BANS site. “otakukingdom” all the catchy name using the word “otaku” were already taken. Even thought the site is still under construction, I received a lot of visit, even emails! I might purchase some new domain name as some people make a living from it… do we need to have content on the site to be able to attract people to buy them?
Benjamin Cip´s last blog ..What Is The Best Place To Display Your Ads?
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 12:55 pm
Sorry to but in Benjamin, but I hope you don’t mind me giving my two cents. I don’t think you need content on the site to be able to attract people. The majority of people buying domains for hefty prices are doing so to use the domain for their own project. Chances are, having content on it won’t make a difference to them. They simply want the domain.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet´s last blog ..CommentLuv NOT Coming To iBlogPlanet Soon
Sire on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 4:08 pm
That is so true Gooroo, but there may be some bloggers wannabes who want to get into the blogging game quickly and easily that may actually be looking for an existing blog?
Sire´s last blog ..Cash Burners And Their Electronic Super Cigarette
Doug Dillard on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 1:20 pm
There is domain flipping and website flipping…
Domain flipping is where you just sell the domain name, as someone wants it to use for their project. Generally the more type-in traffic you get, the more you can ask for it… but again… whatever someone will pay you for it is what it is worth.
Website flipping is when you have a complete site to sell. If it is making money and you can prove it by documenting it… it is much easier to sell. If it isn’t making money yet… the quality of the domain and the website itself is the major selling points.
Again… be careful when buying domains, as it is a tricky business to make money.
Sire on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 3:59 pm
That’s some pretty cool prices that those people got for their domains. Just goes to show how much value can be placed in the right domain name.
My listing is finally live on Sedo. I’ve actually upped the price on my software site just to see what the reaction will be. I did a search on the site and they come up as already registered with an acquire it for me button? No for sale sign at all. Reckon I will have to ask them about that.
Sire´s last blog ..Cash Burners And Their Electronic Super Cigarette
Doug Dillard on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 9:47 am
Sire… please keep me informed on how that goes for you.
Sire on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 4:55 pm
I left a ticket, but no response as yet but that may be due to the timing as it may have been late Friday night over there. Will probably have to wait until their business week starts.
earningstep on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 6:18 pm
wow. i love the price , hope one of my domain have price like that.. lol
earningstep´s last blog ..How to install and setting Lunascape browser – Video tutorial
Extreme John on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 8:57 pm
Holy crap Doug 3000 domains, I hate keeping track of the 400-500 I think I still have.
I do have a one word domain as well as a bunch of two word domains, a ton of my domains are “adult related” which should pay nicely in the event I actually ever get off my but and start selling some.
Extreme John´s last blog ..U Comment I Follow Blog List
Doug Dillard on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 9:45 am
It was a major pain in the butt tracking them back then, as I had domains registered at NetworkSolutions, Register and Dotster… and they would all come up for renewals at different times… it was really a nightmare.
I definitely am thinking about getting rid of some of my collection as well. I would like to get down to about 100 or so domains I think. I own a few “adult rated” domains, but nothing too over the top.
MichaelR@VoIP and Tech Blog on Fri, 21st Aug 2009 10:53 pm
Wow! Doug you’re the domain man. Well, maybe if you are creative enough and like what you’ve said can get ahead of a rising business or market then maybe you can still strike gold in buying and selling a domain.
Is this yours too -> http://makemoneyonlinenow.com/
MichaelR@VoIP and Tech Blog´s last blog ..How to Improve VoIP Call Quality
Doug Dillard on Sun, 23rd Aug 2009 12:41 pm
Thanks Michael!
No, MakeMoneyOnlineNow.com isn’t mine.
Klaus @ TechPatio on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 5:16 am
Great story. 3000 domains, you must have been crazy back then
Wow, that’s really a lot of domains.
I might have done the same as you by rejecting the $35k offer for makingmoneyonline.com – but it would have been a hard decision, not knowing if one were ever able to make that kind of profit on a website.
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Friday Flick Find: HotForWords @ Yoga Time!
Doug Dillard on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 9:35 am
Thanks! I think at the time of the offer I was thinking since I got such a high offer for the domain in just a week after registering it, that I would get offered a LOT MORE MONEY for it in the upcoming months, but never really did.
Then over the years I couldn’t tell you how many offers I have had for the domain, but I never took them, as I knew one day I would create a website with the domain
Compute Live on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 9:23 am
Wow you had a lot of domains. I think a lot of people going crazy over the domain names were obvious because people saw a lot of money is it.
If I were in your place I would have gone crazy..and RICH probably
Compute Live´s last blog ..Compute Live is now “Do-Follow”
Doug Dillard on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 9:50 am
Absolutely… I knew I was going to be extremely rich when I first started out registering all those domains. Unfortunately, it did not work out as I imagined
But overall I did pretty good, and I still have a pretty valuable collection of domains.
Blogspot to Wordpress on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 12:35 pm
You Know when first time I saw your blog name..I was sure you are sitting on Gold mine.. I wonder when did you aquire this domain and I’m sure in long time..if you target the keyword and do proper branding and marketing..This domain will be on the top list of Domain sold at the highest price…
Blogspot to Wordpress´s last blog ..How to add Twitter ID into Thesis wordpress Theme Comment Form
Doug Dillard on Sun, 23rd Aug 2009 12:42 pm
That would be nice
Mitch on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 12:55 pm
By the time I learned about buying and selling domain names, it was way too late to do anything about it. I guess that was the best and worst of worlds for me in the long run.
Mitch´s last blog ..Bloggers Can’t Hide Behind Fake Names Anymore And Defame Others
Sire on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 4:53 pm
That’s been the story of my life Mitch. It’s like I first started the BBS, it was just before the Internet came to be and when I finally made the move everyone else had a head start on me and now I just a pawn in a huge crowd of Kings and Queens trying to get noticed.
Oh well, at least I can look up their damn skirts.
Sire´s last blog ..Cash Burners And Their Electronic Super Cigarette
Mitch on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 4:59 pm
You’d best stop looking up the skirts of those Scotsmen, Sire; they don’t take too kindly to it,so I hear. lol
Mitch´s last blog ..Learning More Lessons About Writing
Sire on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 5:01 pm
Your kidding me right, everyone knows they don’t wear anything under there and that is way too scary. LOL No, I’ll stick to the women.
Sire´s last blog ..Cash Burners And Their Electronic Super Cigarette
Tycoon Blogger on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 2:20 pm
Very cool. I am into domaining as well but nearly as deep as you are or were. When I first visited your blog, the domain name was the first thing that caught my attention. I remember saying wow that is an awesome and VERY valuable domain name. Like you said the key to domaining is being on the cusp of the next big thing…
Tycoon Blogger´s last blog ..pay you to blog sites that I use
Doug Dillard on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 3:52 pm
You said it much better than I did Dan… “The cusp of the next big thing”. I really like that
Thanks!
Jared P Little on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 3:41 pm
Nice story, glad to see that people are still paying big money for quality domains. Wouldn’t take much for me to sell. If the right offer would come along I would be out in a heartbeat not that I don’t like my domain I love it but.
I am pretty sure I could use the money wisely to really re-investing in my online business and get things moving quicker. I know a while back people were just grabing any 3-4 letter domain names as the were about out and people like it short.
Jared P Little´s last blog ..Doug Dillard – Making Money Online Interview
Doug Dillard on Sun, 23rd Aug 2009 12:30 pm
I do find it amazing that people are still spending so much on domains in this economy… but I guess they know better than me
Brian D. Hawkins on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 6:45 pm
What a coincidence, just today I replied to a comment from you on my blog asking how in the world you acquired MakingMoneyOnline.com. Now I know, you get it early and had the foresight to keep it.
Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Five Quick And Easy Steps To A One Page AdSense Site
Doug Dillard on Sun, 23rd Aug 2009 12:34 pm
I just replied on your blog as well Brian. Getting in early definitely helps… and yes, keeping it was was of the best decisions I have made.
I appreciate you stopping by and commenting!
Ricky on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 9:20 pm
3000 domain names is a big number. How much did you pay for that? If i were you I would have sold makingmoneyonline domain,lol.
Good to hear that your friend has made a hefty amount by selling myblog.
Doug Dillard on Sun, 23rd Aug 2009 2:54 am
I think I had about 50K invested in them back in the early 2000’s as I had a 50K equity line of credit on my house and I used the whole thing up on domains.
TechZoomIn on Sat, 22nd Aug 2009 10:34 pm
Great post, first time i read each every word
MakeMoneyOnline.com sold for?
So you’re rich already
I have a domain called DailyUseful.com for selling. Howz this domain name?
TechZoomIn´s last blog ..7 Things to Avoid while Posting a Blog Comment
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Sun, 23rd Aug 2009 12:35 am
I like DailyUseful.com..could be great domain for a site about general tips.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet´s last blog ..Second Time’s A Charm!
Doug Dillard on Sun, 23rd Aug 2009 3:08 am
@TechZoomIN – This was another sad story in my domain reselling… and I am definitely not rich yet… but I am working towards it.
I don’t remember the year I sold MakeMoneyOnline.com, but it was several years ago, to my buddy Mike. He wasn’t my buddy at the time… he was just some guy who emailed me interested in buying the domain and we ended up becoming buddies a couple of years later. At that time I was having a hard time paying to keep renewing my domains each year, and at the same time the domain industry sucked in general, so I ended up selling the domain for like 7 or 8 thousand dollars… but I am not positive the exact amount, as it was quite a while ago. All I can really remember is that money came at the perfect time in my life.
So back to the sad part for me… My buddy Mike, who sold MyBlog.com for $400K… ended up selling MakeMoneyOnline.com almost 2 years ago for $98,000. I was happy for him, but it really bummed me out that I sold it so cheap. But at the time I needed the money… and people will sell you things cheap when they need money. It is a great lesson for you all to learn
dcs on Tue, 8th Sep 2009 5:59 am
Oh my, I didn’t know there is SO much money in domain business, although it’s not that surprising, if you think about it. But on the other hand, pep.si was sold for only 10.000 USD last month..
kampunginvestor on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 6:30 am
Damm are the values true? Looks kind of absurd to me! Paying 1 Million plus for a domain… That’s scary!
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Doug Dillard on Fri, 25th Sep 2009 5:29 pm
They are definitely true. Buying a quality domain name is like buying an awesome beach front property. The best locations fetch the most money usually!
Ching Ya on Sat, 19th Sep 2009 7:57 am
For someone who’s SO late to the domain reselling business, I’m in amazement of the story, mostly of the prices offered. Is it for real?? Wow.. You know what? I would have sell makingmoneyonline.com for $35,000 if I were you back then (short-sighted me.. lol); but seeing you able to rank well in Google search nowadays (1st page, when I checked) think it worth a lot more than that. What’s the stat for search engine traffic that landed on your blog these days, mind to share? ^^
Really an eye opener, Doug. This is amazing, gotta bookmark this to Delicious.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
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Doug Dillard on Fri, 25th Sep 2009 5:35 pm
It is definitely crazy the prices people pay for domain names… and it is definitely for real!
As far as search rankings and traffic… it is amazing the difference of when we are on the first page vs. the second page on Google for “Making Money Online”. The traffic has a major increase when it gets to page one… but it seems to stay on page two mostly. The highest we have got was #5 on page one, but that was only for one day.
Number one is the goal… as it makes all the difference in the world… when it comes to a lot of search engine traffic.
JIm Hardin on Fri, 25th Sep 2009 6:52 pm
Hey anyone want to buy my domain name for a $1m? I am just kidding
I guess its like being at the right place at the right time and buying the right thing. But I think finding the next best thing we have to look inside ourselves and really think about what would bring us success. I mean sure you might pick the next great domain name that could sell for millions, but what are the chances. I think sometimes people are trying too hard to look for the next best thing when they should just focus on what is there passion. Finding your passion will bring you success.
JIm Hardin´s last blog ..5 Free Ways to Drive Traffic to your Blog
Cam on Mon, 12th Oct 2009 7:11 pm
Wow Doug great story. I Just found out about this site and I though what a catchy domain. It is a way better site than MakeMoneyOnlline.com. Sad that you sold for too low. MakeMoneyOnline.com def has a lot of type-in-traffic I suppose. I got into domaining a couple of years ago and I have registered some good domains that actually make more money in parking than the registration cost but I wish I has known about this back when you did. I am not sure if a lot of these poster have heard the story about Dr.Kevin Ham and Frank Schilling. Man those guys really really profited from the domaining business, they are making 8 figures a year from domaining only. I think Dr.Kevin Ham has over 300,000 domains and has revenue of over $70 millions a year and Frank Schilling owns just about the same amount of domains and has revenue of over $20 millions a year just from parking these domains. They only got into domains just a little over 5 years ago. So that tells you how good it was even 5 yrs ago. But now it has become to competitive and very hard. But a lot of guys who got into it around 2003-2005 are making 6 and 7 figures a year passive income just parking these domains.
Now Doug I think you still have a great domain and the site. Do build it up and it will hopefully produce a tremendous amount of income. Thanks for sharing your story. I enjoyed reading it and I am glad I found out about this site.
Regards.
Doug Dillard on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 3:47 pm
Thanks for the great information in your comment. Some people have done REALLY WELL in the domain business over the last several years. After the big dotcom bust… people were able to grab some gems at super discounted prices. I know I sold a bunch of great domains over that period for a lot less than I wanted… but you have to do what you have to do.
Thanks again for stopping by
George Serradinho on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 4:12 am
I think you should of taken the $35,000 for the domain. It would of helped you for the next couple of months at least.
It surprises me the amount of money people will spend for a domain, I still can’t figure it out. Some of them are just crazy
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Doug Dillard on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 3:42 pm
In hindsight, I probably should have taken the money at the time… but if I knew then what I know now, I would have done a ton of things differently.
People do spend some crazy amount of money for domains. It is AMAZING how many domains over the years have sold for well over 1 million dollars. It must be worth it in the long run.
The most money I have ever spent on one domain name was 5K and I hated parting with my cash, but it ended up being well worth it.
Bestlink4u on Fri, 4th Dec 2009 9:56 pm
Ya! you did make a mistake not selling the domain makingmoneyonline.com at that price but everything happens for the better right. Maybe god wanted you to eran more than 35,000 using the same domain..lol. And ya you said you had invested 50K for the 3000 domains, How much did you profit?? Pretty much I am sure
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Bing Management on Sun, 6th Dec 2009 3:04 am
I know a person who buy and sell sites, he’s been doing it for years. We all know that a good domain name somehow have certain positive effect on our business, and this is why there are lots of people crazy about it.
Millionaire Acts on Fri, 18th Dec 2009 7:58 pm
Making money nowadays in the internet is not that lucrative anymore as before because of too much competition.
You definitely should have sold it at $35,000. That’s a huge amount of money already.
Millionaire Acts´s last blog ..How to Create Money
Chandan on Thu, 11th Feb 2010 3:40 am
If I were in your place I would have sell for $35,000 because that’s a huge amount of money for me. I am not into site flipping business but thinking to try once now.
Chandan´s last blog ..Earn Money From Home – Let’s Get Real With It