Quad Letter Domains

Ty Maier wrote a blog post today which I felt compelled to reply to. I thought I’d expand on my comments a little and add further thoughts here. Ty’s opinion is that you should renew your domains based on quality. This is true in some respects (especially when considering extension) but you should always look at the bigger picture. I frequently use the quote, ‘One Man’s Rubbish Is Another Man’s Gold’. There really is no way of knowing about the end user hell bent on owning the very name you were embarrassed to showcase and have stashed away at the back of your portfolio.

In any case, here are some of the options available to you and some advice about how to go about planning for your domain renewals and more specifically for people investing in stock of quad letter domains that, in the reseller market, are not currently increasing in value.

Sell to resellers in bulk before you drop or renew: It is possible to make a small turn in profit if you do this but bear in mind that you must leave at least 3-4 months on the registration before you list for sale or you may have to sell below reseller price at a lose. I have looked to purchase domains from desperate sellers on many occasions as its an easy way to grab a bargain but I will pass on a deal if there isn’t enough time left before renewal. Knowledgeable domain investors will always factor this into the price of a ‘low cost’ domain.

Plan to keep your investment: By saving! Six months before renewal start saving to cover your investment. Plan ahead, if you save a small amount each week from other revenue steams whether it be your day job (if you have one), parking or affiliate sales, you should build up enough funds in advance to pay off the renewals.

Proactively seek out end users when you need the capital: This should already be on your agenda but in some cases you should spend MORE time looking for an end user pre-renewal. Approaching end users to seek out sales should bring in extra cash to help cover renewal costs.

Stagger purchases when you free reg domains: Obviously this really does depend on the market niche but if you are buying four letter .net’s for example, there really isn’t any rush to buy 500 in one go at the current market rate. Buy 100 this month and 100 the next. This way you are staggering the renewal costs so that you won’t be hit with a massive lump some in a years time.

Sell to buy: Reece of Four Letter Noob mentioned this on his blog some time ago in an article entitled “LLLL.com Arbitrage: Pushing Back Renewals“.  You can dodge renewal fees altogether if you evaluate your portfolio carefully. Sell or trade names which are due to expire this year and then purchase names that have far longer registration periods.

Let your domains expire: The unprepared domainer will be forced to drop their names if they don’t have the funds to support them… For me this isn’t an option. Don’t get me wrong I have dropped names in the past but these are normally domains that have been bought in a bulk auction or names that people have past on for free because they no longer want them. Gone are the days of registering really bad domains because the short domain market is completely different from any other domain niche. Every name has potential, providing you pick the correct TLD, after all I’ve had offers on names I don’t rate highly at all. This has changed my perspective entirely.

The true domainer should combine all of the techniques above. Sell in bulk to resellers to diversify your portfolio and keep your stock current. This can also help extend renewals if you are clever and strategically adjust your portfolio. Plan for renewals, actively seek out end users and trim your portfolio in the right places!

written by Richard \\ tags: domain investment planning, domain registration, domain renewal, planning for renewals