We’re joined by three Domain Sherpas: Andrew Rosener, Doron Vermaat and James Booth.
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On today’s DomainSherpa Review, one Sherpa tells us about a domain sale where he owned the domain for only 30 days and made a 545% return on investment. We’re joined by Andrew Rosener, Doron Vermaat and James Booth. It’s a great show. Stay tuned!
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Michael Cyger: Hey Sherpa Network. I’m Michael Cyger, publisher of domainsherpa.com, and this is the DomainSherpa Review. This is the show where we get into the minds of successful domain name investors using real examples so we can learn strategies and tactics to pick better domain names and determine their value. We have three segments to the review. We’ll start off learning what the Sherpas recently bought and sold. Next we’ll discuss and value an investor submitted domain name portfolio, and finally, we’ll preview some domains going to auction soon at namejet.com. Joining us today on the DomainSherpa Review are three past Sherpas and industry thought leaders. In order from left to right we have Andrew Rosener, CEO of the domain name brokerage firm mediaoptions.com; Doron Vermaat, our newest Sherpa, individual investor at namerockstar.com, and co-founder and my fellow partner at efty.com; and James Booth, lead broker and founder of BQDN, a domain name brokerage firm specializing in short numeric and acronym domain names. Today’s show is sponsored by six awesome domain name industry providers that I’m going to tell you about later in the show that include estibot.com, escrow.com, David Weslow Legal Services, domainIQ, Efty, and DNAcademy. But before that…Sherpas, welcome to today’s show!
Andrew Rosener: Thanks, Michael.
James Booth: Yeah, thanks, Mike.
Michael Cyger: It’s good to have you three on the panel. You know, two relatively new Sherpas…and James and Doron. And Doron… just on last week if you missed his show, it was a phenomenal walk-through of somebody that’s relatively new to the industry, three and a half years, averaged forty thousand dollars profit per year. You know, I think most people would probably…in the industry, would probably give their left pinky, maybe even their right pinky to make that kind of return on their investment. So, you should definitely check out that show. Also want to wish a very happy…
Andrew Rosener: Well hold on a second…
Michael Cyger: What, what, what?
Andrew Rosener: What do you mean “return on investment”? Forty thousand dollars is forty thousand dollars.
Michael Cyger: Did I say return on investment?
Andrew Rosener: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, it was a good return on his investment but forty thousand bucks is a lot of money per year.
Andrew Rosener: Yes.
Michael Cyger: Yes, what was your first year?
Andrew Rosener: But we don’t know return on investment unless we know what he invested to make forty thousand dollars.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, the cool thing that Doron does, is if you go to dngeek.com, which was on the show…you know, we’re taping on Tuesday…Doron’s show just came out yesterday, Monday, so you probably haven’t watched it, Drew. But he actually shares his entire dashboard of investment and profit and…and then, in the show, he…Doron, you explained that you are reinvesting your profits back into the business. So, it’s a cool show to watch. And whenever people ask me, Drew, I’m like, “You know, these results are not typical. Go watch Drew Rosener’s show about how he spent three hundred thousand dollars when he first started in the domain name industry”…and people love that show for some reason.
Andrew Rosener: Sure, you know, school of hard knocks, that’s how you learn. You gotta…
Michael Cyger: School of hard knocks. Yeah, definitely.
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Hey, I wanted to wish a very healthy and happy Shannah Tovah to those in the Sherpa Network that are celebrating the Jewish new year. Have an easy fast, which is coming up the week that this show comes out. I wanted to ask you guys before we jump into the show, who’s going to Namescon in January?
Doron Vermaat: I’ll be there.
Michael Cyger: Doron.
James Booth: [inaudible] this year.
Michael Cyger: Drew? James…
Andrew Rosener: Yup, I’ll be there.
Michael Cyger: James…James, can…can we convince you to go to Namescon still? Is there any possible way?
James Booth: We’ll see.
Michael Cyger: We’ll see? Alright.
James Booth: There’s a chance. We’ll see.
Michael Cyger: Hey Drew and Doron, is it worth it? Is it worth to go to a conference…if somebody’s watching the show? You know, I’m trying to target newer investors on the DomainSherpa Review so they get your insights on domain names, on valuations, on where you see, you know, value going…the trends in the domain name industry. Is it worth it for newer investors to go to Namescon? Yes or no?
Doron Vermaat: I would say yes.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Alright, let’s start with Doron. I’m sorry, I should have said a name. Doron, let’s start with you. What do you think?
Doron Vermaat: Namescon is definitely worth going to. If you’re already very knowledgeable about the industry then maybe the…the speakers or the panels might not be that interesting, but I think the networking opportunities are immense. I think pretty much everyone in the industry is there, so…plus it’s a lot of fun, you know? It’s in Vegas, so you don’t have to be at the conference, like, you know, twenty four hours a day, four days straight, you know?
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: There’s a lot of other stuff to do, socialize and network. So for me it was definitely worth it last year. It was my first conference and I got a lot out of it for sure. Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Nice. Drew, what do you think? You’re, like, very experienced. Is it worth, you know, when you’ve got a ton of connections in the industry, is it worth it for you to go to Namescon and…and see people in person there?
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, so I think, you know, for me the key to going to these conferences is…is about sort of taking the pulse, taking the industry’s pulse, and, you know, Namescon, from my perspective is hands down the…the best. And I’m anxious to see what happens, [inaudible] World Hosting Days, you know, but let’s see. You know, hopefully…hopefully the sort of vibe and the attendance stays the same, if not grows. You know, but we also don’t want to grow too much to the point where, you know, I…I…I think what’s beautiful about the domain industry and these conferences is accessibility.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: Please go to this conference, and if you’ve never been in the domain industry before, you can walk up to me. You can walk up to Frank Schilling.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: You can walk up to anybody, you know, and anybody in the industry and say, “Hey, how are you doing? You know, I’m new to the industry, you know, nice to meet you.” You know, you have access to everybody, right?
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: And so if this turns into a five thousand person conference you’re going to lose some of that accessibility but I think this year for sure it’s going to be worthwhile, and, you know, if you’re going to attend one conference that’s the one to go to.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. I agree.
Andrew Rosener: Ask me, to be honest it’s the only one that I’ve been going to for the last two years, so, you know…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: For…that’s for additional reasons, you know? Travel schedules and…and whatnot, but…
Michael Cyger: Having babies and whatnot.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, having babies, changing continents, but the thing, you know…I still…I plan my schedule around that. That’s…that’s the conference to go to.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, and, you know, I love going to Namescon. I love going to all the conferences but Namescon in particular because people do watch the show and then they come up. I’m looking for anybody that’s had a profitable flip over five thousand dollars profit on a single domain name in under twelve months. I want to help you tell your story and share that back. I’m looking for people that just have, you know, some small, little area that they are an expert in…maybe it’s in negotiation, maybe it’s in, you know, managing their portfolio, maybe it’s in…whatever it is, like, if you think you’re doing something really well I want to chat with you. So I love it when people come up to me and say, “Hey Mike, I’ve seen your show. I’d love to tell you about what I’m doing here.” And then we chat about it and see if it makes sense to have them on the show and give back to the community like these guys are doing today, like they’ve done in the past. And it doesn’t need to be something big. You don’t need to be an investor, you know, at the size of Drew Rosener, or flipping as many as James Booth, or making forty thousand dollars a year profit like Doron. It’s…it, you know, everybody has their own area of expertise and that’s what I look forward to meeting people and learning about at conferences. And I will also say that I’ve got…this review is being done live at Namescon and I’m going to have Drew Rosener, Shane Cultra, and Frank Schilling on the panel. I’m going to be accepting…from those that are attending, we’re going to be accepting domain names for review live. Last year I think Drew made an offer on holycow.com, right there in the…a cash offer to the owner in the audience. Previous years as well, they answer…these guys are so accessible. They…they take selfies after the show…after the session with people that come up. They answer questions, so, you know, I agree. From my perspective, Namescon is a great event to do…to do all that sort of stuff. Makes you want to go now, doesn’t it, James?
James Booth: I went to the last one, but I do agree it is the best one out of them all.
Doron Vermaat: And you can get a selfie with Drew, you know? Finally.
James Booth: After going to Hong Kong then I would definitely recommend Namescon.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, we’ll still work on you. Alright Sherpas, we’re going to jump into the first segment called What’s New Sherpas where the Sherpas share one purchase or sale that they’ve made over the past few weeks and we get to learn what they paid or received for the domain, why they thought it was a good deal, and how the negotiations progressed. I’m going to lead you through the questions but the other Sherpas will get to comment during the process as well. This segment will go Drew, then James, then Doron. Drew, what’s one domain name that you, or Media Options has personally bought or sold in the past couple of weeks? Tell us the domain name and not the price yet.
Andrew Rosener: Okay, scroll.com, scroll.com.
Michael Cyger: Scroll, S.C.R.O.L.L. .com?
Andrew Rosener: Yes.
Michael Cyger: Alright, scroll.com. Hey James, let’s go over to you. What do you think Drew… you bought it, right, Drew?
Andrew Rosener: Bought it. Yup.
Michael Cyger: What do you think Drew paid for scroll.com, James?
Andrew Rosener: Actually if you want we can make this interesting. We bought it and we sold it.
Michael Cyger: Within what timeframe?
Andrew Rosener: Within…hold on, I’ll tell you exactly the timeframe. Within basically a month.
Michael Cyger: Within a month.
Andrew Rosener: We bought it…we…we…we received the domain on August 31st.
Michael Cyger: James, let’s go to you. What do you think Drew paid for it? And then what do you think he sold it for a month later?
James Booth: I’m going to go with…I reckon he paid about eighty thousand, and then I reckon he sold it for one fifty.
Michael Cyger: Eighty to one fifty within a month. And why do you think he paid eighty thousand for it? That’s a lot of money.
James Booth: I think it’s a pretty brandable, quality one word .com.
Michael Cyger: Uh huh.
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: And what kind…what kind of company would want to buy scroll.com?
James Booth: I think any brand…any brandable.
Michael Cyger: Any brandable company would want scroll.com?
James Booth: Yes, it’s a decent…[inaudible] when you scroll down on the mouse or the page.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Alright.
James Booth: [inaudible] end users probably.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, I…I don’t see that many companies, but I want…but we’ll go to Doron next and ask him and then…and then Drew will school me on that, of course.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Doron, let’s go to you. What do you think Drew paid for scroll.com? And then what do you think he sold it for a month later?
Doron Vermaat: I’m quite a bit lower…on the low side. I think Drew paid around 35k for it.
Michael Cyger: Uh huh. And what do you think he sold it for?
Doron Vermaat: I also agree with you that the number of end users is, for me, a bit more limited for a term like scroll. So I think the sales price was around the…100k I would say.
Michael Cyger: Alright, bought it for thirty five, sold it for 100k. Alright, Drew, let’s go back to you. What did you buy it for, and what did you sell it for?
Andrew Rosener: So bought scroll.com for twenty seven thousand, five hundred dollars.
Michael Cyger: 27.5k. And then what did you sell it for?
Andrew Rosener: A hundred and fifty thousand.
Michael Cyger: Wow. So you guys are both right there. So, scroll.com…I looked at this and I’m like, “Yeah, you can scroll down a page,” like, Torah scroll I guess. I just mentioned the new year. I’m not sure what else would like…what other companies or industries would be on scroll.com. Tell me why you thought it was a good buy at twenty seven and a half thousand dollars.
Andrew Rosener: Well that’s why I am a domain broker…
Michael Cyger: That’s why you make the bucks.
Andrew Rosener: …And domain investor and you’re hosting DomainSherpa. So, if you go on CrunchBase…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: You’re going to see there’s about, literally about fifteen companies with the word scroll in their names. Scroll…scroll…scroll media, scroll laboratories, scroll, everything you can imagine, scroll. I think there was three of them that had raised in excess of five million dollars. One of them had raised, I believe, seventy four million dollars. I actually think that we undersold it. I think that the price…I think that the value of that name is more like two fifty to three fifty, probably, possibly as high as five hundred. But, because of the timeframe, because we bought it for twenty seven five and, you know, this was only thirty days later, we’ve, you know, we’ve got virtually no carrying cost even on the…on the, you know, on the…the investment.
Michael Cyger: So was it one of those companies in Crunch?
Andrew Rosener: So we decided to just take it.
Michael Cyger: How did…?
Andrew Rosener: We don’t…I don’t…yeah, I don’t actually know who bought it yet.
Michael Cyger: How could you not know who bought it?
Andrew Rosener: Because, you know, they came in through an anonymous Gmail and the transfer will complete [inaudible]. I’ll say that.
Michael Cyger: So they reached out to you through an anonymous Gmail . Why wouldn’t you, like, force them to reveal themselves so you can find out if you’re leaving money on the table?
Andrew Rosener: Just not…it doesn’t work that way. You…you can, you know…
Michael Cyger: It wasn’t worth it to you because you’re going to flip it for, you know, five times.
Andrew Rosener: Well, I mean, so I…I actually look at these things in a little bit different perspective. I mean, for me, I’m kind of a firm believer in the value is the value and…and…and that’s it, right. And so, there are opportunities where, you know, I may put a premium on a name because of the way that a company has approached me and I have a gut feeling about who it might be, or, you know, if I happen to just know who it is and the…you know, it’s a massive company or…or they’ve just raised a large amount of capital, you know? But at the end of the day I…I…I generally, I’m not like that. I…I…I kind of price it based on the value so if I think it’s a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar domain I’m going to price it two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and if you come knocking and, you know…pretty much I don’t really give a shit who you are, the price is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I don’t care if you’re, you know, a student with a science project or you’re Google Ventures, you know, the price is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and…and, you know, that’s the way it works in real estate, that’s the way it work in…
Michael Cyger: So how do you sell it for a hundred and fifty thousand but in the prior sentence, prior breath, you’re like, “It could have gone as high a three fifty, five hundred”?
Andrew Rosener: Well, again, I mean, so if I had held this name for the last year…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: …Or more, I…I wouldn’t have gone down to one fifty. I would have…we would have stood firm at two fifty…
Michael Cyger: Uh huh.
Andrew Rosener: …Or even… or even higher. But just because of the timing we, you know, we were willing to be more flexible.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Gotcha.
James Booth: It’s a great flip.
Michael Cyger: So yeah, within a month. So, they reached out to you, they ask you for a price probably, you came back with a hundred and fifty or you came back with something a little bit higher and settled on one fifty?
Andrew Rosener: Three fifty.
Michael Cyger: You came back with three fifty?
Andrew Rosener: Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Cyger: And then how did the negotiations close in on one fifty?
Andrew Rosener: [inaudible] Then they were at seventy five, then they were at eighty five, then they were at a hundred, and then basically, you know, I didn’t think that they were going to get up to that higher level so I gave them…I gave them an opportunity to close before the end of the quote if they stuck at one fifty. You know, no further discussion, and I put a twenty four hour clock on that. And they…they came back and they said, “Alright, fine, let’s do it.”
Michael Cyger: Awesome. And did you have to come down from three fifty while they were coming up from whatever their first offer was?
Andrew Rosener: I didn’t come…I didn’t come down until they came to a hundred grand.
Michael Cyger: Gotcha.
Andrew Rosener: I just, you know, said, “Look, sorry, you know, not enough, not enough, not enough.” And then once they hit a hundred grand I said, you know, I gave them the…the time limited offer.
Michael Cyger: Wow. Wow, that was nice timing that you bought that domain and within the month you got an inquiry on it and sold it. Congratulations, Drew.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, I mean, a lot…that’s…it’s something to keep in mind. I mean, a lot of times, you know, names that have been with the same people, the same owners, particularly hard to find owners for a long time. You know, there’s usually pent up demand behind that name.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: So, there’s people that have been trying to contact the owner that don’t know how. There’s people that, you know, may have made an offer but it was just bad timing. There’s people that, you know, may have solicited a price for the domain but didn’t make an offer and, you know, nine times out of ten, an owner won’t even respond unless you make an offer. So, there’s generally a lot of pent up demand, you know, on a name like that if it’s, you know, with the original owner or long time owner.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: And, so once…as soon as it changes hands and, you know, thirty days is kind of a sweet spot. People get notified, their attorney gets notified, he’s got some company or service that’s paying attention and, you know, or…or they, you know, a lot of these companies, it’s like, your…your name is whatever…scrollmedia.com, right? And…and, you know, sometimes even yourself just happened to go to scroll.com by accident or you just happen to go check in on it once in a while.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: And you say, “Oh shit, that weird landing page is no longer there.”
Michael Cyger: Right. Something has changed, I’m going to reach out to them.
Andrew Rosener: Or, “Oh shit, it’s pointing to a domain brokerage website.” You know, something changed.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: You know, it’s likely for sale now and they reach out, so…
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Congrats, Drew. James, let’s go over to you. What’s one domain name that you’ve bought or sold in the past few weeks? Tell us the domain name and not the price yet.
James Booth: rcc.com.
Michael Cyger: R.C.C., so Roger, Charlie, Charlie .com?
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Alright, rcc.com. Doron, what do you think James paid for rcc.com?
Doron Vermaat: I would say thirty seven thousand, U.S.
Michael Cyger: 37k. Drew, let’s go over to you.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: What do you think James paid for rcc.com?
Andrew Rosener: I think he paid fifty grand.
Michael Cyger: 50k. Alright, James, let’s go over to you. What did you pay for rcc.com and is it sold yet? And why not? Just joking.
James Booth: Potentially, but I’ve been in talks with a few companies.
Michael Cyger: Alright.
James Booth: I paid forty thousand.
Michael Cyger: Forty thousand, right in the middle. Nice job, Sherpas. So why was rcc.com worth forty thousand to you?
James Booth: Well basically it was originally registered in 1992 by RCC Consultants, and then it was acquired I think last year by Black and Veatch and I’ve been speaking to them since April and I actually offered more money back in April because the market was a little bit better. But then I contacted them two weeks ago and said, “Can I take it [inaudible]”? And they agreed.
Michael Cyger: Wow. Who in the organization did you contact to get them to agree because large corporations like Black and Veatch or GE or, you name a Fortune 100, 500 company…they’re full of bureaucracy and they don’t even know who owns the domain names.
James Booth: Yeah, usually I have to speak to the legal counsel.
Michael Cyger: Gotcha.
James Booth: Legal department.
Michael Cyger: Yup. Awesome. Way to go. And so when you own…when you pick up a domain like rcc.com, are you holding it long-term for appreciation or are you just flipping it and looking for some cash?
James Booth: This one, I will potentially hold it long-term. I’ve already had a few end users approach me in the last two weeks since I’ve had it. So, I mean, I think it…because it’s been with, like, a massive company like that for so long…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booth: …Other companies just haven’t been able to get it.
Michael Cyger: Now you tend to flip a lot more of your domains to other wholesalers. You’ll find domains that are a great value and then you…you flip it. Are…are you looking for an end user on this domain name?
James Booth: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Michael Cyger: What would be your asking price on a domain like rcc.com?
James Booth: I’ve got it listed at 500k but one fifty to two fifty…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booth: …Is what I’ll probably [inaudible].
Michael Cyger: Yeah, yeah. yeah. So reasonable. You’re…you’re…you would take one fifty to two fifty in there?
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Wow, great…great domain. I know Drew likes those domains ending in C, ending in I, you know? Right, Drew?
Andrew Rosener: Yeah. Yeah, no, I…I…I love it. I love it [inaudible].
Michael Cyger: Have you offered to buy it off of James already?
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, I did. Although, I…I…I wasn’t…I don’t, you know, it didn’t have the end user profile that I’d…that I’d…that I’d like to see, so it’s kind of, you know, it’s…it’s…it’s one of those names that’s sort of, for me at least, kind of a novelty. It’s like, you know, ending in double C…super rare, you know, highly desirable among the wholesale community…
Michael Cyger: Right.
Andrew Rosener: …The investor community. I don’t look at that as a super high probability name to flip to an end user, at least not for a price that I’d be looking for. Like…like, you know, if I had to pay James seventy five grand to buy rcc.com, I wouldn’t let it go for less than two fifty and I don’t…I don’t see anybody that’s qualified to buy that name for that kind of price.
Michael Cyger: Where do you go look to…to see the number of companies that are named R…you know, have acronyms R.C. and then might want to, you know…or R.C. Corporation or company or whatever? Where do you go to look that up?
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, I mean, I usually…you know, a lot of the standard channels, you know? We…we have some tools that…that I’m not going to mention just because it’s sort of…I think one of our competitive edges and why we are really, really good at getting domains into the hands of end users.
Michael Cyger: Alright, you’re going to be that way. James, let’s go over to you then. Drew’s not going to tell us his secret sauce.
Andrew Rosener: Well, I…I, you know, I mentioned…I mentioned one resource earlier, like CrunchBase.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: CrunchBase, you know, CrunchBase LinkedIn, Google, these are…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: These are very obvious and…and great tools to find potential buyers.
Michael Cyger: How do I convert an acronym into the number or companies that are using those initials, James?
James Booth: I…the main one I use is Estibot, the end user tool that [inaudible] a business locator.
Michael Cyger: So you go under Estibot, the tools, and then you go under end user business locator?
James Booth: Yeah, it’s like, all the U.S. businesses from 2014, and I think it lists, like, the number of employees, the…the company’s name, the acronym, and then it’ll basically…you click the link and then it will go to Google and show you if the company is still around or…
Michael Cyger: And when you did the search on it you thought it had enough end users, James?
James Booth: On…on the Estibot tool it had, like, eight thousand businesses. Not all of them were qualified.
Michael Cyger: Right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
James Booth: I found a few decent ones, and like I said, I’ve had a few end users approach me in the last two weeks.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Nice. Alright, thanks for sharing that, guys. And thanks, James. Doron, let’s go over to you. What’s one domain…what are you smiling at, Drew? Are you…think I’m being facetious in thanking you?
Andrew Rosener: No. No, I think…I think…I think James is going to…James is going to slough this off to another… to another investor for…for…for…for a twenty to thirty percent margin…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: …You know, within the next two weeks.
Michael Cyger: You think so? Alright, the bet’s on the table there, James.
James Booth: I’ve got a seventy five payoff on it already, so…
Andrew Rosener: That guy, whoever puts the 75k offer will own this name within a month.
Michael Cyger: Hey, and that’s a great markup, man. Kudos to James, for like…
Andrew Rosener: No.
Michael Cyger: …Talking a company into giving up a domain name.
Andrew Rosener: No, look, there’s no shame in the game.
Michael Cyger: No.
Andrew Rosener: There’s no shame in the game. It’s just about knowing who you are and James is not the guy that’s holding out for the end user. James is the guy that has a big dream of holding out for the end user, but he’s going to let that go to an investor for…for…for…for, you know, a nice, little margin.
Michael Cyger: Well 35k, that’s almost a hundred percent margin that he’d be making in, like, a few weeks. Nothing wrong with that.
Andrew Rosener: Like I said, no shame in the game.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: There’s no shame in the game.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright.
Andrew Rosener: But you’ve got to…it’s just, know who you are.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: Stick with that program.
Michael Cyger: Alright. Doron, let’s go over to you. What’s one domain name that you’ve bought or sold in the past few weeks. Tell us the domain name and not the price yet.
Doron Vermaat: Sure, I bought a four letter .com. It’s a pronounceable four letter because I don’t really buy acronyms. I buy brandables.
Michael Cyger: Yup.
Doron Vermaat: So, the domain name is irso.com, so it’s I.R.S.O. .com.
Michael Cyger: I.R.S.O. .com. Alright, and you bought it.
Doron Vermaat: I bought it, yeah.
Michael Cyger: So Drew, let’s go over to you first. I.R.S.O. .com, what do you think Doron paid for it?
Andrew Rosener: So, I think I was in that auction. I think that was on NameJet.
Michael Cyger: Trouble. Alright, let’s go to James first.
Andrew Rosener: And I…I…I like that name. I can’t remember…I can’t remember what it went to.
Doron Vermaat: It was on NameJet. Yeah, it was a NameJet name.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah. I…I…I…I’m going to say…I’m going to say eighteen hundred bucks because I think I probably would have gone to, like, fifteen hundred for that.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: If I…I can’t remember why I missed it because I actually really like that name because the I.R.S., you know, like, you could do something with IRS online. There’s a lot of, you know, tax help, you know? You…you…you could…it’s a nice, little brandable for…for…for a paid marketing campaign. Regen. It’s a nice…it’s a nice, little name that would get some authority and…and get some good click-throughs in a paid marketing campaign, so I…I like that name and I remember chasing it. I don’t remember why I didn’t get it. I might have missed the end of the auction or it went higher than I…than I…than I thought, but I’m going to say eighteen hundred bucks.
Michael Cyger: Alright. James, what do you think Doron paid for I.R.S.O. .com?
James Booth: I don’t think it would really pass the radio test, would it?
Michael Cyger: Irso. Yeah, it could be…
James Booth: I would say, like…I would say a thousand.
Michael Cyger: You say a thousand?
James Booth: A thousand bucks. Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Alright. Doron, what did you pay for I.R.S.O. .com?
Doron Vermaat: Let me…quick look. I paid seven hundred and nineteen dollars for it.
Michael Cyger: Seven hundred and nineteen.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: So, I…I…I missed the end of the auction because I…I would have paid more than that.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. So, what do think…?
Doron Vermaat: I was lucky. Yeah.
Michael Cyger: You’re going to…clearly you’re going to list it on Efty. If I go to I.R.S.O. .com what’s the…do you have a buy it now price listed?
Doron Vermaat: No, I…I pretty much put everything up as make offer.
James Booth: [inaudible]
Doron Vermaat: Ninety nine percent are make offer. But, yeah, this is definitely a name I [inaudible] make an offer form and wait for an end user to knock on my door like I do with pretty much all of my names, so…
Michael Cyger: What are you looking for. What would…what would you need to get in order to sell this domain?
Doron Vermaat: Well, it’s funny, I actually got an inquiry on it the second day I owned it, so…just looking at what I countered with to the potential buyer. But probably I would be looking for, you know, anywhere between eight to twelve thousand dollars or so.
Michael Cyger: Eight to 12k retail.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Alright. Yeah. That’d be a phenomenal return.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Alright. Well, congratulations on that buy, Doron.
Andrew Rosener: Give you…give you twelve…give you twelve fifty for it right now.
Michael Cyger: You said you’d go up to fifteen hundred. Why are you trying to low-ball him here on the show?
Andrew Rosener: Well, because it’s not an auction. In an auction there’s a motion involved that, you know, that has…that has a value.
Michael Cyger: Doron, would you take the five hundred dollars profit right now and give it over to Drew?
Andrew Rosener: And now…and now…and now I know it sold…now I know it sold for only seven hundred, so it’s like…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: …Man, maybe I’m wrong about the valuation. I don’t have that…I don’t have that…I don’t have that…that lower support.
Michael Cyger: But he told you he got an offer on the second day, Drew.
Andrew Rosener: He got an inquiry.
Michael Cyger: An inquiry, yeah.
Andrew Rosener: That’s a very different…
Doron Vermaat: Yeah, it was an inquiry with a five hundred dollar…
Michael Cyger: A five hundred dollar opening offer. That’s not screwing around, Drew.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah, but…
Andrew Rosener: There’s a big difference between a two hundred and fifty dollar loss and…and a five hundred dollar gain.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah. No, but thanks, Drew, but no thanks.
Michael Cyger: Last chance, Drew. You want to up it?
Andrew Rosener: No.
Michael Cyger: Alright, so this is what we do at the review live at Namescon. Like, I, you know, try to goad the guys into making cash offers. I tell them, like, bring your…your craps money to the session and let’s…let’s sell some domain names. If…if they…if people are submitting some good ones. So watch for that link. That link is coming soon on DomainSherpa. Alright, I’m going to tell you about three of our sponsors on today’s show. Alright, here’s where I’m going to put them. Drew, again with the…with the metal canister there. Alright, we’re going to move on to the next segment of the show. In the Domain Portfolio Review we take a user submitted domain name portfolio and provide honest and constructive feedback to the owner so they can either cut their losses, continue to hold them long-term, or figure out a sales strategy going forward. Today’s portfolio was submitted by Daniel Ben-Ezra. As part of Daniel’s submission he made a generous donation to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to help us all find a cure for cancer. You know, I say that every single week. What does that mean? These guys are volunteering their time. They’re giving you feedback. They’re providing their input on this show and all we ask is that individuals who make their…make a donation to cancer research because almost every single family in the world has been affected by cancer or had a friend that’s been affected by cancer, and so we’re trying to take a small, little step towards finding cures for cancer, and that’s what we’re grateful to Daniel Ben-Ezra for doing. As part of Daniel’s submission he gave us twenty five domain names that start with actionplus.com and end in verypremium.com. So you can scroll underneath this video and look at all of the domain names that are in his list. This segment we’re going to go James, then Doron, then Drew. James, let’s start with you. What do you like best on Daniel’s list and why?
James Booth: Okay, basically, this isn’t really my area of experience, but the two that I did like were ultimateadventure.com, maybe for, like, an outdoor company like skiing, snowboarding or something, and potentially unlockingtalent.com, as maybe like a recruitment company.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booth: And then the one I really, really didn’t like was bright.blue.
Michael Cyger: Bright.blue. Alright, so let me…let me ask you the ones…because, you know, I gave you the intro for people that weren’t…aren’t familiar with your background, they can go back and watch your recent show, James, on how you…how you, you know, helped sell 5.1 million dollars worth of domains in your first twelve months in the industry. You are a flipper. You know, that’s what Drew was just referring to earlier. You’ll buy domain names that have liquid value and you’ll take….for the most part, take advantage of the liquidity, play some arbitrage, buy it low, sell it high. Why would you…why would you like UltimateAdventure and UnlockingTalent most on this list? What…what made them appeal to you?
James Booth: I just..just the brandability. I think that UltimateAdventure could be used for so many different outdoor activities.
Michael Cyger: Yup.
James Booth: [inaudible] potential different companies. Like I said, skiing, snowboarding, hiking.
Michael Cyger: Yup.
James Booth: …Like, camping. There’s so many different ones on that one I think. UnlockingTalent could be anything to do with recruitment, maybe sports.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Okay, so, having a…a good number of industries and…and job applications, or…or applications for the domain name increases the value. That’s why you liked them more. What would you price UltimateAdventure at if you owned it? James?
James Booth: I would say ten to 15k.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. What about UnlockingTalent? Would you price it more or less?
James Booth: Same. Yeah, ten to fifteen.
Michael Cyger: Okay. Cool. And then why didn’t you like bright.blue?
James Booth: I…I just think it’s horrible.
Michael Cyger: Alright, you can’t…you can’t see any use of it.
James Booth: No, I didn’t like it.
Michael Cyger: Alright. Alright, thanks, James. From the numeric, acronym guy we’re going to move over to the brandable guy. Doron, what do you like?
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Michael Cyger: From the numeric, acronym guy we’re going to move over to the brandable guy. Doron, what do you like? Well first of all, you actually know Daniel, right?
Doron Vermaat: Yeah, so I think we should put a bit of disclosure in there. I mean, I didn’t know I would be on this show and it would be Daniel’s portfolio, but Daniel is a good friend of mine. He was best man at my wedding. I was best man at his wedding and…
Michael Cyger: So this is the tough love. If you don’t like Daniel’s stuff, you need to…you need to tell it to him straight.
Doron Vermaat: Well he’s…he’s been learning from the best, right? So, no, Daniel got into domain names like a year ago when we were in Austria for his wedding and, you know, we were kind of chatting about domain names and I think he started buying them that…that same summer so he’s been in the industry for like a year.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: He just buys on the side just like me as a hobby. But I think it would be good disclosure…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: …To say I know Daniel very well. There’s actually one domain name on this list that we co-own.
Michael Cyger: Oh.
Doron Vermaat: So I’m not going to mention…
Michael Cyger: Okay.
Doron Vermaat: …That domain. And maybe you guys can later guess which one it is.
James Booth: [inaudible] it’s not bright.blue.
Michael Cyger: That was a premium, baby.
Doron Vermaat: It’s not bright.blue, no.
Michael Cyger: Alright, Doron, so what do you like on Daniel’s list?
Doron Vermaat: The names that I like on this list are careerspark.com. I think that really makes for a great recruitment brand or, like, a job board, or a resume writing service, or anything in that industry. It’s a great two keyword brandable. I like chefmeals.com because now meal delivery services are so hot, right?
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: You know, [inaudible], Foodpanda…everyone is ordering food, and healthy food is even more important these days, and I think ChefMeals would make a good brand for one of these start-ups in that space. I like ElectricOnly, and now with all the electric cars and, you know, test lab stuff, I think that the name has potential as well. InspectionService…I like it. It’s more like exact match .com but it will be good for the…like, here in Asia, there’s a lot of inspections services who do quality control for American companies who manufacture in China. This is a very big industry.
Michael Cyger: Hey, Doron, let me…let me pause you there. InspectionService, so it is a keyword type domain name. What do you think the retail value is? What would you price it at if you owned it?
Doron Vermaat: Probably ten to fifteen thousand.
Michael Cyger: Wow. Okay. Ten to 15k.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: And let me go back up to CareerSpark because, you know, in your interview you did talk about your recruiting, job related domains and that you’ve had a lot of success in that area. What would you price careerspark.com at?
Doron Vermaat: Seven fifty to 10k.
Michael Cyger: Seventy five hundred…
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: …To ten thousand dollars. ChefMeals strikes me as, you know, a little bit too keyword oriented to be a great brandable. Do you feel the same way? You know, it’s not like BlueApron, or…I can’t even remember the other ones that are out there.
Doron Vermaat: It’s a bit generic but I think there will be a lot of interest from companies that, I mean…it’s…it’s not a brandable I would choose for my food delivery service but I think a lot of companies…they still look for these very descriptive type of names.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Given that, what would you price chefmeals.com at, retail?
Doron Vermaat: Probably five to seven fifty.
Michael Cyger: Five thousand to seventy five hundred, you mean?
Doron Vermaat: Yeah, for an end user.
Michael Cyger: Yup.
Doron Vermaat: I think that’s probably a…I mean, for me, what, you know, what I do is…I…all my domains are make inquiry. So when I get an inquiry I…I…I do research on the buyer and my price always based on who the buyer is, so…unless they hide behind the Gmail of course. Then, you know, I have to throw out a number but usually I…I price based on the intel I have. And then I agree with James. UltimateAdventure is a very cool brand…lots of possible end users for that. ILikeYourStyle for, like, the buzz feed type of site. Those will be my…
Michael Cyger: Cool, what’s one domain name that you definitely don’t like on Daniel’s list?
Doron Vermaat: I’m not a big fan of the new gTLD either, so bright.blue would not be a name I would hold on to. I think FarmCat is…I don’t really see lots of users for that. Same for KillerCroc…doesn’t really do much for me.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Okay. Alright, thanks, Doron. Drew, let’s go over to you. What…what do you like on Daniel’s list and why?
Andrew Rosener: Okay, so, I think my…my favorite name on here is theexpert.com even though I don’t like the double E, you know? Websites, you know, expertise websites is a very hot trend. It’s been a hot trend. We’ve sold a bunch of…of names in that category, so I…I…I like that name. I think theexpert.com. It also looks like it’s got a little bit of traffic so I like that name.
Michael Cyger: How do you figure out if it has a little bit of traffic?
Andrew Rosener: Well it’s gotten an Alexa rank of five million, so it’s getting a trickle.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. And, you know, Mike Birkin has sold a ton of “the” domain names. You can go into NameBio and search most wanted domains, and…starting with “the,” and see the ones he’s sold.
Andrew Rosener: I don’t think there’s any high value names on here, but I think, you know, theexpert.com is a [inaudible] five to ten thousand dollar domain.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: If you get the right end user you’re not going to [inaudible] that level. The other one I like ActionPlus, is a good…good brandable. You know, it’s also taken all the TLDs so that’s…that’s always a good sign of adoption…end user adoption.
Michael Cyger: I’m sorry…
Andrew Rosener: End user adoption.
Michael Cyger: You broke up just for a second there. What was the domain name again?
Andrew Rosener: ActionPlus.
Michael Cyger: ActionPlus. Okay.
Andrew Rosener: Yup.
Michael Cyger: So all the other TLDs are taken which indicates that somebody might want to upgrade to the .com.
Andrew Rosener: Well, it’s an indication of…of adoption. I mean, yeah, I think it…it…it increases your probability of somebody wanting to upgrade, but it’s just also a good indication of user adoption…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: …That there’s businesses out there that are using that.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: Because I don’t, you know, don’t…I haven’t looked into it but I doubt, you know, there are many domain investors that are going to be buying up the org and the net and the biz and the us. It’s not…it’s not a good enough domain for that. So, those are most likely companies that have…have bought those extensions.
Michael Cyger: And given that those companies are on…operating on a less than stellar top level domain what would you price actionplus.com at if you owned it?
Andrew Rosener: Probably…probably thirty five hundred or seventy five hundred, somewhere in that range.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Okay. Awesome. What’s another one that you like?
Andrew Rosener: I don’t…I don’t, you know, I don’t really love any of these name. These just aren’t the kinds of names…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: …I…I…I love.
Michael Cyger: They’re more brandable. Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, but, you know, I think ilikeyourstyle.com is a nice little phrase, you know? Fashion is hot…always will be hot. You know, people get their fashion from…from media, so…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: I think ilikeyourstyle.com is a…you know, everybody knows that phrase. It’s a little long but I could see it being used for a cool campaign, so I like that name.
Michael Cyger: Alright. Hey…
Andrew Rosener: I don’t…I don’t…there’s not really, you know, there’s other…none of these names are, like, you know…well there’s a few that aren’t great, but none of them are really, like, awful.
Michael Cyger: Right.
Andrew Rosener: They’re just all very, you know, mediocre names that…if you get them for registration fee or if you get them, say…if you get them for, you know, under seventy five dollars, most of these are going to be great, right? Like, you know, if you own a hundred of these you’re going to sell one for, you know, twenty five hundred bucks to five thousand bucks, you know, within a twelve to twenty four month period and, you know, that’s going to make you the return you need to sustain the portfolio and…and, you know, you can gradually leverage that up. Because, you know, obviously with names like this it’s…it’s a numbers game, right? So…
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Doron, do you agree with that?
Andrew Rosener: You know…
Michael Cyger: Do you need to acquire these for close to reg fee in order for these types of domain names to be successful…to…to make a successful investor?
Doron Vermaat: Well I think about one third of these are definitely acquired for more than reg fee because they’re after market domains. But I know Daniel…he sold superminds.com, which is a name like these…he sold it for twelve and a half thousand.
Michael Cyger: Wow.
Doron Vermaat: Like, not too long ago.
Michael Cyger: superminds.com for twelve and a half thousand.
Doron Vermaat: supermind.com.
Michael Cyger: supermind.com.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah. So, he’s been successful buying and selling these names and he’s already profitable after less than a year in the business.
Michael Cyger: Wow.
Doron Vermaat: So…but, yeah, you need to be…you know, you need to sit on these and hope there’s a start-up or company that wants to name their company…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: …Exactly that.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: And then…then you can maximize profit, but these are not liquid so you can’t really go out and flip them…
Michael Cyger: Right.
Doron Vermaat: …Or put them back on NameJet and get a good return.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: These…these take a lot of patience, but…
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Alright, Doron. Hey Drew, let’s go back to you. Bright.blue…the other two Sherpas did not like this. Are we going three for three? Should you…are you going to recommend that Daniel drop that domain at the next renewal period?
Andrew Rosener: No. I mean, I’m not…I’m not super big on these new gTLDs at all.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: But I like that one. I mean, you know…it…it…it, for me, it all comes down to what’s the…what’s the registration fee? What’s the renewal cost? You know, I have no idea about .blue but if it’s, you know, if it’s a standard renewal…whatever it is, ten bucks, fifteen bucks or something, I…I…I’d keep BrightBlue all day. I mean, I think, you know…
Michael Cyger: What if it was thirty bucks? Because most of these Gs are twenty five, thirty bucks.
Andrew Rosener: I don’t know.
Michael Cyger: You’d keep it?
Andrew Rosener: Maybe. Maybe. I think just in principle, I…I…I’m like a…I’m super against these premium renewal fees. I think that it’s…I think it’s…it’s an absurd…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: You know, look, if people pay it then, you know, more power to you and I guess a successful business strategy, but from the standpoint of pragmatism, which is, pragmatically speaking, if you’re a registry and you want to get numbers, and you want to get, you know, adoption, and you want to get these domains registered and…in…in…in some kind of quantity, you know, let’s not fool ourselves. Domain investors are still your number one market. You want…you want my vote, you know, and I vote with my wallet. If you want my vote you…you better price them to sell. I mean, you know…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: I…I want…I want seven dollar to ten dollar renewal fees and if you’re not going to do that, you’re not going to get my money. It’s just…
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Alright, Drew, give me one that you don’t like on the list. What’s one that you would definitely drop and why?
Andrew Rosener: I don’t like ChefMeals just because the whole chef’s meal, chef’s…chef meal…it’s just too many..too many iterations.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: FarmCat, I don’t like that name. I just don’t see any commercial application and I don’t see any…like, I just don’t see any use for that name.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Okay.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Alright, that doubles up on FarmCat. Alright, Daniel, thank you for submitting your portfolio and making your donation to cancer research. We hope this review and this input is helpful to you in your domain name investing activities going forward. Before we jump into the domains going to auction soon at NameJet I want to tell you about three of our other sponsors. Alright, you want to take a drink, Drew?
Andrew Rosener: Does it really bother you that much that I have a [inaudible]?
Michael Cyger: It’s just really loud and, like, the last time you were, like, doing it while…while Shane was talking or something.
Andrew Rosener: Oh, sorry. Okay, I didn’t realize it was loud. That’s all you had to tell me.
Michael Cyger: Alright, we’re going to move onto the Marketplace list. This segment is sponsored by NameJet. We’ll be reviewing twelve no reserve or reserve net domain names heading to auction soon, and one domain name that hasn’t hit reserve but I want to know what the Sherpas thought of it. If you like one of the names below click through soon because once they go to auction you lose your chance to put in a minimum bid and be a part of the auction or even just watch the results. The links below go directly to NameJet; they’re not commissionable links. They just want to see what kind of traffic we’re sending them. The list starts with AlamedaHomes and ends with W.L.K. .org. For transparency I always ask if any of the domain names are owned or brokered by the Sherpas. Any of these domains…domain names associated with you guys?
Andrew Rosener: So I think we…so we own…we own tuesday.com for sure. I think you said that we own brenda.tv. I don’t necessarily know if that’s true or not.
Michael Cyger: You’re not sure? Okay.
Andrew Rosener: But we might.
Michael Cyger: It might be. You’re not sure. You own too many domain names, Drew.
Andrew Rosener: I…I have no idea.
Michael Cyger: Alright, let’s see here. So this segment we’ll go Doron, then Drew, and then James. Doron, let’s start with you this…this round. From an investment perspective, you know…and this…in this segment we’re trying to help newer investors look for domain names that might have value later on that they might be able to buy low, sit on it for a year or two, and then…and then sell it for a good return. What do you…given that, what do you like on the NameJet list and why?
Doron Vermaat: Well, there are a couple of great three letter domains on there but I think for a lot of new investors those might be out of the budget. So, if I look at it from that perspective, I think a name I like is alamedahomes.com. I wasn’t familiar with the location so I just Googled it and I saw it was a small island in California next to Oakland with very high average home value, just under a million dollars. So, I think, you know, to own that domain name is probably worth quite a lot for a realtor in that area and I think if you can pick it up for, you know, maybe under a thousand bucks or so on NameJet, I think that’s a very smart buy. So that’s one I like.
Michael Cyger: What would you price it at if an investor is able to pick it up for about a thousand bucks? What do you think the retail price is if they hold it for a couple years.
Doron Vermaat: Well, I…it…it…it depends if you want to do a quick flip and you do outbound marketing on it. You know, maybe five to 7k, if you’re going to sit on it and wait for someone else to approach you…maybe even more than that.
Michael Cyger: Okay.
Doron Vermaat: I’m not really familiar in that geo or real estate space but from my understanding is that these names, you know, definitely have value and they sell. So, there’s quite a lot of companies advertising on the…on the term as well, so those are already potential prospects that you can approach to sell the domain to.
Michael Cyger: Alright, what else do you like?
Doron Vermaat: I’m not a big fan of the new gTLDs but I think apartments.nyc is…is a pretty good one if you’re into that extension. If you buy new gTLDs you have to really go for the, you know, right off the dot, you know, both side of the dots combination that works well together and I think this is a really good one. Then I kind of like localtrip.com.
Michael Cyger: Why do you like LocalTrip?
Doron Vermaat: I don’t think it’s a fantastic name but I thought this is probably the only one on the list that was a bit more brandable and those are the kinds of names I like. Then obviously there’s tuesday.com which is a very…which is a very good domain although it’s not…it’s not the best day of the week. I think that a name like Monday probably holds more value, or…
Michael Cyger: Monday? Everybody hates Mondays. What are you talking about?
James Booth: Right.
Doron Vermaat: Well, that’s exactly the response I was expecting from you guys. But actually Monday…there’s a lot of recruitment companies who love to brand themselves as Monday, like, you know, we make Mondays cool.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Doron Vermaat: You know, one of the biggest start-ups in Europe is called Monday. I’m sure they will pay a lot of money for monday.com if they don’t own it already. But Tuesday…
Andrew Rosener: It’s…it’s actually…it’s actually a stolen domain. It’s actually floating around right now with blue.com.
Michael Cyger: Monday is?
Doron Vermaat: [inaudible] Monday.
Andrew Rosener: They’re both stolen.
Michael Cyger: Huh.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: Interesting. But Tuesday…
Andrew Rosener: Actually I think monday.com did sell…monday.com did sell, but it’s…it’s stolen and the buyer…I advised the buyer not to buy it but they were quite ignorant. It was an Israeli firm and they were stubborn, and they bought it anyways and yeah…
Michael Cyger: Rolled the dice. Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah, so, but Tuesday is…is…is definitely a great name. But, you know, it’s…it’s not the best day of the week, you know?
Michael Cyger: So what do you think the value of tuesday.com is retail?
Doron Vermaat: Retail?
Michael Cyger: Yeah, like, if…if somebody picked it up…and I don’t know what it’s going to sell for…it hasn’t even hit reserve yet, but you…sometimes you’ve got to work your way back from retail because if you only think it has a hundred thousand dollar retail value you can’t pay ninety thousand for it. That just doesn’t make any business sense.
Doron Vermaat: That’s true.
Michael Cyger: What do you think?
Doron Vermaat: Well, I think…I think retail is definitely 250k up.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: You know, for a name like this.
Michael Cyger: I should clarify…unless you’re James, and then, yeah, he’ll take that 10k any day of the week, right? Alright, so you like Tuesday, you like LocalTrip. Give me a retail price on LocalTrip. You…you liked it. You weren’t in love with it, but it’s a brandable…it’s not a phenomenal brandable is what I heard you saying, Doron. What would you price it at retail?
Doron Vermaat: Yeah, I think…I think you should buy it for probably, you know, under three hundred bucks.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: And then, you know, it’s a name you can sell two and a half to three and a half thousand.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Okay. Alright, awesome. Thanks, Doron. Drew, let’s go over to you. What are your favorites on the NameJet list and why?
Andrew Rosener: I mean, I think, you know, tuesday.com is far and away the best name but it’s… we own it so I’m not going to harp on that too much. I mean, I think it’s pretty obvious. But just to defend…to defend what…what Doron was saying, I actually disagree. I mean, I think Friday or Saturday would probably be, like, you know, the most valuable just in a generic sense about what’s the best day of the week. But, Tuesday, I think happens to have the most end users so you’ve got some major, major players that have Tuesday in their name, like Ruby…or Ruby Tuesday…there was…there’s two or three others who we have never reached out to by the way. But, so, I think that that’s…I think that that’s a very, very, you know, very, very clearly a six figure.
Michael Cyger: So why aren’t you holding it long-term, Drew. Why are you putting it on NameJet?
Andrew Rosener: The same reason as always, you know? We…we…we’ve got a lot…we’ve got a lot of really good names and we just, you know…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: We…
Michael Cyger: You keep moving.
Andrew Rosener: We take a couple of them and we…we turn them over. Actually this quarter, in quarter four this year we’re going to….we’re going to actually put up a bunch of our…our…our great names, a bunch of the one word .coms on NameJet and, you know, some will sell. Some won’t. They all represent tremendous opportunities, you know? It just is what it is.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: It’s what we do.
Michael Cyger: Alright, what else do you like on the list? What would you consider putting a bid on it?
Andrew Rosener: You know, obviously, we all know I love all the three letters, so I…
Michael Cyger: You love all of them? Even the .net? Even the .org?
Andrew Rosener: I mean, I love…yeah, then it just comes down to price, but yes. I like…I like all three letter .com, .net, .orgs. I like liquidity. I like everything that has liquidity, you know? I think it’s a strongest investment.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: I’m very bullish. Look, I’m real bullish on domain names period, and so, if I can buy a domain name at a fair market value, or under fair market value, or even occasionally at a premium, and I know it has a…a relatively high degree of liquidity, [inaudible] a great investment. It’s like, okay, I’ve got a relatively…it’s got a lottery ticket attached to it, you know, for the day that, you know, that end user might show up over ten X or a hundred X return. So, I…I love those names, you know? I like anything that’s got [inaudible]. And then I think, you know, outside of that, I…I really like…I like goin.com, G.O. I. N. I…I’m hesitant to even say that because I probably will be bidding pretty aggressively for that name. You know Goin, “go in,” it’s just “go in,” it’s, like, it’s just a call to action I don’t know for what, but it’s a four letter go to…call to action. It’s a typo of go.in. It’s, you know, there’s a lot…a lot of things going for that name. I like it. I like it a lot.
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Awesome. Alright, thanks, Drew. James, let’s go over to you.
James Booth: Yeah, so like both of those guys, I like Goin as well. Like, go India, goin.com like Drew just said. I think that’s an awesome four letter .com, pronounceable, a great, great, brand…brandable I think. Localtrip.com I put down as well. I think great for, like, a domestic travel site, maybe within…anywhere, any country for, like, domestic travel. I think that that could be easily a five to 10k plus end user name. And then of course, my favorite, plf.com, three letter .com. I’m actually bidding on it I think.
Michael Cyger: And do you…?
James Booth: They’re…they’re the three I picked.
Michael Cyger: Okay, and do you think you like plf.com just because they’re consonants…they’re strong letters? What…what…from your point of view…
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: …Why do you like P.L.F.?
James Booth: Generally F for the end isn’t really good, but P.L.F. is three sort of, pretty decent letters for both West and China.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booth: It could be, like, finance [inaudible]. I haven’t looked at the end user on it yet.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booth: I had a pretty [inaudible] if it goes for the right amount.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and what do you hope it’s going to go for?
James Booth: I’ll probably go up to, like, thirty two on it I’ll say.
Michael Cyger: What do you think the retail is on it? Like, what would you…what…let me rephrase this…if you went thirty two do you think you could flip it wholesale to another investor?
James Booth: Yeah. A hundred percent.
Michael Cyger: Because somebody just wasn’t paying attention to it in auction?
James Booth: To flip it [inaudible] I wouldn’t make much. I’d probably make, like, ten percent is, like…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booht: …Thirty five, thirty six [inaudible] a name right now…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booht: …But to an end user, six figures.
Michael Cyger: Six figures.
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Nobody on the panel mentioned uglybetty.com.
Andrew Rosener: It seems…it seems to me like a trademark name. I just…
Doron Vermaat: I know.
Andrew Rosener: I didn’t look it up but it looks like a trademark name to me.
James Booth: Yeah.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. I think it’s so popular because it was a TV show it looks like and…
Doron Vermaat: It was a TV show.
Michael Cyger: …They just let it go. Let me ask you guys…so, you’re just going to stay away because, like, it doesn’t have immediate commercial appeal in other areas, could be a trademark. It’s not even worth your time is what it sounds like.
James Booth: No.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, I mean, like, there are some that I would pick up, I mean, like…like, for example, you know, I’m…I…I…I love hip hop and for whatever weird reason, like, all of the members of the Wu- Tang Clan…all of their domain names have been expiring over the last few years…over the last few months. They’ve all dropped. And so I’ve been picking them up, but, like, not to monetize or even to sell. I just am hoping that…
Doron Vermaat: [inaudible]
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, well I just want to be like, you know, “Yeah, sure, you know, you can have your domain, but I, you know…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: … I just want to hang out and maybe, you know…”
Michael Cyger: Drew’s going to be partying with Wu.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, so, you know, let’s…let’s…let’s get down a little something.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: And get together…
Michael Cyger: Alright, let me ask you about…
Andrew Rosener: …And I’ll just transfer your domain name.
Michael Cyger: Let me ask you about another domain name because, you know, keywords…keyword domain names aren’t in favor like they were five years ago. One of them is autopartsales.com. Three word, keywords, commercial oriented…do you guys like it or do you not like it and why?
James Booth: It’s okay.
Andrew Rosener: It has value. It has value.
Doron Vermaat: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: But is it worth investing in, holding, you know…?
Michael Cyger: What…well what do you say? Is it worth investing in and holding, and waiting for an end user?
Andrew Rosener: For…for somebody it is. It’s…it’s…it’s not…it’s not, you know, not for me. But it is…it is worth it for somebody.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, so…so run me through some financials on that. What would you need to buy it for and what would you price it at retail if somebody made an inquiry on it?
Andrew Rosener: You know, AutoPartSales, I think, you know, I think it’s a twenty five hundred dollar domain name to a five thousand dollar domain name if you get the right end user. You know, the good news is that this is one of those name that you can put in the hustle. There’s…I…I have no idea…thousands I would imagine, of companies in the United States who sell auto parts.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: And so, one of those companies is more than likely going to pay you twenty five hundred to five grand to buy autopartsales.com. And, you know, whether it’s Joe’s Auto Parts, or Bill’s Auto Parts, or you know, Gus’ Auto Parts, there’s…there’s…there’s a thousand people that…somebody would probably like to shorten their name for twenty five hundred to five thousand dollars. And so, it you’re willing to put in the hustle…I doubt they’re going to come knocking on your door, but if you put in the hustle, that, you know, you can most likely sell that name.
Michael Cyger: Alright, fair enough. Hey James, let me ask you, which is a better domain name for investors: A.Z.W. .net, or W.L.K. .org?
James Booth: I’ll go for the .net.
Michael Cyger: Why?
James Booth: Well .orgs…I don’t think end users really pay that much of a premium for, it’s not that I’ve seen personally. Maybe for an end user, like, two to three grand where an end user on a .net, probably more like ten to fifteen, something like, [inaudible] website, probably a few…few end users on it. I don’t know. I’ll always check the .com as well. If the .com’s, like, a business, then potential that a company would want the .net or the .org.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
James Booth: I’ll check both. [inaudible]
Michael Cyger: So if the .com is owned by a domain name investor that would be not as desirable a situation for you?
James Booth: Right.
Michael Cyger: Drew, do you agree with James’ assessment?
Andrew Rosener: No. No.
Michael Cyger: Why?
Andrew Rosener: I actually…because I actually like wlk.org a lot more. I don’t see a lot of applications for the A.Z.W. except beyond just being a, sort of, wholesale type of flip thing, but, you know, if it’s…it’s going on auction, there’s not a lot of room to buy it under market and flip it, unless you’re, you know, unless you’re arbitraging some of the markets. Like, some of the…some of the markets just sell cheaper, like, you know…generally Sedo’s auctions for the liquid stuff sell for less than NameJet auctions do, so there is, you know, an arbitrage play there. But, you know, I like W.L.K. because it’s…it’s short for “walk” and it’s a .org, you know, which sort of lends itself…lends itself to a nonprofit, and there are a lot of, you know, like, say, like…like nonprofit walks out there. You know, walk for cancer, walk for, you know…everything that you can imagine has a walk or a marathon associated with it.
Michael Cyger: Yeah, but it’s W.A.L.K., it’s not W.L.K. and that’s just confusing to, like, regular people who are going to the leukemia walk for the cure of whatever it is. Oh…oh good.
Andrew Rosener: Ninety nine percent of these causes…ninety nine percent of these causes have some really bad domain names.
Michael Cyger: Fair enough.
Andrew Rosener: And, you know, making yours W.L.K. .org is..is an upgrade, you know, in nine out of ten cases I would say. So, yes, W.A.L.K. .org would be better, but W.L.K. is a…is a very…it’s still an upgrade for most companies or…or foundations or…or nonprofits or whatever and so I…I…I think it’s catchy.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: And it’s a…you know…you know exactly…you look at it and you go, it’s walk, right? And so…
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Alright, that’s why I love this show because you get different Sherpas on with different opinions about the same domain names and that’s what makes this…
Andrew Rosener: And I will…
Michael Cyger: That’s what makes this industry great.
Andrew Rosener: Yeah, I also will say that having owned literally thousands of three letter .net’s and three letter .org’s, I’ve outsold…I’ve sold more three letter .org’s to end users probably by a factor of, like, five or ten than I have the three letter .net’s.
Michael Cyger: Okay.
Andrew Rosener: By far, yeah.
Michael Cyger: Alright, we’re at the end of today’s show. I’d like to give the Sherpas an opportunity to share anything that they want about names they’re brokering or selling, deals they have going on, opportunities they’re looking for, announcements they want to make. We’ll just go left to right, Drew, and start with you. Anything you want to mention, give a shout-out to?
Andrew Rosener: So we have some awesome names going up on NameJet that we have just listed as I kind of mentioned earlier. We are running…we’ve got slash.com, supervisor.com, crutch.com, sopa.com, S.O.P.A. which is the…the internet bill that was all over the media…still is, as well as meaning soup is Spanish, S.O.P.A. You’ve got [inaubible] .com, cranky.com, graceful.com, and many more like tuesday.com. So we’ve got some absolutely killer names going to auction on NameJet. You can go to NameJet and find our banner and click on that, or just go to mediaoptionsauctions.com. Also, I encourage you to sign up for our newsletter. We are going to be launching a new format soon and we’ve got some really cool stuff going on in our newsletter. Every one of the new names that we bring to market comes out in the newsletter first. So the best way to stay in touch with the best inventory, premium domain name inventory coming into the market, whether you’re an investor or broker, a marketing agency, an end user, a start-up, a venture capitalist, I don’t care, that…you need to subscribe to the Media Options Newsletter. Go to mediaoptions.com, upper right-hand corner you can sign up. That’s all I’ve got for you today.
Michael Cyger: Alright. I need to check my subscription because I used to get and then I’m not getting it recently so have you been not sending it?
Andrew Rosener: Sign up.
Michael Cyger: Alright, I’m going to sign up again.
Andrew Rosener: Sign up. No, we’ve…we’ve…we’ve been sending it.
Michael Cyger: Alright. Media…
Andrew Rosener: Check your spam, White…White List Newsletter at mediaoptions.com.
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Andrew Rosener: Put that on your white list.
Michael Cyger: Alright, mediaoptionsauctions.com for your NameJet auction. Sounds good. Doron, let’s go over to you. This show will come out on Monday. Anything you want to promote, mention, give a shout-out to?
Doron Vermaat: Nothing in particular but, you know, if you’re interested in…in brandables, what sells, you…you know, what doesn’t sell, check out my blog at dngeek.com and sign up for a newsletter there as well. We have some great content every week, not just from me but also from Keith DeBoer who’s a quite established investor in the brandable space, so yeah, come check us out.
Michael Cyger: Awesome. Doron, you don’t want to mention anything about what’s coming out on Efty this last week?
Doron Vermaat: Yeah. Yeah, there’s a big upload coming on Efty, and I think actually…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: …By the time this show airs I think it should be all live by then. So we’ve been working very hard the last few weeks on significantly improving our gallery of for sale landing pages. So we already had a really awesome gallery of, I think, eight or nine different designs and as of next week…so when the show comes out, you can choose from more than almost forty different for sale landing page themes for your domain, so anything from a buy it now only landers to UDRP safe landers that are specifically designed to help you protect from UDRP’s, to a whole bunch of different category landers. So we will have one for real estate, we will have one for brandables, we’ll have one for [inaudible], we’ll have one for sports, you name it, we have a really, really great looking landing page for it. And as with everything in Efty it’s all included in the same, low price, and if you haven’t tried the service yet you can sign up for it for a free thirty day trial and no need to, you know, start paying. Just…
Michael Cyger: Yeah.
Doron Vermaat: …Kick the tires. See how it works. If you need help getting started then, you know, just…just email me or anyone at the team and we’ll help you get set up. It’s going to be really awesome.
Michael Cyger: Yeah. Thanks, Doron. James, let’s go over to you. Anything you want to mention, give a shout-out to, promote?
James Booth: Same sort of thing as Drew, basically. Check out our NameJet featured auction page, sign up to our newsletter on bqdn.com, and just peek into bqdn.com every…every time you get a chance to see any new names.
Michael Cyger: Sounds good. bqdn.com to sign up for that newsletter. If you received benefit from today’s show, please post a comment down below and thank today’s Sherpas. If you’re listening to the iPod podcast, if you download the audio and you put it on your, you know, little Shuffle, and you’re working out or on a…on a,you know, on the train into work, come back later after you’ve listened to the show and post a comment. These guys love it. And, Doron and James, like…these guys…it’s, like, three o’clock in the morning, it could be four o’clock in the morning for one of these guys. They’re either up really late or they’re up really early…either way, I’m very appreciative that they came on the show and, you know, post a quick thank you to them. Thanks to Daniel Ben Ezra for submitting his portfolio and making a generous donation to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Thanks to NameJet for submitting their portfolio and sponsoring that section of the DomainSherpa Review. And thanks again to our DomainSherpas, Andrew Rosener, Doron Vermaat, and James Booth, for sharing their knowledge, their experience, their insights, and being DomainSherpas for others. We’ll see you all next time.
Watch the full video at:
https://domainsherpa.com/Review-20161010/