How to Read Domain Forums
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
Reading beyond the headline of a domain sales thread can be challenging. Here’s a helpful guide.
Earlier this week I lamented about how 99% of the domains at domain forums aren’t worth anything. If you’re going to sort through the many names at forums in hopes of finding a winner, perhaps I can help you find your way. Below are common sales thread titles at popular domain forums, and what they really mean.
Domain Inventory Liquidation Sale
Translation: I just got a big credit card bill I can’t pay. Help me out. Buy some domains. Please?
Brandable Domains
Translation: I made up some words. You could make up some words and register them yourself, but I’m hoping you’ll pay me $50 to take mine.
Renewal Sale
Translation: I registered a bunch of domains 11 months ago. They don’t get any traffic. Looking back, these are bad names. Will you buy them from me so I can recover some of the cost? Otherwise I’ll let them expire.
Must Sell!
Translation: My wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend is getting on my case about this stupid domain hobby I have. I keep telling him/her that I’ll make money at it, and if I can sell a few of these domains then I’ll prove my point.
Must Sell! Selling all domains!
Translation: I sold a few domains for $15 each, and my wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend thinks I’m an idiot. I thought I could just register some domains and become a millionaire. You mean I have to work to make money at this? Forget it. I’m selling all my domains.
One Word Domains for Sale
Translation: Click this title and you’ll see a bunch of one word domains for sale. But it’s my portfolio of .ws domains.
One word .com domains for sale
Translation: One word .coms? Don’t get too excited. They are common words with a couple suffixes: consultingly.com, footballed.com, lawyerlying.com. You might also need a dictionary to figure out what the words mean.
Baseball .com for sale
Translation: Hah! Made you look! You didn’t notice how I put a space between baseball and .com, did you? Well, that’s because the domains are really Baseball4unow.com and Baseballiswaykewl.com.
Ovt+Ext domain for sale
Translation: I bought a few domains from some guy on the forum last month that have Ovt+Ext scores. I assumed they had traffic, but I haven’t gotten a single visitor. So I’m hoping you will buy them with the hopes that there’s traffic.
Ovt+Ext domain for sale
Translation: Man, I’m an idiot. I just bought a domain from that previous guy advertising that it has an “Ovt+Ext” score of 35. But it doesn’t get any traffic. I’m looking for the next sucker.
Traffic Domains for Sale
Translation: Trademark typos for sale.
Premium domains for sale
Translation: I bought these domains instead of new registrations, so they must be premium.
Hot! Wii [or other hot toy] domains!
Translation: [Company] just announced new [toy, game] and these domains will be hot! Selling WiiCheats.com, WiiStores.com, WiiHelp.com. Everyone else on this forum beat me to the others and is listing them for sale too. I’m trying to sell these before I get UDRPs in the mail.
Excellent domains at great prices.
Translation: I just registered these this morning.
Further Reading:
Don’t forget the newly popular
1)cvcv.com (Pronouncable LLLL.com for sale)
Translation: QYKY.com is for sale!!!
Still can’t love this industry though and the domain forums that try to make it great!
Happy Holidays Andrew and everyone else!!!
Funny and true.
Footballed.com ain’t bad though..
Hilarious(ly.com?!), Andrew.
Like the “You Might Be a Domainer If” that made the rounds last year…a real keeper.
I’d also offer this for “Premium domains for sale” :
Translation: All the domains I own…and none of the ones you do…
lawyerlying.com is not one obscured word, it’s a common 2-word phrase/activity
Andrew,
I think you should publish this like the Bob Parson’s poster. You could be a billionaire like him!
James – good one. Anytime “Pronouncable” is in the title, you know it’s going to be bad.
FT- It took me a second to get what you meant. But you’re right…I meant to add to suffixes to the domain. Instead, I ended up with “lawyer lying”.
Donny – Can my poster include a picture of me with a big, fat diamond stud earring? Then I’d be a true billionaire like Bob.
I really enjoy reading your work. Your site is truly a positive contribution to the industry. I look forward to your next rant.
Can my poster include a picture of me with a big, fat diamond stud earring? Then I’d be a true billionaire like Bob.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Oh man, that made my day!!!
[...] How to Read Domain Forums Came across this in my reader… pretty funny, and at the same time pretty good advice haha Domain Name Wire » News » How to Read Domain Forums – The Domain Industry’s News Source __________________ Better than Hillary, Obama, and Edwards combined. "Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." [...]
LOL a very nice post
i agree with most of your Titles they are so true but the most irritating one’s are the “Premium Domains” for sale and when you go to see the domains its utter disaster and they wont accept anything less than a Million bucks for it.
That was a funy and interesting one …… i agree with Michael Z …. footballed.com is a good one
That was a funy and interesting …… i agree with Michael Z …. footballed.com is a good one
That is so true. I have started to make a habit of scanning the domainer forums the last week or two and this is EXACTLY what I am seeing. Guess its back to the drops for me
Dooh, SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS POST 6 MONTHS AGO SALE!!!
Unfortunately, I haven fallen for all of these scams..Is there an EBook “How to Recover from Dumb Domaining Buys Without Losing Your Shirt?”
I just registered that title by the way..
Oh and Footballed is definitely funny..
Great Article.Thanks
Cedrick, it’s all about trial and error.
Maybe you can make your money back on those by writing the book
Shhhh Andrew, Don’t tell anyone yet, but I’ve already started..Thanks
[...] in the first year of the survey, but have slid ever since. It is becoming more difficult to weed through the poor domains on these forums, making the time cost of searching for good domains to buy much more [...]
[...] Although not as bad as eBay, buying domains on forums requires lots of sorting through sub-par domains listed as “premium”. Last year forums took 20% of the [...]