There are still opportunities for hand registering domain names.
Getting a 400x return on anything is pretty sweet. Especially when it’s within two weeks.
So don’t tell domain investor Duane Higgins that “all the good domains are taken”. Because he just sold a domain he registered on March 31 for $4,050.
Last Friday I wrote about the auction for DigitalArchery.com at Sedo. At that time it had one bidder for $1,000. It closed on Saturday for $4,050, thanks in part to some intense bidding between two bidders.
Higgins registered the domain after ICANN announced its plans for prioritizing new top level domain applications. The plan, which has applicants try to click a button close to a predetermined time, has been dubbed “digital archery”.
At least one domain technology company is offering a digital archery service to help new top level domain applicants.
The domain is still in Higgins’ name, so it may be a few days before we find out who bought it.
lassy says
The problem is scale, not get lucky once. How many others he had registered and didn’t sell? That’s far more interesting.
DR.DOMAIN says
Congrats Mr.Higgins. May it happen again…and again.
Loren says
Love it when that happens! I just sold one for $2,300 that I paid $59 for the day after I picked it up – it was a drop. Currently working on closing a couple more deals. Market is definitely picking back up this year.
JP says
Devils advocate, should he have sent it to auction, and no I’m not debating he got an excellent ROI.
Maybe could have got more?
But this newly coined term may be a one-time short shelf life thing anyway.
Should put up a poll.
Regardless, my congrats go out to the guy.
adam says
Nice return Higgins.
If there was no outbound emails sent to prospects, then I’d guess he could have gotten more.
The guys says he’s sold thousands of domains before though and been in the business since 2000 or something , so surely he did something more than list it ?
As JP said It is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Timing is crucial. Anyone in the same boat should maximize on that timing by making sure all parties that might be interested in that opportunity are aware and act quick.
@lassy he could have registered roughly 400 other domains and still been well ahead.
Duane Higgins says
Thanks for the well wishes. I did promote the name to several large portfolio owners and to Pool.com and to ICANN. I think the name was too speculative and unproven to get more than the $4050. We have another group of names that may be in the news in the next few weeks for a much, much larger sum. (apparently, I cant put the names here…:-)
Andrew Allemann says
I think $4,050 is very, very solid given the limited pool of buyers. Congrats.
Steve M says
(In)famous wrong slogans:
1. This ship is unsinkable.
2. Everything that could be invented has been.
3. A human will never run a sub-4 minute mile.
4. It’s too late to make money in domains.
Duane Higgins says
Theres plenty of money to be made in reg. fee names- even with just .com With the new extensions (mostly the generic ones) there will be an unlimited number of opportunities. Just think if all of a sudden there was many times the land mass available on earth. Some beach front property and some more in the wilderness and everything in between (some prime business/commercial propertites) . However, almost all of the land would have some value. There will be essentially unlimited opportunities for investors and developers with the new names.
Best regards,
Duane
Louise says
It’s encouraging news – good job!
Also, I like the mention on theDomains of the purchase of SmartGlasses for under $4,000, and the hand reg of BuffetRule by Rick Schwarz, back in September.
Seb says
Great sell. Well done.
Duane Higgins says
I have to mention that the proper spelling is
“Buffett Rule” (with 2 t’s) and my company hand regged the names in Sept. and owns (4) extensions:
.com, .net, .org, and .info
We also own “buffettTax (com) and BuffettsRule (com)
We are in some negotiations on these.
Thanks for listening,
Duane
Andrew Allemann says
Huh, so Rick actually registered the typo.
Bob Parry says
Well Done! Especially when digitalarchery.com is of nil value by Estibot but I have quite a few hand-registered domains at high values such as Attractions.es (valued at $20,000 by Estibot), which is now for sale through Afternic – maybe most people do not like or know about .es domains?
Cloud based says
I hand reg names on a daily basis. Most I intend on future usage but cant proper most of them so time to time will sell as that is like any asset, “if you’ve got the dime Ive got the time.”
DomainAnimal says
Duane, was the initial offer you received $1k that you then sent to auction, or did you receive a lower offer first that you sent to auction and got bid up to $1k by the time Andrew originally reported on it?
and congrats on the nice sale
Duane Higgins says
I got a lower bid and counter offered. The original auction bid was 1000.
John says
I am not impressed.
I bought a scratch ticket once for $1.00 and won $5 000 or 5 000% return on my money
Duane Higgins says
Im not impressed either. If the sale had been 6 figures or 7 that would have been a good story. The funny thing is that there are numerous (unregistered) million dollar names out there – as we speak. Think thats absurd? Not so much. They are out there and just need to be found. The trick is to predict the market and important names/terms. In order to do that consistently and successfully, you’ll generally have to register the names several months or a few years before the market is established or known. Otherwise someone else will beat you to the registration. Many of the names I have registered through the years this way- have since been let go back to the registry. As my calculations did not materialize. However, how many names do I need to be successful with this technique to make it worthwhile?
Duane Higgins says
DigitalArchery.com is back on market. Bids will start at $100,000 usd.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Duane Higginbs – huh? what? Buyer didn’t pay?
Duane Higgins says
I gave the buyer 10 days and they did not pay. At that point I asked Sedo to cancel the auction and not offer it to any of the lower bidders.
T35 Hosting says
$4,000 is an amazing price. I’m shocked it went for that price after only had been registered a few weeks. Such an inspiring story in the field of domain technology.