Mistakes?

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Foroux

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What mistakes did you make when you first entered the domaining business? What mistakes do you see from newbies now that you've been at it for a while?

One mistake was buying my first domain in an ebay auction instead of bidding at an established domain auction site. I didn't lose much, but it sure ate up a lot of time. Actually, now I think it's better to buy that first domain straight from the registrar, so newbies can learn what to expect before dragging another party into the transaction.
 
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I bought my first domain directly from a registrar. But my first mistake and the one I see most newbies make is buying domains that are not worth even the reg fee in most cases. My first year in domaining (2004) I bought over a 100 domains before I figured out it is not how much I like the domain but is the domain commercially viable and would someone else want it. It is very hard not to let personal preference affect your domain decisions. It still happens to me sometimes. A domainer has to be constantly on guard against it.
 
You want your domains to be able to go in more than just one direction when a website becomes attached to it. For example, Rubberstamps.com is a very limited domain name, whereas Lifehacks.com could go in many different directions.
 
I thought that it would be wise to buy all the cheap domains that I could find. I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time, because I thought I'd make a good profit from reselling them. Years later, I'm still stuck with most of those domains.
 
I thought that it would be wise to buy all the cheap domains that I could find
That't the mistake most newbies make so don't beat yourself up for it.

Years later, I'm still stuck with most of those domains.

The mistake you are making now is "why keep those domains for years"? If they are not worth anything and there is no market for them, do not renew them. Take the money you would spend on renewal and buy better names that have value and that will sell.
 
I agree with the above assessments. Why keep a domain that you can't sell for over one year? Let it go then buy some more viable domains that could be sold quickly or at least in a few months. Keeping anything that doesn't get much interest is keeping money invested in a dead venture.
 
Buying the .org, .net, for every one of my .com domains just in case someone else tried to snatch it up. I'm sure it was a strategy I read about somewhere and decided to implement.
 
We all make mistakes as newbies so no one should ever berate themselves over that. I remember a time when I tried to contact the domain owner directly. Even though I didn't manage to buy it, I learned a big lesson in as far as hiding identity online is concerned.
 
I made a lot of mistakes when I was starting out and at times I don't like remembering some of these. Nonetheless, mistakes are good since we get to learn from them. It can be a huge tragedy if someone doesn't learn from their mistakes. A lot of newbies get excited and waste a lot of money buying cheap domains in the hope that they'll sell them at a higher price.
 
I'm sure that it is easy to think that you should buy all the domains that you can cheaply. However, niches being what they are, you can only sell the ones that make sense for these buyer's niches. Deciding what those are, I'm sure, is an overwhelming task if I ever heard one!
 
I agree that it could be so easy to buy some cheap domains right out of the box, however, when I was looking at my domain selection that was cheap now, it goes up to $99 next year! Why is that the way it is? Does anyone know the reason?
 
Uniregistry raised the prices on a lot of domain extensions that they control. Some registrars such as GoDaddy and Tucows have even stopped offering some of these extensions with the biggest price hikes. As always there are two sides to the story. Unregistry says it's losing money. the other registrars say that it's unfair to their customers who bought domains at the lower prices to have such huge price increases and that greed is involved in the price hikes. The truth is probably somewhere in between. If you have developed the domain and it is growing with followers then you have no option but to pay the higher price. If you haven't developed the domain you may want to think twice before renewal, is it worth it?
 
I'd be more inclined to believe the price hike is due to Uniregistry losing money if they hadn't immediately broken their promise not to reserve domains for their own portfolio with the intention of cashing in on the good ones. Uniregistry actually kept back a significant number. Also, other gTLDs are losing money too, but those competing companies didn't increases prices near as much. If they can take the loss why can't a big dog like Uniregistry? And according to this article, Uniregistry is doing very well.

I hope loads of domainers let their domains expire so the market can self-correct. Of course, that sounds terrible too because I don't want any domainers to lose money.
 
niches being what they are, you can only sell the ones that make sense for these buyer's niches. Deciding what those are, I'm sure, is an overwhelming task if I ever heard one!

I don't think a person can. They can just cross their fingers and hp for the best. What I would do is pick a niche within an evergreen topic. Like real estate, and buy, or make, a domain about a specific architectural style of building.
 
One of my biggest mistakes was bidding on domains on ebay. I would win the auction, pay the tab through PayPal and think I was good to go. Shortly after the seller would refund my money and send a message that the domain had to be sold in a package deal, but that they didn't know that before listing it. Four different sellers (supposedly) did the same thing. I'm not sure if the sellers thought I'd offer more money or what but it was never going to happen. It took winning four auctions before I realized it was a waste of time.
 
Not buying straight from the source was a mistake I made as well. I didn't realize that some people selling domains would actually farm that project out to others who, of course, would make a commission from the sale.
 
You all raise valid points and the one that has caught my eye the most, is when newbies buy a lot of cheap domains, with the hope of holding onto them and selling them for a profit.

Something just crossed my mind; can any of you think of mistakes whose effects can never be reversed? This can be of help to everyone, including those that have in the business for quite a long time.
 

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