Domain flipping is a popular and lucrative way to make money on the internet. It’s also an easy way for those without any domain experience to make a quick buck. But there are some downsides that you need to know about before getting started with your first flip.
Scammers
When selling domains, watch out for these scammers. They will offer you a hefty price for your domain (or site), but want you to agree to an evaluation before they will commit. Sounds reasonable, considering the amount of money they are offering, but they will insist on using their choice of evaluation company, so that they will know it’s a “legit” evaluation.
That will typically cost you a few hundred dollars, but hey, they are offering you $10,000, so what’s a few hundred? The problem is, once you pay for the evaluation, you’ll never hear from them again.
Domains That Don’t Sell
Some domains just won’t sell. It happens to everyone, even the big dogs. But if you have 10 domains and you paid $90 for them, and only 1 of them is sold, but it is sold for $100 profit, you’ve made a tiny bit of a money. Not really enough to get excited about, but at least you’re not in the red.
What typically happens is that some of your domains won’t sell, but some will, and hopefully the ones you sell will mean you’ll come out on top.
Domain Hoarding
Some people hoard domains. They buy them up and keep them on their hard drive, just in case they happen to be the next big thing someday.
Or they get overly-excited when starting out, and purchase a lot of domains, only to realize later on that they weren’t good choices, they weren’t domains that are likely to sell.
Over Estimating the Value of Your Domains
New domainers tend to get attached to the domains they own, and think that every domain they purchase is worth a substantial amount of money. Well, the truth is, domains are not all created equal and some are worth more than others, but just assuming that all your domains are worth huge amounts of money is a mistake. It’s better to sell a domain name at a lower price, than it is throw a high price on it and then just watch while it sits there.
Not Carefully Checking the Spelling of a Domain
This is one of the most common mistakes people make when buying domain names. They buy what they think is a good domain name, and then find out that it’s spelled wrong or they forgot to double-check for typos. It happens all the time. Sometimes it creates a unique, brandable name, but more often, it ruins the possibility for a sale.
There is one registrar that I know of, Dynadot, that gives you a 3 day grace period when buying a domain from them.
The domain flipping game is all about finding those low-cost, high potential domains and reselling them for a profit. If you’re looking for a way to earn money, flipping domain names can be an excellent opportunity. Go ahead and give it a shot, just be sure to watch out for these gotchas!
