Guides
Learn domain investing without the guru math
Written from a real portfolio, including the parts that didn't work. Read it in order as a course, or jump to what you need.
Part 1
Foundations
What domain investing actually is, what the returns really look like, and the vocabulary.
- 01How to Start Domain Investing (An Honest Beginner's Guide)What domain investing actually is, what the realistic returns look like, and a first-year plan that doesn't require you to spend much to find out whether you like it.5 min
- 02Is Domain Investing Worth It? An Honest Look at the NumbersThe realistic base rates nobody advertises: how often domains actually sell, what holding costs do over time, and the specific conditions under which this is worth your money.6 min
- 03How Much Money Can You Make Flipping Domains?Worked examples at three portfolio sizes, where the money actually comes from, and the arithmetic that decides whether a portfolio is a business or an expensive subscription.7 min
- 04The Domain Investor's Glossary: 60 Terms, ExplainedEvery acronym and piece of jargon you'll hit in domain forums, auction listings, and marketplace dashboards — defined in plain English, with why each one matters.7 min
Part 2
Finding & Buying
Where inventory comes from: hand registration, expired auctions, drop catching, and private acquisitions.
- 05Hand Registration vs Expired Domains vs AuctionsThe four channels every domain arrives through, what each actually costs, the hit rate you should expect from each, and which one to start with.6 min
- 06How to Find Expired Domains Worth BuyingA repeatable filtering process for working through thousands of expiring names down to the handful worth your money — and the traps that make cheap domains expensive.5 min
- 07GoDaddy Auctions Explained: Expired, Closeouts, and BiddingHow the largest expired-domain marketplace actually works — the auction types, what the fees really are, the bidding mechanics that cost people money, and where closeout bargains come from.5 min
- 08Drop Catching: Backorders, Services, and Why You Usually LoseWhat happens in the seconds a domain becomes available, why manual registration never wins, how backorder services actually work, and when paying for one is worth it.4 min
- 09How to Buy a Domain That's Already TakenFinding the owner of a registered domain, what to say in the first email, what it will realistically cost, and when to walk away and pick a different name.5 min
- 10Checking a Domain's History Before You BuyThe due diligence pass that separates a genuine bargain from an inherited problem: archived pages, backlink quality, blacklists, trademark exposure, and traffic claims.5 min
- 11The Best Registrar for Domain Investors (It's Not the Cheapest)Registration price is the least important factor when you hold hundreds of names. The criteria that actually matter: renewal pricing, account pushes, bulk tools, transfer friction, and what happens when you need support.5 min
Part 3
Valuation & Pricing
What a name is worth, how to find out using real sales data, and what to ask for it.
- 12What Actually Makes a Domain ValuableThe factors that move price, ranked by how much they matter — and the widely repeated ones that turn out not to matter much at all.5 min
- 13How to Value a Domain Name (Without Fooling Yourself)The five things that actually move a domain's price, why automated appraisals are so often wrong, and how to set a number you can defend in a negotiation.6 min
- 14How Much Is My Domain Worth? A Method, Not a NumberHow to research comparable sales, adjust for the differences, and arrive at a range you can actually defend — instead of trusting an automated appraisal.5 min
- 15Are Automated Domain Appraisals Accurate?What appraisal algorithms can and can't see, why they're systematically wrong in predictable directions, and the narrow set of jobs they're genuinely good at.4 min
- 16Where to Find Real Domain Sales Data (and How to Read It)The public sources for what domains actually sell for, what each one covers, and the sampling biases that will distort your expectations if you don't correct for them.4 min
- 17How to Price a Domain: Buy It Now, Make Offer, or Lease to OwnThe three pricing structures, what each does to your conversion rate and your ceiling, and real numbers from a lease-to-own deal showing how the cash flow actually lands.5 min
- 18Why Your Domain Hasn't SoldA diagnostic walkthrough: distinguishing a discovery problem from a price problem from a name problem — and what to do about each.5 min
Part 4
Selling
Listing, outreach, negotiation, escrow, and transfer — turning inventory into money.
- 19How to Sell a Domain Name: The Complete GuideThe three channels a domain actually sells through, the setup that costs nothing and catches every buyer who finds you, and the full path from listing to transferred and paid.5 min
- 20Where to List: Afternic, Sedo, Atom, and BrokersWhat each venue is good at, real commission figures from my own sales, and when a name is worth handing to a broker instead.4 min
- 21Cold Outreach to End Users: The Real Process and the Real ResultsHow to work out which names can be outbounded at all, find the buyer, and write the email — with the actual messages I've sent and an honest account of how they've performed.6 min
- 22How to Handle a Lowball OfferWhy the $50 offer on your $3,000 name is usually a real buyer testing the water, the reframe that moves people, and when a low offer is telling you something you don't want to hear.4 min
- 23How Domain Escrow WorksThe step-by-step of getting paid safely on a private sale, what it costs, who pays, and the escrow scams that target domain sellers specifically.4 min
- 24Transferring a Domain After a Sale: Push vs TransferThe two ways a domain changes hands, why one is instant and free while the other takes days, and the 60-day lock that surprises first-time sellers.4 min
- 25Lease to Own: Closing Deals a Lump Sum Can'tHow installment domain sales work, the full numbers from one of mine, what happens if the buyer stops paying, and when to offer it.4 min
Part 5
Portfolio, Risk & Business
Running it like a business: renewals, ROI, taxes, legal exposure, and the scams aimed at you.
- 26How Many Domains Should You Actually Own?The case for a big portfolio, the arithmetic that argues against one, and how to resolve the tension — including why I revised my own target upward and what that costs.4 min
- 27When to Drop a Domain: A Renewal Decision FrameworkRenewal season is where portfolios quietly bleed. A repeatable process for deciding what to keep, what to let expire, and how to stop the sunk-cost reflex from making the call for you.7 min
- 28Tracking Domain ROI Without a Spreadsheet MeltdownThe six fields that answer every question about your portfolio, the four numbers to calculate once a year, and why most investors genuinely can't tell you whether they're profitable.4 min
- 29Domain Investing and Taxes: What US Investors Should KnowHobby versus business, what's deductible, how sales are treated, and the records to keep — plus the questions worth taking to an actual accountant.4 min
- 30UDRP: How a Domain Gets Taken From YouThe arbitration process trademark holders use to claim domains, the three things they must prove, what happens if you lose, and how to avoid ever being on the receiving end.5 min
- 31Domains You Should Never RegisterThe categories that look like opportunities and are actually liabilities — legal exposure, unsellable inventory, and the ones that just quietly drain renewals.4 min
- 32Scams That Target Domain SellersThe frauds aimed specifically at people holding domains — fake buyers, appraisal fees, escrow spoofing, renewal notices — and the rules that make you immune to nearly all of them.4 min