So a year ago Rick Schwartz tweeted out that 90% of all domain investors should start over.
90% of every domainer should drop ALL their #Domains and start again! They are so far off the path that it is sad to see. #gtld#Startups
— Rick Schwartz (@DomainKing) May 16, 2017
The thread here got a lot of comments, some touched upon the topic of a post I wrote last week. “Are old school domainers still relevant?”
Funny how when we read about a sale Rick had it is for a domain he bought 15-20 years ago. How much of his thousands of recent hand registrations is he selling? Easy when you get in on the ground floor.
To which Rick replied:
It’s never EASY no matter what “Floor” you get on!
A recent poll on Namepros would suggest not as many people need to start over as Rick thought. The caveat here being that people are telling the truth, and this is domaining after all.
A poll at Namepros which had 177 votes, went against those opinions with the majority of voters claiming to be profitable over their investment lifetime.
Eric Lyon informed me that there were more results after they promoted the poll on Namepros. So in total it was 498 votes.
So here are the updated stats:
So has anyone started over in the last year?
I usually respect what Rick says, but this advice is something I disagree with.
Drop all your domains for what? So, the top domain investors can have a field day at hand reg’ing all the newly available domains? I don’t think so.
And regards to his comment about it not being easy no matter what floor you get on, is pure nonsense. Much much easier to sell domains when you have a portfolio of premiums.
You would think so many of his fanbois who love to slurp him all the time, would have followed his wisdom.
It seems to me, too many domain enthusiasts takes his comments literally, instead of taking the main points away. Just look at some of the new .app registrations being thrown around, such as 2-3 keywords that wouldn’t even sell in the .com extension. Look at what is thrown around in the forums and blogs(some) in .com…. He is giving good advice to those that listen because reigistrars, registries, blogs(some), forums, etc, etc. won’t say it because they profit peddling the pigeon shit he speaks of. Somebody has to say it…Best of luck to all.
I think he was being serious and literal 90% of all domainers should drop everything. Not the first time he said it.
Well it could be worse, you could be listening to those whatever you want to call them on domain sherpa.
Of course I have not drop all my domains, I am not crazy!
I dropped few domains from my portfolio though, and found later that all of them were registered by other domain investors few days after they become available. So, what is the point of dropping names, if your names are good? S that others can register them? 🙂
And yes, I invest ONLY in new gTLDs, not even 1 .com name is in my portfolio. Thanks.
Just because they register them doesn’t mean they will ever sell them.
So funny.
The statement is after reviewing domainer portfolios at ricks conferences. Additionally after seeing that many domainers register tm, long tail domains that have little value and pigeon shit domains,
The statement is for domainers to comprehend and understand what is a valuable domain today and in the future. with over 240 million .net, .com and .org domains registered. As frank stated less than 10% of all domains have commercial value.10% of 240 million is 24 million. That leaves over 200 million domains that are registered that have no value. Therefore that leads to ricks statement for all domainers to drop their domains and start over.
Is this dumbed down enough for all to comprehend? Rick has been stating this for 20 years. And now we will all see what rick stated over 5 yrs ago these new tlds will drop by the waist side and we will have consolidation of the few that are left. I think .app will live on.
There is no way to search for an app except for logos. With over a million apps only the top 10% get any volume,
google will use the .app for their android vs the apple store which has a closed ecosystem
I miss ricks insight and ongoing support. I am sure he would have a lot to say about cryptocurrency…however living in retirement on over a 20 million dollar domain portfolio we will never know.
@domainguy Not really sure who you think you are with your pompous ass “Is this dumbed down enough for all to comprehend?” But many don’t care what Rick thinks today, maybe you should see if you can apply to be a butler.
The best part and truest part of the whole article was from Tim, Funny how when we read about a sale Rick had it is for a domain he bought 15-20 years ago. How much of his thousands of recent hand registrations is he selling? Easy when you get in on the ground floor.
I hope that was dumbed down for you to comprehend.
The rick sycophants are hilarious.
I changed my .Com domain strategy 1 year before Rick said to do it. Plus, I also added crypto domains to my domain portfolio.
This made me laugh! If Rick tells you to jump of a cliff what will you do?
I do not think Rick is relevant to 99% of domain investors today. He bought amazing domains 20 years ago, and had little competition. IDK what he paid for Candy.com, but 99% of domain investors couldn’t buy that name at auction today, and then sit on it for years.
I would take advice from Mike Mann instead. That guy is a freak of nature that SELLS more domains then any one domain investor out there!
Regardless of who says it if your names are not getting interest it may be time to wave goodbye. Many domainers hold names because of pride when they should consider they have made a bad choice. Domainers are too sentimental about their choices and make the registries rich. Learn what to drop and what to keep.
Here is a laugh:
UK web users will be forced to buy ‘porn passes’ from newsagents to prove they are over 18 to access X-rated websites, under the UK government plan
Many people at the local race track claim to be making money aswell. Ask their wives and a different picture emerges.
hmmmm….
75% on that poll make less than $25k since they STARTED domaining!
60% on that poll say they made less than $5000 since they STARTED.
14% CLAIM to make over $100k since they STARTED.
82%+++ don’t/can’t make a living with their domains.
So this is over multiple years. We don’t even know what number to divide by.
Given this new data there are only 2 conclusions I have come to:
85% of domainers should drop 85% of what they have and start over.
Hanging out at Namepros may not be the best investment of time cuz those that make the LEAST, talk the most. Go ahead, listen to the 82%+++ and follow THEIR lead! All they have is insults cuz their wallets are mostly empty. 🙂
I did update the post, Eric messaged me that the poll had many more votes after we posted our article at the end of March.
The same logic applies to blog comments but here you are, Rick Schwartz…
These days Rick is more out of touch with the domain industry than Morgan. His opinion on something like this is worthless. All Rick knows how to do is say “no” to $100k offers on domains worth $1 million dollars. Real hard (sarcasm). Has he sold any of the hundreds of domains he’s purchased in the last 5 years? NO, he has NOT. He’s desperately trying to stay relevant at the sacrifice of competence.
I dropped a few, as I believe most of us have/do.will.
But I also added a bunch — so I’m above where I was this time last year.
Sometimes it’s challenging to decide which domains to drop or renew. I was about to drop one in 2017, but decided to renew it and a few weeks later it sold for 9500 USD via an Afternic broker. Domaining is art and science and luck and opportunity — and negotiating skills.
Sold a .ca for bitcoin! Domains and crypto are a PERFECT match!!
Rick Schwartz is to be respected. He has given more of himself to domaining and the domain name community than anyone else. As painful as it is to digest the truth of what he says about culling 85% of the names one has in their portfolios, it is sound advice.
I have learned a great deal from Rick about domaining.
Thank you Rick Schwartz, for your generosity of spirit and honesty.
Robert McLean
Plenty of people have given much more. Rick is a good guy but he certainly has not given the most back to this industry.
found CurrencyMagic.com available for hand registration today
when debating whether to take it or not, Rick Schwartz’s countless written attempts at educating those that would listen, prompted me to act.
offers?
Rick is right on this, spot on. Pigeon shits are just bills and waste of time, as is hanging out at domain forums/blogs all day …
This “pigeon shits” disease has also spread among some would-be “domain experts” …
I know a well-known domainer, domain blogger who between June 2017 and March 2018 has DROPPED 80% of his portfolio of around 1,000 names (from approx 1,000 to approx 200 names) … and that’s one of those self-proclaimed “domain experts” who “KNOWS IT ALL” and who are invited to talk at Domain Conferences … LOL! 🙂
Let’s see if you can guess WHO he is …
Shane Cultra?
Nope. 🙂
Yes, but not all.
Knocking out 2/3 of my portfolio.
Making it more quality, ridding of the garbage, upping the respectfulness of the collection, and eliminating excess carry costs simultaneously.
Analyze and reevaluate the portfolio Daily.
Get smart…
Although I have been in this domaining field for many years but I have never got a big hit on the sales. So I mostly dropped my domains, saved up and started it over. Fortunately, I start to see the good sign deals. Thank you