Many domain investors that do not attend domain conferences actively, view them as a vehicle for selling domains from their inventory.
When I attended TRAFFIC 2008 in Orlando, Florida, I too had aspired to sell domains during the auction. While that didn’t happen, it was a blessing in disguise, as some of my listings were sold in private transactions later on, much exceeding my reserve.
What I gained from attending that domain conference, and in every gathering I attended since, is the ability to network with other professionals in the industry. Good, reliable connections are good to have at a personal and professional level.
The best part of a domain conference is the ability to gauge how well one does among their peers. Feedback, extracted either directly or by studying the practices of others, can assist with improving one’s business plans and to make adjustments or changes to them, as needed.
Domain conferences are not solely for selling – or buying – domain names.
During NamesCon 2016 in Las Vegas, the domain inventory presented at the auction was definitely of quality, and it span a variety of TLDs and gTLDs.
Some of my contacts that did not attend, asked me “so what domains did you buy or sell at NamesCon?”
I sold none and bought none, as this was not part of my goal at this time. I did, however, have a great experience and consider NamesCon to be the top domain conference currently.
I’m certain that many domain transactions occurred in private among investors; it’s no secret that those with the intent to sell, will sell, and those with the intent to buy, will seek out great deals.
The funniest part was seeing the same person who since 2008 has been trying hard to sell their domains off a printed A4 piece of paper; this post is also for them.
I have bought and sold 0 domains in the 3 conferences I have been to.
I thought about selling a couple this year but said “nah”.
I actually sold one in the silent auction but that was more Namejet than NamesCon and I only sold it because I want to pay, the party that owns the 50%, the money so we can part ways…
Great post! I agree 100% the experience and connections you are able to make are priceless. Of course the bonus is buying domains at great deals or selling some domains at nice profits, not to mentioned NamesCons was in Vegas =-D
– Will
The domain conferences are for really building social relation in your own community. It helps to know how well others domain investor are making more profit out of their domains reselling. Talking to peers and sharing knowledge improves expertise in the domain industry. I think it’s not good to buy a domain name if one is not prepared about in the first place because one has to see the future profit from reselling, and how long it might take that particular domain get resold again. If one just buys domain names as other domainers are buying than you might never know you would invest too much in a domain name that doesn’t even worth a few dollars. Sometimes selling domain in private is much more profitable than at domain conference.