Domain Flipping Tips – History Tends To Repeat Itself

Domain Flipping attracts many new investors to the Domaining space every year. It has a nice buzz to it and reminds people of house flipping which was seriously “in” until the real estate market crashed. The problem is many new investors just buy a ton of domains and think, if I can just sell one of these for big bucks then I’ve hit the jackpot.

What many new investors find is that it’s not quite as easy as it sounds and in many cases, their domains aren’t quite as desirable as they thought.

One of the key tips I give new investors about Domain Flipping is that history repeats itself. What I mean by this is that domains that are hard to sell tend to always be hard to sell and domains that are easy to flip are easy to flip for a reason. If you think history is bunk, think again.

Let’s start by talking about domains that are hard to sell. When you’re just starting out you might think that all domains have a fair shot at being good flip candidates. You may even look at search volume and CPC and think that the higher the CPC, the more money someone would pay for the domain. This isn’t really the case and here’s an example.

Selling Domains To Lawyers

I know a lot of people who have bought geo-targeted domains with the word “lawyer” or “attorney” in them expecting a quick flip to a lawyer. Ask any Domainer that has tried to do this on a regular basis and they’ll tell you that it’s actually quite hard to sell domains to lawyers.

Many new flippers will buy something like SantaMonicaCarAccidentLawyer.com and think that if they just email 10-20 attorneys they are bound to make a sale. History tends to repeat itself and if you’ve tried selling domains to lawyers before you know that these are not quick flips.

Of course there are many domains that fall into this category, try selling domains to Doctors and you’ll also hit many of the same issues. I know what you’re saying, “But the CPC’s can be so high!” that’s true but that doesn’t mean you’ll find buyers right away, you may have to wait years for the buyer to come to you.

Now for domains that are easier to flip. These are domains that you’ve flipped before with good results. If you’re just getting started, reach out to a Domainer that focuses on flipping and ask them what has worked for them. While they might not tell you all their secrets there’s a good chance they will point you in the right direction. Here’s an example of a good flip candidate.

3 Character Domains

Three character .COMs can be great, especially if the three characters are used by hundreds of companies. If you own ABC.com you could approach any company that uses ABC as an acronym or within their company name itself. You may have to approach a good handful of companies but you’re likely to find a lot more interest because you are presenting a domain that is incredibly relevant to their business, and maybe even a name they’ve even been looking for in the past.

The point here is simple yet incredibly important. You should be basing your purchase decisions on your past history. If you’ve never had any luck selling domains to lawyers, stop buying domains with the word “lawyer” or “attorney” in it, go beyond the search volume and CPC.

Once you start saying things like ,”I bet someone would buy this,” you’re going down a dangerous path. What you want to be able to say is either, “I think this is a good flip candidate because I’ve flipped many similar names in the past,” or “I know a domain investor that has had good success flipping domains like this.”

Remember, assumptions can be dangerous things, they can convince you that you’re buying a domain with more liquidity than it really has. Sure, any name you buy could sell at any time if the right buyer comes along, but when it comes to flipping you want a quick sale and that means selling an asset that has a history of selling quickly, not a name that you “think” will sell quickly. Get it? Got it? Good!

Of course this is just my opinion, as always I want to hear from you! Agree? Disagree? Comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton