Inside a Domain Flip: A quick 15x ROI thanks to Park.io

I received a great question via email from a blog reader this week:

“What price do you typically buy domains for and what do you sell them for? Also is there a certain ROI goal that you try to hit?”

Most of the domains that I buy are in the sub-$500 range, and most of the domains I sell are in the $1,000+ range. Domain names have been my top performing asset class for years now and it’s because I’ve always stayed focused on locking in big returns (500% or higher is my bar) and focused less on big dollar values.

This is where extensions like .CO, .ME, .IO and others have been very good to me. They’re cheap to buy and while you’re not going to lock-in a lot of solid five and six-figure sales with them, you can make 10x or more on your investment, which in my book is about as good as it gets. Also, since you’re making sales in the sub $5,000 range most of the time these can be more liquid and flippable.

A domain I purchased on Park.io earlier this year that is a great example of the kind of flips I focus on. I’m not under any NDA or confidentiality agreement so I can share all the details of the deal. The domain name was Yummy.io and I bought it for $99 on 3/23/2015 on Park.io. If you haven’t been to Park.io yet I can tell you it has quickly become my go-to site for buying .IO and .ME domains.

I sold the domain on August 10th for $1,698 through Afternic, which after $169.80 in escrow fees came out to $1,528 – a 15x return on investment in less than six-months.

yummi-io-domain-sale

Smaller flips like these have become the bread-and-butter of my domain investment strategy. Sure, a nice big juicy sale feels incredible, but as an investor I’m always trying to stay laser-focused on how to get the best return on my investment.

Last week I had a similar flip with a one-word .CO domain, Elan.co which I purchased for $125 and sold last week for $1,248 ($1,215 after escrow fees).

elan-co-domainsale

So shoot for the moon, make some big monster sales, but always keep your eye on ROI because at the end of the day, as an investor, this should be your focus. Happy Saturday!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton