Revisiting an age-old Domaining debate, BIN, Make Offer or Get in Touch?

There’s been a long-standing debate in the domain investing world about putting a BIN (Buy It Now) price on your domains or leaving them open to offers. The general thinking is – BIN prices can increase liquidity, but you’ll likely leave money on the table.

A couple of years ago Rick Schwartz added to the discussion going a step further and suggesting that you do neither and instead just ask for people who are interested in your domains to get in touch with you vs. pushing them to make an offer or showing them a price.

This technique seems to be paying off for investors like Bar who are using landing pages with an email address on them like info(at)[domainname.com] which is leading to six-figure deals like the one I talked about in this article.

At the core of this debate IMO is liquidity, i.e. how badly do you need to see ongoing cashflow from your domain name investments. For some investors, income from domain investing is a core part of their income or is their primary income, which means liquidity is critical. To others, it’s okay if they don’t sell a domain all year, they want top dollar for their domains, and for most I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle.

I’ve been buying and selling domains for almost fifteen years now and I can tell you every year is different. Over the last two years I’ve continued to increase the price on my domains, at the same time I’ve seen offer volume grow, but I find myself turning down pretty much every one. I’m not in cashflow mode, I’d rather wait for the perfect buyer otherwise it’s worth it to me to hang onto the asset because I think the value of domains, especially .COM and .IO are going to continue to grow.

So I’m thinking of moving away from BIN and Make Offer and follow Rick’s path of focusing on letting people just get in touch, start a conversation, and see where it goes. At the end of the day, just like crypto, I think I’ve moved into HODL mode. I’m still buying domains and plan to keep building up my portfolio with a focus on two-word .COMs, they’re my jam, I love them and can’t get enough of them.

That being said, if you’re in cashflow mode, I’m buying, and I’m not alone. I think a lot of domain investors are moving into HODL mode as we’ve all seen the value of our domains grow dramatically over the last couple of years. If you’re liquidating, there are buyers, and with marketplaces like DNWE kicking ass and taking names, there are plenty of ways to move names if you’re looking to sell at wholesale.

What’s always been so fascinating to me about the domain name world is you can shift from one mode to another and there’s always opportunity. The only constant I find in this ever-changing world is .COM, it’s still my focus and yet another year goes by where I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

What do you think? BIN, Make Offer, Get in Touch? What mode are you in these days? I want to hear from you, comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton