Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

DomainSherpa Review – May 8: UnsungHero.com, VirtualStudio.com, Gunslinger.com…

DomainSherpa Review with Michael Cyger, Ali Zandi, Josh Eisenhower and Shane CultraThis is the show where we get into the minds of successful domain name investors – people we call Sherpas – and talk about the value of specific domain names. By listening to the Sherpas, we expand our thought process so we can become more successful investors ourselves.

In this DomainSherpa Review:

  • We learn what the Sherpas bought or sold recently: VirtualStudio.com, PDMC.com, SweatSeal.com
  • An investor’s portfolio is appraised: vHeadset.com, 365Gamer.com, Green.land…
  • Get your bids in soon for these NameJet auctions: Apologize.com, Gunslinger.com, EatVegan.com…
  • And the Sherpas found a few deals: UnsungHero.com, VoiceExpert.com, DancingCloud.com
  • Plus, much more!

We’re joined by three Domain Sherpas: Ali Zandi, Josh Eisenhower and Shane Cultra.

Review (79:23): Watch | Listen/Download Audio | Domain Lists

Your DomainSherpa Review

Playback Speed:
 
This interview is promoted through a media partnership with DAN.com.

Thank the Sherpas via Twitter

(Don’t have Twitter? Post a comment of thanks or share on Facebook.)

Your DomainSherpa Interview, Audio Only

Download Domain Name Interview in MP3

Note: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Or, listen on iTunes or in your favorite podcast app (here are the feeds).

Or, grab a feed for your podcast app, listen via Stitcher or listen on iTunes.

Investor Submitted Domain Names

365Gamer.com
3DCinemas.com
4G.org
ADirectory.com
BuyParkSell.com
BuyRobo.com
Candy3D.com
Elvisy.com
EmpireHolding.com
GameofSoccer.com
Green.Land
HoloComputer.com
JustRobot.com
LazVegaz.com
MediumRisk.com
MotionRecognition.com
NavalDrone.com
NetworkingShow.com
Realtone.com
RoboCompany.com
RoboticCars.com
StemPrograms.com
vHeadset.com
VirtualRealityRoom.com
WearableShop.com

NameJet.com Pre-Auction Listings

apologize.com
domainapp.com
dropping.io
eatvegan.com
guncon.com
gunslinger.com
hovercopters.com
junobeachrealestate.com
kiddieproof.com
zenso.com

Domains Selected by Sherpas

DancingCloud.com
UnsungHero.com
VoiceExpert.com

This Show’s Sherpas

Ali Zandi
Ali Zandi
Ali Zandi is the founder and senior broker at Starfire Holdings, a domain name brokerage and consulting firm.

Prior to Starfire Holdings, Ali was the director of sales and acquisitions at Perception.com, a private domain name investment fund.

Based in Hawaii, Zandi boasts a wealth of knowledge and sales experience and has facilitated millions of dollars of successful transactions in the domain industry.

More shows with Ali Zandi »

Josh Eisenhower
Josh Eisenhower
Josh Eisenhower is a paramedic/firefighter at County Government in Maryland, an individual investor in domain names, and is a regular contributor to DSAD.com.

More shows with Josh Eisenhower »

Shane Cultra
Shane Cultra
Shane Cultra is a domain name investor and owner of the popular domain name blog, DSAD.com.

Cultra is also a fifth generation owner of Country Arbors Nursery based in Urbana, Illinois, and has been a member of the PBS television show Mid American Gardener for more than 10 years, in addition to being a part of various gardening segments on CBS and ABC.

Shane also recently launched two new businesses, BeeHouse.com and Wormcastings.com, leveraging his online expertise with his love of nature and business acumen to create two exciting new ventures that are sure to be successful.

More shows with Shane Cultra »

DomainSherpa Advertisers

Please visit the advertisers that support DomainSherpa and make our shows possible.

Efty.com
Watch Ad
Namejet.com

MediaOptions.com

Interview Raw (Non-Edited) Transcript

Download/Read the Domain Name Interview Transcript in PDF FormatInterview Transcript in PDF Format (Right-click to Save As…) [View in Google Docs]

Watch the full video at:
https://www.domainsherpa.com/review-20170508/

Michael Cyger: On today’s DomainSherpa Review, Ali Zandi, Josh Eisenhower and Shane Cultra pick some great, low-cost names that will make any new investor look like a pro. Stay tuned.

Michael: Hey, Sherpa network, thank you so much for joining me today. I’m Michael Cyger, publisher of DomainSherpa.com, and this is the DomainSherpa Review. This is the show where we get into the minds of successful domain name investors using real examples so we can learn strategies and tactics to become better investors. We have three segments to the review: we’ll start off learning what the Sherpas recently bought and sold, next we’ll discuss and value an investor-submitted domain name portfolio, and finally we’ll preview some domains going to auction soon at NameJet.com and whether the Sherpas think they’re good investment opportunities for you.

Joining us today on the DomainSherpa Review are three past Sherpas and industry thought leaders. In order from left to right we have Ali Zandi, founder of Starfire Holdings, a domain name brokerage and consulting service, Josh Eisenhower, domain name investor and contributing writer at DSAD.com, and Shane Cultra, publisher of the blog DSAD.com and owner of the Country Arbors Nursery in Illinois. Sherpas, welcome to today’s show.

Josh: Thanks.

Ali: Thanks.

Shane: Thanks, Michael.

Michael: Hey, for anybody watching, you’re probably like, “Where’s Andrew Rosener?” He had a conflict on his schedule today so he won’t be able to join us, but I’m pleased to welcome both Ali and Josh to the panel. Josh, Shane continues to share with me none of the details but the fact that you keep selling a ton of domain names day in and day out. How many domain names have you sold in the past week, would ya’ estimate?

Josh: Past week? It actually slowed down, and then I didn’t know that I sold any because Afternic stopped sending out the emails.

Michael: I read that on your blog yesterday. I’m like, you signed in and you had four sales that you didn’t even know were sold.

Josh: Right.

Michael: That’s crazy.

Josh: I mean, I think they’re experimenting with the new platform, they’re doing some different things. They’re only sending the email out if you need to provide an off code or a push. If it’s a fast transfer, nothing’s…

Michael: So your domains are…

Josh: …come out.

Michael: …at GoDaddy, you’re signing into Afternic, listing’em, specifying fast transfer, and they’re just taking the money and taking the domain out of your account.

Josh: Yeah. They’re not all at GoDaddy, they could be anywhere, but the majority of them are. But if it’s at a registrar that’s eligible for fast transfers…

Michael: Right. With Afternic…

Josh: …[inaudible 00:02:16], yeah.

Michael: …one of their partners.

Josh: So I actually just sold, and I’ve been talking about it a lot, but I sold 3 dot USs this week for $400 bucks each, and I mean I’ve been selling 2 or 3 a week…

Michael: Wow.

Josh: …the last, I don’t know how many weeks.

Michael: So you just have’em priced for $399 in Afternic and people are typing’em in, saying, “Hey, that sounds good,” clicking buy.

Josh: Yeah. The landing page has $399 at the top so they can…the last one I just sold, like, an hour ago sold through Uniregistry — at the top of the landing page it says, “Buy this domain for $399.” So they can click and check out right there. The Afternic $399 will go through the GoDaddy auctions feed, even though it’s not fast transfer, and then that usually…I mean the reason that I know that I sell a domain through Afternic through the GoDaddy auction process is, I get this email, like, two weeks before anything else happens. It’s with the authorization codes. You know, the GoDaddy extra codes they send out to transfer something.

I don’t hear anything for another week, and then after another week I hear…I get an email from Afternic saying that my domain is sold. So it actually sells, like, a week before that, I don’t know what they’re doing in the meantime.

Michael: Well, so that’s why asked you to join us today, so we could hear some of those details, how it applies to other domain names that might be available for investors, and especially at that lower end, the 0 to…well the $10 to $1,000 range, because I know a lot of new investors are looking at that range. So it’s great to have you on the show today. And also, anybody who is like, “Dot US? I can’t believe that those are selling.” Four or five years ago I interviewed Ron Jackson, publisher of dnjournal.com, and he owns a ton of, I think, three-letter dot US domain names, and you can go back and watch that interview of how he sells’em, how he sells’em for a payment plan. All of that is still valid today. And Ali, my man, it’s good to have you back on the show. I looked at the last show you were on, February 29, 2016, over a year ago.

Ali: Yeah, man.

Michael: You know, I get people pinging me, sometimes asking me, “Where’s Ali?” Can ya’ updates the audience with…maybe not all the details, but where you been the past year?

Ali: Yeah. I mean, God there’s even threads like, “Where did he go?” [inaudible 00:04:45] like, six pages of assumptions. Life sometimes throws things at you, and you just need to take some time and deal with them. I mean, you know what went on, these guys know what went on…

Michael: Yeah.

Ali: It’s nobody else’s business outside of my friends and family. But I had to take some time off, deal with stuff. Kinda kill off the Phoenix and rebirth him, right?

Michael: Yeah. And you’re back.

Ali: Oh, yeah, man, I’m back in full swing.

Michael: Back, baby. Starfireholdings.com is where people can learn a little bit more about what you’re up to. Is zandibot.com dead?

Ali: Yeah, zandibot.com, right now, it redirects to my Name Jet auction, but we’ll get to that later.

Michael: Cool, all right. And as always, Shane, great to have you here today, buddy.

Shane: Nothing exciting here, same old…

Michael: Boston cap.

Shane: …same old.

Michael: That’s what I’m talking about.

Shane: Yeah, payment plan.

Michael: All right, today’s show is sponsored by six awesome domain industry providers that I’m gonna tell you about more during the show. They include Estibot.com, Esgro.com, David Weslow legal services, domainIQ, Efty.com and domain…DNAcademy. I screwed up my own company name right there. But before I tell ya’ about them, we’re going to start with a segment called What’s New, Sherpas? Where the Sherpas share one purchase or sale that they’ve made over the past few weeks, and we get to learn what they paid or received for the domain, why they thought it was a good deal, and how the negotiation progressed.

I’m going to lead you through the questions but the other Sherpas will get to comment during the process as well. This segment will go in order, Ali, Josh and then Shane. Ali, what’s one domain name that you personally bought or sold in the past couple of weeks? Tell us the domain name and not the price yet.

Ali: My favorite one that I bought, virtualstudio.com.

Michael: Virtualstudio.com. All right. Josh, virtualstudio.com. What do ya’ think Ali paid for virtualstudio.com?

Josh: So, virtual’s a…you know, it’s a hot word. But Ali probably will pay for a name if he thinks it’s good and it’ll go up, but I’m sure he’s still [inaudible 00:06:56]. I read that post about you buying, like, 6000.com [SP] somewhere. I was like, “Why didn’t I see that deal?” That’s what I was thinking. But I’m thinking maybe $2500 — somewhere in there. Got a good deal on it, you’d probably get $10,000, $20,000 out of it…

Michael: Okay…

Josh: …eventually [SP].

Michael: …hold on.

Josh: Yeah.

Michael: Shane, what do ya’ think Ali paid for virtualstudio.com?

Shane: As soon as you said it reminded me of…What’s the name? The HBO show “Silicon Valley” where he’s like, “Yeah, anything oculus [SP], you can just go in there with nothin’ and they’ll pay $1 million for it. It just needs to be virtual.” And so I was thinking, that’s the hottest thing right now. I also know that I’m not a big, like, actual VR in the name, but his is perfect. It represents virtual, it’s still its own thing, it’s a brand. Yeah, I mean, it could be all over the board. I’m fairly close to Josh, I’d say four grand now.

Michael: Four k.

Shane: I’d take four grand, because it’s a five-figure name to the company that’s gonna be doing that.

Michael: So Josh said 10k, you said it’s a 5-figure name. Why do ya’ think it’s a five-figure name? Virtualstudio, I can’t determine if it’s a brand — just listening to it for the first time right now — I can’t determine if it’s a brandable or if it’s a keyword domain. And if it’s keyword, what’s the keyword industry for ‘studio’?

Shane: Well you know, the big money’s gonna be in the production of video games or entities. The hardware is one thing but the money’s in the software, as we know. There’s a lot of money in PS4 or whatever we’re at to…at now, but there’s billion dollars in the game itself. So yeah, the studio that makes the virtual reality, augmented reality…

Michael: Gotcha.

Shane: …stuff is…

Michael: So it…

Shane: …that’s [inaudible 00:08:]…

Michael: …could be movies, it could be software, it could be…

Shane: Anything, yeah.

Michael: …you know, video editing software. So it’s basically a keyword that acts like a brandable, it’s what you’re thinking.

Shane: Yeah, virtualproductions would be even better. Virtualproductions would be fantastic. And I’m sure that’s taken. And I’m sure virtualstudios is probably owned by someone that needs to upgrade.

Michael: Well, we’ll find out from Ali. Josh, is that the same sort of thinking that you had when you put the wholesale price of $2500 on it?

Josh: Yeah. The question of whether it’s brandable or it’s a keyword, I can envision an actual thing with it, but it’s still…it’s not too specific, I don’t think. Within the virtual realm it could be…there’s lots of things that could be done with it, so I think it’s a good, decent brand but also describes what’s…

Shane: It’s [SP] not [SP] limiting [SP].

Josh: Yeah, yeah.

Michael: Cool. Ali, let’s come back to you. Now that you’ve heard what the other Sherpas, who didn’t know the name more than a minute ago thought about it, does that match your thought process when you were looking at buying this domain name?

Ali: No, not at all. No offense, no offense.

Michael: Well no offense to…Like, I don’t think these guys take offense. And that’s why I ask you guys to come with a domain name, not tell anybody about it, because everybody looks at domain names differently. And part of the reason why I wanna ask you these questions is to get their thought process down. And then if you think differently, why is that? And so we can expand investors’ ideas and thought process around it. So what were you thinking when you had this opportunity float by your desk?

Ali: So, I have a lot of creative software, like Photoshop, Adobe Creative Suite, you know Video Editing — all that stuff. And when I saw virtualstudio, it was immediately a product, a suite of virtual, creative software, whether it’s a rendering software, whether it’s an entire system. The virtual studio, where you can put on your headset and paint or you can create logos in virtual…I mean, in everything. It covers everything. All those mega companies out there — Magic Leap, Samsung, HTC [SP] — everybody and their mother that’s worth over $1 billion is diving heavily into virtual reality, and eventually there will be an all-inclusive suite of software. And that’s what I see virtualstudios as. So to me, it’s a six-figure, seven-figure name to the right company and I don’t plan on selling it to anyone unless they come at me with a serious number, so…

Michael: So you saw software right from the beginning and you saw what it could be like in 10 years when virtual reality software is fully built out and people are using it, and you are buying this now to hold it long-term.

Ali: Yeah, absolutely. This is one of my forever domains.

Michael: All right, so you think it’s worth six-figures. Now the question is, what did ya’ pay for it?

Ali: Sixty-seven sixty-six.

Michael: Sixty-seven sixty-six — $6,766.

Ali: No, $6,766.

Michael: Right, exactly.

Ali: Yeah.

Michael: So, same order of magnitude as these guys thought, and as these guys thought, you’ll pay up of for domain names that you think are worth it.

Ali: Absolutely. Every time, yeah.

Michael: Yeah, awesome.

Shane: Yeah, all of us will, but Josh.

Man: Yeah.

Josh: I never sell them. I think I’m getting something great, I pay up for it, you know, $500 bucks, and it just sits there. So I can just go buy one for eight bucks and sell it for quicker. That’s why…

Michael: Right.

Josh: …I don’t.

Michael: Yeah, you buy more of’em at eight bucks, and then you have maybe a greater chance of selling one of’em, which will pay those back, plus a little bit.

Josh: I mean, I’ve sold a few that I’ve paid $300 or $400…bought for $300 or $400 bucks, but I sold’em to the same prices that I sold the other ones for. And it just seems like if I’m gonna buy these, why spend the extra money when it’s not really benefiting me? And I will. You know, but I don’t know, I just…I like finding stuff that nobody else is buying, and buying that. It’s just a game, I guess, [inaudible 00:12:55]. It’s just chips on the table.

Michael: Totally. All right, Ali, congrats on that buy, man. That’s a…

Ali: Thank you.

Michael: …long-term hold. So long-term to you means how many years?

Ali: This one, I’ll hold onto it for life if I have to.

Shane: You don’t wanna say that, but we know what ya’ mean.

Ali: Yeah, you [SP] understand [SP].

Michael: So if I offered you $20,000 today, you wouldn’t take it?

Ali: Nope.

Michael: Twenty thousand dollars cash.

Shane: I wouldn’t take it for 20 grand, either.

Man: I would.

Shane: Yeah. Yep.

Michael: All right…

Shane: No, I wouldn’t, either.

Michael: …congrats, buddy. Josh…

Shane: You’d [SP] [inaudible 00:13:29] the money.

Michael: …let’s go to do. What’s one domain name that you’ve bought or sold over the past couple of weeks? Tell us the domain name and not the price yet.

Shane: Twelve dollars.

Josh: No, I’m gonna go with a sale because I don’t wanna give it away.

Michael: Nice [SP].

Josh: Okay, because I don’t…

Shane: Three ninety-nine.

Josh: I haven’t [inaudible 00:13:50] with Shane, he doesn’t know.

Shane: Okay.

Josh: Sweatseal.com — I sold it.

Michael: Sweat…

Man: Sweat…

Michael: …seal.

Man: …what?

Josh: Yes.

Michael: So, S-W-E-A-T-S-E-A-L.com?

Josh: Correct.

Michael: Wow, all right, sweatseal.com. Shane, let’s go to you. What do you think Josh sold…

Shane: This is what I get several times a week. I get the text with the picture of this thing, and then I just giggle. I mean that’s pretty much three or four times a week. And it’s a jealous giggle, don’t get me wrong but…

Michael: Totally.

Shane: …you know, I even know if this is a mammal or a zipper. I don’t know what the ‘seal’ is.

Michael: Right.

Shane: Is it closing off or is it a, “Au, au” kinda thing?

Michael: That’s why we’re asking ya’, we wanna get in your thought process. You’re not sure how it applies. No product comes to mind?

Shane: Nothing comes to mind on most of his domains. Nothing. Except that he’s killing it, so…

Michael: Sweatseal.com. What do you think he sold it for?

Shane: Man, I will say, because I know his price but I also know that it goes up there sometimes, so I am gonna say $1950.

Michael: Nineteen hundred and fifty dollars. Ali, let’s go to you. What do you think Josh sold sweatseal.com for?

Ali: Man. It sounds like a product — like a sweat seal, like a shirt that seals in your sweat — but it also rhymes with…

Shane: It’s a…

Ali: …[inaudible 00:15:13]…

Shane: …wrestling outfit.

Ali: …so it could be a play on that. I don’t know, $1299?

Michael: Twelve hundred and ninety-nine dollars, you’re saying?

Ali: Yeah.

Michael: Okay. Josh, what did you sell sweatseal.com for?

Josh: Just $1,000.

Michael: A thousand…

Josh: [inaudible 00:15:25].

Michael: …dollars. So before I even ask ya’ how you sold it, what was going through your mind when you saw this domain name and you’re like, “I’m gonna buy that one?”

Josh: Well, keep in mind, I’m going through extra fast, right?

Michael: Sure.

Josh: I’m identifying’em, finding ones that I think have some kind of value. And to me, yeah, it’s a product that does something with your [inaudible 00:15:53], it keeps…I don’t know why you’d wanna trap it in there but, you know, maybe you…

Man: Deodorant, deodorant.

Josh: Yeah, yeah, or maybe it’s a sauna. I don’t know.

Michael: Oh, yeah.

Josh: You can get out, you just drowned in sweat eventually. Yeah, some kinda product that’s…It’s got the double S, right?

Michael: Yep.

Josh: Sweatseal. It’s [inaudible 00:16:15].

Michael: It’s an animal. Could be an animal.

Josh: Right. I don’t even know if the seals sweat. Dogs don’t sweat, right?

Shane: No…

Michael: No, they pant.

Shane: …they pant.

Michael: Their nose, I think, does.

Josh: And they both bark. That’s how I made the correlation there. But yeah, I think it’s…you know, it’s two syllables, sweat seal — if there was something that you developed to seal in sweat for whatever reason, I think it’s a good [inaudible 00:16:39].

Michael: Yeah. And so, I’m assuming that you saw this on an expired domains list and you picked it up for $20 or under?

Josh: I probably hand caught it.

Michael: Hand caught it, right. So…

Josh: [inaudible 00:16:49] hand caught it.

Michael: …it expired and then you registered it for eight dollars.

Josh: Yeah, eight bucks.

Michael: Yeah.

Josh: Eight bucks I picked it up for.

Michael: Yeah.

Josh: Well, no, it was GoDaddy but every…you know, when there’s Netfirms or Dotster and wherever…I don’t even know the registrar Ali used the other…the last time, but they’ll have dollar deals and they’re $1.99. Yeah, you can buy a lot of sweatseals for a $1.99 and sell’em.

Michael: And so, you listed it on what marketplace, and how did it sell?

Josh: And pretty much with any domain, you want it at every frickin’ place that’ll list it, right? Even if you don’t put price I think you should, but at least…it’s kind of like marketing. But this one as at Afternic, and it sold on Afternic and this was one of the ones that…actually this is the last one I was talking about in the last post where I didn’t even know I sold it ’til I logged in to look at…because they didn’t send the email out.

Michael: Yeah. And did you actually set a $1,000 purchase price or was it $999?

Josh: It was $999, yeah.

Michael: Okay. And so you just wanna keep it under $1,000 so that somebody can…

Josh: Not always. No, I mean…I don’t know. Sometimes I’ll go through and put’em at $2288. I have something else with the pricing, but we could talk about that later.

Michael: Okay.

Josh: It’s a way that I do it, but I don’t wanna hog up the airways here.

Michael: Okay, cool. So thanks, Josh. Great sale, congratulations. Sweatseal.

Josh: Thank you.

Michael: I’m gonna check it out. After the show, I’m gonna monitor it and see what actually comes up on that.

Josh: It’s probably relisted [SP]. It’s probably a domain or he’s selling it for $10,000 now.

Michael: Thanks, Josh. Shane, let’s go to you. What’s one domain name you’ve bought or sold in the past couple of weeks? Tell us the domain name and not the price yet.

Shane: Yet I purchased one, it was sweatseal. No, mine are always pretty boring, here. You know, at the nursery I’m so busy I pretty much have just gone old school, putting money in, so I bought another four-letter dot com, and I have a little…The only reason I’m saying this is because there’s a little story behind it so I was getting some heat for it, but I bought pdmc, Paul, David, Mary, Charlie…

Michael: Paul…

Shane: …dot com.

Michael: …David, Mary, Charlie dot com, pdmc. Ali…

Shane: Yep.

Michael: …what do ya’ think Shane paid for pdmc.com?

Ali: Man, that’s a tough one. I think these premiums that are ending in C are going up in value a ton. So I don’t know, three grand? Maybe $3500?

Michael: Somewhere on that order of magnitude.

Ali: Yeah.

Michael: Josh, what do you think he paid for it?

Josh: Yeah, 34 something. Yeah, somewhere in there.

Michael: Yeah. Shane, what did ya’ pay for it?

Shane: Yeah, I paid $2550.

Michael: Twenty-five fifty.

Man: [inaudible 00:19:38] fifty.

Shane: And that was the story, that’s where I was headed in this thing. The premiums ending in C, you know, I put a post out that they were $3,000, everybody called me crazy. Actually they called me crazy because I wrote it so poorly I made it seem like all chips [SP] were at $3,000, so actually it was really a really bad post. So they were right from that standpoint, but I’m getting…I mean, it’s tough out there. If you go onto Name Jet and you want that and it ends at C, guest [SP] first and two-two [SP] — endless pocketbooks. They will bid you up to $4,000, $4500, they don’t care, they want those names. They want those premiums ending in C.

And somehow this one, I think I got somebody looking or something, but the rest I’ve had to pay $3,000 or…I was out at, like, $3200, $3400 — I just give up. And that’s what they want probably, but no one what, guest, they have endless pocketbooks, whoever account…whatever account that is. Whatever I put in, it just keeps coming back until they just beat me into oblivion and I go back to selling petunias, so…

Michael: How many four letters that end in C do ya’ think you have?

Shane: I was counting, I think I have 18.

Michael: Eighteen of’em.

Shane: Yeah.

Michael: And so, have you sold any of’em in your career?

Shane: I sold 2 for $6500, and the old ones. That’s the funny thing is, so…and I don’t know how I justify this, but the ones that I picked up for…I picked up portfolios of them. I’ve always liked C, so I bought’em for $1,000, and then I’d sell’em during [SP] ours [SP] for $1700, and yet I’d buy another one for $3,000. You’re thinking, why did you sell the old one at $1700 or $2,000, and then you go buy another one for $3,000? But as a point in time, and I made a profit…I treat each domain independently. Josh has a little different, and his isn’t wrong, I like that [inaudible 00:21:25] too.

Michael: He looks at it from a portfolio perspective.

Shane: He looks at it from a full portfolio. I need to make money on every single domain. I don’t buy a domain unless I think I will make money on that particular domain. Now that doesn’t mean I haven’t started Josh’s method, I’ve learned a lot from these…both of these guys, so I have a separate portfolio where it’s more of a numbers game, but I’ll sell it at a profit. If I make 300% or I make $3,000 on it, I sell it, take the money, I made money on that, [inaudible 00:21:49] to buy another one and I expect to make it on this one. I probably should look at it a little different, but I take profits on names if I can.

And so, yeah, if $6500 came up, I don’t know if I’d take $6500 today since I’m having to pay $3,000, but when I was paying $1,000, yeah, I’d do that. And then I’d throw’em on Name Jet. I don’t remember what I made but I picked up about 10 grand last month selling on Name Jet, on names that I only had $2200 at.

Michael: Right.

Shane: That keeps the things slowing [SP], so…

Michael: Sure. So Name Jet’s easy, right? You just go there, you search on 4Ls [SP], you see if any are ending in C, you can bid on’em.

Shane: You got it.

Michael: Why don’t ya’ hire a virtual assistant and just track down every single three-letter, plus the letter C dot com? And then get…then email all of’em and offer’em $1,000 bucks and…

Shane: They’re all in China.

Michael: Oh, are they?

Shane: Absolutely, yeah. Whatever is not there now is being acquired so quickly it’s…You could, and are people out there that do that but…And that’s why when I say I’m taking the easy way out, I had 20 grand to spend, I’m buying 20 grand worth of these and I’m gonna put it aside. I’ve always done that, I’ve always been successful. It’s safe, I don’t worry about it. If I had to get out and the world ended…Well, I shouldn’t say that. But if I needed to cash out…

Michael: You’re screwed…

Shane: …right now.

Michael: …if the world’s ending. These…

Shane: Yeah…

Michael: …domains aren’t…

Shane: …we’re in trouble.

Michael: …gonna be worth anything.

Shane: But I can hand this…my portfolio to my daughter and have her put it on Name Jet and do very well with it.

Michael: Right.

Shane: She doesn’t have to hire anybody, it’s quick, so there’s…And that’s half of my portfolio. So I feel comfortable with that, I haven’t lost money on one four-letter ever, ever. Not one dime have I lost, so there’s something to be said for that too.

Michael: Yeah, definitely. Ali…

Shane: Boring [SP], though.

Michael: …you laughed when I said, “Why don’t you hire a virtual assistant and just chase’em all down?” Have you done something like that?

Ali: No. I’ve had it done to me, though. You know, [inaudible 00:23:42] almost every day I get emails from random places lowballing the —- out of my domain [inaudible 00:23:47].

Shane: Yeah, I’ve got one domain, lchc — I don’t know what is so special about it but it’s on the list, man, and every single day I get…I get more emails on that than I do work…

Ali: Yeah, right?

Shane: …that it’s crazy.

Ali: I get an email a day for hdpc. It’s $800 bucks, it’s like they never [inaudible 00:24:06].

Shane: Yeah, exactly. That’s the exact number too. It might be the same guy, girl, slash, robot.

Ali: Probably, yeah.

Michael: All right, thanks, Sherpas. I wanna tell ya’ about three of our sponsors for today’s show that support us in our mission to educate people.

First, if you’re buying or selling a domain name or portfolio and you want an estimate of it’s value, Estibot.com is the place to go. Just like you’d visit Zillow.com to get an estimate of a house value, Estibot.com provides key information about the most important statistics so you can make an informed decision based on data.

Second: Serious about online trading? Secure your funds, keep your merchandise safe, and use a company that keeps the buyer and seller protected the whole way through. That’s Escrow.com. Payments you can trust.

Finally, if you’re a domain name investor, don’t you have unique legal needs that require domain name technical know-how and industry experience? That’s why you need David Weslow of Wiley Rein. Go search for David Weslow on DomainSherpa, watch his interview and you can see for yourself that he can clearly explain issues, can help you with buy/sell agreements, deal with website content issues and UDRP actions, and even help you write your website terms and conditions. David Weslow is the lawyer to call for Internet legal issues. See for yourself at DavidWeslow.com.

Michael: All right, we’re going to move on in the next segment of the show. In the Domain Portfolio Review we take users-submitted domain name portfolios and provide honest to constructive feedback to the owners, so they can either cut their losses, continue to hold long-term, or figure out a sales strategy going forward. Today’s portfolio was submitted by Varun Kumar. As part of Varun’s submission, he made a generous donation to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to help us all find a cure for cancer. Varun’s list of 25 domain names starts with 365gamer.com and ends with wearableshop.com.

All of’em are dot coms except for, I think, one dot org and one dot land. If you’re watching the show, this is the point where you press pause on the audio or video, review the domains yourself, price’em, pick what ya’ think are the best domains and pick what ya’ think should be the domains that Varun drops, then come back and listen to what the Sherpas have to say about them. This segment will go…we’ll start with Josh, and then we’ll go Shane and Ali. So Josh, let’s start with you, when ya’ look at Varun’s list, what’s your general impression about the domains he’s buying?

Josh: I don’t love it. I think there’s…he’s got some decent stuff — like, some really good stuff — and then other stuff that I don’t know…I wouldn’t buy it for eight bucks. My concern is that he’s paying premium prices for a lot of this stuff, I’ve looked some of it up on NameBio. But I don’t know, it’s kind of a mix of stuff that I think would work and…

Michael: All right, so let’s start with what do ya’ think works well with Varun’s portfolio? What do ya’ like?

Josh: The two-character dot org, right? 4G. I don’t think it has any value for 4G things but it’s a two-character, so it has some value there.

Michael: Aren’t all the telephone networks 4G nowadays or…

Josh: Yeah, if it’s not antiquated already, it will be soon, so…And it’s an org. But as far as…it’s two characters, so I think there’s some value there. I mean, this might be the best dot land domain. I don’t know, I can’t think of a better one, but green.land is…it seems to me like it’s one of the best dot lands that you could possibly have because it’s a thing, it’s Greenland, and you could do some kind of, like, green whatever. Everything’s green, right?

Michael: Green farming, green living, green…yeah.

Josh: But I really think that’s really good as far as GTLDs or the new GTLDs go.

Michael: Yeah, nice. What do ya’ think green.land is worth?

Josh: I mean, I have no idea what they’re worth. I don’t know what the renewal is, right? I don’t generally buy them but looking at that one I’m like, “That’s good.” If you only showed me that as far as new GTLDs, I’d be like, “Oh, I believe in this [inaudible 00:27:24] thing of the future,” right?

Michael: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Josh: But I have no idea…

Michael: Okay.

Josh: …what something like…

Michael: What else do you like on Varun’s list?

Josh: I like wearableshop. I think that’s good. Like, motionrecognition — I don’t love it, it’s kinda long — but it’s something, right? I know what it is. It could be detection or cameras or even some other kinda animations. I don’t know, but it’s definitely a thing. Like, 365gamer, I don’t think that one’s great either but I think it would sell because people…gaming names seem to go pretty good and I could see that everyday gamer, so…

Michael: Yeah, right. Yeah, it seems like a decent brand.

Josh: Yeah.

Michael: Yeah. Okay, thanks, Josh. I’ll come back to you and ask you what you would drop on the list later. But Shane, let’s go over to you. What do you like on Varun’s list, and why?

Shane: Overall I think it’s okay, I feel like he’s throwing darts. You know, when I see a portfolio and I can see consistency across the board, then I know he’s in the right direction, and then I see…

Michael: So you’re not talking about two letters, keywords, brandables, new Gs being all over the board. You’re talking about the quality of all those domains.

Shane: The quality of name and what he’s going for, and how people use names, and what they’re buying names for. So, and I’ve said this a million times on the show, I’m a business owner and I…when I name my business, it’s the most important thing I’m doing, is naming my business. So I’m not gonna name it something real generic because it’s my business, I wanna stand out from the rest. Unless it’s a category killer, thing, entity, I’m not gonna name it. Yeah, I’m gonna name it ‘mattress’ but I’m not gonna name it ‘super durable mattress,’ or something like that. It’s just not strong enough. So I see some things in here and I know where he’s headed, I know he wants to be in the VR world and he wants to be in the wearable, so vheadset’s [SP] good. I didn’t do Josh’s research, sometimes I do — vheadset works for me.

I mean, I know it’s not VR but V let’s me know that it’s the virtual reality headset, it’s a big part of what’s coming up or what’s out, so I think that’s a fantastic name. I think virtualrealityroom is fun, and I love the concept, and I think everybody would go in there and play together, but there’s a lot of better…a lot better options of what people will name their thing. I think he’ll be able to sell it to somebody else that’s thinking the same thing as him. That’s the beautiful part of domains is, you don’t even have to sell it to an end-user, you have to sell it to a guy that’s a little bit less smart than you, who thinks that that’s going to be…That should not be your end goal but that’s a reality of the auction program is…

Michael: Yeah. So it is, if you want to liquidate a name that isn’t getting any sales, you can go to somebody else, and maybe they’re willing to wait it out, maybe you’re smarter than them and you already realize that you didn’t get any inquiries and they wanna give it a shot, maybe they’ll get lucky, right? How many times have you bought a domain name that nobody else has bid on and nobody else is making offers on…

Shane: Absolutely.

Michael: …in the past few years, or suddenly you get an offer on it?

Shane: That very well could happen but we…at the same time, there’s a name that you’re not really going to sell, but it has the right keywords and it’s at the hot time, and so a name that has virtual…If it has VR in it, you throw it up there and somebody’s gonna sell it. Now are all these company gonna name themselves VR somethin’? I doubt it. They’re gonna come up with names like johnnyboingboing or something. You know, just some crazy name. What is it, oculusdrifter? Did that mean anything to anybody? No, it didn’t mean anything to anybody, but now the word ‘oculus,’ ooh, you gotta put oculus in the word, so…

Michael: So vheadset.com, it looks like it was sold on Flippa in September 2006 for $300. If he was the buyer of that domain name, do you think it was a good buy?

Shane: Good buy. Even I would probably pay $300 for the name, yeah. No, I think that’s a good buy. When I say much, much is…$300 is a lot a lot of people but in the course of things, that’s not too much for what he can get out of it. Stemprograms, stem cells are superhot. You know, I don’t know if there’s programs for stem cells but to me, that doesn’t seem…It’s a hot industry, stem cells are the future of medicine, absolutely. I think if I were investing in medicine, stem cells have so much potential, it’s absolutely going to be incredible, and I think ‘stem’s’ a good name to invest in. So stemprograms isn’t bad, I just don’t know if there’s…that’s how they set it up, whether it’s a program or a store [SP]…You know, I’m not sure how that works.

Michael: So DropCatcher sold that domain name in July for $180. Assuming Varun bought it for $180, do ya’ think that was a good purchase?

Shane: Yeah, I think it…I think it was probably a good purchase and he could sell it, because the guy who got it probably got it for $12.

Michael: Right.

Shane: So you know, I think that’s…you just witnessed how the domain industry works. It’s somebody stepped up and moved it to the next level, now it’s a $180 domain. So yeah, I don’t think I’d pay that, I think I could probably find another stem name for the price. And I’ll do one other one that I…I thought robocompany is pretty kinda cool sounding, but I’d like the name robo. Robot certainly are part of it. They’re not calling’em robots all the time, but it’s definitely a part of the world. They’re going to start doing everybody’s tasks for them, so robocompany is…there’s a lot of robo companies out there, maybe somebody will name exactly that. Any price on that, Josh? What was that paid?

Michael: I’m looking right now, no data is available.

Man: Yeah.

Shane: Got [SP] it [SP]. Okay.

Michael: All right. Yeah, those are the ones that you like. Okay.

Shane: And again, I liked motionrecognition. You know, I love the concept and the technology but that’s not…I think a company’s gonna buy that that specializes in that and has a marketing name that leads back to their website. So it’s gonna be a product purchased and not a domain. What they’re going to pay for that, I [SP] don’t [SP] know [SP], could be four-figures. But it’s…

Michael: Six syllable word.

Shane: …again, it’s gonna be marketing, there are marketing names. People pay big money for marketing names, people don’t realize that, but an ad costs $150,000 for 30 seconds — $10,000 for a domain name you stick at the bottom that can be memorable is really nothing. Do they do that? Yeah, they actually do.

Michael: Yeah. All right, thanks, Shane. Ali, let’s go to you. What do you like on Varun’s list, and why?

Ali: There was a few that stood out. I gotta agree with Josh on the 365gamer — gaming names do sell. There is a lot of variations for that name, though. I mean, it could be game365, 365gaming, gamer365, so because of that I think he might be able to get 2 grand for it if he puts it up with a ‘Buy It Now’ eventually long-term from some magazine that comes out. I also like vheadset. I would have loved it if it was vrheadset or virtualheadset.com, but I can also see it as a product some company launches. V, the headset, right?

Michael: Yeah.

Ali: Just a V logo right there on the headset, so I would hold onto that, I think it was a good buy at $300 bucks. I think it’s probably a $15,000 to $20,000 name long-term if the right company comes along. Wearableshop I like, but again, like Shane was saying, it’s not exactly a brand, but it is an exact match to future technology, so I like that one. I don’t know what the price of that, I have no idea. Green.land, great one. A great new GTLD — impossible to price.

Michael: You’ve sold a couple of these new Gs. You sold, what was it, travel.agent? No.

Ali: Travel.agency.

Michael: Travel.agency you sold, and you sold a couple more as well.

Ali: Internet.marketing, design dot [inaudible 00:35:34], but most of these…most of’em were sold to other investors that were planning to develop it. Like, I sold night dot…I think it was night.life to a developer, city dot [inaudible 00:35:46].

Michael: Was it night.vision or night.life?

Ali: I also sold night.vision. Yeah…

Michael: Right.

Ali: …[inaudible 00:35:51].

Michael: What do ya’ think green.land is worth today? You know, clearly it’s probably gonna be another investor that wants to develop it.

Ali: Yeah, it’s probably an investor who wants to develop something about Greenland. I don’t know, six grand, maybe.

Michael: Yeah.

Ali: It’s so impossible to say, I mean it’s all about who wants it, and how bad they want it, and what their vision is for it, you know? And it’ll determine how much…or how high they’re willing to go for it. Let’s see, motionrecognition, I was brewing over it this morning, I don’t know if I like it, [inaudible 00:36:27] if I love it. It is a great technology and it’s been around for a while. Don’t see it being used as a brand for a company, so you know, I think it’s one of those that he’s probably just gonna hold onto and [inaudible 01:36:42] sell it. And if he does, probably not for much, but any…I don’t really see anything else that I…

Michael: Yeah, okay.

Ali: …like. Like, 4G. You know, stuff like this, like 4G technology, just as a brand — I mean, [inaudible 00:36:58] kills it — but that’s gonna be gone, something else is gonna show up. Just like 3D cinemas where, nobody really goes to the theater anymore to watch a 3D movie. I don’t think so. I haven’t in seven, eight years, right? So 3D’s dying, 4G technology’s gonna go away, but as a two-letter dot…or a number-letter dot org, I mean [inaudible 00:37:19].

Michael: Yeah. Let me ask Josh and Shane, because you don’t go to a 3D movie but at least one out of the eight screens at my local cinema is always 3D, and I hate’em because they make me get a headache or whatever. Do you see guys see the same thing? Like, 3D continues to be, but I don’t anybody would buy 3dcinema.com for their…

Josh: It’s [SP] horrible [SP].

Michael: …movie theater.

Josh: Well what is it? A directory for 3D cinema screens? It’s 3dcinemas.com, so I don’t know what you do with it. If you owned one of’em, or unless you had a chain, but what’s that gonna do for ya’? I don’t see the value unless it would be some kind of directory where you look up…But then you have Google, so…

Michael: Right.

Josh: …you have it anyway. I don’t see the value in it.

Michael: Yeah.

Shane: Yeah, I’ve never been a big 3D…I think 3D’s great, I think “Avatar” has changed it, will change it one more time when the next “Avatar,” we’re gonna be talkin’ 3D again, but it comes and goes. We’ve been talking 3D since the 60s, and it’s hot, then it’s not, then it’s not. It’s just another movie in a different format. It’s no different than IMAX, it’s just a different way to see a movie with more depth than…I don’t like directory names. There’s a lot of work to those kind of names. You know, somebody got me on daycares the other day — they couldn’t believe that I didn’t like daycares. Everybody, “I pay $370 a week for daycare.”

Yeah, I get it, I understand everybody has a daycare that has kids, but once you own daycares, you’re now a directory builder. That’s what you do. No person’s gonna buy daycares, they’re gonna buy littletykes, you know? The name of their daycare. The daycares will be a big directory, and I’m sure there’s lots of money in directories, but you’re just building a business. There’s lots of money in building a business. It’s [inaudible 00:39:07]…

Josh: Who uses…

Shane: …with the domain names.

Josh: …cinemas, anyway? Who says ‘cinema’?

Shane: Well, there’s a lot of places call it cinemas but…

Josh: Oh, yeah, but then I don’t know, “Hey, would you like to go to the cinema tonight?”

Shane: Yeah, my grandmother says it. “Would you like to get off the davenport and go see the cinema?”

Michael: All right. Hey, Varun had a couple of questions and it makes me think that he’s thinking about these the right way. One of his questions was, “Which domains do you feel he should put up on auction, and which ones do you feel he should keep for potential end-user sale?” You’ve already talked about the ones that you like, those are potential end-user sales that he should keep. Give me two domains, Shane, let’s start with you, that you think Varun should put up for auction. That you don’t think is gonna appreciate greatly, that he should probably try and get his money out, maybe sell it to the next investor and put that money into other domain names that you guys have given some advice for. What domains would you put up for auction?

Shane: I’d probably put up 365gamer, because somebody’ll bite on that, and I would take the money. You know, that’s a thing on something like this, I think the only one that I would keep and try and hold onto is vheadset. Everything else I’d be game for trying to get it out there. Although I think we talked up vheadset, and he put vheadset up there he could easily get over $1,000 on Name Jet or at auction on that one, but…

Michael: Okay.

Shane: …yeah.

Michael: So you’d probably move all the rest of’em out.

Shane: I would. I’m the guy that misses out on the $100,000 sale because I took the $5,000 profit, but I’m also the guy that has the $5,000 profit [inaudible 00:40:41]. So you know…

Michael: Hey, Josh…

Shane: …it’s good and bad…

Michael: …let’s go to you.

Shane: …it’s just the way you approach it, yeah.

Michael: Any of these domains that you would say, “Yeah, I would blow’em out via auction, move it on to the next investor?”

Josh: So, I like to take a different approach than relying on auctions as the last resort, because I think we do this all the time. We put these ridiculous prices on a name, right? And then it doesn’t sell, so like, oh, we’ll just…we’ll offload it at Name Jet. I’d rather see’em just put reasonable or low-end prices on these. Some of these are not gonna get…maybe they’ll get $69, right? At Name Jet. So put $100 on it. I don’t understand why people don’t do that. Like I said, it’ll be some astronomical price retail, and then they’ll go to…we’ll go to Name Jet and it’ll sell for $69 bucks. So [inaudible 00:41:35]…

Michael: So you’re…

Josh: …[inaudible 00:41:35].

Michael: …saying, before you go to Name Jet, just put a reasonable price on it. So if it’s gonna probably get one bid on Name Jet, like, I don’t know, adirectory.com, somebody else’ll probably want that, you would say put a reasonable price on it. Put $199 on it or $299 on it, and let it sit for a year.

Josh: But the problem with adirectory is that he paid $670 for it.

Shane: [inaudible 00:41:55]

Michael: Gotcha.

Shane: [inaudible 00:41:57]

Josh: I mean, that’s the issue there. I don’t know what to tell’em with that.

Shane: You know what’s worse than a 3D directory name, is the actual directory in the name. Goodness.

Josh: But I’d rather him get $99 back out of that than holding it on forever. Maybe it parks great and that that’s…the A section of the phone book, maybe it used to have the whole just A section of the phone book as a site, and it’s got all kinds of legs [SP] [inaudible 00:42:30]. That was a joke.

Michael: I don’t know.

Shane: You never know, every time I say something’s bad they go, “You don’t know that it’s got 74 page rank 14 link to it.”

Michael: Right, but we’re not…

Josh: Right.

Michael: …evaluating the domains…

Shane: I think [inaudible 00:42:42] …

Michael: …based on the…

Shane: …thousand dollars a week [inaudible 00:42:43].

Michael: …link profile and traffic coming in and monetization. We’re just looking at it from an investment perspective.

Shane: You got it.

Michael: Yeah.

Josh: So that’s my advice. Just try to sell’em without the auction.

Michael: Gotcha. All right, Ali, any additional feedback for Varun on that topic of what domains to blow up via auction or what to hold?

Ali: I would actually hold onto 365gamer and just put a $1,000 price tag on it at Afternic or something. 4G.org, you should probably blow it out, there’s…I mean, who’s gonna buy a foundation for green? And then you got the confusion with spelling four and is it F-O-R, F-O-U-R, or is it the number four? I don’t know. Blow it out at wholesale and there’s somebody out there that’ll pay you probably five grand for it at auction. I don’t know what they’re going for now but it sounds reasonable. I’d probably auction off green.land.

You could probably make some nice money with that, depending on what you paid for it and what the renewal is. You know, with the other ones, like Josh was saying, just put’em up for a fair price. Like, in a [inaudible 00:43:48] vegas, put it up for $1499. Depending on what you paid for it, again, I don’t know, but [inaudible 00:43:55] buy enough, $1499, a motionrecognition, navaldrone [SP], realtone [SP], robocompany — all of these you could probably sell for $1,000 or $1500 bucks if you just put’em up and wait…

Michael: So get’em priced…

Ali: …[inaudible 00:44:08].

Michael: …get’em onto Afternic, onto Sedo, onto Uniregistry, and let the people find’em and potentially just click the button, buy it.

Ali: [inaudible 00:44:17] three [SP] years, you know, just auction it off then, but [inaudible 00:44:20]…

Michael: Hey, Ali…

Ali: …[inaudible 00:44:21].

Michael: …you have always been a fan of the VR domains. You posted on Twitter that you just bought vr.club.

Ali: Yes, I did.

Michael: But bam, one of Varun’s questions is, “What do you see as the future for ‘holo,’ H-O-L-O? Is it limited to Microsoft or is it strong brandable for all MR/VR tech?”

Ali: I love holomaze [SP]. Man, I mean, I sold holo.ai for, like, three grand. Probably undersold it, but I have names like hologram.ai, holographic.ai, artificialintelligence. All that stuff is going to come to fruition. I mean, without a doubt you’re going to have some sort of holographic virtual assistant or a little computer that talks to you. I mean, it’s all going to come into fruition in the next 10, 15 years, so [inaudible 00:45:09].

Michael: So you like’em, you’re bullish on the holo domains.

Ali: Yeah, I love holo domains.

Michael: Okay, and he’s got holo…What’s the one domain he has?

Man: Holocomputer.

Michael: Do you like that one?

Ali: No. I mean, what’s a holo computer? I can’t see it actually being a product. I mean, I guess you could have a computer that displays it in holographic technology with, like a…but would they name it…Like Shane was saying, would they name it holo computer?

Michael: Right.

Ali: [inaudible 00:45:39] make a brand they dumped billions of dollars into marketing? Probably not.

Michael: Yeah. Josh, what were you gonna say?

Josh: I feel like computer, the word ‘computer’ is kind of an antiquated name in itself. We don’t really use it that much. I think there could be trendy, there’s other little niche words that we use, so that’s the first thing I thought about holocomputer, it’s just [inaudible 00:46:04].

Shane: Nobody uses their product anymore in their name. Even Apple Computer doesn’t wanna be called Apple Computer, they just wanna be called Apple because they don’t wanna limit themselves to a computer. So putting those kind of words in names nowadays, companies don’t wanna limit themselves to a product.

Michael: Good tip. Hey, Josh, Varun wrote that, “Single-letter plus robot.com have been selling for $5,000 plus.” So like, irobot or jrobot or whatever. Do you think that that could happen with single-letter headset.com domain names as a brandable?

Josh: Just any random letter?

Michael: Yeah. There’s only 26 letters, so vheadset or aheadset or bheadset.

Josh: I mean, I guess. I guess it could, right? I think X or Z would be good, or E, I.

Michael: Yep. So certain letters are better if you’re gonna tack on a letter at the front. If you think that trend is going up in a specific area.

Josh: Yeah. We could just take the highest selling words, right? And just put every letter [inaudible 00:47:11] with every number. And there’s a lot of names that are actually just an initial and then something else, right?

Michael: Yeah.

Josh: But I mean, I wouldn’t go out and register every…all 26 versions or whatever, 52 versions if you put it at the end.

Michael: Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, great advice, guys. Shane, Pashmina.com. I know you know what a Pashmina is, right?

Shane: Well, I don’t wear it but I know what it is.

Michael: Pashmina, it’s like a…it’s made of wool, it’s like a scarf, or a wrap, or a shawl. Pashmina, the word has about 100,000 Exact Match searches per month, it’s a 53 CPC, cost-per-click. Longer phrases like Pashminascarf has 12,000 Exact Match searches per month, 78 cent CPC. Great domain name. Would you agree, Shane?

Shane: Yeah. I went to see if he had actually started and he’s got the ‘Coming Soon,’ the nice logo. Yeah.

Michael: So I wanna give a shout out to Varun, because he actually threw down some serious cash and bought Pashmina.com. He’s gonna build it into a business. So if you’re watching this show and you wanna follow a fellow domainer during his build process, go to Pashmina.com and submit his little form right there, and I’m sure he’ll collect your email address, put ya’ on his newsletters, and you can track Varun and his family building Pashmina.com

Shane: But here’s the thing I wanna say is, everybody I’ve ever met in this industry says they’re gonna do it, and I can name the five that did, that actually turned it…You know, this is a business, an online site is a business. That is where you will quit everything else and you will run that business. And once you’re in that business, everything else has to go away. And people don’t realize that until they realize, aw, man, I thought I’d just build a site, throw up 50 pages and walk away.

No, Pashmina is he’s gonna have to source product, [inaudible 00:49:11] have people answering phones, get a shipping department. It is not simple. So I love the stories of people building out, but man, I could easily tell ya’ the ones that really did it when it was all said and done. And they’re not all, like, send your friend glitter, where they, 2 days letter…later they sell it for $300,000 and they move on. It just…

Michael: I do need…

Shane: …happen [SP] like that.

Michael: …to send ya’ a glitter bomb. I wonder if I could still buy one of those.

Shane: Yeah, somebody send me that.

Michael: But I hope Varun does it, I traded…

Shane: Absolutely.

Michael: …a couple messages with him over WeChat…

Shane: Skype?

Michael: …or somethin’. I don’t know, I can’t remember the…

Shane: A great name.

Michael: A great name. I hope he builds it out, and I hope that he comes back when it’s successful and he shares some of the secrets about building it on…

Shane: And sends us…

Michael: …a Domain…

Shane: …stuff…

Michael: …Sherpa show.

Shane: …sends us stuff. You didn’t mention that he wants to send…like, when he gets big and sends us beautiful scarves…

Michael: Oh, I know.

Shane: …[inaudible 00:50:02].

Michael: Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Varun, thank you for submitting your portfolio and making a donation to cancer research. We hope the review is helpful to you in your domain investing activities going forward. Before we jump to the domains going to auction soon, I wanna tell you about three of our other sponsors that support our educational mission here at DomainSherpa.

First, if you’re buying a domain name from a private party and want to know what else they own, domainIQ.com is the tool you should be using. View their entire portfolio, filter by Estibot value and be a better investor. $49.95 for 250 queries per month. Visit domainIQ.com/portfolio to learn more.

Second, Efty was built by domain investors to increase your inquiries, sales and profit. Forget spreadsheets and archived emails — manage your entire investment portfolio in one place using a secure and completely confidential platform. Learn more at Efty.com, that’s e – f – t – y, Efty.com.

Finally, if you’re struggling with how to buy, sell, and value domain names, you need to check-out DNAcademy.com. Published by me, Michael Cyger of DomainSherpa, and trusted by Uniregistry to train their new employees, you too can learn using the DNAcademy accelerated learning system for domain name investing. Learn more at DNAcademy.com.

Michael: We’re going to move on to the marketplace list. This segment is sponsored by Name Jet. We’ll be reviewing 10 no reserve domain names heading to auction soon. If you like one of the names soon, click through, put your first bid in, the minimum bid on, because if you don’t, then it’s a closed auction, you can’t even see what’s happening in the auction, what it sells for — things like that.

The link’s below, go directly to Name Jet. They’re not commissionable links, they just wanna see if we’re sending’em any traffic. The list starts with apologize.com, and it ends with hovercopters.com. This segment we’ll go Shane, then Ali, then Josh. Shane, let’s start with you. From an investment perspective, what do ya’ like on the Name Jet list, and why?

Shane: How many vegan names can you possibly put on a show?

Michael: Dude, it’s unbelievable! I have to, every…

Shane: Endless.

Michael: …single week, I turn away the vegan names. I’m like,” No, no, not this week, not this week.” But c’mon.

Shane: Yeah, I think we had one…

Michael: This is a good one.

Shane: …last week, so… Man, and you gotta follow the money. I think I’m gonna open a vegan store here. I gave in [SP] [inaudible 00:51:26] through it. No more animal products for me.

Michael: Oh my gosh. Eat vegan, baby.

Shane: That’s a great slogan. I mean, it’s a solid, solid name. You could see it on marketing, you could see…It’s not gonna be a company, I don’t think, but maybe it would be, but yeah, that’s a great name and it’s already at $400. We single-handedly changed the vegan market. They’re gonna have me talking at Vegan Con.

Michael: They should invite you to Vegan Con.

Shane: Oh, can you imagine the talking? “Hey, I’m vegan.” “Oh, I’m vegan, also.” “I know, you could probably tell.” “Yeah, I can tell, you’ve talked about it.”

Michael: All right, do you like eatvegan.com? Do you actually like it as an investment?

Shane: I love the name, I think it’s fantastic. I really do.

Michael: Would you pay $400, $500, $600 for it?

Shane: I’d pay a grand for it.

Michael: Really?!

Shane: Yeah.

Michael: Do you own any vegan domains, besides the one…

Shane: I own zero vegan names. Well, I have ihatevegans.

Michael: You do not.

Shane: No, I don’t. I love vegans, I really do. If it wasn’t for Prius, Subaru and vegans, I wouldn’t even own a nursery. That’s my whole business, is built around those people [SP]…

Michael: All right, so what do you…

Shane: …so yeah. No, I…

Michael: …like on the name list [SP]?

Shane: …do like the name. I do. I would pay $1,000 for that name. And I think…I know it goes for over $1,000. Absolutely, absolutely. I love apologize. I think it’s a beautiful word, it’s an important word, it’s a great brand, it’s something everybody will remember. I wish you wouldn’t have put it on the list, I love the name.

Michael: I know. The bid was, like, $80 bucks, no reserve. I don’t get it.

Shane: Yeah. I don’t know if everybody else does that, but I’ll see a name and I think it’s awesome — and then I’ll spell check it. Because…

Michael: Right.

Shane: …if it’s really low I’m thinking, ah, I don’t know how to spell this and this…

Michael: Yeah, Drew…

Shane: …has got to be wrong.

Michael: …will say, “I’ll just copy the name, put it into Google, and it’ll tell me if I’m spelling it wrong or not.”

Shane: And 99 times out of 100 I have…

Michael: What kind of business…

Shane: …spelled it wrong.

Michael: …do you think would wanna buy apologize.com as a domain name?

Shane: I think it could be a marketing name for a flower shop. What a fantastic marketing name for anybody in the flower business. It could be a personal online site to help you send apologies. I mean, when you start stretching like that I realize it’s getting a bit much, but I just think it’s a great term. When you invest, you want names that resonate with people. I could say the word ‘apologize’ to anybody and they would get some kind of personal response to that word, and that’s what you wanna be in. And they can spell it. Apologize is…you’re gonna be hard-pressed to screw that one up. So, I love that name, I think it’s…

Michael: Cool.

Shane: You know, I don’t think it’s a high-end name, but I know Drew, if he was on here he’d put it at $25,000, probably. Right off the bat. But I think it’s a four-figure name, I do wish it wasn’t on here, because I like it. The other one, I love gunslinger too. I think gunslinger’s a cool term, you know? Nobody slings guns around but it’s a good ol’ cowboy term, it’s a good…What is that? Conceal and carry name. That’s big right now, conceal and carry.

Michael: So it could be a brandable for the firearms industry, which is massive.

Shane: Absolutely…

Michael: Okay.

Shane: …absolutely. And then I’ll tell you one, since I got, I don’t like. This is terrible. I’m just not a huge…and Mike Carson, I am so sorry, I just don’t like dot io. It’s never grown on me. I get it and I love the resell market, I love when a market opens up. If I see that they’re selling spoons and forks across the street and people are lining up, I’ll buy spoonsandforks. That’s the kinda guy I am. But I just…dot io’s never done it for me. You know, if I think dot com is the best, why…oh, but dot io is okay. Now everything else sucks, but dot io, because people are buying and selling it, is fine. And so I am a market maker, that’s my job, but personally I wouldn’t open a business on dot io. I know better.

Michael: All right, so I’ll just present the other side before we jump. I invest in dot io, because I know that startup companies can’t get a single word dot com, they can’t get…What do I have? I have popup.io. They’re never gonna get popup.com if they have a pop-up killer or a pop-up plug-in for WordPress or whatever, and they wanna get that generic, single word…keyword, that could act as a brand. And so, what do they do? If they’re a startup, they’re like, “Dot IOs are cool. I know all of my friends are operating on dot IOs, I read all the industry trade mags, and all these cool companies are launching on dot IOs — I’m gonna try and get dot io.”

That is the reasoning behind it. They don’t think that it’s gonna last forever. Like snappa.io, the show that we aired last week — they launched on snappa.io because the dot com was taken. And they figured, if it works out, if the business makes money, then we’ll go after the dot com later.

Shane: I agree, but the tide could turn to something else, that’s what…

Michael: It could.

Shane: …I feel. I feel it’s a holding spot. And I don’t like to be on a moving holding spot, I want to be on the final resting place.

Michael: Yep.

Shane: I’m not saying there’s not money there, but I know that that’s…Anytime you’re buying ‘because’ something else is not, you’re buying [inaudible 00:56:35]. I wanna own a Ferrari, but I’m gonna buy the Prius until I can buy a Ferrari. Ideally, I wanna buy the Ferrari first, so you know, that’s…I know it’s not affordable and I understand, but I don’t…Again, you saw I’m a little safer player…

Michael: Yeah.

Shane: …so I’ll flip it. I mean, I’ve flipped dot IOs several times. I realize there is value there and exactly what you’re saying, I just…as an investor, there’s a lot of dot coms to be had out there, so I don’t necessarily have to know that or turn to that market. So again, I’m not saying they’re bad…

Michael: Right, right, right.

Shane: …I’m just saying I’m not a player. How about…

Michael: Well…

Shane: …that?

Michael: …and as a caution I will say that a very small percentage of my portfolio is dot io and I try to extend…I only buy single words that are in large tech industries that could be a brandable. So…

Shane: Yeah.

Michael: …good input on that.

Shane: I get it. I wanna be where there is money. I’m not afraid. The same with the stock market. I’ll play penny stocks, option stocks — I’m in for the money — but if you ask me that I can only do something, I’m still sticking to straight stocks.

Michael: Yeah. All right, thanks, Shane. Ali, let’s go to you. What do you not go on the Name Jet list, and why?

Ali: I love gunslinger. I absolutely love it. Like, when I heard that name I thought of this huge virtual reality video game called “Gunslinger.”

Michael: Oh, yeah. That is a good name for a video game, right?

Ali: Phenomenal brand for a video game. I love that, I’m probably gonna bid on it.

Michael: Yeah, it’s only at $300 bucks. I don’t know when…

Ali: Yeah…

Michael: …it goes to auction.

Ali: …[inaudible 00:58:01].

Michael: Get your bid in on that.

Shane: Yeah, we’ve screwed all these up.

Ali: Yeah, right? Let’s see, apologize. I like apologize. It’s got a ‘Buy It Now’ price of 40 grand on its landing page. I think he’d probably wanna take that down if it’s a no reserve auction and bid’s [SP] on it. Like Shane was saying, I think it’s a phenomenal brand for…you know, I didn’t even think about a flower shop or an online app that helps you send apology [inaudible 00:58:29].

Michael: Yeah, how many times do we screw up in a day that…

Man: Every day, man.

Michael: …we should go online…

Ali: [inaudible 00:58:32], yeah.

Michael: …and just buy candy or flowers for our significant other or friends or whatever?

Man: Yeah.

Ali: We screw up all the time, we [inaudible 00:58:39].

Michael: I think it could be a glitter bomb site, right? I could send something stupid to ya’, Ali. I’m gonna go online, and for 50 cents send you, like, something…some cool little card or…

Ali: Glittery Pashmina, yeah.

Shane: That’s right.

Ali: Let’s see, eatvegan I love. I mean, I went vegan for, like, two years and it really helped my health. Let’s see, hovercopters. Cool name. I couldn’t get myself to buy it, though, because they’re always changing technology and those…I mean, and it’s a hover. Does it just hover? I mean, does it just stand still and hover? You know, so…

Michael: Right.

Ali: …kiddieproof [SP]. Good name. Tough to spell and there’s a lot of different variations. So yeah, gunslinger is probably the only one that I absolutely love, and I’m probably gonna try to buy it.

Michael: Cool. All right, Josh, let’s go to you. What do you like on the Name Jet list, and why?

Josh: Gunslinger was my favorite too. Apologize is up…actually it’s up to almost $500 now.

Michael: Oh, wow.

Man: That’s [SP] me [SP].

Josh: And I disagree with Shane, I think that I can misspell that.

Michael: I was thinking the same thing. Is it two Ls or one L or…

Man: Nah.

Man: Two Ls?

Shane: Yeah, it doesn’t even look right with two Ls. Now license, I could butcher.

Man: Yeah, [inaudible 00:59:57].

Josh: Oh, yeah.

Michael: What else do ya’ like, Josh?

Josh: Eatvegan is really good too. Kiddieproof isn’t bad. I like that for a company that either sells gates or outlet covers, or even comes into your house and safety…You’re having a baby and then they come and they make sure everything’s safe.

Michael: Yeah.

Josh: Or they could lock the cabinets…

Shane: But kiddy’s a predator name.

Josh: Huh?

Shane: Kiddie is not what people use anymore.

Michael: No it’s not.

Josh: There’s a brand that uses it so you might have some issue there, but there’s a brand, I think — with something on it.

Michael: So the keyword is ‘childproof,’ right? What you’re saying, when we lived in Connecticut we had our first kid, I think we paid $800 bucks to have somebody coming to our house and install all the locks on the toilets and the drawers and stuff like that to childproof our home, and kiddie-proof is a brandable of that same thing. But you’re saying there might be a trademark.

Josh: Oh, I thought there was something that was…I mean, I’m sure there was a bunch of things there are still kiddie something. Toys, or…

Michael: Gotcha.

Josh: So I mean, if you were dealing exclusively with safety products I don’t think it would be…And maybe it’s, to you…What’d you say, Shane, it was a predator type thing?

Shane: When I say the word ‘kiddie’ at all in any context, my daughter would go, “Eww,” you know? I don’t know, maybe that’s my house, maybe we need to grow up.

Josh: Maybe within those home safety things it’s also predator deterrence, you know?

Ali: Thank [SP] God [SP]. Yes, thanks.

Shane: Okay, we’ve gone the direction [inaudible 01:01:43].

Josh: Okay, on the surface, take the stalkers out of it and it’s…

Michael: Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, what about guncon? Nobody said anything about guncon. It’s six…

Shane: They’re already called SHOTs.

Michael: …letters.

Josh: What?

Shane: It’s called SHOTs. They already have it, it’s huge.

Michael: Yeah. You don’t think there’s never going to be another gun conference and they’re call it Gun Con?

Shane: No, it’s already called SHOTs.

Josh: Yeah, but there’s gun shows all over the place all the time.

Shane: I guess.

Josh: I guess. And seeing con seems more like a digital thing, but maybe, I don’t know. I think they just say gun show.

Michael: Okay.

Josh: And domainapp, I mean, that’ll sell because it’s…I mean, it’s got ‘domain’ in it [inaudible 01:02:31].

Michael: Right, so some investor will buy it.

Josh: Yeah.

Michael: Yeah. What about junobeachrealestate? Is that a good investment?

Josh: I don’t even know where that’s at.

Ali: Yeah, I heard of Juno Beach.

Michael: It’s a real place but it’s a really small town. Does anybody think that’s a good investment?

Ali: You’ll probably get $150 bucks, $250 bucks at Afternic in, like, 3 years for it. [inaudible 01:02:49], yeah.

Josh: I wouldn’t pick it up on the drop and buy it for eight bucks, but that’s…

Ali: [inaudible 01:02:53]

Josh: …just me because…

Ali: …[inaudible 01:02:55].

Josh: …it’s really long.

Michael: Yeah. What about zenso [SP]? Sometimes you pick up with these brandables, or at least you recommend your brandables in your long list of domains that you recommend on a regular basis. Josh, you like zenso?

Josh: I like it. I mean, it’s at $112 now or what is…

Michael: Yeah.

Josh: So it’s got the ‘zen’ word, which sells. You can add ‘zen’ to a lot of things and sell the name, but there’s…I don’t know, it’s getting above my threshold of made up brandable…the price that I’ll pay for that.

Michael: What is your threshold? How do you think about buying brandables and how much you’d pay for them and how much you think you could sell’em for?

Josh: I’ll go up to $16 [SP]. I’ll try to sneak my 11:59 Eastern Time bid in on a…like a 5L CDCDC [SP] that makes sense and maybe has some age to it. Because that’s what people are looking at, right? When they’re going through these lists. That it could be the best name in the world with a 2017 registration date, and nobody’ll find it.

Michael: Right.

Josh: But yeah, I’ll go up to…I’ll try to snipe something like that for $69. But there’s good brandables that go through all the time that nobody…that don’t get caught every day, so that’s…And even at the closeouts in the auction, right? So that’s more of where I would stay just because it’s…Again, if I think I could sell zenso for, what, $3800 or something, right? I know I can make one that also has a chance of selling for that price — or half of it, so…

Michael: Gotcha, cool. All right, I asked today’s Sherpas to pull a single name out that they like that’s for sale someplace else: another marketplace, a discussion forum, a website. Wherever they found a domain name that they may like. And I wanted them to bring that domain here and share the domain name and just tell us why they like that domain name. So, who wants to start?

Shane: Josh has 70, so…

Michael: All right, Josh…

Shane: …let’s let him go.

Michael: …give us one domain name that you found that wasn’t related in the Name Jet list that we discussed today, and why you liked it.

Josh: So, while Shane was talking, I found this, because I misread that section. But no, the voice…it’s voiceexpert.com, and it has no bids, it goes to auction, I think, the 11th. Or it ends the 11th. I don’t know, I kinda like it. It’s maybe like a voice coach or vocal teacher, something like that, or even like a voice-over type thing. I mean, it’s got the double E, but that’s…you capitalize the second one and it looks fine, so I like…

Michael: So then what would you try and pick it up for, and what do you it could be sold for?

Josh: I would watch it, nobody puts a bid on it, I’d try to minimize the amount of bots that bid on it and bid on it 11:59 and 39 seconds, just to make sure it goes through, then nobody else’ll see it as having a bid.

Michael: Right.

Josh: But no, yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it’s probably worth a couple hundred bucks wholesale, because I think it’s descriptive, you know what the service is from that domain, but it’s short. So yeah, I’d pick it up for maybe $100, but I’d try to get it for $69, but not [inaudible 01:06:37]…

Michael: If there’s no bids on it, how do you decide if you wanna put in a $69 bid at Name Jet and get it there, or wait for it to actually drop, and then use Phoenix and try and get it for $39 or $49?

Josh: So, the issue is with that is that, it could miss in the Name Jet exclusive, and then go to an auction platform and go for more.

Michael: Right.

Josh: It happens all the time. Like, GoDaddy names, they go through and then you see they get double back ordered at Snap, Phoenix or DropCatch, and then they’ll end up going for more sometimes. But I also know that DropCatch will frickin’ catch everything…

Michael: Yeah, exactly.

Josh: …and if nobody…depending on how it’s caught, it’ll just go to…it’ll go to HugeDomains.

Shane: And go to the house [SP] account.

Michael: Right.

Ali: Yeah.

Josh: I’ve been doing some…

Shane: Reconnaissance.

Josh: Yeah, reconnaissance. Well, I’ve been spending a lot of money there, actually. That’s what I’ve been doing. But I’ll come up with a list of 200 names, and they’ll catch…like, for their own stuff, stuff that’ll…stuff for me, and then there’s a section on there, stuff that everybody else caught, it’s this big. All the other DropCatchers together. So, I feel like I’ve got a good feel for what’s going on and they…you know, they’re catching the bulk of everything.

Michael: Yeah. Yeah, they are.

Shane: It’s an expensive test, you should see. Said I put 200 in — okay, today I caught 90 of’em, they caught…

Josh: I just paid’em $1,000 this morning.

Shane: Yeah, so every day it’s like doing $1,000 tests. DropCatcher’s like, “Oh, buddy, you’re catching us all right. Whoa, good job.”

Josh: No, that’s right, catch’em.

Shane: “Keep catching us.”

Josh: I’m gonna see what they’re keep and the kinds of things they’re keeping for themselves, and what I’m…what I can get from them where I…you know, I go anywhere else. Because they have a discount right now, they’re only eight bucks.

Michael: Oh, wow.

Josh: So, I’m picking’em up for eight bucks. It’s cheaper than GoDaddy, actually.

Michael: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Shane: Yeah, it’s interesting.

Michael: Wow, I’m interested to learn more about that if you’re willing to share any more of that, Josh.

Josh: Yeah.

Michael: Thanks for that domain. Ali, let’s go to you. Do you have a domain that you would recommend for newer investors?

Ali: Yeah. Actually, man, I don’t even wanna tell ya’ because I want it. It’s unsunghero.com. [inaudible 01:09:03]…

Michael: Oh, that is…

Ali: …[inaudible 01:09:04].

Michael: …a good one.

Ali: [inaudible 01:09:05] monster brand.

Michael: That’s a phrase, unsung hero.

Ali: Dude, it’s such a monster brand.

Michael: Where is that going to auction, or is it…

Ali: It’s [SP] on [SP] Friday [SP], and it ends in seven days from the taping, so it should be probably, I think, next Tuesday or…

Michael: Did you…

Ali: …Wednesday [SP].

Michael: …say GoDaddy?

Ali: Yeah, GoDaddy.

Michael: So it’s not even at auction right now?

Ali: It is. No, it’s at auction right now, yeah.

Michael: What’s the price right now?

Ali: It’s only got 2 bids on it for $20 bucks.

Michael: Wow.

Ali: Are you kidding me? Yeah. You’re gonna be bidding against me on it but I can…God, I can’t even begin to tell ya’ what a phenomenal brand that is.

Michael: Unsunghero. Who do ya’ envision would be the retail buyer of that domain name?

Ali: God, anyone. A video game, a creative marketing company, SEO company, web design. There’s so many, so many different brands I could [inaudible 01:09:59] wanting something like that, yeah.

Michael: Yeah, that’s a good domain, man. I like it.

Ali: Yeah, it’s beautiful [SP].

Michael: I’m going to have to charge you to cut out this segment of the show.

Man: [inaudible 01:10:08].

Ali: I’ll give you $1,000 bucks to let me have it. Honestly [SP].

Michael: No, go fight Ali for it if you want it.

Man: You have to pay [inaudible 01:10:16].

Michael: It’s a good domain. Do you guys agree…

Ali: Oh, exactly.

Michael: …that’s a good domain, Josh?

Josh: What’s that?

Michael: Do you like that domain? Do you agree it’s…

Josh: Oh, yeah.

Michael: …a good domain?

Josh: But I’m saying, if he’s gonna try to buy you off, he’s gotta buy us off too.

Michael: Yeah, exactly. Shane, you like unsunghero.com?

Shane: That’s a great name. Definitely gonna make the list now. The man [SP] of the day. Nah, I’m just…

Michael: Yeah, yeah. All right, Shane, let’s go to you. Did you find a domain name you’d recommend as well?

Shane: I did. While Josh was talking I found mine, so…

Michael: What’d you find?

Shane: Dancingcloud.com.

Michael: Dancingcloud?

Shane: Yeah, dancingcloud.

Michael: And why do you like dancingcloud.com?

Shane: Well, I like two words that don’t mean anything particularly, but yet people can spell, resonate. The other day happybee went, H-A-P-P-Y-B-E-E. It could be a million different things, obviously the bee industry, but dancingcloud is gonna be the kind of name that comes through, you’re gonna pick it up for $69, you’re gonna put it out there for $2800 and some. It could be a cloud company, it could be a dance…I mean, could be anything. It’s not limiting at all, and it’s a name that people will remember, and it’s $69 bucks and you can get $400, $500, $800. I feel comfortable with those kind of names in my portfolio if I get’em cheap.

Michael: Awesome.

Shane: And I think it’s the kind that Josh pick up…picks up pretty regularly, a name like that. If he saw that for $12, Josh, you’d take that, wouldn’t ya’?

Josh: It sounds to me like a Native American name, like [inaudible 01:11:43].

Shane: Yeah, that’s true. I already Dakota Gray Wolf, so I can’t have another name, but all right, that’s fine.

Michael: I’m Rides Like Wind. All right, we’re at the end of today’s show. I’d like to give the Sherpas an opportunity to share anything they want about domain names they’re brokering, selling, opportunities they’re looking for, anyone they wanna give a shout out to. Let’s go in order. Ali, what’s new?

Ali: Yeah, so much is new. First, I’m having a bunch of no reserve auctions at Name Jet. Names like federalaid.com, practitioner.com — so some solid names. You can go to zandibot.com, it’ll redirect you to these auctions.

Michael: Cool.

Ali: I got some massive things in the pipeline, a record-setting sale that’s coming up, and then a company that me and some partners are launching is going into beta soon, so we’ll be sending private beta invites. We’re looking to launch it June 1st. I’ll tell ya’ more about that later, but yeah, there is a lot of big stuff happening.

Michael: Nice, man. Yeah, you mentioned that big sale, fingers crossed, and I want you to guarantee that you’re gonna come on DomainSherpa and tell us about that deal when it’s done.

Ali: Oh, guaranteed, man.

Michael: Done, awesome. All right, fingers crossed, we won’t talk about it. Thanks, Ali, good to have you back, buddy. Josh…

Ali: Thanks, Mike.

Michael: …let’s go to you. Anything you wanna mention, give a shout out to?

Josh: Yeah, I have to give a shout out to the…where I’m actually at while we’re taping this. It’s inovate.com in Pennsylvania, and they have offices in Pennsylvania and New York. It’s I-N-O-V-A-T-E.com. My internet sucked at my house, it kept droppin’, so I called a buddy of mine. I was like, “Hey, I’ll give your company a shout out if you’ll let me use your conference room.”

Michael: That’s awesome.

Josh: That’s where I’m at now.

Michael: Nice. Inovate in Pennsylvania, check it out. Cool. Good to have you, Josh. Shane, let’s go to you.

Shane: Yeah, same thing, our blog…You know, as I do this show, I’m being honest here, it’s so great that Josh and I’s path crossed because you can see how much fun we’re having doing this. And making money’s great, but the journey’s the fun part, and just…you can tell just by hearing Josh and us talk and joking around, and Travis. Aaron, not so much. He’s a little tighter than the rest of us. But we have a good time while we’re making some money and that’s what life’s all about. So you know, I wish people would come to the blog and read what we do, Josh has got a great sense of humor. I mean, you know when my mom’s reading his stuff more than my stuff, that he’s doing a good job, so…

Michael: Yeah. You’ve gotta step up…

Shane: No…

Michael: …your game.

Shane: …yeah, come to the blog, see what it’s all about, and thanking Josh for being a good partner. It’s been a great time. Enjoying it.

Michael: Yeah, DSAD.com. And, in Aaron’s defense, I believe he bought a ticket to DNSeattle that’s gonna happen in two and half weeks.

Shane: Yeah, I think he likes you more than us. I agree.

Michael: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which it totally cool, I totally get it.

Josh: We have to do welfare checks on’em every now and then, because he’ll respond to a text, like, 10 days later, stuff like that, and…

Shane: Yeah.

Josh: …sometimes we’ll worry about him. Like, he’s hiking in Colorado, got lost, fell off a cliff.

Shane: Yeah, and he’ll send me pictures, “Yeah, I just got done with a hundred mile run. It was beautiful.” I was like, “Oh, yeah, 100 miles.”

Josh: When Shane was doing the Boston Marathon, he was out doing some kinda…almost on the Utah border, some 100 mile…

Shane: Yeah.

Josh: …I [SP] mean [SP] [inaudible 01:14:54].

Michael: That’s crazy.

Shane: He doesn’t even one-up me on purpose, it just…you know, it’s one of those things, you send him a picture of you somewhere and his picture is just a little higher. Which is great.

Josh: But he doesn’t tell anybody about it, you know.

Shane: No…

Michael: Yeah, I know…

Shane: …he doesn’t. Right.

Michael: …he’s so under the radar.

Shane: He’s [inaudible 01:15:07].

Michael: I’m gonna bring him up on stage at DNSeattle, don’t tell’em.

Shane: That’s [inaudible 01:15:12].

Michael: DNSeattle is taking place in two and a half weeks at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington. May 25th is the night. Our sponsors include Amazon, GoDaddy, Donuts, Rightside, Verisign, Payoneer Escrow, Above.com. Big thanks to all of them. More than 100 people are coming, we only have 11 tickets remaining. If you’ve been waiting, now is the time to get your ticket. If you’re in the Pacific Northwest or you’re like Aaron — he flies up from Colorado, I think, right? Isn’t that where he lives?

Shane: Yep, Boulder.

Michael: Three-hour formal event for networking, education, we have giveaway prizes, DJ Stin [SP] always shows up from Rightside. After the event, the party continues. We’re going to go to a local Tom Douglas restaurant until they kick us out, Aaron was there until they kicked us out last year. All the proceeds of DNSeattle go to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center here in Seattle, doing groundbreaking research to help us all find a cure for cancer. I hope you can make it. If received benefit from today’s show, please post a comment and thank today’s Sherpas.

Just scroll down and post a comment. Thanks to Varon…Varun Kumar for submitting his portfolio and making a generous donation to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Thanks to Name Jet for submitting their portfolio and making…and sponsoring that portion of the DomainSherpa Review. And thanks again to our Domain Sherpas, Ali Zandi, Josh Eisenhower and Shane Cultra, for sharing their experience and insights. We’ll see ya’ all next time.

Watch the full video at:
https://www.domainsherpa.com/review-20170508/

More About…

Keywords:
Companies:
People:

Leave a Reply

Comments must be respectful and constructive. Read our comment policy.

 

41 Responses to “DomainSherpa Review – May 8: UnsungHero.com, VirtualStudio.com, Gunslinger.com…”

  1. VOIGHT THORNTON says:

    Great show as always guys continued success!!

    I still have the tout.io domain I bought from you ALI! welcome back boss

    Continued success Sherpas

    Voight
    cactus croc
    snapchat: cactuscroc.com

  2. Ategy.com says:

    Just listened to this one again and have to say that 3d movies are pretty standard now … although that doesn’t change the fact that 3dcinemas has very little if any value.

    The fact they are standard is actually why the domain has little value .. there is no need for a directory .. every multiplex plays a 3d version of all the action-type movies (at least that’s the way it is here in the modern nation of Canada .. lol)

    The huge difference I feel with Daycares is that this is an industry where directories can do extremely well. The best daycares have waiting lists years ahead of time, so parents are always out there looking for more information. Lots of money in the business .. I think this is one of those exception domains where the plural is more valiable than the singular.

  3. Mike Carson says:

    great show – thanks everyone! Good to see Ali again – he is a domaining genius.

    Shane – .io domains are way better than vegan domains :)

    1. Mike Carson says:

      And it was also great to see Josh on the show – I met and spoke with him at NamesCon 2016. It’s awesome that he was able to find a system that works for him – that’s what it is all about!

    2. Ali Zandi says:

      Man you sure know how to make a girl blush! lol Thanks bro!

  4. Sanwal Memon says:

    Great show guys!
    Michael you should also try to get Sharjil Saleem on your show! It would be great to know more about his selling techniques!

  5. Eric Jenkins says:

    Another great show Sherpas…….Thanks!!!

  6. Pete says:

    Just a note to add to my last comment.

    Any sales made by your viewers could have a 10-15% fee that could be donated to your Cancer Trust.

    Win Win situation for everybody!

  7. Pete says:

    Great show…Again!

    What about making more of the comments section, where after each show, viewers can list, lets say 6 of their domains for sale exclusively to the Sherpas and viewers for a limited time of something like 48 hours.

    That way, you would get more people watching your show live and we could instantly put what we learn from your show into action and possibly get the added bonus of making a sale.

    I think it would definitely create more of a “buzz” and we would also have a chance to let everybody see our efty platforms (lol)

    Anyway, thanks to everybody for brilliant info and insights

  8. MICHAEL DOONER says:

    Please can you put me on your waiting list to have my Domains Portfolio reviewed.

    Best Regards Michael.

    1. Thanks, Michael. Will do. You’re on my contact list when we open up the submissions again at https://www.domainsherpa.com/review-portfolio/.

  9. Paul Hart says:

    Re: Josh’s domain “sweatseal.com”. I think that is pertaining to plumbing, you have to sweat the seal for copper pipes. Good name for plumber or manufacturer

    1. Ikehook says:

      Great point Paul, that is a good name for sweating copper pipes.

  10. Nice to see you back Ali :)

    Joshua, GREAT to see who my arch nemesis was months ago when hunting for reg fee brandables before the take over of Dropcatch haha

    1 out of 4 times if I had missed a name, it was you who had beat me to it. I’m sure I probably “stole” some names you were hunting too since we had the same type of targeted names in mind day after day at some point.

    Thanks for the show guys

    1. Ikehook says:

      Ha! That’s awesome. Yeah they do catch a ton, but there’s still good stuff out there. We just need to pivot a bit, for awhile I gave up and stuck with the auctions, dropcatch was killing everything I tried to handcatch.

  11. Andy McBean says:

    Another great and entertaining show. Good to see you back on the panel Ali.

  12. Deborah says:

    Excellent show guys! Lots of useful information with a fresh perspective. Thanks to Ali, Josh and Shane. Very worthwhile. Thanks to you too, Michael.

  13. Lucas says:

    Great show, as always!
    Thank you sherpas & Michael!

    If a couple of suggestions are welcome:
    1) get rid of the “Domains Selected by Sherpas” section. IMO it is pointless to ask sherpas to give away information that would harm them financially (attracting bidders).
    2) instead why not have on each show one sherpa taking the “master role” (master/slave concept from computing) when covering the domain lists.
    This role would mean that one sherpa will be incharge of covering ALL domains in both the “Investor Submitted Domain Names” and “NameJet.com Pre-Auction Listings” lists in alphabetical order.
    Sure, it would mean a little bit more of extra work load for one of the sherpas in the show, but as a listener I really miss that often many domains don’t get covered at all or even unmentioned by any of the sherpas in the panel and I am left thinking “gee that domain is simmilar to one that I own, I really wish I had the input of at least one of the sherpas on it…”
    Many people in the audience might feel the same way…
    just my thoughts.
    Thanks!

    1. Lucas says:

      call it maybe better “captain sherpa role”, fits in maybe better with the whole nice sherpa theme and less techie than “master role” ;)

  14. albert says:

    I have got to say this was one of the better shows so far this year.

    Thanks all.

  15. Candace Cooke says:

    Thanks guys for the great interview and thanks again Mike for all the work you do. Have been busy so haven’t tuned in for a while, but I still love the shows so much.

    Ali, good to have you back bud.

  16. Carl says:

    Great show! Enjoyed hearing from Ali and Josh today! Thanks Shane and Michael too!

  17. ikehook says:

    I just looked this up, didn’t do it before today.

    https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sweat-seal-end-pit-stains–3#/

    A sweat seal startup idea that’s raised $15K so far.

    The term has 16 million results in google

    1. Ategy.com says:

      OMG …That was quite possibly the great thing I ever saw! lmaorotf

  18. Nice to see Ali back on a Sherpa show. Also I never saw Josh before, nice to have a different view on domains.

    1. Ategy.com says:

      He did one last year with all the guys from DSAD .. was a really good review show as well! :)

    2. Per Ategy, here are the other shows Josh has been a part of: https://www.domainsherpa.com/tag/josh-eisenhower/

  19. tldboss says:

    Thanks guys for a great show, funny and informative. Much appreciated.

  20. Varun kumar says:

    Thanks a ton for the portfolio feescack, it’s great to get an indepth perspective of what expericened domainers feel would work for then and what won’t.

    Also many thanks for the appreciations and good luck towards my venture. I will come back in 6 months when all of them would see a business live on that site.

    Have a great day ahead and many thanks.

    Best Regards
    Varun

  21. T says:

    Josh is basically putting in the work for DropCatch if they’re taking 90% of his names. One would think an extra little “perk” of offering $8 backorders is so they have a pool of domainers acting as bots and compiling lists of dropping domains they like, and technically they can just scan through each and every list picking out what they want since they have priority over them. No thanks.Josh should try not putting in backorders and see if your ratio goes up for the amount of names you can get a hold of from your lists.

    1. Ategy.com says:

      All Your Data Are Belong To Us!

      Seriously .. I feel you .. I’m always paranoid to even just “watch” domains at GD auction … same holds true for running domains through Estibot or any other service. At the end of the day there’s a lot of trust involved … but more importantly (not to pick on GD or Esti) *ALL* sites and services we use can easily use our domaining data against us. Even if the owners don’t and are very against it and have rules/measures in place … it’s sooooo easy for an employee to just copy data and use it him/herself. There isn’t anything anyone can say or do to guarantee 100% our data/lists are safe.

      Not only that .. but as Josh mentioned .. I’m pretty sure other domainers (and big businesses like Uniregistry and HugeDomains etc) have bots out there that can sniff out a new bid(s) on a domain and mark it for them to easily check out.

    2. ikehook says:

      You don’t think I’ve tried a million different scenarios at this point lol. I’ve done hand catching off the drop for years and have a decent idea of what will get caught. I used to have the same thoughts about dropcatch but I’m now confident that it’s unfounded.

      They’re not sitting around waiting for you to submit your names so they can steal them, they don’t need to. A company with thousands of registrar accreditations and the best drop catching software is certainly capable of developing an algorithm to automatically find what they want.

      There’s no 90% steal rate, generally i’ll get over half the names I backorder, depending on how deep into the list I go. I’ve only used them since the end of feb and have no reason to think they’re going through my names at the last minute taking them. The names go into my cart in real time during the drop, so they’re not filtering through after or anything like that.

  22. satyadeep singh says:

    Thanks to all are your valuable thought. I have question to josh – he sold Sweatseal.com $999
    how can you pick domain in $20 or less and were you pick this domain can you share your domain buying strategy, i am newbie want to understand how you buy or sell you are well established domain industries, if you share the strategy this is benefited newbie to some success here.

    Thanks.

  23. Ategy.com says:

    Great show guys .. thanks to all of you!

    Please give Josh a full show. Really want more details on all the things he touched on. And I really want to be CC’ed on the emails/texts he sends Shane each time he sells a domain! Plus I want a better explanation as to how on Earth he thought he’d ever make money on SweatSeal.com … lol

    Did I hear correct that Ali bought 6000 .com’s in a transaction? Or looking at the transcription here it looks like it was 6000.com the numeric? I’m kinda curious about hearing more if it’s either .. lol

    FYI … Transfer of Green.Land to GD would cost $499 .. so that’s likely the renewal price.

    A sleeper portfolio domain I don’t think anyone mentioned was wearableshop.com .. a little long .. but you know that if someone came on with wearable.shop all the sherpas would be like “now that would be awesome if it was .com”! lol

    Again though .. I’d really appreciate it if future portfolio submitters would include purchase price and renewal costs .. because those numbers change everything.

    Apologize is also spelled Apologise in some parts of the world (up to 3.5k with 4 days to go). But it’s a fantastic brand for a Crisis Management PR company. Imagine how much money that company could make off of Delta Airlines a couple of weeks ago!

    UnsungHero is no longer listed .. original owner probably renewed it.

    Was out for a late night walk with my dog listening to you guys .. almost caught 3 stray cats .. will likely listen again soon and have more questions/comments! lol

    Thumbs up on the new “Selected” segment!

    Anyhow .. thanks again! :)

    1. Shane Cultra says:

      My advice to Josh is hold most information close to the chest. Can’t give away all the secrets. The DSAD team is strong with info :) Just not beauty

      1. Howie says:

        Ahh Shane we want some of that DSAD secret sauce ;) great show btw, cheers. You don’t give too much away but enough of your knowledge to help, which is great.

    2. ikehook says:

      Ategy,

      Thanks,

      Sweat Sealing will be the wave of the future, soon everyone will be doing it.

      Seriously though, I give away all my “secrets” on DSAD.com, so I’m not worried about someone taking or using them. The bottom line is time and practice, conquer any droplist by practicing and refining and then do it again.

      1. Shane Cultra says:

        I think the key is keeping completely organized and spreadsheets. The rest will follow :)

        1. ikehook says:

          :), true, that’s the real secret.

          1. Carl says:

            Thanks Josh for your advice in DSAD today! “The name should be easy to remember, easy to say, easy to spell, short as possible, the less syllables the better, and should be able to be envisioned as a brand, on a billboard, as a product or a marketing slogan.” Cheers, Carl

        2. Ategy.com says:

          I’m actually really happy with my system now … been checking lists randomly for years .. but not serious about domaining (I used to have a pretty big music community over 15 yrs ago).

          Been more serious for about 6 months now … Took me a while to fine tune it .. and it’s still a lot of work (I’d say a solid 3 hours per night on average).

          I average about 200 domains on my “watchlist for the day” from about 5000 list names I’m guestimating. Then I usually refine that down to about 20-40 names I’d seriously consider. Out of those I don’t necessarily go for the best names .. I go for “value” .. great sleeper names that sneak through the cracks at $12-$17 or even closeout. If I go over $50 it’s because I think it’s a very strong domain.

          *IF* you put in the work then you *WILL* find lots of great terms or play on words that could never be found by a programmed algorithm.

          But you guys kill me each day though when you share some of the best names I found with everyone on your blog with people who didn’t put in the actual work!

Domaining magazine site recommended by Domaining.com
Copyright © 2010-2024 DomainSherpa. All rights reserved. Reproduction without explicit permission is prohibited.
About  |  Advertising  |  Affiliate Links  |  Disclaimer  |  Disclosures  |  Privacy  |  Terms  |  Contact Us