Domain World comes to a Screeching Halt

Morning Folks!!


Notice things are a bit slow in the domainer world this last few days? Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. It should be something you expect if you have your fingers on the pulse of things. It would be my gut instinct to say that everyone is busy with something. Now this is certainly not rocket science. But I know what many of you are doing. You are distracted. You are a bit anxious. You have probably been busy getting your papers together and most of your emails are between you and your accountant. Yes, I am talking about your taxes. That is what the vast majority of folks are doing in the next 10 days. It started big this week and will continue next week as well. Yes, some do their taxes early, but the vast majority wait until now.


So once taxes are over and your liability has been paid you can take a deep breath and re calibrate where you are and where you are going. I think most are prepared this year financially because we all saw this crash coming months ago. Unfortunately some folks will find the end of the road this year at tax time. Look for a huge amount of businesses to fold in the upcoming months. Possibly more than we have ever seen before in such a short time. I would say you will see more business closings in 2009 than in any year ever. There are still so many shoes to drop you would have to believe in the tooth fairy if you thought this meltdown was over.


So there you have it. Does not apply to everyone, (Many of the rest of you are trying to stop the bleeding) but does apply to a vast number. Noticing little meaningless things like this is how to hone the gut. You can make money when you understand movement of folks and get into their heads. When you know what they will do before they even know it. That's staying ahead of the pack. That is not chasing history and the future, that is making history and determining the future!


See you have to interpret events. If you miss this, you may react or over react to something that you should not. A permanent solution for a temporary and explainable situation could destroy a business or even a countries economy.


Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz




4 thoughts on “Domain World comes to a Screeching Halt

  1. Cue

    Rick,
    I always try to read between the lines with your posts.
    I hope you are wrong this time and we won’t have a record number of businesses closing.
    Unfortunately, people are worried about inflation, we will be praying for inflation, to stave off the deflation we will likely continue to experience.
    Domains are like wine, only you don’t have thousands of bottles per vintage. They (domains) will become more and more valuable as individuals weed themselves through this cloud.
    Time will tell.

    Reply
  2. UFO.ORG

    MyCreditScore.us
    Sounds like you are in the US; perhaps you should have a look at the likes of the tax advice book on Adam Dickers site: http://www.adamdicker.com/domainer-tax-guide-exclusive-to-the-domain-industry.html
    I have no connection with it, but the cost at $79 is a lot less than you are going to pay a CPA.
    Domainers in other countries need to be aware of their own specific tax legislation (It might even be different in various states of the US).
    Incorporating domain trading into your own tax return should be very straight forward, the main issue will be around how the domains are treated; Expense, Stock, Licence or as an Investment.
    If you have a choice then for treating them the same as Intellectual Property costs which can be written off in year of expenditure I.e. as an Expense (Like Patent/Trademark filings and Attorney fees – Although not sure how that applies in the US). The second best is as a Licence (The asset value will be the residual time value at balance date of your licences (to renewal) over your portfolio). With an Investment then any major buys won’t be able to be written off in the year of purchase although the renewal fees should be able to be expensed (You could have capital gains exposure although revaluation of domains must be a nightmare – You could use discounted cash flows of the PPC streams and write them down substantially although you might not be able to offset capital loses against other income). With Stock it will revolve around cost or net realisable value valuations…
    Lol… I’m making it sound hard….
    Remember: I’m not offering financial advice so consult the book or see a financial advisor.. ;)

    Reply
  3. Domainvestors.tv

    Rick,
    You are 100% correct here.
    I think those that planned-ahead will end-up on top and a number of businesses will crumble in the coming months.
    For me – I see this as a huge opportunity. This is the beauty of competition – those who adapt to the changing economic climate stand to benefit greatly over the next few years.
    As always its great to see your market analysis as you truly do have your finger on the pulse of this market.
    Maybe someday there will be Domaining market analysts just like we have stock analysts now. If so I’d put my money on your analysis as I have for the past two years.

    Reply

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