98% of Domain Investing has Nothing to do with Domains.


Morning Folks!!



Domains are NOTHING but a mere vehicle. If you sell cars, computers, apple pie, or clothing or anything else, THAT is your vehicle. It's the horse that gets you from one place to another in an economic way. You start with nothing or little and end up with a lot or at least more.



So what is the other 98%?? That is about BUSINESS. You need to have a keen understanding of business. Business is based and built on BULLSHIT! Yup, Bullshit! So if you are some purist and you don't know the difference between Bulshit, the truth, and a lie, you don't belong in business. Business has a middle name and it's called "Bullshit." If you don't embrace nd understand this, become a teacher.



People bullshit. Salesman bullshit even more. You don't know the difference between Bullshit and a Lie? Really? Bullshit rules business but lying is never acceptable. Huh? Too complicated? Then that is a symptom of being naive. If you are naive, you should not be in business.



Business is something you study and learn from. Business is one word......SALES! No sales....No Business. So if you don't like sales or selling, you don't belong in business.



Business is copying the success of others in a dignified manner. You start with what they have and improve and build on it. That's business. If you make an inferior copy and charge more, that's bad business.



Business is history. If you want to succeed in the future and you are not willing to study business of the past, you don't beleong in business.



The rules and elements of business are almost universal. They fit no matter the product or service. There are only a certain amount of variables and even less amount of variable variables.



The success I see by myself and most others are based on certain principles. Business principles. So I could write 50 pages, never even mention a domain name and THAT is where ALL the secrets of domaining lie. Intertwined with business.



If you are allowing politics to interfere with your business, you might be thinking "Capitalism" is a bad thing. If so, and you also don't understand the difference, you don't belong in business. You should become a teacher. There is no businessman that should be against capitalism unless they are corrupt or worse. Capitalism is the reason we are all here today. There would be no domaining without Capitalism.



So, if you don't understand advertising, don't understand selling, don't understand math, don't understand capitalism, don't understand history, don't understand BULLSHIT, don't understand the reading capability and memorization capability, don't understand word of mouth, don't understand marketing, don't understand the radio test.......WTF are you doing trying to be a domain investor?? It won't work well unless you are a really quick study and I have not seen one of those folks in many years.



Buying GREAT domains is about understanding and studying business and history and then putting it thru the lens of the future. Buying GREAT domains and owning GREAT domains is something to rest comfortably with. I may have only sold 2 or 3 of my list of 25, but that does not mean the others have no value. They just have not found the right home. Isn't that MY JOB as an investor? I am sure anyone would have sold that list for $12 Million. So I am such a schmuck for selling only 3 off that list for $12 Million. And if you listen to morons, they can only point to the ones not sold after 20 years. My ONLY goal was NOT to sell domains. I think I could sell that list by noon. But when you understand the things I describe in business then you understand VALUE! And domaining is about VALUE!



A 30-second-spot on the Superbowl is over $5 MILLION. The condo's on Central Park selling for over $200 Million. Tiffany's in New York has a $20 Million LEASE of their store. Every domain investor gets to set their own value. If I was an elementary businessman I would have sold that portfolio for $500,000 and felt like a king. How do you think it makes one feel getting $12 Million and still having 22 left worth MILLIONS?? Maybe I am just a bad salesman that can't sell the others?



If you are a person that minimizes anything that is negative or ignores business leaks (some obviously don't even know what a business leak is or how it occurs) or word-of-mouth, or easy to spell as in radio test, then you are not a suitable candidate for business. And if you are not suitable for business then next logical thing to discover is you may not be suitable for domaining. You may be a great techie. You may be an olympic swimmer. You may be a chess champion. But business and therefore domains, may not be your calling.



I want everyone to become wealthy with domains. Plenty of room for everyone. I feel bad for those with the wrong mindset that are lost and on the wrong track. Start again with a different mindset, direction and knowledge and drop all your liabilities. I don't sell cuz I can't get my price. Most others can't sell because there is not a fool on earth that wants their crap. That's the difference in domaining!



I never bought a domain looking to flip and never will. I buy domains with great value or potential great value. My job is to hold out for HBU. That's called BUSINESS and everything else you hear is called BLLSHIT! Bullshit is the language of business. Just look at all the new GTLD Bullshitters! But some have crossed the line and outright lied. Just because some don't know the difference, That's on them and their wallets.



Rick Schwartz




13 thoughts on “98% of Domain Investing has Nothing to do with Domains.

  1. John

    I will abstain from addressing your treatise on “bullshit” for now.

    Regarding lying, yes that is never acceptable. In fact, it is mentioned quite particularly and seriously in the very last book of the Bible.

    I often felt people were deliberately lying in the “appraisal” section at DNF, for various evil reasons, and that is one of the things that turned me off and led me to leave.

    There is one example of lying as it pertains to domaining I will mention now, however, and that relates to the topic of “lowballing.”

    There is a difference between “honest lowballing” vs. “dishonest lowballing,” i.e. lying. Honest lowballing is okay, dishonest lowballing is pure evil. The love of money, greed and selfish predatory tendencies may see a lot of dishonest lowballing occur indeed.

    What’s the difference in practical reality?

    Honest lowballing is when you try to get a great lowball price honestly – without lying and deception. For instance, people will lie about believing a domain is not worth much and may dishonestly argue accordingly, when they know or certainly believe full well the domain is worth a fortune and are just trying to deceive and manipulate the one holding it.

    Honest lowballing is when do not engage in such things, and if you are fortunate then you might get a ridiculous bargain with a clear conscience and without committing the evil of lying. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. I believe I bought a domain that’s worth 6 to 7 figures some years back for only low $x,xxx, but without any degree of lying or manipulation at all. If I turn out to be right about that, it simply makes me fortunate. But if for a single nanosecond I had engaged in lying about anything at all, including about what I thought or believed, that would have been completely and definitely evil.

    So if one engages in “dishonest lowballing,” for which it is doubtless many have, then one is officially a “scumbag.” More importantly, they are almost certainly on the way to literal Hell. Otherwise, however, if they were fortunate enough to get something honestly at an absurdly great discount, they are simply fortunate, even blessed.

    Reply
    1. Snoopy

      Honest lowballing versus dishonesting lowballing, now that is bullshit!

      Let me guess yours are the honest lowballs and the ones you get are the dishonest ones?

      Reply
      1. Baller

        Snoopy, truer words were never spoken!

        Talk about a ‘lesson’ in bullshit …a mind-numbing, morality-infused 9-paragraph ‘comparative analysis’ of ‘honest vs. dishonest lowballing’.

        John clearly has way, way too much time on his hands, and now he’s robbed us all of the time it took each of us to swallow his surreal diatribe. Frankly, I should bill him for that…

        Reply
        1. John

          You guys are either clueless or lying yourselves. But thanks for the trolling.

          It’s not rocket science and any 12 year old or less can understand what I wrote.

          So for the sake of the readers who may be misled by you two – If you lie to a registrant about what you really believe a domain is worth to get them to think it’s worth less than you know it is or truly believe it is, then you are lying, and are a dishonest predatory “scumbag.”

          If you simply ask if they will accept a low price “$x,xxx” for a domain you either know is worth 6 to 7 figures or truly believe is, without all the manipulative lying added, then you have engaged in “honest” lowballing without committing evil. There is no sin in merely asking if someone will sell you a 747 for $10 – that’s “honest lowballing.”

          Maybe you guys don’t realize sometimes that works. Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn’t have even shared this little secret, but the bloggers have shared so much so why not…

          Reply
  2. Reuben

    I personally have understood domain business and business bullshit very well. To me, bullshit in domain business means going with the flow, that is, if domain leaders or whoever comes up with a notion/logic of demand in domains propagate the idea to buy 4 letter domains, CVCV domains, VCVC domains, 5 letter domains and so on, I don’t know where they get this logic from, surely not from end-users, then just go as things flow. It does not matter whether this is what end-users need. If you are lucky you can make a profit selling them to other domain investors who are going or wants to go as things flow, but what I have been insisting on saying is that once the logic of demand or hype fades almost all domain investors that bought these kind of domains and held on to them for considerable amount of time hoping to make much more profit will be losers. Not because end-users have already bought enough of this type of domains names and there is an oversupply, as it usually happens in other types of businesses. In domaining this happens simply because the vast majority of end-users never even bothered themselves to buy any domain name being sold by speculators. So the hype that is created and propagated is the one that is making domain names a business with profit but a extremely risky business to invest in as almost all end-users dodge domain names being sold buy speculators. End-users do not want to enrich domain speculators unnecessarily, their world of alternative domains is endless, period. The evidences are there. Almost all popular websites, from 1 to 1000, use made-up domain names, not the ones being sold by speculators. If it was not because of this then domain names would be a very good business for many domainers, not just for few lucky ones, the ones who have been there when domains started and registered domains for a couple of Dollars and now, even if they depreciated, can sell them undoubtedly with profit. So the best lesson a domainer can give his/her fellow domainers must be centered on how well to use the hype that is intermittently created and propagated for certain type of domain names so they can create a luck to sell to other domain investors thanks to the hype. This is what I can consider bullshit in business, that is, making profit by selling a product that rarely serves its purpose. What other lessons can be given to domainers so they can sell if/when end-users are not buying domains being speculated? Almost all end-users are making their own domain names up. I want someone to come forward and dispute this. This and gambling/lottery business are the only businesses that I know of that are driven by excessive hope to make profit or money with very less effort, hence many ought to lose money.
    If auctioned today, except men.com, all 25 domain names that Rick put in the list would not fetch what it could have fetched decades ago. Even if they fetch a profitable amount today, the profit will not compensate the 22 years of waiting. 22 years is a very long time for a person like Rick, fortunate enough to have been there when these things started, to waste. This is a time within which you could have become a multi billionaire had you launched an ecommerce website like Amazon or any online business selling products and services making profit every day. Though you are a millionaire trading in domain names, I think your luck, opportunity and time should have been used much much better, not squandering it in domain speculation.
    Life is enjoyable
    Thanks

    Reply
  3. Rick Schwartz

    Reuben, you keep failing to ask me how much money those domains have made me over those 22 years. Don’t you think making 15 million dollars from those 25 domain names is pretty good? Or Are you too much of a techie to understand that.

    Do you know how much money I would have to have it in a bank account right now today to collect the interest that those domains still make????

    One side of your brain is very smart and the other side of your brain is dumb as a door nail. You must have something at stake to spend all this time trying to minimize reality.

    Please tell us about your business affairs. Please share. We all want to know about all your great successes.It’s obvious that you think you’re the smartest guy in the room.

    Reply
    1. Reuben

      Well! since you have not sold the vast majority of these domains I assume you are talking about the 100K traffic that you said you receive per month. But you did not tell us the click through rate. The CTR of most parked domains are about 0,01% and cost per click is between 1cent and 5cents, but let us just suppose that the ctr is 5% and cpc is 10 cents, (an exaggeration), this would be about 5000k traffic per month x 10 cents which is equal to S500 per month. Even if you are getting $2000 per month, still does not compensate the decades of waiting and the fact that you are so fortunate to have been there and the opportunity you had to do much much more. In life it is not only about what you have done or made, it is also about what you could have done or made if……….., and that IF depends on whether or not it is you own fault. In this case it is your own fault that today you are not of the caliber of people like Jeff Bezzo, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page‎, ‎Sergey Brin, Bob Parsons and many others. Mind is a terrible thing to waste. Now you are too old to apply a different strategy. Don’t tell me you are not after money.
      By the way, did you check the top of Namebio daily sales report page? All domains names, but all sold at a loss.
      Did you also check the domain name PENIS.COM on Namescon? so far the highest offer is $5600. You have a bunch of similar domain names. Is time to consider make a good decision for them.
      Thanks

      Reply
  4. BullS

    All websites try to sell you something and always wanting $$$$ from you -that it.

    That what “BullS” site is all about.

    Reply
  5. John

    So to summarize, there is bullshit, lying, and there is also “lying bullshit.”

    Not all bullshit is lying, and not all lying is bullshit.

    The kind of “bullshit” Rick is referring to may perhaps be considered “puffery” most of the time. It can be something completely and essentially honest in intent really, even if not always. It’s understood that there is “puffery” in commerce, often by conscious consent, even completely expected at times, at least certainly in American society and doubtless many other developed nations. Exaggeration and embellishment are understood to be going on while still often signifying a fundamental underlying reality that is completely honest, sober minded, and which makes sense to people and represents real potential benefit and success.

    Reply
  6. Jose

    Lies are used in all business and much more in which you negotiate with the one you want to buy or sell a product and service, a portfolio of 1000 domains, Pigeon Shit in a registrar’s office important domains these do not negotiate these fill your account banking at the moment.

    In the 11 years I have been in this market domains I be the worst unfortunate bad luck with Moniker Domain Registrars, Active-Domain, Network Solutions, Namecheap, Godaddy ……… Auctions, Sedo, Afternic (With Godaddy ), Flippa and finally Team Brokerage of Uniregistry, and Domainer that dismerenced my effort and have even come to despise my premium domains with their emails that do not cost what I ask for sale $ 10,000 in the end sell for $ 5,000 to $ 2,500 this like less than I sell.

    Now I am going to write here that after some very difficult principles and a very weak teaching, learn from this market and lose a lot due to the lies of the Domainers and those registrars who defend even today because they are their means of life more reliable to get rid of Bull Shit or Pigeon Shit of what you get to sell in the best register domains in the world I can not do this not have the hidden contact and I must let expire so that those who lie to me buy my domains (.com) expired and then sell for $ 15,000.

    In my times without internet being a negotiator of multinational companies, the negotiations were bestial, like the one that puts a gun to your forehead and plays with the other to Russian roulette, learn to host to negotiate with the most heartbreaking negotiators that always win many before I enter this business you earn a high commission if you win and if you lose an interesting agreed amount you could lose and earn a living from scraps, but like the actors if you do not do well in your first movie or TV series always be aware of the Phone to be called for a new opportunity.

    If he had worked with being a loser, he would not have worked for negotiations for large multinationals around the world (I can never give the name of these for having signed a confidentiality agreement for life) to get 42 won, and 12 lost in three inexhaustible years , I left it to not go crazy of the pressure to which we were subjected.
    In the same there was no rule one or two weeks and 12 hours day with 4 hours of recess, which made me first lose confidence and belittle the contrary.
    What made me win the strategy and the bad ways against your private life that the opponents attack with these dirty and despicable rules for many, I do not write all, because I use this same strategy but more forceful paid specialists to take photos of someone his, I was bad with this technique, it was but before doing this I had to learn from the most expert ex-negotiators to get to leave KAO at the first exchange and win the only valid thing was to win for those who trust your way of negotiating and I can say that becoming a Mercenary of the Negotiations Die or Win this was the slogan.

    In this market domains I would have been different if I could travel to the US but over the years the excesses of alcohol in youth, and adulthood now suffer CardioVascular, and to top my personality, after an attempt to steal in the street suffer an aggression in my head in 1994 that left my body speechless and paralyzed for more than 10 months, due to the strong blow part of my neurons being affected and never more able to write and speak English correctly (How to do since 1967) never again be able to recover and if now I write better than before it is because I am sincere I am not ashamed to buy Grammarly and with the Google translator to do better my writings.

    To finish we do not want to lie make us lie a market domains NO !!! all markets and businesses.
    Lying is a benefit, from whom you can learn from politicians in any country, they are the ones who lie the most to stay in power and live at the expense of the citizens of every country in the world.

    Happy Day. Jose.

    Reply
  7. Alex Verdea

    “Business is one word……SALES! No sales….No Business. So if you don’t like sales or selling, you don’t belong in business.”

    That is the punch like. Not sure why everyone is stuck on the BS :)

    There’s only 2 ways you can grow a biz: more sales or cut costs. You can only bring cost down so far, so really SALES is the single way to grow a biz.

    That’s my 2 cents for today…

    Reply
  8. Jason Louis Morris

    this is a good article, and I agree. I do realize my weakness is being a great salesman, but I think good domain names mostly sell themselves. I know you have taken the stance that no domain name is worth less than $15k, and I agree – however, since I run this business, I do have to keep the lights on, so to speak – so there are some of us who cannot hold out 10+ years for a great offer. I really appreciate all that you know, your wisdom and knowledge – but I think you might agree there’s places for domain investors like me, who are getting started, who may have to take a bit less than you do.

    Reply

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