My Experience With Domain Flipping

byTimothyBalla

2K followers

2 years ago

Hello Everyone

Today I'm going to talk about my experience with domain flipping. In mid 2022 before I came back to Wealthy Affiliate I tried my hand at domain flipping as way to try to make some money online.

Things didn't turn out how I wanted them to and I want to share my experience to help others understand how domain flipping really works.

What Is Domain Flipping?

Domain flipping is the process of buying a domain and selling it for a profit. It does not involve a website and you don't do anything with the domains you buy.

With domain flipping you usually look to get domains are chap as possible and then sell it to someone who is interested for a price that is higher than what you paid to make a profit.

Why Did I Try Domain Flipping?

Just after starting my main online business in mid 2022 I wanted to start a side hustle that didn't cost much to start and run as I didn't have a lot of money at the time. I heard about domain flipping on YouTube and how easy it was suppose to be to start and make money with.

I grew suspicious of the earning potential after seeing when gurus talk about how they claim you can get rich fast by buying a $10 domain and sell it for thousands of dollars.

I also watched some videos where affiliate marketers showed to evaluate domains and how to check the quality of domains but the catch was the tools they used were expensive tools like Ahrefs and Similar Web.

So I decided to give domain flipping a go to see exactly how it works and how easy it really was.

How Did I Evaluate My Domains?

The first problem I faced before even beginning domain flipping was finding a way to evaluate domains without expensive tools. After hours of searching and watching countless YouTube videos I end up using free tools like the GoDaddy Domain Appraisal Tool and other free domain appraisal websites like Estibot.

During my time domain flipping I also used the website Just Dropped and Expired Domains to look for quality domains with the later providing some insights into the domains which was useful. With the problem of evaluating domains solved my journey of domain domain flipping began.

The Domain Registrars I Used

I began with GoDaddy and bought my first domains there and I also paid for a GoDaddy auctions account there which costs $7.99 per year. It's low cost which is good but I think it should be free to use GoDaddy auctions.

I listed the first 3 domains on GoDaddy Auctions as soon as I bought them. During my time domain flipping I also used Afternic, Namecheap and Dan. I'm now going to go over how things went with each of them.

GoDaddy Auctions

After listing my first 3 domains on GoDaddy Auctions I waited 7 days for the auction to end. During this time I kept learning about domain flipping with hope of making some money. At the end of the auction I checked my listing and there were no bids or sales meaning I made no money.

I was disappointed by this and relisted the domains again with the same results twice. At this point it was 3 weeks since I started domain flipping and I realized it is definitely not that easy. I then proceeded to list these domains on Afternic hoping it get some results on there.

Afternic

I listed the same domains on Afternic and set things up as per GoDaddy's instructions. I waited 30 days and got no interest or messages about my domains. During this 30 days I also bought 6 domains on namecheap to see how things would go with other domains.

Namecheap

The domains I bought on Namecheap were domains I found on the expired domains website I mentioned earlier and I registered them at Namecheap. I then proceeded to park them at GoDaddy to list them on GoDaddy auctions. After listing them on GoDaddy auctions I waited for results.

There was a slight issue with one of the domains as it wasn't letting me list it due to a trademarked word in the domain that I was not aware of. After almost 72 hours the GoDaddy technical team whitelisted it and I was able to list it on GoDaddy auctions with the others.

I got no results with these domains either on GoDaddy auctions and after 3 attempts with no results I decided to try something else. I decided to try Dan as I saw some good reviews and I thought I might have a better luck there.

Dan

I signed up for Dan and after completing set up and my profile I parked the remaining 3 domains that I had sitting in my Namecheap account on to Dan. I listed each domain for a reasonable price and waited. I was hoping that I would get some traffic to my listings on Dan.

I think I waited about 30 days and during this time I kept trying GoDaddy auctions and Afternic as well as learned some more about domain flipping. I still had no results on those platforms and I had no interest on Dan either. I had a few views on each of my listing on Dan but no messages, offers, bids or sales.

What Did I Do Next?

I took a couple of weeks break and during this time nothing else happened with my active listings on GoDaddy Auctions, Afternic or Dan.

After my 2 weeks break I decided to give up domain flipping and return to my online business as I thought my time would be better spent on my business and affiliate marketing.

Should You Try Domain Flipping?

My experience with domain flipping confirmed my suspicions that it is not as easy as it seems. You will not get rich quickly with domain flipping as it can take many months or even years to sell a domain.

There are not get rich quick schemes online and domain flipping should be treated as a business. Just like any other side hustle or online business it is possible to earn money but it will take time, effort and dedication to see results.

To answer the questions as to if you should try domain flipping or not it's up to you. If you are looking for something low cost to get into domain flipping could be for you if you have the time and money to put into it.

Not everyone has the same results as me and some people have made money with their first domain. But make sure to take the time to learn and go into it with the right expectations.

How Much Does Domain Flipping Cost?

Domain flipping is low cost to start but can be expensive if you buy a lot of domains. I was doing domain flipping for a bout 2 to 3 months which is the time in which everything I discussed today took place.

My GoDaddy Domains cost me around $20 each and my Namecheap Domains cost around $10 each with a small discount the first time as a new member. I also had the extra cost of my GoDaddy Auctions membership which is $7.99 per year.

Altogether I spent around $200 during my time domain flipping. This is because I only bought a few domains but it can cost much more if you buy a lot of domains. If you are going try domain flipping be careful and don't get carried away as it' s easy to lose a lot of money doing it. Never invest money you can't afford to loose.

What Did I Do With My Domains?

You might be wondering what happened to the domains I bought during my time domain flipping. I actually still have them all and the ones on Afternic and Dan are still active listings which have had no interest or results though.

I plan to keep these domains and they will be due for renewal later this year. I'm going to hold on to them for now which is something else you can do with domain flipping and I will try to sell them again one day in the future.

The value of domains go up and down all the time just like websites and real estate. So I'm hoping that in time I will be able to sell these domains and make a small profit. If I'm able to successfully sell these domains one day I will make a blog post here on my WA blog about my experience with selling them.

Conclusion

That concludes my experience with domain flipping. Overall domain flipping is a way to make money online but it is not as easy as many people claim. It is low cost to start but can be expensive over time.

Domain flipping can be very profitable and you can make some really good money with it if you are able to find some quality domains and are able to sell them. It will take time to make with it so it would be best to do domain flipping as a side hustle to start with.

Remember there are no get rich quick schemes online and if you decide to try domain flipping take the time to learn and go into it with the right expectations. It will take time, effort and dedication to see the results you want.

Where Have I Been?

As a side note for those who have been wondering where I have been it was my birthday on 29th May 2023. I turned 25 and I took a few days break to rest as I was tired after a long day celebrating with my family at my house.

After that I was going to come back but end up having to deal with a lot of family dramas including my grandma being in hospital twice in a month and everything took it's toll on me mentally so I decided to take a much longer break from things.

To top it all off I have also been a bit sick with a cold which I'm slowly recovering from. I'm feeling much better mentally now and slowly getting my strength back physically to. During my time away I was still logging into WA daily to check my notifications and leave a few comments.

My Next Steps

I'm back now and I will be slowly getting back into things this week starting with this blog post. I have some blog posts planned that I will be sharing on my WA blog this week including a couple of important ones regarding some shocking emails I have received that are sure to get your scammer senses tingling.

My main business has also suffered as result of my time away. It has been getting less traffic than usual and I haven't posted anything on it for a few weeks. But I plan to make up for this by posting extra blog posts on my website over the next month.

I'm back online and on WA as usual now and I will be more active once I fully get back into things later this week. I have much more to share and many interesting things are to come.

Finally, I would like to thank you all for reading and if you have made it to this point of the blog post thank you very much for reading it all. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and any tips or suggestions you might have in the comments.