Enjoy!
(note: I added links, underlines to original email)
“Hello Sahar,
Derek Giordano here. Hey, just wanted to drop you a line regarding one of your recent blog entries, “Why insult us“. Good read!
Not sure if you remember me, but I had emailed you awhile ago after reading the DNJournal write-up they did on you. I was so pumped with hope after reading that, that I was compelled to send you a quick email to say “thanks” for providing that inspiration. Hope it wasn’t seen as too cheesy!
Since the time I have wrote you last, I have stumbled on quite a bit of success. I have worked often 16 hours a day, but it has always been fun and the results have started to measure the hard work. You had told me that it IS possible to thrive nowadays, even though I am late to the game. I have done my best to make this a true statement.
So what have I done different? First, I decided that if I am going to thrive today, I cannot rely on hand registering future technology domains. Too competitive, with too few noteworthy technologies to really matter. Another realization; drops “today” are nowhere near the drops of “yesterday”, and rare domains of value are sold at a price I could not possibly afford (See DreamLife.com).
Generics in the marketplace (Sedo, Moniker etc…) are also very expensive. Especially when you get Bob, who happened to register a really nice domain in 1995, who sees Seniors.com or Scores.com go for a million+, and now thinks his domain is also worth that. It maybe worth that much, but it does not help me one bit.
What is a guy with modest financial capability supposed to do then? Not a lot of options. There is, however, the chance that if I emailed owners of generic domains that I will find good deals that I can afford. So I took a chance and started emailing two-character domains. My second day trying this I was given the chance to by one for 7k. I did, and sold it via private sale for 45k not a month later. When this happened, I now had more to reinvest into better names. At this point I had a spreadsheet keeping immaculate records of offers I had recieved to buy generic names. Some great offers, and I bought a very nice single word generic for a mere 10k from a company that barely went off line. It took me exactly 5 days to turn around and sell it for 75k. I used Google Adwords to help me find the perfect end-user.
Now, in a months time I had made roughly 110k profit and positioned myself perfectly to start investing bigger bucks. I purchased DataCube.com last week (Number 68 on the list of 100 oldest domains ever. Registered April 23, 1987) for 5k. I am also in the process of buying four VERY nice generic .coms to add to my collection. Things are starting to happen, but I’m sure I had pissed off more than a few people in the process with my inquiries. I hope you weren’t one of them!
You see Sahar, I did not see any other way. Like the old adage goes, I had no wind to guide my boat, so I had to start rowing. This was my way of “rowing” by sending these inquiries.
I understand completely what you are saying in your blog. There is soo much ignorance out there that you probably hate checking your email. So many ridiculous offers and insulting statements. I would get really sick of it also!
Not all inquiries fall into this category. I hope mine don’t! Each email I send out is personalized, polite, and ask the general question if the domain is or will be for sale in the future. I always first try to pull up the website to see if it is developed, parked, or completely unused before any emails are sent. I usually just skip the domains belonging to the well known domainers of the world (Reflex, Lucky, 10.com, anyone in the Caymans, etc…). Your domains make it hard since you have privacy, and therefore I have no way of knowing if it belongs to you are someone else. Most certainly I have sent you a couple email inquiries. Just ignore any you see coming from my email address (like I need to tell you this:)).I just thought I would remind you of the reasons some people send these ridiculous inquiries. Not everyone wants to rip you off or insult your intelligence. After all, why would I spend so much time explaining this all to you if I didn’t think of you as a true domaining genius? You are where I hope to be someday. I just want the chance to perhaps someday be in a position were I can complain about all the bonehead inquiries I get on my domains. Until them, I can deal with the fact that I am one of those boneheads!
Take care Sahar,
Derek Giordano”
Just wow!
Quick comment, my problem with inquiries isn’t the amount but the way they are written, the format. try to attach a decent offer and you’ll see the response rate shoot sky high. I do understand though it is a numbers game and didn’t mean to take the winds out of anyone’s sails. I’m just glad it works for you. Thanks for sharing!!
Sahar
Derek,
Would you mind sharing how you used Google Adwords to find the perfect end user?
William
Wow, what an incredible story!
Thanks for sharing Derek & Sahar… Talk about motivation!
I must ask how the heck Derek was able to scoop DataCube.com for $5k… That is the buy of a lifetime! That’s a 7-digit domain any day of the week… A real part of history!
Congrats Derek, sounds like you’re a helluva quick learner…
—-ANSWER—-
Datacube.com for 5K - steal indeed.
Stories like these make everyones inbox fill up with “the next guy” who wants to copycat on your success. Guaranteed.
Good work Derek.
Wow, Derek. What a story!
Sounds like Derek has the quality that Ephren Taylor (from an earlier post by Sahar) listed as crucial for success: persistence.
Thanks for sharing, Sahar and Derek.
Very nice story. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent , Thanks 4 sharing Sahar, Derek. Wishing GudLuk for all your Future Endeavours
Just stumbled upon this great site !
Glad I did - very interesting read
regards
Andy
I disagree with most of the points expressed in the email. I periodically find both, new regs and drops that have investment value. I also know that good, new technology names are NOT all gone.
Getting rich fast is good work when you can get it, but the risks are generally much greater and it is certainly not the only approach to investing.
It’s a great story and it’s not impossible.
Unfortunately, the story contains the typical lack of details and vague references, such as buying “a very nice single word generic for a mere 10k”. Again, this is certainly not impossible, but claims of making $65K in five days on that same domain name should expect to be met with health skepticism.
Failing to factually support such claims casts a shadow over the validity of the story, the concept, and the industry as a whole. Please consider turning this negative into a positive by disclosing the details of the sale you chose to discuss publicly.
Thanks
ASN5,
Normally I wouldn’t care about “proving” anything to anyone. Those who know me in this industry, know everything I said above was 100% true. I’ll do it anyway since it is Christmas. This is my gift to you.
The name of the domain I bought for 10k and sold five days later for 75k was Cushion.com. It’s reported in the DN Journal. The two-character .com I bought for 7k and sold for 45k was B6.com. I did disclose more specifics to Sahar in the original email. When he asked if he could publish it, I said “yes” as long as I can remove details that my buyers may not appreciate being open for everyone to view. Now, enough time has passed that I feel better disclosing the specifics. Does this make sense to you now?
In addition to what I wrote above, I sold Copies.com for 90k a month after this was published. Also in the DN Journal. I now own 8 premium generic names that I have reinvested in, and see opportunity literally everywhere I look. These names are a “little” better than what I could be finding in today’s domain drops. Had I followed your advice above, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be self employed, like I am now. I speak from real-world experience, and my payouts are today, not dependant on what my domains are worth in five years from now.
I NEVER said future technologies were non-existent. What I said was there are,”too few noteworthy technologies to really matter”. I still stand by this statement. You are free to disagree on this.
Beyond this, If you still chose to be skeptical, that’s ok. It doesn’t make it any less real for me, whether you believe it or not. I’ll go on doing what I’m doing, and you go on registering “investment value” domains from drops. Believe it or not, I like seeing you spend all your time doing just that.
Have a good one!
Derek buys domains by having Joann (wife, sister???) make the transaction from a yahoo address, with a BS story……then she acts like she hopes the transfer goes fast because she had to “take the money out of her account”…….
I’m not sorry to have sold my nite.com domain for $20K, just wished I’d gotten the truth about it.
Wow Steve, and you wonder why I prefer to use my WIFE’s name in these transactions as opposed to mine. This blog post is the first thing that pops up when a search of my name is performed. I have seen too many deals fall through when people find this and automatically assume they are being ripped off. Which is usually never the case. This is also why big companies prefer to remain anonymous when showing interest in a domain. They, like me, prefer to negotiate without the games.
I made you a first offer of 20k for nite. Hardly a low ball offer. You happily agreed to that. Why does who I am change any of that?
It’s because you used your wife’s name and not your own…..
I was/am happy with your offer and gladly accepted it and sold you my domain. BUT…….although you say you prefer to negotiate without games, why didn’t you just do it straight up yourself instead of sending your wife to make the deal.
I told her that…..although I was not unhappy with the deal we made, I didn’t appreciate the “game”…..and although the amount you paid ($20K) seemed/seems fair to me…..I still felt “played”.
If you would have been straight up with me from the start, I wouldn’t have had a thing to say and we’d still have done business.
Once I started looking into what was going on, it just felt like a sneaky deal. And although it probably wasn’t…..it still felt like that.
Impressions are VERY important….and you left a bad one.
I almost always buy as myself fully disclosed, but if you want to do volume and get deals like Derek it is not always possible…sneaky or not - the intent is to save money. I even agree that nite.com at $20k was both a good buy and good sale depending on your side. Had it been worth tens of thousands more to a domainer Steve would have gotten more offers through the years. There is some good learnings and actions here. Even regarding the disclosed info, I may not have acted…in fact…
I would have passed on cushion.com at $10k, but bought datacube.com and B6. Nite.com was a super buy but would have brought me pause - and most likely just tabled it in the end.
Our last domain buy, I submitted a $50,000 offer as myself and the deal was accepted within 4 hours - no counters or questions really. I was thrilled as I believe it worth hundreds of thousands…obviously the seller was thrilled…sub-4 hours makes one feel like they overpaid
Domains are so unique and their pricing is as well. Derek is doing a great job acting on the offers he makes. AND then flipping out for profit. As he mentions, most drops will be resold in the $1-$4k range if even worth re-reging.