During the past few years, I have spent additional time and money growing my domain name portfolio. In some cases, I found niches that did well for me and hand registered dozens or more related domain names. In addition, I made a greater effort to acquire inventory-quality domain names in expiry and drop catch auctions. The results have been decent, but I am now more mindful of portfolio bloat.

One thing that I hoped wouldn’t happen but sort of expected was a drop in STR. Had my STR kept up with the rate of acquisition, that would have been fantastic. It would have been unexpected – but I would have been very happy. I can’t say for sure if it’s the market conditions or I am not buying the absolute best inventory, but my STR is down a bit in the last 6 months. It’s not at the point of urgency, but it’s a concern on my radar.

A couple of months ago, I struck a deal to sell a .AI domain name for just shy of $15,000 paid over 36 months. Wisely, the first payment and downpayment totaled a little more than $2,300 before the commission fee. Unfortunately, the buyer opted to not continue with the payment plan after the first month, and the domain name was returned to me.

Having a downpayment was helpful to me because Atom.com required that I add years to the renewal to ensure it won’t expire or need to be renewed during the term. The additional renewal fee at Namecheap cost me nearly $300.