This page describes how flippers use recorded sales to set those numbers, and where the approach stops working.
The flip in four numbers
Every flip can be written as four figures.
- Purchase price, what you pay at an auction or in a private deal.
- Carrying cost, the renewal fee for each year you hold the name.
- Resale price, what the buyer pays you, after the commission of the venue you sell on.
- Holding time, how long the name sits before it sells.
A comparable sales search gives you the evidence for the first and third. The Afternic commission rates article shows how to turn a resale target into a buy now price that still nets what you need after commission.
Set a maximum bid from wholesale comps
Before an auction closes, search the name and read the wholesale comps, the sales between investors at auction venues. They show what the market pays when the buyer must also make a profit. Your maximum bid should sit below the typical wholesale figure, with room for the resale margin. The for investors page describes how this works at the point of bidding.
Set a resale price from retail comps
Retail comps show what end users paid for names like yours. They are the reference for an asking price when you list. The gap between wholesale and retail is the margin a flip is trying to capture, and on some name types it is wide, on others it is almost zero. Seeing both sets side by side tells you which names are worth buying at all.
Watch the dates and the extension
Markets move. A comparable from several years ago may describe a different market, and each extension behaves differently. The .ai domain sales page shows how the volume and prices of one extension have changed year by year, and the domain sales history page shows the pattern across all recorded sales. A flipper who prices from stale comps buys at last cycle's numbers.
Where flipping goes wrong
- Pricing from the biggest sales. A few very large sales pull averages up. Most names never come close to them.
- Ignoring renewals. A name held three years at a modest renewal fee costs real money before it sells.
- Mixing wholesale and retail. Buying at a wholesale price and expecting a retail price from the first buyer who writes in.
- Holding names with no comps. If no comparable sale above 1,000 USD exists, the name may simply not sell for much. The result says so instead of showing a number.
Pricing a whole inventory
Once you hold dozens or hundreds of names, the question becomes which to relist, which to reprice and which to drop at renewal. The bulk domain appraisal tool takes a list and returns an estimate and comps for every name, which turns a weekend of manual checks into one run. Choosing a tool for this job is covered in the best domain appraisal tool for investors roundup.
An honest note on estimates
An estimate from recorded sales is a data backed range, not a certified appraisal and not a promise that a buyer will pay it. It helps you avoid overpaying and underpricing. It does not remove the risk of holding a name that does not sell.