OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
Someone has wasted a lot of money on domain names and he has not sold any in over 10 years. Now he is about to do another mistake. At least he is not infringing the marks of tens of companies as this guy here.
So back in 2005 Jean Luc from Los Angeles had a (bad?) idea to start registering all the “ShowsIn*******.com” he could. Where ******** it would be a country or a major city in the US and around the world. He also registered a few .mobi domains and some ccTLDs.
I have seen this many times from new domainers and it never ends well. They try to corner a niche and end up wasting a lot of money buying hundreds or thousands of domains that were free for a reason.
So Jean Luc registered 769 domains (by my count including some other show related domains, 792 by his count) over the years and according to his words he has not sold any domains yet: “To maximize the impact of the network; ShowInTheUs.com is made available as a portfolio, and domain names will not be sold individually.”
Most domains were registered from 2005 and up until 2008 so my rough estimation is that he has spent about $75,000 or more on registrations and renewals.
Now he is about to do another mistake and auction all the domains “concurrently through multiple domain auction sites”. Hopefully his reserves would be high so the portfolio will not end up selling in multiple sites.
Personally I don’t think that more than 2 or 3 domains from the list have some value. The others are what we call reg-fee domains. I bet that if he had a solid offer for one of the domains over the years he would have sold it.
His flagship domain name showsintheus.com was probably created back in 2009 and had little updates since. It now lists one (1) event.
These are the domains in the portfolio he will be auctioning (according to his website):
504 PREMIUM Domain Names starting with “Shows in” + some ccTLD’s
(446 .com – 46 .mobi – 2 .net – 1 .org – 1 .info – 1 .be – 2 .de – 1 co.uk – 1 .eu – 1 .se – 1 .es – 1 .nl)
44 PREMIUM Domains Names starting with “Concerts in” + some ccTLD’s
(38 .com – 5 .mobi – 1 .co.uk)
104 divers PREMIUM Domain Names (.com) who are related to the network.
(93 .com – 1 .mobi – 1 .be – 1 .de – 1 .us – 2 .ca – 4 .fr)
(Later in the website he says that he will be auctioning 734 .com, 39 .mobi and 19 various domains for a total of 792 domains.)
You can see the complete list of his domain names here: www.ShowsNETWORK.com.
This is the “press release” he is sending these days:
Sept 15th, 2016
RE: Global Network of 500+ Domain Names for Sale
Dear,
Please see enclosed a pre-auction acquisition opportunity made available to you to purchase a portfolio of hundreds of “.com” entertainment domain names through direct negotiation with the Founder. With over 500 Geo domain names beginning with “Shows In”; the portfolio is a global and local brand representing all countries (i.e. “ShowsinFRANCE.com), all capitols (i.e. “ShowsinBERLIN.com) and many major cities throughout the world; linking the entertainment industry, businesses and communities through a global network of websites.
Shows in The Us Inc. is pleased to offer you this excellent opportunity to expand your footprint locally and globally through a highly scaleable and revenue-generating platform.
Absent appropriate and reasonable purchase offers; Shows in The Us Inc. will be auctioned concurrently through multiple domain auction sites on October 31st, 2016. Any inquiries must be received by the SITUS management team prior to that date.
Please see www.ShowsNETWORK.com for more details on the portfolio, and do not hesitate to contact my office directly at (323) 655-2125 with any questions you may have.
Jean Luc Gaudry
Sometimes or Most of the times esp alpha males, they have to learn the hard way to get things right.
It is called EGO and Pride=arrogant/ignorant
It is unfortunate that some domainers are slow learners.
Now just think what he could have done with 75K.
And I don’t think he is giving up…
Please where can list couple of domains i have for sale without paying any initial fees in their auction? Or where a sale percentage will be deducted after auctions.
Thanks
Michael
Trying to corner a niche with dozens or hundreds of individual domain registrations is how I got started as a domainer too. It’s a tempting idea – to build a network of mini-sites. But this theme-and-variations approach – as credible as it may initially seem on the surface – seldom works. Google punishes thin development, and few domain buyers are willing to adopt so many children.
It’s ok to experiment in bulk as a reseller. That’s just testing the market with a large sampling size. But we’re better off resisting the notion that we need to “keep the portfolio intact”. Buy 100 similar domains? Fine. But if none sell after a couple of years, rethink those renewals!
I remember i saw a commercial on tv where Arizona was using planarizona.com as a website so people would plan a vacation to Arizona.
I thought, what a great domain for a travel site. So i bought planireland.com, planEngland.com and a few more i can’t remember now, but they never had a nibble from anyone so i let them go..
Sure but you can buy 2 or 3 or 20 and see how it goes. Check for traffic maybe. But after 2-3 years you give up.
Buying 500+, renewing them for 10 years and still keep buying new ones while you refuse to sell individual domains is not right.
Unless you don’t care about the money and it is just a hobby.
LOL, your right…
I actually met Jean Luc at TRAFFIC, probably in 2008. Very nice guy. But when he mentioned his domain empire, it sounded like “Shoes” due to his French accent.
So he actually knows better than putting all the domains in multiple auction sites at the same time.
I think i met him Namescon in 2014. I am pretty certain i had his hard. Might have been last year. Definitely got a card from him. I didnt like the idea, but hope he makes some money during sales.
My god, I now remberer that I know him too. He is a great guy. Sorry this hasn’t worked out for him.
From his list of domains, I most enjoyed SHOWSEXCHANGE.COM (ShowSexChange.com). Not what he was thinking with SHOWS****
Naughty girl.. 😉
Unfortunately, I think I’m a “Jean-Luc!” I’ve purchased over 600 domains since the late 80’s (I think) and never sold 1 of them! I really just don’t have the knowledge, or marketing skills, or I’m too ADHD to focus on selling… But, I’m a GREAT buyer. I came up with a theory of how & what to purchase and in theory my domains are worth over 3-Million Dollars (the last time I checked;) but, I have sold any, so they’re just a drain on my bank account for years.
It’s embarrassing!
Oh well, I just thought I’d share my stupidity with the world… enjoy my pain! LOL.
Bruce Kaye
Just goes to show why it’s never wise to swa dive into unknown waters… So glad that I did not start this way…
I met someone at Traffic 2010 in Milan that told me he owned the domain names of every world leader. He then showed me a thick printout of his portfolio full of domains like VladimirPutin.biz or GeorgeWBushUsPresident.co.uk. It was really hard to look at. He seemed like a nice guy.
It is weird how sometimes the human brain gets stuck ! Making a mistake is OK, but insisting on it for a decay or so is a pity…