I’m focusing more on hand registration and repricing my tech domains.
This year I’ve overhauled how I acquire and price domain names, and the results are already encouraging. Through a combination of more intentional hand registrations, tighter portfolio management, and a willingness to price some tech names for maximum upside, 2026 is shaping up to be my best year in domain investing so far.
Below I outline the shifts I’ve made: why I’m leaning into hand registrations, how I’m using Afternic data to validate new names, the rethink behind higher “moonshot” prices for select tech domains, and how I’m pruning parts of my portfolio that no longer fit my strategy.
Adding more hand registrations to the mix
On the acquisition side I’m dialing back on expired domains and bulk drop-catching. Rising prices across the expiry market, coupled with more preemptions by partners, have made it harder to secure high-quality names at sensible margins. Rather than compete on that crowded and expensive front, I’m allocating more of my registrations to hand-registered .com domains.
Hand registrations mean registering names that have never been registered before—finding gaps in the namespace and securing them before they exist in the expiry market. While some investors dismiss new registrations as risky, I’ve found that when done systematically they can uncover excellent, brandable names that simply weren’t claimed. Using AI tools to scale idea generation and to filter candidate names has helped me locate those gaps efficiently.
My process borrows ideas shared by experienced investors—tactics I adapted and automated with modern tooling. Over the past year I’ve registered more than 750 unique .coms, most of them this year alone. A number of these have already sold, in some cases covering the registration costs for the entire batch.
Leveraging the Afternic data loop
One of the advantages to adding hand-registered domains to marketplaces like Afternic is the immediate data you can get back. Afternic provides up to 365 days of exact-match search history from GoDaddy. When a newly registered domain is listed there, historical search data will often populate within a day or two, giving quick insight into demand for the keywords or themes behind that domain.
This helps validate names far sooner than waiting a full renewal cycle. It’s important to remember that availability at a low price is investor logic, not buyer logic: a business owner searching for a domain will test many variations and ultimately choose the best fit, not necessarily the cheapest or oldest option. Historical search volume and inquiry data give a clearer picture of end-user interest than merely noting that a name was available at registration.
Rethinking pricing
My pricing approach has changed, especially for tech-focused domains with high upside potential. A broker inquiry earlier this year reminded me of how much value can accrue to the right buyer: a domain I had previously sold for $5,000 is now being marketed in the six-figure range. That prompted a reassessment of pricing for similar names in my inventory.
I’m not uniformly raising prices across the portfolio. Instead, I’m applying premium, aspirational pricing only to domains that would appeal to deep-pocketed buyers in fast-growing tech sectors—SaaS, AI, fintech, and other capital-intensive industries. For those, “moonshot” pricing makes sense because the strategic value to a corporate acquirer or well-funded startup can be orders of magnitude higher than typical end-user names.
At the same time, I still price appropriately for local businesses or modest projects. The goal is to match price to buyer profile rather than inflate every listing indiscriminately.
Pruning the portfolio
As I raise prices for select high-upside names, I’m also accelerating turnover for domains that don’t fit my current thesis. If a name no longer aligns with my strategy, I’m more likely to liquidate it quickly rather than hold indefinitely. Recently I listed nearly 200 domains at wholesale prices to clear space and reallocate capital—many of those are offered at $50 to move them fast.
Selling at a loss can be difficult—especially when I originally paid hundreds for some of these names—but in many cases it’s the right decision to keep the portfolio focused on where I see the best return potential.
Overall, the biggest lesson has been to adapt. Domain markets shift, valuation expectations evolve, and buyer behavior changes. By hand-registering strategically, using marketplace data to validate demand, pricing tech names for their maximum strategic value, and pruning the parts of my portfolio that no longer serve my goals, I’ve positioned myself to take advantage of current opportunities. I’ll keep iterating—being flexible is the only reliable edge in domain investing.