How to manage a domain portfolio.

What portfolio management covers

A domain portfolio needs five jobs done well. Most investors use a different tool for each, joined by one spreadsheet.

Toyroom covers the analysis layer: cleaning and comparing lists, categorizing names, valuing them, and researching demand. It does not hold names, renew them, host landers, or take payments.

Step 1: Keep one inventory

Export the domain list from every registrar you use and merge it into one sheet. Give each name the same columns.

• Domain and registrar
• Expiry date and renewal price
• Acquisition date and cost
• Asking price and where it is listed
• Inquiries and offers received

Registrar exports are messy. The Domain Cleaner pulls clean names out of any export and removes duplicates. Compare Domains reconciles two lists, for example last quarter’s sheet against today’s registrar export. RDAP Lookup fills in the registrar and expiry date for names that are missing them.

Step 2: Understand the mix

Paste the inventory into Portfolio Summary. It shows the words that recur, the industries the names belong to, and the spread of extensions and lengths. Look for three things:

• Concentration: too many names in one industry or one trend, which ties your results to it.
• Costly extensions: names in extensions with high renewal fees need higher sale prices to pay off.
• Long tails: long or hyphenated names that rarely sell at any price.

Domain CategorizerIndustry and name type for every name, with the keywords behind each call.

Step 3: Value every name

Put an estimate and a range on every name. The Valuation tab in Portfolio Summary scores the whole list with Toyroom’s sales model. For the names that matter most, add the extensions-taken count from Zone Counter and a look at comparable sales.

Treat the sum of estimates as a ceiling, not a net worth. A common rule of thumb in the industry is that a portfolio sells around 1 percent of its names in a year. Your own sales history is the better guide once you have one.

Step 4: Decide renewals before they are due

A name earns its keep when its expected sale value over a year beats its renewal fee. Expected value is the chance of a sale times the likely price. A name with a 1 percent yearly chance of selling for $2,000 is worth about $20 a year. That covers a $10 renewal but not an $80 one.

Run this review 60 days before your largest renewal dates. It leaves time to list a name at a lower price before it lapses, or to let it go on purpose.

Step 5: List the keepers for sale

List every name you keep. Afternic and Sedo syndicate listings to partner registrars, so a listed name can show up with a price when an end user searches for it. Give most names a Buy Now price set from the valuation range; buyers act on a clear price more often than on a request for offers.

Two small tools help with bulk listing. The CamelCase Editor formats names for landers and listings, so BestCoffeeShop.com reads at a glance. File Splitter cuts a large upload into the batch size a marketplace accepts.

Step 6: Review every quarter

Once a quarter, update the inventory, record sales and inquiries, and total your renewal spend. Re-run the analysis to see how the mix has shifted. Check TLD Explorer for the extensions you hold: falling registrations in an extension often mean falling resale demand.

Use the same review to buy. Expiry ranks expiring names by value against price, and Registration Analytics shows which words are being registered now.

Questions