Handshake domain flipping: From $1,000 purchase to $230,000 sale in six months

It’s not often that you’re able to see a 230x return in less than six-months, but in the world of Handshake domains I think it’s safe to say that anything is possible. Yesterday NameBase.io announced the sale of p/ for a whopping $230,000, and like the title of this post says, the original owner paid only $1,000 and actually just bought the domain in November of last year.

Handshake domain flip

The ROI on some of the recent Handshake domain flips have been absolutely stunning lately but I can’t say I’m surprised. Right now Handshake domains are almost purely speculative. Nobody knows what is going to happen which means people can and will place bets, not based on past sales or any specific formula but much like Bitcoin, based on a vision for how the world will change in the future.

Traditional domain names, while still enjoying plenty of speculation, have a lot more past sales data and metrics for valuation that can be used to determine a realistic price, the same just isn’t true for Handshake.

What current Handshake domain investors are doing, of which, yup – I’m one of them, isn’t that dissimilar to what .COM investors did in the 90’s, bet on a fundamental global change that hadn’t yet happened. While today .COM investors in the 90’s might look like geniuses, back then they were looked at as crazy people, betting on changes taking place that seemed almost impossible.

I can still remember building websites in the 90’s (and no, sadly I didn’t buy any domains then) and people telling me, “what’s the point of building a website? The world wide web is just a fad?!?”

Rewind five years ago and I remember buying Bitcoin and Ethereum and people said the same thing to me. Now, when I buy Handshake domains or $HNS people say the exact same thing, and at this point, when I hear that, I only get more inspired 🕺

All that being said, getting p/ for $1,000 was insane, and trying to find a name even close to that caliber in the $10,000 range is no longer possible. I’m still searching for diamonds in the rough and learning as I go but the Handshake domain space grew quickly and people who got solid names last year are likely going to be paving the way for what’s to come.

What I think the p/ sale does show us is that the market for Handshake domains is real, the buyers are there, and these are still the early days. Yes it’s risky, but so was buying .COMs in the 90’s – the question is, are you willing to take the risk?

Congrats to the p/ seller and buyer, this will be an interesting one to watch over the years…

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton