Renewal fees are your payroll. Every name on the roster costs money each year, and a general manager’s job is to make sure each one is earning its spot.
- Calculate your yearly holding cost and the sales it takes to cover it.
- Tier every name so decisions are fast at renewal time.
- Dropping weak names is a strategy, not a failure.
Know your payroll
Add up next year’s renewal fees across every registrar. That number is what your sales need to cover before you make a dollar. Many investors are surprised by how much it has grown.
Sell-through math
Your sell-through rate is the share of your portfolio that sells in a year. Here is a hypothetical example to show the math.
Say you hold 150 names with an average renewal of $12. Your holding cost is $1,800 a year. If 2 percent sell, that’s three sales a year. Those three sales must average $600 just to break even. If your names realistically sell for $500 each, the portfolio loses money every year, even though individual sales feel like wins.
Two levers fix this: raise your sell-through with better names and better distribution, or cut the names least likely to sell.
Tier the roster
- Starters: strong names with clear buyers and evidence. Renew without hesitation and price at retail.
- Prospects: decent names that need work, like better listings, outbound, or a price change. Renew, but give them a job.
- Bench: names with thin evidence. Consider a lower price for investors, or drop.
- Cut list: names with no clear buyer, trademark concerns, or expensive renewals. Drop them.
A review process that takes an hour a month
- Each month, pull the names renewing in the next 60 days.
- Score them with the NAR Score or Portfolio GM tool to see where they stand.
- Check for new evidence: inquiries, views, new comps, taken extensions.
- Decide: renew and keep, renew and push, reprice, or drop.
- Record the decision so next year’s review is faster.
Questions to ask about every name
- Has anyone inquired in the last two years?
- Can I name three specific businesses that would buy it?
- Would I register it today at this renewal price?
- Is the extension’s renewal price rising?
If the answer to the third question is no, that’s usually your answer.
Before you drop, try one last play
Before letting a name expire, consider listing it at a wholesale price for other investors, or running a short outbound campaign. Sometimes a name finds a buyer in its final month.
Use the Portfolio GM tool
Paste your domains with renewal costs into Portfolio GM. It totals your holding cost, scores each name, and suggests keep, push, reprice, or drop, with the yearly savings from cuts. Nothing you paste leaves your browser.
For finding better replacements, read the Moneyball approach and drop catching 101.