Also called renew or drop
Portfolio pruning, explained
Many investors prune once a year or ahead of each renewal date. For every name, weigh the renewal cost against the realistic odds and size of a sale: inbound inquiries, traffic, comparable sales, the health of the trend or industry behind it, and any change in the extension's pricing. Names that fail are offered to other investors at wholesale or allowed to expire. A portfolio of fewer, stronger names is cheaper to hold and easier to sell from.
The common mistakes run both ways. Sunk-cost renewals keep weak names alive because of what was already spent; over-pruning drops good names too early, since end-user sales can take years. Set your criteria before looking at the list, and try a wholesale sale before letting a decent name go. AI tools can batch-score thousands of names against comparable sales, search interest and trademark conflicts to flag candidates, but the final renew-or-drop call needs your judgment of who would buy each name.
Example. Reviewing a portfolio each January and letting expire the names that drew no inquiries and have no comparable sales is portfolio pruning.
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