Any thoughts?
Not sure if you're at all interested in doing it, but Sedo does a domain appraisal service where they can appraise the value of the domain name you're looking at. It costs about $40 for a comprehensive domain name appraisal, but it should give you a good idea of what its worth.
Its not out of the question to see domains going for that much, though. One recently went for six figures on Sedo.
Also, sometimes the seller will set a high price so that negotiations will end up approaching what they wanted in the first place. Perhaps that's what this person is doing now.
It is a five letter .com name.
Is this a real English word, or an abbreviation?...
This would make a huge difference.
You can get a reasonable and "free" estimate of what a domain might resell for by looking at the domain pricing for similar domains at BuyDomains.com. They are the largest reseller in the market.
Any individual can ask for the moon for a domain. It only matters what someone will pay. A large number of fools hold onto domains like they are winning lottery tickets, afraid to actually present them for payment for fear that the dream will evaporate. The dream is their asking price. Reality is 99.9% of the dreamers are holding onto junk, as evidenced by the fact that they only ever sell a small percentage of what they registered.
There's probably 3,000,000+ domains being held for resale. I would venture that in a given year only 1% of the domains are actually resold, and of that 1% the vast majority are resold for >$1,000.
If you want to see reports of sold domains take a look at the archives of the Domain Name Journal.
[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 11:43 pm (utc) on April 3, 2004]
[edit reason] Removed unlinked commercial URL [/edit]
The domain is not one word, actually it's two words put together but the first word isn't even a real word.
Who ever owns the domain will probably be sitting on it for years and years and years, I certainly won't pay that kind of money to buy a domain and my guess is a lot of people won't. Maybe in a few months I will try again and see if I can get it for $20.
I can be pretty sure that you will never ever get it for $20 though. That's simply ridiculous. The cheapest I go on even a crappy name I don't want is $50, just to cover the time it'd take to transfer ownership. If you can't pay at least that, no matter how bad the name is, I'll let the name drop (in which case someone watching drop lists will probably grab it within a day or so and register it before you ever know it's even available) before I would ever let you have it at that price. If there's any value at all to the name I go minimum $100, and it keeps going up from there.
The only thing worse than some joker trying to sell someworthlessname.com for a half million is some cheapskate who doesn't understand the domain name market trying to buy a name for next to nothing and insulting the owner over it.
I just won't pay 50k for a domain name no matter what it is
Oh, I would in a heart beat. The trick is knowing what to do with a 50k name.
One of my competitors has a name that I (and more importantly, my wife) would have no problem dropping 50k to secure it. Of course, my competitor will never let it go because just the type in traffic alone would bring in over 50k per month.
$20 would be a starting price, I can accept to pay $50. I didn't insult the guy either,
You miss my point. $50 minimum for crappy name of no value just for the trouble of transferring it. The kinds of numbers you are talking about are an insult to anyone who owns domains and knows what they are worth. This is a five character .com name that you evidently want, so odds are it is worth tons more than $50.
I mean, presumably you want to put a site there. If a piece of land is good enough to build a house on, presumably it's good enough to pay real money for. There's no difference.
I just won't pay 50k for a domain name no matter what it is.
Then you'd never get a good name. Lots of people do pay those kind of prices, so for you to be complaining about it is rather pointless.
Again, no telling if the particular name in question is worth that much without more info, but lots of names very clearly are worth that or more.
I've recieved an estimate from afternic for hotel.us but there's a current market and potential market value and the difference between the two is huge. (400%). Not quite sure what to do with those numbers. And, not sure if the domain market will ever come back to where in was in 1999. Any thoughts?
The domain is not one word, actually it's two words put together but the first word isn't even a real word.
Will cost $7USD only, and if the guy who owns the current domain that you want hasn't registered a trademark - even better!
Sid
But I just like the names and it's worth $7/year to keep them. I have the vague idea that I might someday do something, or someday update what I did eons ago and is sitting there rotting. I might not.
People ask how much, and I give a price based on how I feel that day, but I don't think I've ever offered to sell for less than $500. If the domain were only worth $50 to me in the first place, would I have bothered to register it and pay for it for 5 years? Of course not.
When some guy wrote to me with all sorts of bizno mumbo-jumbo, I told him $3000 Why? Because I didn't like him. There is nothing illegal in quoting someone a higher price because you don't like him. I know people who offer professional services who do it all the time. It just isn't worth it to them to hassle with difficult people at their normal fee. Those difficult people are welcome to find someone else or, in this case, choose another name.
one guy approached ME over a domain name. Had it on ebay for one week months before....no idea how he found out about it. is a good name but I was asking a realistic $500 for it - unlike the clowns on ebay asking $20,000 for gr8-savings-r-us.com and the like.
replied saying, "yeah, let's do business. $500" and he comes back to me with, "ridiculous price, go and get a full appraisal at a minimum of three domain name appraisal sites and get back to me" to which I replied, rather acerbically, "excuse me, who came to who with this offer? I will await your appraisals from FIVE sites!"
ps...the name is along the lines of world-cup-2006.com for an upcoming, hugely commercial sporting event. so it is time limited to around 18 months' use I reckon...but I think the $500 was actually a damned reasonable price considering.
No. Most rely on the few reported sales.
What a crock. Don't waste your money. Ever. Find someone who actually has some substantial direct experience owning, buying and selling domains.
yes, he suggested two "example" appraisal companies. I smelt a rat immediately (bit of a cynic I am!) and hence me penning on my previously quoted mail to him.
I agree with what has been said. If you want to buy a second hand car, it is you who goes through motoring web sites and second hand car magazines and consumer articles to see if $5000 for that particular Ford is a rip off or not. You most certainly do not approach the seller and ask for signed certificates from two independent appraisers proving its worth.
counter offer...that person can then tell you to run and jump...or can deal with you. or you pay up the original asking price.
