I have been asked by my employer to investigate the sale of a 3 letter .co.uk domain name that we own. The domain is a generic word, which is used by many other companies as part of their product names.
We have always owned this domain and it is not currently used, so there is no previous baggage associated with the domain.
The domain in my opinion is very desirable and as such would attract a very high price tag. But the real question is where do I start trying to value or sell the domain?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Welcome to Webmasterworld [webmasterworld.com]
here is a great thread by Lisa:
[webmasterworld.com...]
a bit old but a lot still applies...
Shak
According to the rules in Lisas post it looks like I have a very valuable domain name on my hands :)
Now the next step.
Does anybody know of any domain name auction houses that specifically target .co.uk domain names? I looked at Afternic but they appear to be a more US based agency.
IHMO 3 letter domains, unless they spell "dog", "sex" or another 3 letter innately commercial word are a crapshoot. Will you run into trademark claims? Frequently. Does company XYZ already have a suitable domain? By now, likely yes.
I would throw out all the usual valuation criteria and look at who the likely market would be (law firms, accounting firm, etc. with 3 names a/la the 3 letters). If you have a big player and one without an evident trademark then I would track down the marketing person and begin a dialogue.
Using pat formulas you are likely to overvalue a 3 letter .uk domain. 3 letter domains are only useful as a either a type-in convenience or because the company is already known by the 3 letters. Therein lies the rub. If you make a move at selling the domain you could face a legal challenge. Soooooo, in some part of your thinking bear in mind - if you faced a legal challenge - what would the costs be.
Ultimately you only know the value of a domain when you actually get around to selling them. By that standard I own a lot of upriced merchandise. However, what I own I own as part of a half-baked self-marketing strategy.
Truly yours is not an easy task. If you think you hit the lottery you are 99 times out of 100 mistaken.
P.S. Check to see who is using the 3 letter version under dot com, dot net, etc. Might provide some guidance. Do the firms do business in the UK? Do they assert trademark rights on their web site?
Domainsurfer is a nifty too for exploring your domain issues.
@Webwork
You raise some interesting points about legal issues, but as far as I can tell this will not be a problem.
The 3 letters do spell a very generic english word, so generic that it would be difficult for anyone to claim they had ownership/trademark rights over it.
There is a dotcom in use with the same name for a reasonably sized online retailer, who at present don't deal within the UK, so this is def one line of enquiry.
I agree that it is a difficult task, and I am only just beginning to get to grips with the complexities involved. However I am pretty safe in the knowledge that this domain is the 1 out of every 100 winners.
Thanks for your much appreciated advice. I knew I came to the right place :)
The domain name market is likely to pick up again at some point (and .co.uk's will always have value).
At the moment the market's too flat. Now is not the time for generic English word domains.
TJ
a number of 5 and 6 figure deals have been done over the last 7 months.
Shak
Scott
True Shak, but isnt there a bit of a trend to go for "brand" over "keyword" recently?
You got it Marketing Guy.
The market is low at the moment for sales of generic English words. Hold on and wait for the next cycle.
Brand names are doing well. A recent example is newzealand.com which sold for an incredible figure given the size of the Country!
TJ
they buy shoes .co.uk NOT for ego purposes, but for the typoe in traffic...
recent big sales have included shopping.co.uk and dating.co.uk both which had over 1000 type ins a day.
Shak
