I find these sorts of posts to be mind-boggling. I think we’re in an odd time where premium domain names have shot up in value so much in such a short period of time, that even some domainers are saying “Can they possibly go any higher?”
Scotland.com $1,000,000 - Nope, Wow, nice name. But I have a gut feeling, crickets will chirp. I think it is worth it but this is the wrong place to auction it off.
Seniors.com $1,000,000 - Nope, Do old people use computers? I think this one is too high.
ComicBooks.com $500,000 - Nope, Where is Marvel? Someone should broker this sale.
Premium, 1st-tier vertical domains are like Manhattan real estate. They aren’t going to lose value year-over-year. God ain’t making Manhattan any bigger and He sure ain’t making a second Scotland.com. In 2009 these prices will seem laughably cheap, just like NYC real estate prices in the ’80s now seem.
Considering domainers as of yet haven’t grokked the synergy between SEO and keyword.com, it’s not surprising that much of the perceived value remains hidden. Now who wants to give me 12M in funding to start a hedge fund? 
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8 comments ↓
One must wonder what these valuations are based on.
- Type-In traffic won’t get that money back in a 100 years.
- Sure it’s memorable, but still 1 million?
- Is the SEO benefit that great, compared to buying a brandable and doing $999,994 on SEO/promotion?
- The “real” sites seem to have non-word domains. i.e. Yahoo, Digg, del.icio.us
Then again, maybe domains are a new currency, deriving value solely from what it can be sold for, instead of having actual intrinsic value.
> Is the SEO benefit that great, compared to buying a brandable and doing $999,994 on SEO/promotion?
If you have a $3M total budget — hells yes, I would rather have Scotland.com + 2M to spend — then ScotlandWebGuide.com + 3M to spend.
It’s not just the typein. It’s not just the “direct” keyword synergy. Also the links you get for seeming more legitimate, the branding benefits, the increased likelihood of offline citations. If you have little startup capital, the costs of domains seem ridiculous. If you’re well-financed and going for a major play, they seem pretty cheap.
>Seniors.com $1,000,000 - Nope, Do old people use computers? I think this one is too high.
On this point, actually– Seniors are a HUGE online group. Technically, there are more seniors online on a regular basis then there are 19-24.
The problem?
1) they are email centric
2) they aren’t confident with the internet
3) The do very few activities (typically speaking): check email, look for travel deals, share photos (typically via email)
I think it just sold for 1.8.
Paul is right. Senior citizens are the fastest growing demographic for internet usage.
And really, selling Seniors.com is about the future - when 70 million americans will be retired.
Think about the lobbying power of groups like the AARP.
The price might be (have been) a little high, but not by much.
I have to wonder how well these evnts are advertiesed outside of the domaining industry. Not very well I would think.
That’s the only reason I can think of that Character.com didn’t sell (reserve was $50k), Character is a multimillion pound company that licence characters (spider man, scooby doo, etc) and make toys.
Did they know about this auction I wonder? do they really prefer character-online.com? for the sake of coughing up $50k
The same with cameras.com at the last auction did kodak, cannon, et al have representatives at the last auction did they know about it?
Or is a case of these compaines just don’t get it, don’t get the value of a great domain?
if/when these compainies do get it today’s prices will seem like a bargain.
Wow!
Thats what the after market of domain is called.
Well $5M for SEO.com wasn’t that too high!!!
$1 million for these domains is not excessive at all. If Seniors.com earned only $200 per day - a minuscule amount when you consider the many ways to earn money through PPC, pay per lead or action, affiliate agreements and development of the domain - it would pay for itself in 14 years, and after that it’s pure profit.
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