Hell.com Domain Name Up For Sale

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Internet domain name Hell.com is going up for sale, with bids of over $1 million expected, the Wall Street Journal reports. From the article: 'Sex.com sold for about $12 million earlier this year and Diamond.com changed hands for $7.5 million. The big-money domain-name sales echo an earlier boom, when Business.com fetched $7.5 million in 1999. Today's live auction of 300 names, by Seevast Corp.'s Moniker unit, includes more than a handful it predicts will generate bids of more than $1 million, including Iran.com, Auction.com and Elections.com. Now someone who buys Hell.com "has the opportunity to redefine what hell means, at least on the Internet," says Monte Cahn, Moniker chief executive.'"

i remember when....

[zxnos]

...hell.com used to be the weirdest site. strange stuff there and fun to search around. now it is a bit dull. ....what is going to happen to all of those who purchased lifetime @hell.com emails?

Diamond.com could have easily gone for more

[Tweekster]

They should have put up a page about the horrors of diamonds and how they are obtained.

DeBeers would have quickly wrote a MUCH larger check.

means....

[Himring]

has the opportunity to redefine what hell means, at least on the Internet

women?

Re:Top Level Domain Names Don't Matter

[Barondude]

Owning the domain name that matches your search keyword ranks you higher in search engines. That is why domain names still matter

Re:i remember when....

[shaneh0]

That's not free!

Seems like a waste of money to me.

[Peregr1n]

I have to say, I have no idea who owns Business.com, Diamond.com and Sex.com or what they do with them (although with the latter example I have a fairly good idea). But if I was looking for diamonds, diamond.com wouldn't be my first port of call - I'd be more likely to search, or go to a known brand name retailer online.

So unless somebody wants to brand their own business hell.com and spend mega-bucks promoting it, it all seems a bit pointless. After all, eBay does fine without being called auction.com; Google does fine without being called search.com. In fact, it could be argued, they do BETTER - decent, unique brand names stick in consumer's minds far better than relying on a recycled word.

I'm sure hell.com will sell for a fair bit - but it will only be effective as a one-off marketing ploy (hey! Look! So-and-so casino has bought hell.com), no long term value in it.

Re:The asking price is...

[Guncrazy]

One's soul? Sure, it sounds like a high price to pay. But the moment you become willing to sell it, it loses all its value.