Domain Names Worth Their Weight in Gold Again 223
prostoalex writes "So far in 2006 domain name on.com fetched $635,000, Macau.com was sold for $550,000, blue.com was sold for half a million, and Jasmin.com was bought for $310,000. With the exception of the last domain name, which is currently used for erotic video chat, the rest of the domains run some sort of domain parking ads. USA Today talks about revived interest to domain name trade, and companies like Marchex, a 'leader in vertical and local traffic', which happens to own a .com domain for every single zip code in the United States. There's also a report that in the few days that .eu domain names were made available, 1,454,218 European domains were registered."
Bah!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
And what does it say about the market audience when domain names with misspelled words (like Mortage.com) can go for $242,000?
Oh, I forgot.... at least one domain level parking company provides Microsoft with advertising because they "parked" all of their unused domains on IIS servers....which......appear at some level to be able to handle those traffic loads.
Re:Bah!!! (Score:5, Informative)
-- --
Terrorists can destroy our trains and buildings, but they can't destroy our rights and freedom. Only we and our lawmakers can destroy that.
Re:Bah!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Their income goes back to Google.
That was to expected from a company that went public and reports to their shareholders. Lots of money and values don't go together.
Bah!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah! Just look at the Catholic church.
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Re:Bah!!! (Score:3, Informative)
I have domains I currently use for email but don't have corresponding websites.
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Many people benefit from scarcity (real or artificial), and those who benefit keep the "system" working with
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Also, the second you put up "this domain for sale" on your page, it's stripped and returned as well.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I wasted a ton of money on domains... (Score:2)
Lucas would have come after you if you'd ever tried to use these. Everything Star Wars related is (TM) and (R) to the hilt.
Re:I wasted a ton of money on domains... (Score:2)
I hate the regular commercial part of the Internet, and I hate this kind of stuff even more
Re:I wasted a ton of money on domains... (Score:2)
I use sedo, and have had some success moving them. I've received a few offers on some over the $1k range but want to see what else comes in.
I looked at it like this. The domain trade business is quite a bit like the playing lotto once or twice a week business, with approximately the same chances that you'll hit
Re: (Score:2)
And they're parasitic AFTER the sale too! (Score:3, Interesting)
One of my clients paid a consultant to set up a web site and some email hosting for his daycare centers a couple years ago. Well, recently, that consultant ran into some personal problems (divorce, etc.) and became very difficult to reach/unresponsive. So finally, the daycare owner decided what he needed to do was redire
Re:Bah!!! (Score:5, Funny)
"Mortage: When you need some G's."
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Its all bollocks anyway (Score:4, Interesting)
I mean seriously, I constantly have customers coming in fretting about domain names. One chap sits at the visitor PC and spends hours (literally) trying different iterations of common words, and combinations. This is just silly. I tell them to relax, the name really isn't important. Content is king on the internet, the name doesn't matter a damn.
Lets take our favourite website, slashdot. What exactly does that have to do with technology or news? Nothing, and yet its one of the most successful sites out there. Google is a verb, for gods sake, and its domain name has exactly zero to do with searching. If these guys had their way, it would have been called simplysearch.com or something. One of our most successful websites LIreland [lireland.com] the domain name doesn't mention anything to do with driving or driving schools.
This domain name hunting fad will be consigned to the murky annals of bankruptcy before too long, as more and more useful, content rich sites gain a reputation and a following. Meanwhile, trust me, the name doesn't matter a damn.
The slashdot name. (Score:3, Informative)
Slashdot =
I think that matches "News for nerds" quite well.
Re:The slashdot name. (Score:2)
Re:The slashdot name. (Score:2)
And domain names are important (Score:2)
Other off topic things I don't like about googles search result are that a search for "product-name review" often results in lots of pages which has the word "consumer review" or similair inside them, even thought there are no review and never a large and good one. When I search for something like that I want to have more on my bones then "I've bought it for $30 and I like it".
Re:And domain names are important (Score:2)
Domain names are important because search engines seems to value the occurency of the searched word inside the domain quite high.
Yeah, but if you can't get it, don't sweat it.
Parking Sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
And what does it say about the market audience when domain names with misspelled words (like Mortage.com) can go for $242,000?
I fail to see how such a mispelling can be worth that much moneyt. Maybe my visitors are too smart, but still, typing piping desoin into a search engine is not going to get them where they want to be, and they'll quickly realize their error.
Sow as ye reap and all that (Score:2)
So now a do
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Here's $1200. Go buy someonewhogivesashit.com.
Well, if you really are willing to hand over the $1200, then that would be funny. It might be even funnier if you posted as someone other than an anonymous coward. As it is, it's a troll, but here, I'll rescue you and make it funny.... someonewhogivesashit.com is already registered to someone in the UK (go figure).
http://www.wheresmymoneybitch.com/ [wheresmymoneybitch.com] I don't know if it's forsale, but I would imagine since they don't have a website setup there they are likely
Re:MOD IGNORANT PARENT DOWN - EXPLANATION (Score:4, Insightful)
No.... No new rules. We have enough, thanks.
People who have no idea HOW SOMETHING WORKS, are no longer allowed to use Slashdot as an outlet for their ignorant ranting.
You do have an ID in the mid 600000 range, so you have not been around here long, have you? Slashdot is one of the biggest rantspaces on the Internet. That said, I understand exactly how the process works as explained below.
Those domains displaying domain parking pages are OWNED. That means someone exchanged goods, services, or currency for property. The property was the registration of the domain name. Still with me?
OK, that is perfectly understandable. Do you have any idea of how these companies "OWN" these domain names? Of course you do as you are trying to use/justify this same model to make money for yourself. For others here that may not know, they buy them up in bulk and find any and all possible relevant combinations of names in the hopes that someone will find a need for that name and then exchange again, more money to buy that domain name at a later date. Simple parasitic business with no real contribution to anything other than lining their own pockets.
1. After registering a domain, your nameservers typically default to some that the registrar provides.
Yes, and that drives more revenue to the domain name registrar who can then run statistics on how much traffic that name gets which then allows them to "valuate" that domain name for cost increases for ownership.
2. These at-the-moment "unused" domains, which number in the millions, get between a little and a LOT of traffic that would otherwise go nowhere.
See above explanation to 1.
3. An enterprising registrar sees this as an opportunity for offsetting costs, and profit (see: capitalism).
Yes, yes.... capitalism. I'm all for it, but hopefully that capitalism actually does something that contributes to society.
1. Someone registers a domain, and puts a program like the aforementioned on it to drive revenue - either while developing a site for it, or they simply are doing so well with it that it is "maximized". (Lingerei.com is an example)
Or.... statistically more likely and factually born out by the evidence, they simply sit on the domain and let it lie fallow until someone comes along that wants to buy it.
Re:MOD IGNORANT PARENT DOWN - EXPLANATION (Score:2)
Re:MOD IGNORANT PARENT DOWN - EXPLANATION (Score:4, Insightful)
Besides, using "yeah well they did it first" doesn't mean that it's right, or that other things should be modeled in the same fashion, even if one was to accept that land development is a suitable analogy to domain squatting.
Re: IGNORANT... (Score:3, Insightful)
So being a "timeless trade" makes it okay. Like armed robbery, white slavery, "protection", etc. And the term "development" is misleading. A parked site is not developed like land; land is usually developed by p
Re:Bah!!!-Imagination Squatting. (Score:2)
Adding a hyphen or getting a non
Re:Bah!!! (Score:2)
Yours you say ?
In the UK every limited company is reserved a domain as per its name.
The rest should be a land grab, and that's what makes the world go round.
Ok, the time is NOW (Score:3, Funny)
shavedteenasiancamwhoremyspacediggxenisucks.com is now for sale.
Bidding starts at $500,000.
Capital Gains tax? (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks Slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
And now, thanks to Slashdot, they've got tons of extra traffic plus a one-way link from a PR9.
bort.
Re:Thanks Slashdot! (Score:2)
Obligatory (?) Arrested Development reference (Score:2)
Weight a minute (Score:5, Funny)
So how much exactly does a domain name weight? I'm thinking those that paid half a million dollars got ripped off badly.
Re:Weight a minute (Score:3, Funny)
Any takers? We're talking a whole mountain here...
Shit... (Score:3, Funny)
.eu too (Score:2, Interesting)
According to the report an independent institute valued the name at 300000 €
Re:.eu too (Score:2)
NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Score:5, Informative)
Re:NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Score:2)
Re:NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Score:3, Informative)
Literacy is fun.
Re:NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Score:2)
You've just demonstrated the value of "typo" domains.
And the rest. (Score:2)
The page behind Jasmine [dot] com also tries to install flash malware.
There are javascript pop-up's hidden hundreds of characters off to the right, which appear to be click-through ads.
The link techinterviews [dot] com behind the poster prostoalex is another link farm.
/me smells a rat.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Score:2)
From the
With the exception of the last domain name, which is currently used for erotic video chat,
It sounded like a warning to me. Perhaps they should use the blink tag next time?
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/linux.html [digitalelite.com]
I used to laugh... (Score:3, Insightful)
*Every* zip code? (Score:2)
And meanwhile, Microsoft gives away domain names (Score:2)
Re:And meanwhile, Microsoft gives away domain name (Score:5, Interesting)
important questions here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why did we have to make registration so cheap to begin with? I don't see what's wrong with charging $50 for a a year for a domain name. If someone needed it that bad they should pay up. Now with the ultra low cost anyone can buy up a bunch of domain names and sell them back for an excessive fee.
So... when will legislation be inacted to prevent domain parking? It's obvious that parking a domain can bring no benefit to the economy or society, it's just an unecessary middleman tactic. Also, registering a domain name and a copyright are two seperate things. If you own the copyright you should definately be able to sue these domain parkers for infringement.
It's just absolutely ridiculus that we got into a situation where every imaginable word, phrase, or typo is now registered.
Re:important questions here... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:important questions here... (Score:3, Interesting)
As far as mcdonalds.com goes, it should probably go to McDonalds Inc. instead of Bill if we examine this simply from an efficiency perspective. Almost every reader visiting the page is expecting the company, not the hobbyist. DNS is, after all, designed t
Scaling domain costs? (Score:4, Interesting)
Second domain - 20 dollars
Third domain - 50 dollars
Fourth domain - 100 dollars
Subsequent domains - 1,000 dollars
Sure, you have the problem of people registering things under other people's names, but that can be solved.
Essentially, your e-mail and personal identity domain should be basically free, your first and second hobby domains should be reasonably priced, your third and fourth domains should have a lot of motivating factor behind them, and if you need 5 or more domains you're probably a very large company with a lot of people working for you.
Re:important questions here... (Score:2)
I'd personally raise the price of a
Re:important questions here... (Score:2)
As soon as the legislators realize that domain parking is analogous to sitting on any other sort of property, and that the natural way to fix it is property taxes.
As long as this is perceived to be a "some nerd had to give his website a stupid name because some other nerd was hogging the good names" problem, it'll never attract legislative attention. Make it clear that there's an untapped source of tax revenue here and you'll see the problem
'A leader in vertical and local traffic'? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Sometimes business changes and you sell your domai (Score:2)
What does iritate me though is when I'm trying to buy a domain which is held by a mass squatter and despite see
The choice is yours (Score:2, Insightful)
Thing is, you don't have to have the money if you have the imagination. I've recently started brainstorming for domain ideas for some projects I'm releasing in the next couple of months, and I can assure you that despite it being difficult and sometimes frustrating to find a good name for free, it's ALWAYS possible to get one, if you so wish.
When I mention my doma
Re:The choice is yours (Score:2)
The trademark this site
Re:The choice is yours (Score:2)
IANAL, but I think you're wrong. Everyday words can be trademarked in context with their field of use. It's fine if you want to name your band "The Windows" or whatever, but write an OS and call it Windows and MS is going to rape you in court, even though all you used was the simple, everyday word "Windows".
For anoth
Re:The choice is yours (Score:2)
Well, in that case I'll try and not come up with a web plugin that competes with Flash
"Worth their weight in gold"? (Score:2)
Please don't crucify me if my math is off
Re:"Worth their weight in gold"? (Score:2)
But obviously the opposite is true. The next big thing will be businesses whose names are created by a random trigraph generator or are corruptions on existing words.
In Australia
I used to work at ON. (Score:2)
I just loved that domain as an email address...
Paul
Cardboard box effect? (Score:2)
This may or may not be true, but, we could still look at an upswing in domain names as a type of "cardboard box effect", it may mean that e-Commerce is picking up again.
Or it might mean nothing at all!
Re: (Score:2)
Quick! Let's reinvent DNS (Score:2)
Then we'd just need to get Firefox, and of course IE to
This comment for sale! (Score:2)
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Google will change Adsense and this will crash (Score:3, Interesting)
Then we had click-through, and advertisers paid for "clicks". Now we have "click glut", very few clicks lead to a sale, and the bottom is falling out of "clicks".
What we're going to end up with is something where advertisers only pay for actual sales. This creates accounting problems, but Yahoo Store and parts of the porno industry already have it working.
The main thing keeping the click trade going is Google. When the day comes that Google stops paying affiliates for clicks, others will follow and the domain spam industry will fall apart. This will probably happen right after Google gets a payment system in place.
Re:Google will change Adsense and this will crash (Score:2)
It would be relatively easy for Google to implement a payment-per-conversion system, however this would put a lot more risk on the person selling advertise
Re:Google will change Adsense and this will crash (Score:2)
Oh, nonsense. Less than one in eight domain squatters use Google. The domain squatting game existed years before Google did. Google doesn't even run the kind of scam ads that most squatters do.
What is it with people like you believing that without Google, the entire Internet goes away? Do you honestly believe Google's the only ad broker on earth? That all these advertisers will just say nevermind? That these content providers will go "well that's
Stuff.by.net vs. Things.on.com (Score:3, Interesting)
It is generally the case that
Sure, "Cars dot com" works as well or better, but that one's taken, and so is almost every other "Product dot com" domain. So the question is, would "Cars.on.com" be better than "Cars.by.net"?
Which is the more valuable domain space?
I'm asking sincerely, even though I have a self-interested motivation in doing so. I've literally been told by some appraisers that By.net should be worth 10-25% of what By.com would be, and it just doesn't make any sense at all.
Re:Stuff.by.net vs. Things.on.com (Score:2)
The other 10-25% comes from domains working the way they're supposed to - someone goes out and actually builds something there, then gets the word out, and people go hit the site. In the case of two- and three-letter domains, the value there is drastically inflated, because they're so much easier to remember, even if
Re:Stuff.by.net vs. Things.on.com (Score:2)
Make (Score:2)
There was an article in Make magazine a few months ago about domain names (I believe it was written by Tim O'Reilly). Basically, it said (paraphrased), "If we were registering a domain name for this magazine a few years ago, we would have needed to get make.com to get any visitors. However, given the ubiquity of search engines now, makezine.com is fine . . . people will still find us with no problem."
So, um, what I'm saying is, domain names a
But (Score:2)
books.com, search.com, computers.com, auction.com (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:books.com, search.com, computers.com, auction.c (Score:2)
For what it's worth, just think it over. These people own sometimes upwards of 20k domains. We always say "there's no way they could sell a tenth of a percent of their $5k domains." Okay, so what if that's true? Buying domains in bulk they're like fifty cents each; if we assume a turnover of one tenth of one percent, and a return of $5k each, then they've made $100k off of a $10k investment.
Yes, they're making
Cybersquatters retort (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.linkuwant.com/website/cybersquatter.ph
"This term is used by envious corporate world executives and attorneys."
Feel free to slashdot them.
Rules for Free Markets. (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't you hate it when land developers buy up all the land and refuse to sell it to you at the price you think they should?
Idiot (Score:2)
Re:Idiot (Score:2, Insightful)
Most of the posts on this article can be summed up as "I hate when someone makes money."
Re:Idiot (Score:2)
A more sensible idea would have been to have a new TLD where you couldn't register a domain you already had in
Re:Rules for Free Markets. (Score:2)
Re:Rules for Free Markets. (Score:2)
And, incidentally, there are similar controls on real estate. They're known as zonings.
Australian domain name managers have the right idea.
You said why.... (Score:2)
ROTFL. I don't think you understand the significance of your own question:
Why should the administrators of
Re:Rules for Domain Names (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Name my kid! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Domain names worth their weight in gold!? (Score:5, Funny)
Borrowing some figures from another post, I get a value of $1357.15 per kilo. [slashdot.org]
The mass of a single electron is 9.1x10^-31. Putting these two values together gives a value of $1.23x10^-27 per electron. Not something you want to plan your retirement around.
Of course I feel I must point out that this neglects binding energy and such, but hey, it's late, I already feel like enough of a nerd for working this much out.
Re:How much does a domain name weigh? (Score:2)
Re:How much does a domain name weigh? (Score:2)
(500,000/600) ounces = 23.62 Kg
Of course we haven't taken into account the millions and millions of domains sold for $8...so bah sod it you do the math.
Re:Here's an idea (Score:2)
Re:EU is wrecked. (Score:2)
In the early days, in
That was a clear rule. Once that was weakened to "ok, a second or third is okay too, but only when those are tradenames of that same company" the big mess started.
(there is still the distinction between "first domain" and "next domain" in the