Second guessing and postulating isn’t just for football.
Yesterday I read a guest post at Domain Name News titled “Armchair SEOs Play with Toys.com“. It was a good article about Toys.com losing its Google ranking, and how it’s easy to sit back and say “Toys ‘R’ Us” screwed up”. It’s easy to say that from the outside looking in, but we really don’t know the circumstances.
It got me thinking about a lot of domainers out there that I’d describe as “armchair domainers”. They’re the ones on forums telling people they sold their domains too cheap or they’re asking too much. They criticize every move made by another domainer, but what have they done with their own domains?
I’m guilty of this sometimes, too.
A recent case of armchair domaining comeuppance was when Faculty Lounge “bought” toys.com for $1.25M. A lot of people on forums said either it was worth much more or it sold for too much. Few of those people ever thought their comments would be tested. And let’s face it, none of these people had the money to buy the domain themselves. But when the auction was rerun and ended at $5.1M, a lot of people had to eat their words.
M. Menius says
I read those posts you are referencing and can came to the same conclusion. Especially with upper echelon domains like Toys.com, the everyday domainer is not in a position to offer a definitive valuation. There are many variables, some of which are unknown or difficult to identify if one is on the outside of a transaction.
This applies also to the somewhat naive belief that what happens in the public aftermarket is the whole story. It’s not. There is an enormous volume of private sales at all price levels. And these sales never get factored into the market’s perceptions because those sales are intentionally kept private … unknown to the masses.
Steve M says
One thing’s for sure when it comes to calling the “worth” or price of domains…nothing’s for sure.
Ever.
Adam says
Hey wait a minute Andrew, I think we may have coined that phrase. You’ll be hearing from our attorneys.
I think we may change the Domain Madness Contest award to be the ArmChair Domainer Award.
Andrew Allemann says
Adam – No, don’t sick Berryhill on me!!
Stephen Douglas says
Awww man, what a great war that would be! Strong-A vs. Dub-A in a “who said what first”.
And I’m sure Johnny B. would just sit back and laff, not choosing any sides in this contest.
My position? “Armchair Domainer” is an oxymoron. Either you’re a domainer, or you’re a wannabee. You can’t be a domainer working from comfort… YO! Man up, people. We all need to support each other, constructively comment on each of our ideas, and our paths…
Together we hold a lot of power online… think about it.
Andrew Allemann says
My defense: I clearly said this was a DNN idea. But actually, wasn’t it he SEO’s idea?
🙂
Stephen Douglas says
I think you may be right, Dub-A.