There seem to be some good buying opportunities for mid-range domain names.
In early 2005 I looked around a domain name aftermarket that was quickly heating up. I saw high prices paid for category killers and lots of people snapping up less expensive domains.
But there seemed to be a sweet spot in the $2,000-$20,000 range in which values were still available.
Looking over some recent auction sales I think that sweet spot may have returned. There have been lots of sales of good domains in that range.
These domains aren’t category killers. They aren’t pure play product domains. But they would be the great foundation for a web site — and that’s something that can ultimately result in a nice payday for the owner.
Check out these examples from yesterday’s Aftermarket.com auction:
Idealistic.com $2250
Viewed.com $4900
Seated.com $2600
Bylaws.com $5000
Overworked.com $3750
And these results from Moniker’s most recent live/extended auction:
OfficePark.com $6000
Exhausted.com $2000
None of these domains are “perfect”. For example, Seated.com may not appear to lend itself to a business.
Or does it? How about a site for table reservations? Or buying chairs? It’s not the first choice (seat.com or seating.com might be better) but it can easily be branded into the right thing and it’s easy to remember.
Exhausted.com at $2000? Perfect for a sleep problems company, energy product, etc.
Are these good buys? What are your thoughts?
Jamie says
Seated.com is perfect for a reservations type brand. Perfect domain for it and a great price for a make sense brand name.
Often times I buy a domain for one reason and that reason sticks in my head.. yet there are plenty more ways the domain can be used for.
Anthony Hanner says
OfficePark.com was a very nice pick up at that price.
Many small businesses start out in “office parks” and use virtual offices.
A good website based on locating an office park in areas throughout the world…you could pick the 6k back up in direct ad sales relatively quickly.
Prosper says
I’ve noticed an uptick since early february in all markets. Hopefully this is a sign on changing times.
Tony says
I thought Cuffs.com for $11K was a good deal too.
Rob Sequin says
Plenty of great domains can be bought for $1000 to $20k. That is the best price range to buy and sell/find under valued domains.
Hand regs are crap.
$100 to $1000 domains can be found but obviously buyer sees more potential than the seller or other buyers.
Most $20k to $100k domains are overpriced by the owner from my experience.
Then, nothing much from $100k to $500k.
$500k+ domains are not good deals. Vast majority are extremely overpriced with future potential and branding potential factored in.
How many domains bought at $500k plus in the past several years could be resold at a profit today? VERY few.
domain guy says
andrew hit the nail on the head. it is the business model not the domain name.seated seems useless until you apply the right biz model.this is the key to domain development.
the correct business model alignment with the correct domain.
DR.DOMAIN says
@Rob Sequin:
Can’t disagree with you.Zappos paid something like 4m for CLOTHES.COM…I’m happy for the seller-but really…what about CLOTHES.COM? COUTURE.COM or FASHION.COM might be a better 6/7 figure buy.(imo)
Scott says
There are many names like this (for example lustys.com indigent.com grainy.com come to mind). The bottom line is that in order to make money someone has to want to start or expand a business using these names. And of course that goes for top shelf names as well. Is it easier to sell a name like this than a top shelf name? Only if someone comes along and wants the name. (Don’t say “duh”).
So the question is can you outbound market names like this? I don’t think so. Is anyone typing in these names to see if they are available? Probably not. Are these names that can be sold in the registration path of registrars? Hmm possibly. Can you put them on a “here are some brand names that are available” sure but do people with enough money go to those sites?
Would Mike Mann have sold them back in the day on Buydomains? Yes, but he wouldn’t have paid thousands for them is my guess. Mike? AFAIK nobody owns hundreds of thousands of names purchased for thousands of dollars per name.
Pat says
@Rob Sequin
Don’t hate the hand reg.
Steve M says
Had a similar thought a couple weeks ago after going through recent sales from various venues.
Lots of nice “sub-10k” one and two “real words” .coms out there these days.
Mark says
I used to be in the online incorporation business. Bylaws.com was a great buy at $5k.
RH says
Exhausted.com is a great name for $2000 IMO. A lot of creative ways to use the name. Plenty of energy drinks focus on people being tired all day. No doubt many don’t get enough sleep, so a site for better sleep, or for someone like Tempurpedic talking about the benefits of their bed and better sleep.
Smart buy IMO
Adam says
Seated.com is great! OverWorked is my fav though. I can think if a couple of cool sites for it.
Perchboy says
I’m no domain expert, just a person happy to learn from more experienced domainers willing to share their insights with the rest of us.
Rick Schwartz has stated that he still hand regs domains.
My guess is that a debate on this topic would be interesting and insightful to newbies and even some pros.
Maybe Morgan Linton could set up a video interview or debate on hand regs.
i think there are lots of opportunities says
Thats the thing about this game there is so much room out there to make it just got to know what your doing to make it happen
i love domains
Bill Sweetman says
@ Andrew, fascinating thread!
In our discussions with many end user buyers (business owners, startups, etc.), we have noticed that $10,000 is a frequently cited maximum threshold point for a .com domain. I can’t tell you how many times we have heard “$10,000 is our max budget”.
We have noticed that prospects tend to fall into a four camps:
1. “Tirekickers & Timewasters” – the folks that cannot wrap their heads around the idea of paying more than $100 for a domain name
2. “Bargain Hunters” – looking for domains $1,000 or less; these are typically domainers or ‘mom and pop’ small business folks
3. “Sensible Shoppers” – recognize the value of a good domain, have a domain purchasing budget, and are willing to spend $1-10K, typically medium-sized businesses
4. “Serious Spenders” – these are the Fortune 500 companies and marketing companies that have deep pockets and will spend five or six figures on a killer domain name
Andrew, the “Sensible Shoppers” group aligns nicely with your “sweet spot” theory.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Bill Sweetman – thanks for your insight. Of course this would also mean that options for flipping any of these $2k-$5k domains for over $10k might be limited given people’s “max budget”.
Steve Stank says
I like Viewed.com @ $4900. Hand Reg can be fun from time to time…
rob says
@bill sweetman.
interesting to see your categorization of domain shoppers, especially the label of “sensible shoppers”. Why are they sensible, simply coz they fit into the price range that domainers WANT to achieve?
of course there are good domains that are worth the money and the wait, but i think many domainers are waiting for all the stars in our galaxy to line up perfectly for the ideal, best, wealthiest, keenest shopper to come along and pay top dollar. realistically such a buyer may never come along. as i said, worthwhile in some cases, but far more where it’s not. a good example is miniature(whatever).com – do a search and see the hundreds of available .coms. i predict most of these will NEVER sell at all, even in the “bargain hunter” range.
most domainers think (want) their domain to be worth a squillion but VERY FEW of them are accurate in their pricing. for that reason i think the categorization is often more wishful thinking than reality.
having said that, perhaps YOUR knowledge of domain values might be spot on but most others push their domains into the next highest category.
Stephen Douglas says
Hi Dub-A,
This is a fact. In my 11 years of domaining, the majority of profits made by successful domainers are made by many sales of $300 -$10,000 range. You can do 50+ of these in a year if you know what you’re doing, and pocket some nice profits.
On the flipside, there are ways to get people interested in watching your domain sales, and that’s by offering up domains for ridiculously low prices. It connects you with great domain buyers who may pay a little more for another domain they want. I get grief from my domainer friends all the time for selling “PerfectSpanish.com” for a paltry sum just to get the buyer involved in my other domains. “Why didn’t you call me first for this one?,” they lamented.
I replied, “You’re already a buyer. This was a loss leader. It works.”
Sometimes you have to market strategically to meet good buyers and to analyze your own “profit to renewal” ration. I just recently did that with a respected domainer that I hadn’t done business with before. I gave him a goodie at waaaay below wholesale, and hopefully now he will be open to other domain buying possibilities.
Nice article.