A good deal or a reality check of the domain market?
Afternic just brokered the sale of WirelessPhones.com for $70,000.
The name rang a bell, so I started searching around. As it turns out, I wrote about an auction for WirelessPhone.com (singular) back in 2006. The domain sold for $355,000 to a domain investor back then.
So let’s be honest, here. WirelessPhones.com is a better domain than the singular version. And it just sold for 1/5th of what the singular version sold for in 2006.
Is this a) a symbol of the excesses of the domain market before the crash or b) changing nomenclature around mobile phones or c) just a freak occurrence (either the previous sale or this one).
You tell me.
The buyer is a direct marketing company out of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Or, D.
Maybe, overpaid for phone and underpaid for phones.
“Wireless Phone(s)” is a name used back in the 90’s when cell phones were just coming out. I
never heard anyone call their cell,iphone or any wifi device a “wireless”. Sounds to me like
the seller made a good deal as technology and
product names change.
i don’t get it… so what you’re saying is that in the future there will be no wireless phones,,, or that the name is now meaningless… as in the the statement “hey baby… if you wanna come over to my house… i got’s me wireless phone,”
@ RaTHead – as in most people refer to them as mobile phones or cell phones
Different strokes for different folks. While market adjustment does exist, this sole transaction does not indicate the market has ‘collapsed’. Ask Rick, Mike etc.
Personally, I think both buyers overpaid. Just one more than the other. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone refer to their cell phone as a wireless phone. Wireless phone more closely resembles the “cordless phone” which would refer to a house phone. That phrase is dated though.
I don’t see much commercial promise in wirelessphone.com or wirelessphones.com.
Just an example of why all new technology terms become dated and obsolete, often within a few years. Wirelessphone.com is as useful as Colortv.com. In a few years domains with pad, tab, 3d, cloud, social, whatever else is tech trendy today will sound just as dated.
Agree with Bryan.
Differing degrees of overpayment.
How did WirelessPhone.com sell in 2006, seller to buyer or brokerage to buyer?
I think that might make a difference. WirelessPhones.com sold through a brokerage which does not necessarily care about getting you top dollar. They want the sale or they get no commission.
This is only one of the reasons I really don’t like using domain brokers.
Second tier names that relate to technology will often have a limited shelf life.
Phone.com / phones.com will always hold and increase in value.
@ Head Count – 2006 sale was through Afternic, but an auction.
Agree with Jon, the term wireless phones will go the way of walkmans, vcr’s, computer monitors, cassette tapes etc.
Yes, a cellphone is “wireless” but if you are
looking for such a device would you Google
“cellphone” or “wireless phone”?
I think everybody missed the point here.
1.one is a plural and one is a singular
I also registered the plurals of each domain..but later on I started registering the plurals and the singulars…and watched what happened….people type in the singular version even though the plural version makes more sense.noe i have both bases covered on key domains.
2.yes the market has not collapsed but retreated just like every other industry.
3.I have noticed that the type ins on unrelated domains have fallen over the last few years…google is having an effect as searches start there.
4. I have developed several geo domains and am seeing what happens with wireless search..I think foursq and g search will help
these domains..
however youslice it the golden era of domains is over schwartz called it correctly several yrs ago.
Nobody calls them wireless phones might have something to do with it. Cellphones, smartphones, superphones, etc.
I think as long as Verizon and ATT continue to brand their operations as “wireless” the term will continue to have value.
Well the price still depends on what buyers are willing to pay and what seller is willing to accept.
But just took a look at $355k. The question is what the buyers was thinking about? Site is almost dead and owner haven’t done anything.
According to Compete dot com, WirelessPhone dot com had -0- traffic for the month of April. Not
a very good investment strategy imo.
i remember auction and most of the circumstances of this domain. The owner,which I had contact with a few months before any notice of an auction, would not provide stats but wanted a few hundred thousand. Many of the metrics that we used back then made you believe that there was alot of traffic. I believe the main metric showing that it was a good buy was the Overture tool. If my memory serves me the domain was in thousands with the .com. Since it was a very high paying keyword, it was well worth buying if it truly had good traffic. My sixth sense told me something did not add up correctly, so we did not by it.
Arg matey!
Jus’ another example among many of the imperfect, fragmented market domains be.
With great risk comes great opportunity.
With great opportunity comes great risk.
Now, to the ship! To the ship!
The race be afoot!
I don’t agree so, in the case of seo, phone’s value is more than phones’.And, most people is lazy to type more letter,so the frequence typing phone is bigger than phones’.