First Name .com Domains

[GT Web]

I've been thinking about this for a while. Obviously popular first name .com's are worth a good amount, but some of the prices I have seen seem rather inflated.

There is a thread about Bob.com in the domain news section (it was on sale at Ebay recently). I don't see why such a name would be worth 6 figures. Yes, it probably gets good traffic, but that traffic will be hard to monetize (who/what services are people looking for?). I also think these names are hard to develop (although Bob.com is pretty brandable, some of the other first names are not). For many of the first name .com domains I can't think of a reasonable end-user purpose for them.

Thoughts on the issue...?

 

[MinionDH]

I treat first name domains as a brand rather than a keyword. With that said I feel parking is always a bad idea for these type of domains. Yeah, you'll get type-in traffic but how do you optimize keywords to make maximum profits?

The only way to make any real money is through developing and branding. If you don't have the time/money/energy to do this then don't expect offers in the six figure range