How a "not so hot" name sold for $40,000

[LarryWentz]

I had a great laugh & learning experience the other day when meeting up with a local entrepreneur (great guy). The gentleman had registered a domain name (that I definitely "never" would have registered) to use as a company name for some children books he is writing. I forget the name (that's how forgettable it is) but is something similar to domain names like valerhiller, leightree, kalensaw (.com)... OK you get the point.

Anyway - he got contacted by someone who wanted to purchase the domain for $500. He explained to them that he already had started to use the domain in a few materials he was producing so he declined the offer. They came back with a $1000 then a $2500 offer which also were declined. All of a sudden the offers went up to $20000 & then finally $40000 (maybe it was even $45000) which was accepted.

Now I say I had a learning experience but I don't think I plan on going to register very "so-so" domain names in hopes of a big payday. It does show you though that a domain name is apparently worth what the buyer is willing to pay for it ..... even if 99%+ of domain investors wouldn't have registered it in the first place.

 

[DomainBuyer]

I know a lot of people who have regged and kept tons of these lame sounding domains with no traffic and no revenue because they THINK they are million dollar names.

Funny how when you dont analyze a domain based on cold hard stats all domains sound like million dollar names. At least to non-domainers, so they keep them regged for years doing nothing with them. All it does is drain their personal economy down another -$10 a year...for nothing.

Will it pay off like this guys did?? This sale is one in a million chance if you ask me. Speaking of million...didnt some guy pay a MILLION bucks for beauty [dot] cc at one time? Why? Because of hype... Im sure he didnt make anything near that back with it.

Personally I would dump all domains not making revenue unless they have serious branding potential AND you will actually build sites around it..not just hope someone will send you offers...just my 2c.

 

[Theo]

Reminds me of this video classic

 

[mibworld]

That's REALLY funny, thanks!

Reminds me of this video classic

 

[Theo]

On another note, the ability to negotiate UP versus DOWN is a critical element in achieving high ROI for your domains.

 

[LarryWentz]

Reminds me of this video classic

OK - I blew milk out of my nose & didn't even drink any milk ...... a classic!

 

[wussadotcom]

On another note, the ability to negotiate UP versus DOWN is a critical element in achieving high ROI for your domains.

Are you suggesting we follow the man in the story. Reject and reject until we get to the $xx,xxx range :smilewinkgrin:

 

[Theo]

Are you suggesting we follow the man in the story. Reject and reject until we get to the $xx,xxx range :smilewinkgrin:

Yes. If you're confident about your domain's worth. You can do it.

 

[hugegrowth]

Is that Frank Schilling in the video?

 

[Theo]

Is that Frank Schilling in the video?

Looks like Bob Parsons' half brother

 

[fab]

Nice story!

 

[katherine]

Everything can happen in this industry, but the odds of selling a mediocre for huge sums are remote. As remote as winning the lottery but all the players have hope 'it' will happen.

 

[chrisb72]

hilarious video, I think that a lot when I see some names for sale. Goooooooglllllllllllllek.info lol

 

[copper]

This kind of thing happens although very rare when...
Buyer is enduser.
Buyer must have that particular domain, what ever that reason might be.
Buyer has deep pocket.
Seller have specific use for this domain.
Seller don't want to sell this domain.
Seller don't need to sell this domain.

However, don't sell your farm to register thousands of such domains
thinking it will happen again and again

 

[cleverlyslick]

Everything can happen in this industry, but the odds of selling a mediocre for huge sums are remote. As remote as winning the lottery but all the players have hope 'it' will happen.

This whole business is misconstrued.newbies come in with the hopes of regging names and flip it for big profit.I made this same mistake.
why because I read all these come up stories from rick schwartz and frank schilling and thought "hey if they did it why can't I.The truth is I can't,not without good premiums at least.ALL good names are taken and the only way I can get some is by coming out of my pocket for big money.I was lucky enough to flip some of my hand regs in the beginning for good money and thought "hey i'm sitting on a gold mine i'm gonna get rich let me quit my job" lol,but now I am struggling to find end users for the rest of my domains that I reg'd.IMO the domain game is ALL speculation.I think I speak for ALL domainers when I say domain flipping is a slowwwww hustle.you gotta wait and wait and wait and search and search and HOPEFULLY find a buyer that will pay something reasonable.you can still get lucky and sell some hand regs if you're smart about trends and stuff but there's more security in premiums, and even then it's also speculation (look how long it took to sell 360.org :smilewinkgrin.This luckbox accidently found a buyer that was willing to pay $40k for a name that makes no sense,But us as domainers have to go through the tedious work of finding buyers(I spend an average of 5-10 hours a day finding buyers) for keyword domains or even potentially "brandable" domains and sometimes just end up dropping the name.So like I said it's all speculation...

but then again maybe i'm just a moron :undecided:

I think if I hit a $40k lick like he did i'll be done with domaining.it's just too slow for my liking :asleep:

 

[stewie]

LOL funny everytime