"The Domains of the Day" - Business Week Article

[tonyfloyd]

See below....

http://www.internetrealestate.com/media/ireg-bizweek-8x11.pdf

Great Read!

Tony

 

[DomainLobe]

Awesome and inspiring story.
Thanks Tony

 

[PeterMan]

Wow, they have some seriously nice names... I like the way it says they like

"buying underappreciated domain names on the cheap and turning them into multimillion-dollar properties."

$300,000 is on the cheap! :dizzy:

 

[katherine]

Way to go.
I just wish Rick would develop property.com.
Top generics should not be left to rot parking.

 

[tonyfloyd]

what a killing these guys made!

 

[ck89102]

This is the stuff that dreams are made of.
Thank you for posting.

 

[foundrstack]

That is so inspiring. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Creature]

The 700 million figure seems high for names sold last year. Can that be real?

 

[petrosc]

I really like watching great generics become actual websites. That's what the domain name's destiny is - to become a website. Schwartz has been claiming for years that he is developing his generics but unless I'm missing some, I didn't see any get developed - which is a real waste of traffic

 

[Yofie]

It seems to me, if some of these big boys would devolop some of the Gems it would payoff much better then a crappy parked page. I know why they are not, as they are hoping to cash in on just the domain, but it's proof from this article, that the site helps as well. Plus, once they see how much cash they can make when they have the site up, they might do it to more, plus it will only Help the domain industry.

Bonkers has Gadget.com which is a HUGE waste just sitting on a Sh it Brown parking page, plus about 80,000 more! Gadgets.com is parked as well, but I do not think Bonkers owns that one.

 

[tonyfloyd]

can it be that these guys are that cheap and lazy???.......take 2 months......spend some $$$$$....build a nice quality developed site....rather than that ugly parked page......and now tell me what you making and how much site is worth now!!!!!.......

just my 2 drachmas.....

 

[Duckinla]

It seems to me, if some of these big boys would devolop some of the Gems it would payoff much better then a crappy parked page.

can it be that these guys are that cheap and lazy???.......take 2 months......spend some $$$$$....build a nice quality developed site

I don't really understand what you guys are saying. Are you talking about turning a generic domain into a full-scale e-commerce business? What do you guys mean when you say they should develop these names?

 

[Devil Dog]

lol, used to have a beer.com email address back in 1998.

 

[tonyfloyd]

I don't really understand what you guys are saying. Are you talking about turning a generic domain into a full-scale e-commerce business? What do you guys mean when you say they should develop these names?

develop the site......generate more revenue......more revenue=higher valuation=more dinero in your pocket.......these guys bought chocolate.com for 300k....spruced up the site.....site now generating $$2 mil+ per year!!!!!!.......look at property.com....ex- dont u think that site could genrate more???.....look at it....a pretty lame parked page.....unleash its full potential....

again...just my 2 pesos.....

 

[Duckinla]

But chocolate.com appears to be a real business. Like with employees, marketing, suppliers...taking orders and fulfilling them. Running something like that successfuly is a whole different story than owning a domain name. One involves effort, capital and risk. The other involves receiving a check every month. It's like saying "you own such a nice piece of land, can't believe you are to lazy to build a skyscraper here". We don't all know how to build skyscrapers. In fact, very few of us do.

 

[tonyfloyd]

i believe chocolatier does that for them.....

 

[QuantumBeam]

great story indeed

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

Yummy. Tasty story.

 

[Commerce]

Having the honor and privilege of being involved heavily in what company management (including me) thinks will become one of those sites you will read about in business magazines and web blogs, I enjoyed the "why don't you just develop the site" posts in this thread.

Getting an early stage business off the ground is challenging, requiring a unique vision for the site, acquiring first stage funds, management of the resources created and built from those funds (a business worth the dollars being discussed in the article is not going to be just a website) and as the business grows, managing the company to profitability and finding sources of additional funds to keep the ship moving forward until it reaches that profitability.

Running such businesses that must follow the "developed site" is non-trivial and involves far more brain damage and committment than the good folks featured in this article appear willing to do (or for that matter more than most folks would). Even with a strong name platform, just getting a PPM in front of the right qualified industry savvy people to show them the investment opportunity is rather challenging.

But guess what? As far as the folks in the Business Week article go, with their *current* business model, keep in mind that they are also laughing all the way to the bank - I say to both them and others who have like models, good on them - not too bad for a parked site, eh?

As always, I continue to wish them well and I hope they feel the same.

-Commerce

 

[RustyK]

Nice story. I could use a beer.com anyday.