Value of generic domains questioned

[brian1234]

Here is an article from yesterday's IT Week,
questioning the value of generic domains.

http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/news/2167634/value-generic-domains

Regards,

 

[Rockefeller]

Here is an article from yesterday's IT Week,
questioning the value of generic domains.

Regards,

Where is it?

 

[Theo]

Can't load that page. But to question the value of generic names is like questioning the value of cold beer at 6pm on a Friday.

 

[brian1234]

Where is it?

Sorry Rockafeller, i'm a bit dumb today and missed
the link out! Posting now amended.

Regards,

 

[Rockefeller]

Can't load that page. But to question the value of generic names is like questioning the value of cold beer at 6pm on a Friday.

Priceless. :beer_yum:

 

[brian1234]

I don't think the author realised that there
were some high reserve prices in the auction.

On balance, I think the high reserve strategy
is a good one; it helps to keep the really big
names 'exclusive' and reinforces the belief that
the very best names really are that valuable and
should be treated accordingly...

That said, however, it would have helped the
DN market enormously if a few more of those
big ticket names had sold.

 

[CashCowDomains]

..

 

[jazzpetals]

The whole T.R.A.F.F.I.C auction seemed to be to promote .mobi, all other extensions, including .com seemed to be downplayed, perhaps that was the reason for the high reserves...I do believe in .mobi, however, I also believe the recent auction was a great publicity stunt for .mobi

 

[Creature]

The whole T.R.A.F.F.I.C auction seemed to be to promote .mobi, all other extensions, including .com seemed to be downplayed, perhaps that was the reason for the high reserves...I do believe in .mobi, however, I also believe the recent auction was a great publicity stunt for .mobi

In that case perhaps we need to ensure that our dot coms have matching .mobis.

 

[brian1234]

The whole T.R.A.F.F.I.C auction seemed to be to promote .mobi, all other extensions, including .com seemed to be downplayed, perhaps that was the reason for the high reserves...I do believe in .mobi, however, I also believe the recent auction was a great publicity stunt for .mobi

Yes, I agree. The auction was clearly a 'market making'
exercise for dotmobi...

Whether this will pay off remains to be seen (I don't
remember any precedent for this type of thing, so it
was a big risk for whoeover put their money behind
it).

Of course, every dotmobi holder will now be hoping
that a massive revaluation of the extn. will occur.
Whether that will happen i've no idea, but I don't
think dotcom has much to worry about, as dotmobi
will likely never become traffic generators and it will
take a lot more than a few hundred grand to convince
people something is going on there.

 

[dodo1]

Generic domains don't go down in value... The issue with the TRAFFIC auction was that there were almost only domain resellers and parkers attending. That's why the premium domains - except cameras.com - received only low bids or didn't sell. The 500 attendees were the wrong buyers for good domains. I don't say the live auction was no success. It was, indeed, a great success for the low- and medium-priced domains... just not for the premium domains. These will only sell for reasonable prices if there are targeted corporate buyers sitting in the room.

 

[brian1234]

Generic domains don't go down in value... The issue with the TRAFFIC auction was that there were almost only domain resellers and parkers attending. That's why the premium domains - except cameras.com - received only low bids or didn't sell. The 500 attendees were the wrong buyers for good domains.QUOTE]

Couldn't agree more...

 

[PRED]

:amen:

That's to cold beer & generics. what a lovely combo!
Pred

 

[stockshark]

I think the title of the article is really misleading......, the author shouldn't be questioning the value of generic domains, when it is clearly obvious they are valuable. I think what might be questioned though is the value of generic non-commerce related domains that cannot be easily monetized, or where the ROI can't really be quantified. For example hell.com is a great generic name, but the type of person (or investors) who have the pockets deep enough to afford it are probably going to want to know how they are going to get a return on their investment. And a commercial company may shy away from branding hell.com just because "hell" isn't exactly a business-friendly word. So, it seems the market for that domain with the pockets deep enough to afford it might be somewhat small.

There's no question that good commerce related generic names will only keep appreciating in value, and it's absurd to question their value. And they do appeal to large companies with an existing brand who realize the competetive edge of type-in traffic, like: Bank of America = loans.com, Barnes and Noble = books.com, ABN Amro = mortgage.com, Hasbro = game.com, need I even go on?

 

[olebean]

This is the bit i find interesting

Lesley Cowley, chief executive of domain name registry Nominet, said, “The days of these domains being over-hyped are gone and people are being more selective about what they shell out good money for, but I’ve seen several £10,000-plus sales recently. People said Google AdWords would make the names irrelevant but that’s not the case. On the other hand, it’s no good paying a vast amount for a name if you have no business plan.

Thats what the DRSis for!

 

[PRED]

I think the title of the article is really misleading......, the author shouldn't be questioning the value of generic domains, when it is clearly obvious they are valuable. I think what might be questioned though is the value of generic non-commerce related domains that cannot be easily monetized, or where the ROI can't really be quantified. For example hell.com is a great generic name, but the type of person (or investors) who have the pockets deep enough to afford it are probably going to want to know how they are going to get a return on their investment. And a commercial company may shy away from branding hell.com just because "hell" isn't exactly a business-friendly word. So, it seems the market for that domain with the pockets deep enough to afford it might be somewhat small.

There's no question that good commerce related generic names will only keep appreciating in value, and it's absurd to question their value. And they do appeal to large companies with an existing brand who realize the competetive edge of type-in traffic, like: Bank of America = loans.com, Barnes and Noble = books.com, ABN Amro = mortgage.com, Hasbro = game.com, need I even go on?

As they say in France, 'exactement ,mon ami'!
lane:
Pred

 

[SYSTEMX]

Well at least Moniker had a good year. I know a lot of people's hopes on this auction went down the drain. Promises were made, that were not kept. Cameras.com sold for RESERVE price---and this was supposed to be an AUCTION!!! Nobody even had the time to bid on it, it just seemed that the buyer was known all along even before it started. It all happend in 5 seconds "1.5 mill. ---once, twice, third bla bla bla bla bla--that nobody understood then--SOLD!!!"

 

[PRED]

What are you wittering on about? :greendead:
Pred

 

[Beachie]

The whole T.R.A.F.F.I.C auction seemed to be to promote .mobi, all other extensions, including .com seemed to be downplayed, perhaps that was the reason for the high reserves...I do believe in .mobi, however, I also believe the recent auction was a great publicity stunt for .mobi

TRAFFIC don't set the reserves - the individual domain owners set the reserves, so you're saying that 500+ people were in on your conspiracy?

As for the IT Week article above, this week's DNJournal should be evidence enough - of the 41 domains in the DNJournal top sales list this week, 32 were .com, 3 were .co.uk, 2 were .net, 2 were .org and 1 .info and 1 .mobi

 

[Sonny]

There were some great bargains at the Traffic sale. Didn't OWN.com go for just a little over 100K? Many of the reserves were pretty ridiculous, but it was definitely a buyer's auction. There were many bargains to be had at the silent auction as well.

The big money is make by doing hundreds of hours of legwork behind the scenes trying to grab a few great names for a few thousand dollars or even 10 or 20K from people who know they have good names but don't quite know how good. If you know the market better than anyone else then you can pick up a handful of names per year for 10K each and quadruple your money immediately.

There are bargains all over this board. I saw a post a while back where someone sold Housewares.com for $75. If you do enough lurking and have money ready to fire into the pot you will scoop up your fair share of great names. You just have to be willing to wade through lots of garbage threads in order to dig up a few gems.