Would someone please tell the domain-squatters that the gold rush is over -- and that no-one's going to shell out $10,000 for a neat-sounding domain name anymore?

What's up with this phenomenon? Did I miss the big news event that broadcast today's 13-letter dot-com names that sold for five figures plus?

I am 100% behind the free market. But when are these people going to catch on that they're sitting on products that are essentially worthless. The names go undeveloped. They just sit, waiting for the next big gold rush... when I'd bet that same $10,000 that there won't be one for a long, long, long time.

Who's got some insight on this matter? What's the word? Are the squatters modern real-estate genuises or just seriously misguided?

(In case anyone's wondering... lately, I've had more than a couple of squatters quote a five-figure price on some pretty worthless names...)

Aloha
just curious ??
why you think they will not shell out 5 figures even 6 for a good name
just becuase the stock market fell and some big name companies fell and got swallowed up does not mean it is all over ??

ya ever invest in real estate yes things do go down but usually not lower than the old low so the next rush will come in one form or the other if there was a slow down of the magnitude you say then why all the push for other TLD's ??

just curious as your angle not saying your wrong or I am right ??

I am sure some people are buying stupid names
adn yes agree way to many squatters out there asking way to much for names that are not worth it
when ya see 3 word domains such as
buymycar.com going for 10,000 yeah I laugh think MORON hehehhe

well later

See, you know what I mean. ;)

I can see a domain like buymycar.com going for $500, maybe $1000. But a good domain does not a healthy business make. And while I'm sure everyone with a valid Visa/Mastercard believes he has the business skills to build a business around such a great name, it's a lot easier imagined than done. It takes capital and a sound business plan, and most importantly: a product or service that people will buy.

An overwhelming number of start-ups went belly up this past year precisely because they tried to do it backwards: get the domain name and internet presence, and the site and products will sell themselves. Ha! Anyone who wasn't blinded by the get-rich-quick lottery-like mentality of the moment would be able to see that the rush was a lot of smoke and mirrors, but nothing fundamentally new.

The internet has certainly made old businesses more efficient and productive in ways only imagined twenty years ago. But the only reason why domain names fetched the high prices that they did was because the squatters then were capitalizing on the furor to catch the internet wave. Was the name beauty.cc really worth $1,000,000? Did the name make you buy facial cleanser and hair gel from their business? Did it make anyone? So was it worth mountainous outlay of cash?

I think most of this stuff is people trying to catch the last gravy train down the gold mountain. And I think I'm right to be indignant at the process; it's foolish to hold onto something when there's no rational basis for doing so.

Originally posted by bigmattyh
See, you know what I mean. ;)
:
<snip>
It takes capital and a sound business plan, and most importantly: a product or service that people will buy.

An overwhelming number of start-ups went belly up this past year precisely because they tried to do it backwards: get the domain name and internet presence, and the site and products will sell themselves. Ha! Anyone who wasn't blinded by the get-rich-quick lottery-like mentality of the moment would be able to see that the rush was a lot of smoke and mirrors, but nothing fundamentally new.

:
<snip>



well put, I share your same thoughts. What I hate are the domains that just sit there parked while some fool is waiting for a cash cow.

*Sigh*

I was hoping not to think about this anymore but now that this topic been brought up...

Remember that domain I mentioned in a previous post that was finally released by NetSol after a LONG time?

It was finally dropped from the Internic DB yesterday morning, but immediately snapped up by a domain speculating company. Apparently the domain was dropped and re-registered between 11pm - Midnight Eastern Time, because I only went to bed at 4am GMT. If only I'd stayed awake for another hour... :(

Their asking price? $500 minimum :angry: :angry: :angry:

Oh well...better luck next year :rolleyes:

Mind letting us know what domain that was?

Originally posted by Colin
[BIt was finally dropped from the Internic DB yesterday morning, but immediately snapped up by a domain speculating company. Apparently the domain was dropped and re-registered between 11pm - Midnight Eastern Time, because I only went to bed at 4am GMT. If only I'd stayed awake for another hour... :(
[/B]
:D :D It appear you were not the only one monitoring that domain.

In business, have you ever heard, location is everything? Or, Location, Location, Location!

Well in the Internet world your Location is your DOMAIN. Just like with the B&M companies, some locations cost WAY more then others. Just because your in a good location does not mean your going to do good business, that is correct. However a Good location, plus a good business plan/service or product, and marketing makes a WORLD of difference, then those with a bad location and the above, that can pay of that investment you think is too high in no time. They are obviously not trying to sell to the small and home businesses, just as realestate wouldn't.

Likely, in the future, these keyword domains, and catchy domains will be even more important, when every single business, and half of the standard population is online.

Just like webhosting.com, it would shock you how many people go there only because of their location, regardless of the service its self, and little advertising. You also return on the investment because less marketing is needed to promote you with a good location/URL

Originally posted by CWIhosting
...location is everthing...
That's part of my point: location is not everything -- rather, it is only part of the picture.

I think we'd all agree that the shorter, less complex, and memorable a domain name is, the better for the site.

You may assume too much, though. All combinations of words in the English language are not worth something, simply because someone thought them up. This is different from an analogy to land; I can't create land just by thinking up a new combination of words and hyphens that hasn't been "registered" yet.

Also, there are other factors to consider. Getajob.com (I have no idea if this exists) may not be worth squat since monster.com, hotjobs.com, and myriad others already have a stranglehold on the career services market. And it's not bloody likely Getajob.com would be used for selling, say, beanie babies.

If I stake a claim on an acre of the Yukon and make my price $10,000, not only will I go cold and hungry, but the land won't get used either. Sure, there might be gold in them there hills a hundred years from now, but no-one would pay $10,000 for it then, either.

I have no qualms with the principle of reselling domain names; however, I do have a problem with their overly optimistic attitudes regarding their domains' worth.

Well the market adjusts itself. If what you say is true, and the prices are too high, then people will stop buying them, and down the prices go. Long as people think they are worth a lot, they are worth a lot. I do understand your points though.

Originally posted by bigmattyh
See, you know what I mean. ;)

Aloha
AHHH
DOHHH
now I see what ya mean
yeah agree it is like the gold rush days and everyone running up and paying for the $$Special gold rush kit that has all ya need
and the few who were getting the kits out (the squatters) taking advantage
yeah it is a bitch how many are being squatted on and not used I have a few that I am trying to develop but for legit reasons and if I can sell em cool
one of them is panotools.com and (panotool.com)
I like pano photography and want to develop these and sure if I can flip em will do it
but did not buy it just to flip it
I did buy one domain last week to flip though
HPsale.com
figure maybe a computer store will want it for a big HP sale theyare having like compusa or someone
worth a try but wow one not like 500 domains or thousands like some
jhhheeeshhh
(bummer about dersch tools this last week ;( )
but so many suckers buying stuff

kinda like after a stock booms and buying it on its high point ya might make something but most likely NOT

best time most stock guys make money is after a crash when all is down ;)

heheheh

::gasps:: my domain is about to expire. ::eyes narrow and fingers dwindle in the wind:: Come high noon that domain'll be mine. hehe. Hope it isn't the same as ya'lls domain cause I've been watching mine for over a year.

Oh, and wich domain is that ;-)

I think truth lies between the two extreme points. Sometimes I am astonished which domains are registered, some people really think they will get money for something like "i-sell-beautiful-cars.com" - pretty worthless in my eyes. On the other hand there are many nice domains which might sell just for 1000$ which sounds really nice when all you have invested was 10 to 20$ per year.

I have to say, location IS very important. When I am looking for information, on lets say Apartments, the first thing I do is go to Apartments.com and then I go to Google or another search engine. Or I was dreaming about a Porche yesterday, so I went to porche.com, which was not a porche site! Location is very important and can land you cheap advertising w/ lots of hits.

I see a lot of names registered on the different ways someone might spell a popular name like that.

porsche.com

Yeah, or microdoft.com rather than microsoft.com

Just go there, http://www.microdoft.com

iwantgod.com = $5,000,007
iamaloser.com = $3,000,008
jewishwoman.com = $ 6,170,583

:eek2: :eek3: :eek:

NOOOOO! Hoststart.com got my domain. :( I wanted vmail.com. I didn't get enough caffeine and fell asleep. *beep* *beep* *beep*!!! I hate it when I wait that long only to have it snatched from me.

Originally posted by Dogma
<snip>Or I was dreaming about a Porche yesterday, so I went to porche.com, which was not a porche site! <snip>

Well, of course it isn't....you spelled it wrong, there's an "S" in Porsche. ;)

This is an interesting thread. Particularly to note that the underlying "thinking" behind each comment is relating to web-based businesses (new economy), without any thought towards old economy business operating on the net.

The comment that "location is everything" is completely irrelevant when you think in terms of an old economy business operating on the net - their web site is simply and addition to their existing business, thus a marketing tool. Therefore, as long as they market with whatever domain name they may have, their site will be get visitors.

I think we all agree that the business model of a couple years ago is no longer working, you know the one: "I have a great idea for a web site, let's get it up, float a stock offering, and we'll be rich! Profits? Who cares about that?"... As such, the requirement for that "excellent" domain name is no longer necessary. Old economy businesses (which will be the majority of sites on the net in the coming years) are happy if they can get a domain that incorporates their company name, if not, they make do with whatever is close.

Look at it this way (trademarking, etc. aside), let's say General Motors decided, many years back, that the domain name they wanted was sunshine.com, and they used it in all their marketing material, everyone would know that was their site. Sure, some of us more technical folks (those that guess the domain before heading for the search engines - we ARE in the minority) would be frustrated to find that gm.com, or generalmotors.com was not their site, but once we put General Motors in the search engine, what would come up? sunshine.com (if they submitted to the engines correctly), although in my case, I'd just pick up the newspaper (remeber those?) and look for a GM ad!

Basically, I'm saying I agree that the cybersquatters are (generally) sitting on a bunch of domains that will not make them rich - they'll be lucky to get out even. I suppose most of them are taking a good hard look at their domains, and will let the majority of them expire in the coming year. So, there is hope, as these domains will be available again.

shuddup!! I still went to them because they were spelled like porsche (double checking spelling)!! See, their location got the dumb traffic, but it's still hits!!

True, but hits don't mean anything anymore. I just went there, saw it was some email thingy, and left. So, they got a hit - big deal!

What good is a million hits a day, if your visitors don't buy/sign-up for/view anything?

This is why banner advertising is in decline, potential advertisers have realised that hits are irrelevant, as are click throughs. All that matters are sales, and if your visitors aren't buying, then you are doing something wrong.

Originally posted by dotcomguy
Sure, some of us more technical folks (those that guess the domain before heading for the search engines - we ARE in the minority) would be frustrated to find that gm.com, or generalmotors.com was not their site, but once we put General Motors in the search engine, what would come up?

I cant agree to this. Many people first try something like www.babysitter.com before visiting a search engine, and if they find a decent offer at the first site many times they won't go further.

Aloha,
funny that the PorSche brought up a good point of those that get names that are easily misspelled

although that is not quite the same as squatting but is close.
at least courts are starting to go against those people that infringe on real sites or words that could be confused or misspelled.


also on the car note
just like the newly launched BMWFilms.com
a lot of sites are doing things such as this
although the sunshine was way out there

Originally posted by Walter


I cant agree to this. Many people first try something like www.babysitter.com before visiting a search engine, and if they find a decent offer at the first site many times they won't go further.

I know what you're saying, however, my point was missed. (We have to "suspend belief" for a moment).

My point was that if GM.com did not exist (got a "page cannot be displayed" error), then people would move to other avenues to find the site......sort of the way it was 3 or 4 years ago......

Plus, if you went to GM.com looking for general motors, but found a site selling beanie babies.......you'd still move on........(unless you were also looking for beanie babies, I suppose).

Originally posted by Walter


I cant agree to this. Many people first try something like www.babysitter.com before visiting a search engine, and if they find a decent offer at the first site many times they won't go further.


Aloha
do you think though the reason you might try this now where you might not have say 3 years ago is the big companies have bought up the net and made common name sites much bigger and more powerful

I know I try this first to but if I get some homemade looking site
I move on quickly

example
I have to get a new water filter
if I go to www.waterfilter.com

I click on PUR and get a dead link

hmmm later never to return
(actually I would usually never even click on a site that looks that bad.

Originally posted by Honu

<snip>
I know I try this first to but if I get some homemade looking site
I move on quickly
<snip>

That makes two of us!

This has been my thought for a while now, some web site has you apraise other people's domains and some people are like, hey Iamawebsite.com will sell for $1,000,000; people are nuts!

location IS very important. However, Location is everything is just a saying.

Anyhow, just as the post above, I have stated that if all this is true, and no one buys them, then of course the market will adjust, and the sellers will lower the prices due to no/low demand.

You are entitled to your opinion (as am I). I just don't believe the analogy works on the Internet.

Originally posted by Honu
I know I try this first to but if I get some homemade looking site I move on quickly

Of course, many people (including me) think "hey, if their website (=marketing) is so bad, how will their service be? Shudder!".
But this is the same as the point made by Dogma about "location". The best location in your town will not help you if you don't care about your customers, do proper marketing, and so on. But if all puzzles together: location, marketing, customer care, business plan - it will work!
I don't think you want to tell me that a good location (domain) will not be useful because there are many other factors to be competitive :)

Let em Squat on it!

Trademarks the courts can figure out.
Good names are still to be had with a little imagination. The new suffixes will knock the stool that they're squatting on out from under them.

LS:smash:

Aloha,
just curious do you really think it will help bring prices down or make some prices go up ?
the original is still teh original sometimes knock offs can make originals worth more ??
just a fun thought ?

say I get a .biz name
or a .info

most people are stillused to .com
therefor maybe if I pick up

MyVacation.info
or usedcar.biz

and I turn these into great sites
how many people will go to the .com version ???
and if they go and it sucks then what
or will the person then want to capture the .com to keep the value there ??

just some thoughts ?

I think the people that are making the real money off the "domain name gold rush" are the registrars (other than the guy who originally registered "business.com").

As far as the "location is everything" school of thought, that only applies if you have no advertising budget, or your specialty is making clam chowder (in which case you really need to be located on a wharf somewhere). Look at:

- Yahoo! is the #1 Web directory, not "webdirectory.com"

- Google is the #1 search engine, not "searchengine.com"

- Amazon.com is the #1 bookseller, not "books.com"

- eBay is the #1 auction site, not "auctions.com"

- Monster.com is the #1 job-finding site, not "resume.com"

The list goes on.

Originally posted by IntelligentHosting.com
<snip>

As far as the "location is everything" school of thought, that only applies if you have no advertising budget, or your specialty is making clam chowder (in which case you really need to be located on a wharf somewhere). Look at:

- Yahoo! is the #1 Web directory, not "webdirectory.com"

- Google is the #1 search engine, not "searchengine.com"

- Amazon.com is the #1 bookseller, not "books.com"

- eBay is the #1 auction site, not "auctions.com"

- Monster.com is the #1 job-finding site, not "resume.com"

The list goes on.

YES!!!! The url is irrelevant if you market your company (notice I didn't say "site") properly.

Chris you make an excellent point. I hope people are not misinterpreting my post to, that all you need is a good name/location. I’m saying it can be part of a wining combination, and unless you hugely overpaid, can actually be a good return on your investment, from savings in marketing, and direct sales you may get. All the sites you listed are very high dollar marketing budgets. They do support your argument extremely well. On the other side, there is also sites like:


Webhosting.com
Shopping.com (Why didn’t altavisa just use altavista.com/shopping)
Search.com (why didn’t cnet just use their domain)
Cars.com
Autotrader.com

And many other successful business that have a domain that matches what they are going.. The truth is that many people type in what they are looking for with a .com at the end. Especially people new to the web.

I guess the real argument is if the domains are “worth” that much. However, worth is only determined by what is the MOST you could get someone to buy something at. You may think something is worth a million dollars, but if no one would pay you that much for it, then its not. True, I think some domains are priced more then they worth, thus they are still for sale. However in some cases, its perfectly justafyable to pay $500, $1000, or $10,000 for a domain.

Originally posted by dotcomguy
True, but hits don't mean anything anymore. I just went there, saw it was some email thingy, and left. So, they got a hit - big deal!

What good is a million hits a day, if your visitors don't buy/sign-up for/view anything?

This is why banner advertising is in decline, potential advertisers have realised that hits are irrelevant, as are click throughs. All that matters are sales, and if your visitors aren't buying, then you are doing something wrong.

I agree up to some extent with you. But...

1. The fact is that to sell your product you need visitors in your shop. I know, not all the visitors are going to buy the product but more visitors you have more chances are there to sell your product. Seen that on an opening of any business people invite their friends, relatives, and locals. They know that all of the invitees are not going to buy their product or will not bother to come again... but still.

2. Awareness - is very important. If you are not selling much of your product but getting lots of hits just because of location... still you are developing awareness. People do know about your product and may refer to someone looking for.

3. You are basically talking about people who are looking for particular brand like if I am looking for Microsoft’s site and typed microsoft.com /. net and found that it is not the site I am looking for... I will leave immediately. It is true because I already have a brand/company name in my mind. Lets talk about people who are looking for particular product or service - say web hosting... when they will go to webhosting.com and found that it is a web hosting company and meet their budget they might try.

I know location itself is not important but plays a vital role in your business development. Good product with better location has more chances of selling then same product in odd location.

Banner Advertising failed not because hits are not important but most of the people found that the cost paid for those hits was not worth it. In the same way cost of decent domain name will depend up on parties buying and selling it. One not able to sell a domain name for $1000 to me, managed get $2000 from another person for same domain name… because he found the person who found worth to spend that much to get that name.

Originally posted by IntelligentHosting.com
I think the people that are making the real money off the "domain name gold rush" are the registrars (other than the guy who originally registered "business.com").

As far as the "location is everything" school of thought, that only applies if you have no advertising budget, or your specialty is making clam chowder (in which case you really need to be located on a wharf somewhere). Look at:

- Yahoo! is the #1 Web directory, not "webdirectory.com"

- Google is the #1 search engine, not "searchengine.com"

- Amazon.com is the #1 bookseller, not "books.com"

- eBay is the #1 auction site, not "auctions.com"

- Monster.com is the #1 job-finding site, not "resume.com"

The list goes on.

Very true... thats called brand power. Its very effective... here is the example :)

You go to a party and you see a sexy girl across the room. You go up to her and say "Hi, I'm great in bed, how about it?". That's direct marketing.

"You may get her may not"

You go to a party and you see a sexy girl across the
room. You give your friend a tenner. He goes up and
says "Hi, my friend over there is great in
bed, how about it?". That's advertising.

"Again you may or may not"

You go to a party, you see a sexy girl across the
room. She comes over and says, "Hi, I hear you're
great in bed, how about it?" Now that's the power of
branding

"ohooo... you got it 100%"

Originally posted by IntelligentHosting.com
I think the people that are making the real money off the "domain name gold rush" are the registrars (other than the guy who originally registered "business.com").

As far as the "location is everything" school of thought, that only applies if you have no advertising budget, or your specialty is making clam chowder (in which case you really need to be located on a wharf somewhere). Look at:

- Yahoo! is the #1 Web directory, not "webdirectory.com"

- Google is the #1 search engine, not "searchengine.com"

- Amazon.com is the #1 bookseller, not "books.com"

- eBay is the #1 auction site, not "auctions.com"

- Monster.com is the #1 job-finding site, not "resume.com"

The list goes on.

Very true... thats called brand power. Its very effective... here is the example :)

You go to a party and you see a sexy girl across the room. You go up to her and say "Hi, I'm great in bed, how about it?". That's direct marketing.

"You may get her may not"

You go to a party and you see a sexy girl across the
room. You give your friend a tenner. He goes up and
says "Hi, my friend over there is great in
bed, how about it?". That's advertising.

"Again you may or may not"

You go to a party, you see a sexy girl across the
room. She comes over and says, "Hi, I hear you're
great in bed, how about it?" Now that's the power of
branding

"ohooo... you got it 100%"

Originally posted by m6.net
"ohooo... you got it 100%"

Aaah, what an example! :D

have a look at http://www.gamecube.com :)