Report: Invest.com Sold for $5 Million

7

Late last week, Forex Magnates  reported that the Invest.com domain name was recently sold for $5 million to a company called Singulariteam. I do not see a confirmation of the sale from the company on its website, so this sale is unconfirmed. In its article reporting the sale of Invest.com, Forex  Magnates reported that  “An Israeli serial technology entrepreneur has invested over $5 million to buy the website domain, invest.com, in order to penetrate the forex industry.”

Current Whois records seem to indicate that a deal for this domain name may be underway. The registrant of Invest.com is listed as Escrow.com, and I presume that indicates the company is facilitating a deal for this domain name. I would reach out to Brandon Abbey, President of Escrow.com, but the company has a policy of not commenting on transactions done using the company’s services. Previously, the domain name had been  registered under privacy since 2011.

DNJournal shows that Invest.com sold for

Difficult Offer to Accept

11

When I agree to buy a domain name in the aftermarket, I typically have a value in my mind for that domain name. This value assumes the right buyer wants (or needs) to buy it, and they will be willing to pay what I believe is a fair price for the domain name.

Oftentimes with my domain names, I will reach out to prospective buyers to gauge interest in an acquisition. In addition, when I receive an unsolicited offer for a domain name, I may  also reach out to prospective buyers to see if any other companies would be willing to pay more for the domain name.

The result of these sale efforts is sometimes a decent offer, but one that falls below what I think the domain name is worth. Offers that are decent but fall short of what I believe the value to be are difficult to accept.

On one hand, I have reached out to the most obvious prospective buyers for a particular domain name, and the offer I am contemplating is the best of what I received. On the other hand, another buyer could want the domain name in the future and they might be willing to pay much closer to what I believe the value is, especially because it can be more difficult to get an offer when I am essentially cold calling.

When I receive offers that aren’t all that close to what I believe the value is, but the offer is fair,  I

Explain “Replacement Cost” in a Negotiation

Getting to the right price in a domain name sale negotiation is often difficult. The buyer doesn’t want to pay more than a certain amount to buy the domain name, and the seller is often asking more than the buyer is willing to spend for it. Convincing someone why a domain name is worth the asking price can be a challenge, but a domain seller might want to mention the replacement cost as rationale for the price.

To me, the replacement cost for a domain name is the amount of money I would need to spend in order to buy an equal or better domain name if I would sell one of my assets. If I sell a domain name for $10k and it costs me $15k to buy an equivalent domain name, I am losing out because I am lowering the value of my portfolio while not generating enough income  to improve it. For someone like me, it doesn’t make sense to sell one of my domain names for less than the replacement cost of an equal or better domain name.

I think the majority of  domain buyers

Report: Z.com Sold for Nearly $6.8 Million

9

The 1 letter Z.com domain name has reportedly been sold for nearly $6.8 million, according to a press release that hit the wires today. The buyer is a company called the GMO Internet Group, and the domain name had previously been registered to Nissan North America, Inc.

According to the press release distributed by the GMO Internet Group:

“GMO Internet, Inc. one of Japan’s leading Internet services providers and operator of the country’s largest domain registrar, today announces the acquisition of single-character domain name, Z.com (z.com/en) for JPY800 million.”

At today’s exchange rate, JPY800 million is worth $6,776,448 USD. This would rank as one of the ten largest publicly reported domain name sales of all time. It would also rank as the

Working With Domain Brokers

5

Elliot’s blog posting yesterday about conflicts of interest with domain brokers reminded me of what happened when I sold my Bored.com network of sites in 2008 for $4.5 million.

I was not really looking to sell Bored.com, but a broker approached me and asked if he could shop it around (like to Google, Yahoo, etc.). I had never heard of this broker (I don’t think he is still around) but since I was not actively looking to sell the site I figured it couldn’t hurt. After around 6 months he did not generate any offers so I sent out some emails on my own, since I had not given him an exclusive listing.

A few months later one of my potential buyers made me an offer. At the same exact time the broker also found a buyer. Both started in the

InternetOfThings.com Being Brokered by Sedo

3

I received a press release from Sedo this morning announcing that the company is the exclusive broker for the InternetOfThings.com domain name. The domain name is being represented by Sedo broker Brian Michitti. InternetOfThings.com was registered more than a decade ago, but with the “Internet of things” becoming a popular buzz term of late, the value has increased significantly.

Although the press release distributed by Sedo does not mention the asking price, Michitti had submitted the domain name for inclusion in a weekly brokerage listing sale article back in June of 2014, and the asking price had been