Today’s Offer Could Be Gone Tomorrow

Elliot Silver
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23

A little over a year ago, I had a $50,000 cash + small equity offer for one of my domain names. I turned it down because I thought it was worth more and had recently closed a couple of large deals. I still think the domain name is worth more, but I am more inclined to sell it now since I haven’t received any other substantial offers since then. Unfortunately, the prospect seems to have disappeared along with the offer, despite a couple of emails and phone calls.

When you are considering an offer on a domain name, you need to realize that the offer may not be there tomorrow if you turn it down today. Business and personal situations change, and even if the company still wants a particular domain name, they may not be able to honor their offer at a later date. It also could put the buyer in a better negotiating position knowing that the seller has come back looking to make a deal.

When an inquiry on one of my domain names is made, I often hear

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Once Sold for $40k, 500.com Now at $1.6 Billion Market Cap

Elliot Silver
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3

An Investors Business Daily article headline on Yahoo Finance caught my attention yesterday afternoon: “500.com Among Leaders In Casino-Heavy Gaming Group.” The 500.com domain name caught my eye, and I did a bit of research to see how the domain name ended up in the hands of this company that has grown tremendously. As with many exceptional domain names, the story of 500.com looks pretty interesting.

500.com was originally registered by someone in February of 1994, although according to DomainTools, the creation date is listed as 1996. For the next 12 years or so, the domain name hadn’t really been developed, and the owner had a “for sale” listing on the 500.com home page with a buy it now price of

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End User “Generosity”

Elliot Silver
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19

I had an inquiry on one of my domain names from an end user buyer the other day that made me laugh. My domain name is parked on the Domain Name Sales platform, and instead of monetizing it, there is an inquiry form so that visitors know that the domain name is for sale.

Instead of filling out the form, the prospect called me on the phone. He called DNS as well, which is how I know that he had visited the landing page before connecting with me. After a brief conversation, he asked for the price of the domain name, and I shared the low five figure price, which I think is fair.

He sounded surprised and told me

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Gox.com Domain Broker Shares Details

Elliot Silver
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6

Last night, I reported about the sale of the Gox.com domain name to Mt. Gox parent company, Tibanne Co. Ltd. The domain name was sold by domain investor Andy Booth, who confirmed the sale of Gox.com and provided some additional insight about it.

Joe Politzer of DN.BIZ, the domain name broker who negotiated the deal on behalf of Booth, shared some additional details about the sale. Below is the account from Politzer, which I think is interesting. Although the sale price is not being revealed by the seller or domain broker, I think you’ll appreciate his recap:

“The short story of the deal starts back in mid December when Andy’s brother James of Booth.com added us as a broker for

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Three Reasons I Won’t Accept Bitcoin to Sell a Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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27

Adam Dicker recently opened a subforum at DNForum for people to sell domain names for Bitcoin (I wrote about it here). At the time, I said “I would accept any form of spendable and reportable currency for a domain name if the value was right and I could use or convert the currency. You can pay me in US dollars, gold, Bitcoins, or even a luxury watch if you wish.” After careful consideration, I do not think I would accept Bitcoin for three reasons.

For speculators, the large swings in Bitcoin values can be a good way to make money. It’s probably a high risk trade, but for people who are experts in that space (and/or use algorithmic trading perhaps), there is money to be made – and probably quite a bit of it. In addition, there are massive price differences at trading exchanges such as Mt. Gox and Coinbase. On Mt. Gox right now, a Bitcoin is worth around $150, and at Coinbase, a Bitcoin is worth about $590. I wouldn’t want to sell a domain name for $5,000 in Bitcoin only to find out that it is worth much less when I try to cash out.

As far as I am aware, Bitcoin isn’t

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JD.com: Was it Acquired for $5 Million USD?

Elliot Silver
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13

jd.comAccording to a SEC filing shared with me and highlighted by George Kirikos, the JD.com domain name may have been acquired for around $5 million US Dollars in 2012. JD.com is one of the largest Chinese online retailers, and the company is in the midst of prepping for a very large initial public offering.

George Kirikos shared the following information about why he believes the JD.com domain name may have been acquired by the company, which is also known as Jingdong Mall but is now JD.com, Inc.

According to Kirikos:

“I was browsing through EDGAR,

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