Personalized Brokerage Service
When selling domain names, I believe most people either rely on end users contacting them or rely on selling to other domain investors. I think there is a market for a domain brokerage that is paid to contact potential buyers of domain names on behalf of domain owners.
The brokerage would collect stats and information about a domain name and present it to potential buyers. This is similar to my post in July, but instead of running an auction, the company would set a BIN price for a particular name or group of names that would be of interest to a company.
Currently, I believe most domain brokers work the opposite way. They receive information about a domain name and blast an email out to a random group of domain buyers. If a more personalized email was sent, the potential buyer could be enticed to make a purchase. It’s the heart of direct marketing (where I have my Master’s Degree), and it would be a great win/win/win for all parties.
LI.com Sold for a Half Million Dollars
As I wrote on my blog a couple of weeks ago, it appears that the owner of LI.com has decided to sell the name for $500,000. This comes on the heels of AZ.com selling for $500,000 at the DRT auction last week. Personally, I believe both names were undervalued, but I am sure it would be difficult for anyone to turn down a half million dollar offer.
Snapnames Seller Program Announcement
I received the following email on Sunday regarding changes in the Snapnames commission plan. While the commission plan is good news for higher value sales, names that only sell for the minimum of $60 will have the commission rate more than doubled. Instead of paying a $12 commission on a $60 sale (20%), we will now pay the new $25 minimum. With this in mind, I am going to have to reevaluate the domain names I submit for Snapnames auctions, as most of my sales were for the minimum.
“Hi Elliot,
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DNJournal Weekly Sales Update
Believe it or not, sales from Moniker’s TRAFFIC auction in June are still showing up on the sales list, topped by Cardiology.com at $550,000.
I also notice a ton of sales made by the Afternic/BuyDomains combo. With the exception of a few sales, most of these domain names would seem to be “brandable” rather than generic keywords, which leads me to believe most of these were picked up by “end-users.” This is great for both NameMedia properties, as it shows they are targeting their end-user audience quite well. It’s nice to see them publicizing their sales to help propel the market forward.
Pharmacy.com – A $50 Million Domain Name?
According to Red Herring, Pharmacy.com is for sale. This is prime real estate just waiting to be developed into a business. According to Joshua Bourne, co-founder of FairWinds Partners (and also the President of the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse), the domain name is worth “way over $50 million.”
While this asking price is fairly unprecedented, a domain name of this caliber could be worth it. I believe sales based on revenue multiples alone are fairly short-sited, and it would appear that the owner’s models take this into consideration. It would be a boon to the industry if they get their asking price, although we probably won’t know the sales price unless it is purchased by a public company such as Wal-mart, who probably has the money to make this happen.
According to the Domaintools Blog, a rumored buyer could be CVS pharmacy, who would consider re-branding the company.