Coffee.org Sold for $100,000

Elliot Silver
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According to an article I just read on Reve News, it looks like Coffee.org was recently acquired for $100,000 by Bill McClure, former Chairman of Traffic Strategies. McClure intends to build a coffee distribution website, and Coffee.org is certainly a great domain name to do that.
I’ve said in the past, there is a certain trust factor with the .org extension. While this may slightly work against McClure with a commercial enterprise, it would be easy to overcome if he also makes it a valuable informational resource all about coffee.
According to a quote from McClure in the Reve News post,

“Coffee is the second largest traded commodity, next to oil and has grown from $8 billion in sales in 2001 to over $ 13 billion today.” says McClure. “Studies show that throughout the world, people consume more than 330 million cups of coffee each and every day. This makes black coffee the most popular drink after water and even beats tea as people’s favorite drink.”

Thanks to Brad for sending the link to me!

Exhibitionists.com – Final Price Cut

Elliot Silver
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I have decided to drastically reduce the price of Exhibitionists.com to make a quick sale. This is a great category killer niche domain name, and it does receive traffic. I am not sharing traffic or revenue stats, as I have the keyword set to something other than adult-related.
The original price of Exhibitionists.com was $45,000, but I am now reducing the price to just $24,750 for a quick sale. This is posted in a couple different areas, so the first to respond will get this great category killer domain name for a hell of a price. Names like these don’t come on the market often, and certainly not at a price like this.
To buy it now, either post “sold” in the comment section or drop me a note. We can finalize the payment after the Memorial Day holiday.

Reseda.com – Geodomain for Sale – Great BIN Price

Elliot Silver
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An acquaintance of mine is brokering the domain name Reseda.com, a great west-coast Geodomain. I would buy this name at this price, but am looking to invest in an east-coast city domain name. Reseda is a suburb/district of Los Angeles in an area called the San Fernando Valley. The BIN price for Reseda.com is just $25,000! To buy this great domain name, post “sold” in the comments section or send an email to Sally, who is brokering the name for her friend.
As reported in DNJournal a couple weeks ago, SimiValley.com recently sold for $90,000. Below is a comparison of key figures between Simi Valley and Reseda:
—-Comparison of Reseda, California to Simi Valley, California (courtesy of Sally)——
Population:
Reseda – 99,000 (Year 2008, Source: LA Times – 68,000 in 2000 according to Wikipedia)
Simi Valley – 118,687 (Year 2005, Source: Wikipedia)
Average Home Value:
Reseda- $550,000 (Year 2007, Source: BestPlaces.net)
Simi Valley – $545,000 (Year 2006, Source: CNN Money.com)
Median Household Income:
Reseda- $45,996 (Year 2007, Source: BestPlaces.net)
Simi Valley – $85,175 (Year 2006, Source: CNN Money.com)

Forwarding Traffic to an End User to Sell a Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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I haven’t done this before, so it’s purely speculation, but if I wanted to sell a high-traffic category killer domain name to a large company, I might voluntarily forward the traffic to the company’s main website for a month to prove its worth. If I owned (and wanted to sell) a name like Tools.com, I might consider forwarding the traffic from that name to Craftsman.com (toolmaker owned by Sears).   Assuming traffic to the name was strong, I wouldn’t even have to tell them I was doing it, as they would see a spike in their traffic, and their web analytics would tell them it was coming from Tools.com. Since they are a manufacturer and distributor (via forward to Sears.com), they would have the highest profit margin on tools, and a converted lead would be worth the most to them.
After seeing the Craftsman website and their redirect to Sears to make a purchase, I can tell the web marketing team at Sears must be fairly strong. Knowing this, I would imagine that they would be very intrigued if they saw a large unexpected spike in sales, and they would attempt to track why this spike occurred. I am sure they would be happily surprised to see Tools.com forwarding to them (at no cost), and they would then be disappointed when the test was abruptly ended. Armed with the data from the test, they might be willing to make a strong offer for Tools.com, since they would certainly have the data to justify a purchase.
Oftentimes, buying a category killer domain name means making a huge purchase without any hard data on the domain name. A buyer may be able to determine approximate traffic details, but they wouldn’t be able to get a great sense of who is visiting a domain name without actually having the data from the site, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to give a fair estimate on the traffic conversion. This makes it difficult for companies to spend hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars on category killer domain names. If they had the data, they may be more inclined to make an offer – or perhaps the domain name isn’t worth as much as we think it’s worth.
Boiled down, the value of a domain name is determined by the value it can bring to a company. Most companies doing business online use ROI (return on investment) calculations to determine how much to spend on a marketing campaign or expense. If we give these companies the opportunity to see what they are missing by not owning a category killer domain name, they might actually realize just how important a domain name is to their brand, and how valuable it could be in a competitor’s hand.
Again, I have no experience with this, but I would imagine it would be worth foregoing a month of PPC to do this test. Also it would be important to consult with a domain attorney (like Brett Lewis or John Berryhill) to ensure you are not putting your name at risk by potentially confusing consumers with the forward – obviously should be done before you start your campaign.

Evaluating an Offer for a Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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Sometimes deciding to sell a domain name isn’t as easy as receiving a fair market offer for the name. In addition to considering the value of the offer, market conditions, and the buyer’s circumstances, you really need to think about what the loss of the domain name will mean to your domain portfolio and business plan. While being in strong financial position is important, you need to evaluate how the sale of a domain name might be detrimental to your long-term business plan, even if an offer you receive is for the full market value of the domain name.
When I receive a strong offer on a domain name, I do my best to determine the actual value of the name. For instance, I try to figure out whether I could get a higher sales price if I approached certain buyers, end-users or if the name was auctioned and received bidding action. More often than not, I am able to easily determine that the offer is lower than market value, and I negotiate with the person who made an offer in an attempt to reconcile the difference between the offer and what I’ve determined to be the fair market value for the domain name.
On occasion, a legitimate offer that is received is either for fair market value or greater than fair market value. In these rare situations, since you are probably more inclined to sell after receiving the fair (or better than fair offer), it is imperative to think about what the loss of the domain name will mean to your business plan in the long term. I am very fortunate to have received a significant offer for a domain name I own. While most people would think the offer is probably very appropriate, I need to determine how it will impact me if I choose to sell it.
Sure, a domain name could have a fair market value of $200,000, but with my business plan, design template, and execution strategy, the developed website could make this domain name worth a large multiple of this, especially if the developed website is successful. If I sell this domain name, I would be inclined to go out and find a comparable one to fill the hole, and I might not be able to find a comparable domain name to develop in this price range. It might actually cost me more money to find something equally as compelling, which would make the sale very short-sighted.
While it’s usually a good idea to have a strong cash position, with the low interest rates and the weak dollar, holding cash in the bank is almost a losing proposition. Maintaining a cash position is important for the short term, but I don’t personally think it’s smart in the long term, although I did get a D+ in Financial Accounting when I was a sophomore in college (hey, I was pledging my fraternity).
Selling a domain name involves more than evaluating the face value of the name and the market conditions. It’s very important to evaluate how the loss/sale of the name will impact your business strategy and what else you can do with the revenue generated from the sale. It would be ashame to realize what you lost in 5 years by selling a particular domain name.

Salinas.com – GeoDomain for Sale

Elliot Silver
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Domain has now sold.

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