Ether.com Hits the Market?

In a tweet on Monday, Evergreen COO Jen Sale posted about the domain name, Ether.com:

Ether is the unit of cryptocurrency used on the Ethereum blockchain. Ether also has significance and meaning beyond cryptocurrency. Put simply, Ether.com would have aftermarket value even if it weren’t for the cryptocurrency.

If you visit Ether.com, you can see it is an operational website which has nothing to do with cryptocurrency or Ethereum. The website seems to have been active for many years.

I presume this scenario is much like that of Token.com, which was also being used and is now listed for sale via broker. This is just a guess though.

Cryptocurrency domain names are popular right now. From my perspective, the most value is in crypto-related domain names that have value beyond their cryptocurrency meaning.

I am not sure the sale status or asking price of Ether.com (if it is for sale), so you will want to be in touch with Jen to discuss if you have questions. When I asked Jen for details, she said she could not comment.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
  1. Sad really.

    I mean the “broker” part. (Sorry you brokers out there. Okay not really.)

    Both of these domains are so good now that they should be up for auction, as in competitive bidding. Real good faith auction, not bulls–t auction.

    “Broker” will probably mean they will go for far (far) less than they should.

    • “That makes little sense.”

      Nonsense. But that is exactly what I would expect from you with a post like mine. You have your good points, but it’s not like I haven’t noticed your flaws over the years too. We all have them, each our own flavor.

    • Please share 5 examples of domain names selling for top dollar at a domain auction in the last 5 years. Don’t forget the 25% commission (or perhaps more) paid for by the seller and let me know if that haircut still makes it a good deal.

      I haven’t sold a name at auction (besides standard NameJet auctions) in a long time and have gotten top dollar enough times that I know an auction doesn’t always lead to higher values.

      I keep my ears to the ground and do my best to know what is selling for privately and for how much, and I am very confident that private sales are yielding better results for domain owners.

    • No I will not be jumping through such hoops for you. And yes I am talking about “good faith” auctions and not just any auction. Wouldn’t take them anywhere near Heritage Auctions, for instance. Take it or leave it – my opinion, observation and perception is that “brokers” are far more likely than not going to result in these domains being grossly undervalued and undersold. And there is not guarantee with auctions these days either, but with auctions there is at least much more hope for something more reasonable. Especially if new auctions players come into the picture who really operate in good faith all around.

    • I don’t agree… to make it easier, here are links to the last 3 NamesCon auction results. Would love to know some of the standout exceptional deals that were much higher than if they were brokered, including the higher commission than a broker would have charged most likely:

      2017: https://onlinedomain.com/2017/01/24/domain-name-news/namescon-auction-results-111-domains-sold-total-1483650/

      2016: https://domaininvesting.com/namescon-live-auction-results/

      2015: http://www.domainnamenews.com/domain-auction/live-results-namescon-2015-right-of-the-dot-auction/24182

      I have not submitted any names to a major auction in a long time because of the high commission rate and long exclusivity period.

    • The overall status quo in the auction world is not very good either, so perhaps we agree a bit more than it seems. But when it comes to truly spectacular domains, which these two now are, I still feel that despite any flaws in the status quo there is still far better potential for the kind of good competitive bidding there should be. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if these domains sell outside an auction for what I would consider to be only the reasonable starting bid if they were in auction.

      And all of the above is why I would like very much to see more players in the auction world. Most especially those which are now only mainstream players who have not ventured into domain names. (Uh oh, I already know some in the industry don’t like that idea. That’s competition and a threat.)

      And as I have mentioned before, the one I have always wanted to see is Christies. Let’s have domains likes these go up for auction mainstreamed in front of the whole world, and let’s have the auction take place in NYC with an online component too. Most people wouldn’t even know names “Sedo” or “Namejet,” let alone others exclusive to domaining.

    • “sealed bids” is a common technique for getting the best price – often used in real estate.

      Its also possible that the owner has no specific intent to sell and its just the broker flying a kite.

    • Why? Following short domain auctions I almost always see 2L.com selling for far more when brokered vs. auctioned off. Not surprising since most resellers are paranoid about overpaying.

      Or do you think there is some kind of domain conspiracy where broker intentionally let the name go for less what it is worth?

    • Why not just price the name with a BuyItNow Price using Efty or Uniregistry.
      It allows one to wrap their mind around the price and if one wants the name they are either going to buy it or email the owner to start negotiating somewhere around that price. It also gets rid of all the tire kicker emails. If it’s a good or hot name there are buyers out there for it.

  2. Ether = Greek word for air. Some would argue this is what cryptocurrencies are all about – a chunk of thin air. 😀

    On the other hand, Ethereum is a made up word, and a fanciful trademark. Hard to sell the .com beyond the Ethereum foundation.

  3. @Acro

    “On the other hand, Ethereum is a made up word, and a fanciful trademark. Hard to sell the .com beyond the Ethereum foundation.”

    I agree. And the Foundation is opposing 2 Ethereum trademarks on the USPTO right now, whereas they are NOT opposing the 2 ETHER trademark applications by the same applicant. So, ETHER.com is a better bet than Ethereum.com, I’d imagine.

    • @acro & @steve

      Both raise some hairy issues about ETHEREUM.com, a domain name that is arguably one of the most valuable financial domains on the market right now with a reserve price of $10 million last I checked. However, as mentioned, a quick visit to USPTO and you can see that Ethereum Foundation is filing U.S. Trademarks and opposing pending trademarks.

      How do you sell ETHEREUM to anyone but Ethereum Foundation outside of the finance or related classes for $10 million? Furthermore, if sold to a non-trademark holder, do we have another WashingtonJournal.com UDRP type case ready to unfold?

      It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Ethereum as the crypto/bitcoin market heats up or peaks in 2018…

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent Posts

Squadhelp Adds Escrow.com as a Payment Option

1
Squadhelp has added Escrow.com as a payment option for buyers. The addition of the Escrow.com option was shared by ARIYAS on X this morning: 👍...

Some Thoughts on .AI Domain Names

16
There is no question that .AI domain names have become a hot topic of late. With considerable amounts of venture funding flowing into AI...

Handoff to Dan on Imported Leads Can be Confusing

0
I've been using the lead import option at Dan.com more regularly. Although the 5% commission is not ideal, transactions tend to move more quickly...

ArtificialIntelligence.com Goes Up for Sale

11
I tried to buy the ArtificialIntelligence.com domain name multiple times over the last 10 years. The emails I sent to the registrant went unanswered,...

EU Gives More IP Protection to Food & Drink Producers

0
Did you know that some well-known food and drink varieties are protected intellectual property regulations? Popular types of drinks and foods that are protected...