Opportunity Cost of Lost Opportunities

While some people may complain that its almost impossible to find a true premium generic domain name at a “good” price these days, I believe there are still great deals to be had.

Like the saying goes, sometimes it’s necessary to overpay today to find a good deal tomorrow. I believe there are three reasons to overpay:

  1. Create goodwill with a domain owner/seller to buy the next name (the really desirable name) from him for a fair price. Most sellers prefer to deal with trustworthy, quick paying clients that they know rather than trying to establish a new relationship with someone else.
  2. Acquire a group of domain names in the same vertical or a set of similar names that add value to each other. If a person owns the singular and plural of a name (Deal.com & Deals.com), the value of both can be enhanced as a set. Likewise, owning several extension (.com/.net/.org/.info) of the same domain name can increase the value, too.
  3. Ensure that the offer meets the seller’s needs in order to secure the name. If the seller isn’t inclined to sell for market value, it may take a considerably larger sum to convince the owner to sell.

Frequently, a person only has one chance to buy a domain name before someone else acquires it for a development project. Once a domain name is developed into a website, the name may be impossible to acquire. To avoid this, sometimes a buyer has to jump on an opportunity as soon as it presents itself, or the name may not be on the market again.

If the ideal domain name is available to acquire, now might be the time to do what it takes to secure it. Otherwise, it may be a source of regret down the road.

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

5 COMMENTS

  1. Hi,
    there are many unique premium domain names available on the market. Just forget English. Prosperity is now in China, Russia, Brazil, India, etc. The non-English domain names market is by far the most interesting.
    This week, I bought hentai.fr, and the word for hotel & hotels in latvian (.com & .net). The market is there. Those domain names are still available at reasonable prices, they monetize well and they will be the jewels of tomorrow.

  2. Elliot, #1 is a good way to go broke fast…#2 just happened to me…saw a name just sell for 4950 I could have had for 1500 6 months ago

    ***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***

    I’ve seen it happen on a couple of decent sized portfolios. There are many people who don’t necessarily need the money to sell, but they just aren’t inclined to do so. When the time comes for them to be more motivated to sell their best names, sometimes they go with the person they like – oftentimes a person they did business with before.

  3. This makes me feel better. I’m bidding on a generic on Sedo, and I’m getting cold feet. I buy a lot of generics in a particular vertical, but I bid on this on a whim and didn’t research the traffic enough. I know it’ll be worth it over the long run, and it’s unlikely to devalue, but still – it’s Xmas and there are lots of presents to buy!

    ***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***

    Don’t spend more than you can afford to lose. Buying domain names can be a gamble.

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