These past couple weeks, I’ve been irritated by people making uneducated comments about end-user sales being too high. On various public domain forums, some people seem to think that end users are paying too much for domain names that define their nice or define a major category in their niche. I think these comments are uneducated and somewhat baffling.
If your family owned a diamond or jewelry business on the 4th floor of a building in New York’s famous diamond district, how much would it be worth to be able to buy out the lease of the shop right on the corner of 47th and 5th, which is passed by tens of thousands of people a day? This location is far more lucrative to a diamond dealer than it would be to someone else – say a ski shop. I wouldn’t expect the owner of a ski shop to criticize a diamond dealer for paying millions of dollars to secure the best slot in the diamond district, so why are some domain investors critical of domain sales to end users – the people that know their business?
Some of the threads where comments were being made seem to be more of a personal nature directed at Rick Schwartz and his recent sale of RoomDividers.com. There are people who are actually alluding to a conspiracy theory or some other dumb bullshit (like Rick is going to stake his rep on a $75k deal). For fuck’s sake – leave Rick alone. It’s easy taking potshots at one of the domain industry leaders, but it makes you look like a clown. By no means do you have to agree with everyone, but there is a way to disagree without being disagreeable.
Think what you want about whoever you want, but when you air your views out in the public, people may be less inclined to do business with you, and it’s your reputation that will take a hit.
I have to agree with you on this Elliot! Some people are awestuck by what Rick gets for prices. Well, if you don’t believe they are worth big bucks, you don’t ask for them and don’t get them. What I do see missing in the recent threads is proper credit given to Kevin Leto’s brokerage skills. But let them keep saying the prices are too high, they will keep asking lower prices and creating more advantages for the buyers!
I sold garmentbag.com (singular) for $50K which I thought was high, but your point is valid if you ask $5K for a domain its not going to sell $50K.
Elliot,
Right on the money. On the flipside many of the forums have become great entry vehicles for new people. Although many old school domainers are still active on the forums there are a growing number of experienced domainers who are spending less and less time on the forums because of the increasing amounts of ridiculous threads and comments. I’m not bashing anybody or any particular forum here but when you log in and see 5 out of 100 threads that hold any particular relevance its hard to maintain the same interest in coming back.
I wouldn’t pay too much attention to a lot of these comments – Sales like RoomDividers.com are well worthy of thier asking price and we will only continue to see more. For those doubters, thier comments will only be replaced with “I could have paid $2,000 for that name a couple years ago” soon.
Natural progression of the industry – more people enter, the greater amount of initial doubt that’s visible on forums like this – industry is unlike any before so the profit margin will almost always have doubters since it falls in to “can this be real” or “its too good to be true” category.
Remember, you do not see hundreds of success stories on the forums – many people stay quiet and simply focus on thier business. So in some ways the chat is good although yes, inexperienced. Doubters will always exist but at least people are talking.
Totalyl agree with you there Elliot!
Its just dumb ass people without a clue who make those comments.
In Oz we call it “The Tall Poppy Syndrome” This phenomenon is often interpreted as being based on and resulting from a resentment of others’ success.
Get a life people! When you have 1% of Ricks success & knowledge then we may give a crap about what you say, but I doubt it!
Ed
http://www.ozdomainer.com
I don’t know much about Rick’s sale of RoomDividers.com, but if an end user bought it, I have to believe that they know a hell of a lot more about their business than I do. RoomDividers.com was not worth $75,000 to me, but it obviously was to the person/company that bought it. And since they know more about their business than I do, I’m led to believe that $75,000 was a fair/reasonable price. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, value is in the eye of the buyer.
Agreed.
I’ll do you one better.
How about the baffling tendency of *domainers* to consider admittedly lesser quality but still useful domains to be “worthless” or as seen on NamePros every day “less than reg fee”?
Sure, a lot of domains are truly worthless and there’s nothing wrong with pointing them out to users trying to learn the ropes to help them avoid repeating mistakes but…man, just because a domain doesn’t have 1 zillion search results doesn’t make it automatically worthless. Nor does having little or no parking revenue.
To expand on your analogy, if you own a vacant lot in an OK neighborhood (not bad, not great), it doesn’t generate revenue and in fact costs you money in taxes and upkeep (reg fees and hosting) is it worthless? Not to the person that see a gas station, home or other business being built there in a few years.
Speculative? Sure. Worthless? Get some vision!
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
If you ask a domain investor his opinion about the value of a name, you are going to get a domain investor’s opinion – which is obviously less than a person who would use it. Don’t ask the guy who runs the ski shop how much your jewelry is worth. Maybe it’s not worth anything to 99.999% of the population, but there’s always hope someone will find value. You can’t assume that domain investors will see the value if you ask though.
Lou – Perfectly said.
All of us who are experienced in the domain industry may be experts on our own industry but every domainer (100% of all of us) are NOT experts in the industries for which we hold domains.
If an end user believes its worth that much to them – then it is. They are NOT paying based on multiples of ppc and many times not on traffic. We all talk about the death of traditional media such as newspapers – well you can blow $75,000 in a day with traditional media so who are we to say if a deal was too high.
Again, we are experts in our industry not others. End users pay more because as you said – value is in the eye of the buyer – and not always the domainer.
“but there is a way to disagree without being disagreeable”..
Is this post supposed to be an example of that=).
I do agree with you though, the best person to really know the value of a domain is the end user.
Troy
“but there is a way to disagree without being disagreeable”..
lol… if this was post was about .mobi’s I have a feeling it would not turn out the same…. 🙂
The domain names that sell for substantial amounts usually have a buyer with a business plan in mind. Most likely a domain speculator is looking to flip it and the long term profit tail is much shorter.
iReport.com is a good example. To most domainers that name is not worth much but to a media company looking to reach its viewers and extend its amateur reporting base, it is a solid deal that will pay huge dividends for many years to come.
Think big, believe in the fantastic and have patience.
“for f%*k’s sake” – that’s a new one – i do agree w/ you – the reliance on personal attacks in a person’s argument can be summarized in this very simple statement:
personal attacks are inversely proportional to IQ.
I’m not as experienced in the name business as most of the domainers on this forum, but I see several schools of thought here. Some try to put a formular like other economic principals for a commodity and apply it to the value of a domain name. It would be nice and easy if there was a way just to compartmentilize domains like pork bellies. All names values are based on levels of demand and domains incorporate several layers of appeal where on name can sell for big bucks without any traffic.
I am currently in the process of purchasing a name for a client 60k (sorry can’t tell you the name at this time) His basis for purchasing is for a new company. This is just the name they want to do business under, no generic type in value, not even a catchy name. Its okay at best. 60k is still less than they are planning to spend on print media in the first two years of running the company and the owner won’t part with it for any less.
Value is totally in the eye of the beholder. One of the greatest things about trading in domains is that the value can increase exponentially when a name takes on a personal demension. Best of luck finding the next phase that pays!
Very well said. Rick’s success has been and continues to be very motivating to a lot of us out here. When I heard about his sale of RoomDividers.com I was excited not just for him – but for all of us. His sales, along with the others that we hear about are what makes this dream worth kicking everyday.
It gives me hope that the day will be coming when my portfolio starts seeing some similar action!!
I’m so with you on this one, Elliot. I read those posts, too, and I even made a reply at DNF regarding RoomDividers.com, although I didn’t want to waste too much time on it.
It’s unbelievable how some people believe they have the right to badmouth others. I guess it is because this is the Internet – people feel anonymous and hide behind forum nicknames. Still, if I see someone trash talking somebody else for no apparent reason I definitely know who I don’t want to do business with.
As for the value of generic domains, if as a domain owner you don’t see the value of the domain yourself then the buyer won’t get it, either. However, if you have the vision to see what can be done with a category-defining domain name you’re likely to achieve what the naysayers never will.
While I agree that personal attacks against Rick or anyone, for that matter, are unwarranted – I don’t agree with the ganging up mentality domainers take on people who question prices. Because there is little documentation available to the public regarding these big sales, we are expected to take the buyer & sellers word for it.
Someone on a forum made an excellent point about the irony of this all. Domainer’s want to see several layers of authenticated evidence when they’re going to shell out just a couple of grand for a domain based on revenue. Are these people called ‘dumb-asses, jealous, inexperienced, or any losers’? No, of course not! They are considered smart for being overly cautious. After all, it’s their money.
So why is it so forbidden for people to ask questions about big sales reported? After all, these sales DO affect the industry as a whole. And if many high-priced sales go unreported, than what’s wrong with questioning the ones that are reported?? NDA’s, privacy…that is how they are answered, if they are answered. Again, personal attacks on Rick Schwartz are not okay. But neither are attacks on people who ask legitimate questions.
To defend Rick’s pricing for some mundane name is fine and dandy. But those very domainers who defend him won’t place half of its equivalent value on some respectable names, let alone routinely low ball it to smithereens.
If roomdividers.com is 75k, then I am a multi-millionaire 10 times over. You can give every instance about a jeweler and a ski shop analogy, but comparable diamond rings and skis go untouched relegating them to that defunct metrics of traffic/revenue bullshit by which 99% of the domains are valued to take advantage of small domainers.
If all was fair, then domain properties would be valued at what the so called self proclaimed big boys and kings of domaining spend on, and not by how much they make from end user sales.
Who cares about the reputation in this industry? There is none. Most of them are sharks looking for prey. From parking companies to big profile domain buyers.
I know a pawn shop when I see one. And most domainers with cash are just that. Running a pawn shop.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
A domain name is worth only what someone will pay for it. Just like you can’t win a football game on paper, you can’t count the value of your domain portfolio is actual wealth because there isn’t a set value for it. A almost good as cash LLL.com can be worth $5k to a domain investor but $100k to a company who wants it. Likewise, a LLL.com that’s worth $5k can end up costing the owner $100k if they get sued by a company with that acronym.
If you own a domain name and I want to offer $5k, who is to say it’s a bad offer? If you are thinking about selling it and haven’t received a higher offer, then maybe your valuation of the name is wrong. A domain name is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Whether a domain owner is willing to wait for someone to offer that amount (if it ever happens) is his choice. There are plenty of people who have owned names for years and are happy to take $5,000 for it since they don’t have the time/energy to learn about the industry and sell it for more. Sometimes it’s like found money.
Regarding reputation – As an online-based industry, people do business mostly based on someone’s reputation. There are several people/companies with whom I won’t do business for a variety of reasons.
Elliot,
I’ll try to keep it short. As you offen refer to “getting it”. They just do not get it!!!
How can one not get Hotels.com, Cars.com etc. They do not “get” 65,000 hotels paying $300+ a month. LOL. They do not “get” front page Yahoo advertising running $350,000.00 a day. They do not “get” direct navigation!
Rick had the forethought to make some great purchases. Just like the families on Fifth Ave. It boils down to envy. “If you think small, you will always be small”
Elliot keep up the great work!
For a little perspective on domain name pricing I urge everyone to take a look at the Conde Nast digital media kit:
http://condenastmediakit.com
Compare the price of a full-page, ONE-TIME ad in Details magazine, for instance with the price of a good quality generic name that can be registered in perpetuity for 10 bucks a year after that initial purchase price.
$55,460 — That’s ONE ISSUE, ONE PAGE.
Even good two-word generic domains are GREATLY undervalued in the current market. Eventually, advertisers will wake up to this, and many already have.
The folks who only see the value in PPC are not seeing the big picture that includes company image and advertising, in my humble opinion. And, unfortunately, the lowballing, cheap attacks and petty criticism only serve to hurt everybody’s interests.
People are entitled to their personal opinions and the best way to address these often off the wall comments is by providing “education”, rather than lashing out at their way of thinking IMO. Facts, examples, history, strategies, skills, effective communication, and believing in your product. All educational building blocks that will open a closed or uneducated mind. Hard to argue a controversial subject if you provide definitive educational/factual data.
I would guess that many of the individuals who are slandering Rick S. are truly uneducated in the procedures to completing a major domain sale, and this causes them to have poor perspective on high prices paid for mediocre domains, and in Domaining in general. Often, the blind are leading the blind in industry discussions like this. This is when seasoned leaders should step up to the plate and provide education, instead of defending an individual (Although sometimes this necessary, after the 1st effort has failed.)
Even though defending a friend or colleague is the first impulse of human nature, it often leads to more gas on the fire and manifestations of the discussion/issue occur. Providing educational/factual content might be the unpopular post in the mix of a hornets nest, but eventually, it will be embraced if explained thoroughly.
Rick Schwartz has proven to the industry and the world publicly that if you believe in how powerful your domain assets (products) are and an opportunity arises to sell, demand top dollar and nothing less. (Of Course, I mean good and great names when I say this.) There is no doubt that Rick believes in his product and it is apparent by his passion and ROI success! He is not alone, and their are many more that wish to stay out of the spotlight/public eye that are having major success quietly.
This is my opinion, but how and why should you sell your product (domain asset) if you do not fully understand the value and power it possesses? Could you really sell your product effectively to an end user when you do not fully believe in your product? It comes out through your communication when a buyer is in search of acquisition information for a domain whether you know it or not. It’s like buying an Auto Mechanic shop because there is alot of money to be made in fixing cars, never being a mechanic, and trying to up sell services to mechanically inclined people. It comes through that you have no clue eventually.
The person who embraces their product can out sell the one who just tries to sell it to make a living and does not believe in it, all day, everyday. In the domain world, that equates to Major dollars for a domain sale. iReport.com was used as an example. The person without passion and education would have sold it for $5k or less. Rick took it to another level because he knew how important this brand was to CNN and communicated his passion and education to their acquisition team and sold it for $700k. Big difference in ROI when you are passionate and educated on your product and communicate it to your buyer(s). You can spot these passionate individuals in every major industry, to include niches. Their passion separates them from the herd.
Seasoned domainers with established track records of 5-7 figure deals transmit to buyers that they believe in their products and have statistics to educate them on why the domain of interest is so valuable. Not just because other domains sold for $XX,XXX and $XXX,XXX. Each domain sale is unique just like a finger print and what transforms this transaction is the sophistication of the buyer and their methods in acquiring a domain.
Michael Castello said it well: “Think big, believe in the fantastic and have patience.” I would also add to this embrace your passion. Believe in your product.
This way of thinking is the difference between success and failure in the domain industry or any other industry IMO. I have chatted with many people throughout the years in the domain industry. Those who believe in their domain assets stick out of the crowd and are successful. The list is not as long as many would think.
What people forget to acknowledge is the salesmanship “skill” involved in closing these deals. It is not luck that that domains in the 5, 6, and 7 figure ranges sell, and for some domainers, quite often.
But i will leave that for another discussion. Rick and many others continue to show how to embrace your assets/products and sell them effectively for many to learn from. The key is not to question why a domain sold high or the integrity of a certified sale, the key is to ask how the sale reached that level and the techniques used to close a high dollar sale. Chances are, the sales techniques do not change very much for those who are expert salesmen. This is the content everyone should be after, and not conducting personal attacks on someones success or lack of success.
Time to embrace education and selling strategy. Time to ask relevant questions on how you too can reach the success levels many seasoned domainers have reached, “consistently”. It is surely not luck, if happens more than once.
Sorry for the long post.
Alright look, in regards to the value of names like chocolate.com, etc…I get it. I think most people with a half a brain do too. This is not an arguement about value of domains.
But the comparisons to magazine or newspaper ads like the one above have to stop. More domainers need to understand why they are not legitimate comparisons.
The differences are actually very simple. Conde Nast gets, yes, over 55K, for just one issue because of their established built-in subscriber base, their branding, the affluent demographic they reach, and the distribution they have to branded bookstores, among thousands of other shelves in drug stores, etc., across the world.
This means that when a person flips through their magazine, there is a good chance they stumble upon..let’s say ‘Elliot’s Cologne’. Ok, you with me so far?
If the ad is designed well, if the slogan and picture of a sexy Elliot are eye-catching…it might just entice the reader to want to further check out this cologne (not to mention the smell sample inserted). This was a person who was flipping through the magazine while waiting at the dentist’s office or someone who reads about world-class resorts and reads Conde Nast page to page, every issue.
That very expensive ad was purchased for broad outreach.
That 55K ad just introduced Elliot’s cologne to a capable buyer who never would have been aware of this cologne in the first place! So when this person goes to their keyboard, and types in http://www.Elliotcologne.com – you have that 55K ad to thank!
A different kind of example – Hotels.com. This is valuable and rightly worth millions because of all the hotels that will pay to get in a targeted viewer’s face. But when that person clicks on a Holiday Inn ad WITHIN Hotels.com, instead of a Hotel XYZ, you better believe it’s because that person was already conditioned to be familiar and comfortable with Holiday Inn.
Holiday Inn will continue to make more money on Hotels.com (and pay handsomely to do so) than Hotel XYZ (who has to pay just as much) because of the advertising they do outside of Hotels.com.
People don’t buy the majority of consumer goods because they wake up and decide they need it. They are conditioned to believe they want it! Targeted type-in visitors are fantastic, make no mistake about it. But the notion that ad agencies are idiots because they spend so much more on traditional advertising is just plain wrong. You have to first herd the cattle who are scattered all over the land before you can get them inside the pen.
One last note – for all the people about to throw around statistics about newspaper circulation going down – save it. The ad agencies still have to find a way to advertise and reach the unconditioned buyer. So their ad spending online will go up – since more people are going online. But they still have to reach the surfer who was merely passing the time…and convince them that what they really need is that vacation over xmas instead of a new mattress. Ad agencies have to herd the wandering cattle. Relying on people already intent on taking a vacation is not enough.
I must say I’m amazed at the level of ignorance amongst novice domainers particularly! Rick Schwartz is a true legend in this business IMO. He has consistently walks the walk and has been saying for a very long time now, that domainers are ignorantly underpricing their own assets. Lets explore why RoomDividers.com, like several other domains comparable are worth $75K and probably a lot more. Before I explain why, I bet most of these domain wingers generally price their domains based on crappy ppc natural traffic x a multiple or whatever. How bizzare and naive for a bit of mild euphemism. Here is what i reckon Rick did:
Login to your Google Adwords account if you have one, and click on the “keyword” tool and then enter the keywords Room Divider, you will find the monthly number of searches is on average 27,000 to 60,000 searches or more for those keywords particularly. Infact after exploring those myself, i snapped up RoomScreenDivider.com wich also has over 10,000 monthly searches.
Common Sense with a bit of savvy marketing, should obviously convince any prospective business buyer, that he could capture at least 10% CTR if a page ranking is between 1 to 10 on google, yahoo etc.. out of that 10% what percentage do you think will convert naturally into sales??…lets just say 3% conservatively…there you are! day in and day out year after year!!
Let me be very very clear about where i’m personally coming from here. I think this domain industry is so so blase at marketing its own value to the end business user, it’s not even funny! Rick gets it big time which is why he makes big money…YOU SHOULD TOO!! instead of waiting for another domainer to come along or waiting for domain auctions that hardly any end-business user is aware of. Bear in mind Rick does not control domain auctions, he merely provides a conduit to auctions.
I can back my metrics aforementioned above here, because I previously ran an online media company from 2001 to 2003, using keywords and it was so easy to extrapolate what our conversion ratios and revenue were ahead of time. You can take the Roomdividers.com scenario and pretty much apply those stats to any “GENERIC” keywords, take the data and then SELL your domain to the end-business user and get BIG MONEY instead of what domainers are systematically being conditioned into…big mistake!
Therefore, i’d like to think this big Rick sale is a wake up call for all domainers to go and re-assess their domain portfolios…infact I’m calling it BR(Before Rick)and AR(After Rick) pricing!
One last thing, we are all experiencing only the very first wave of where domain assets are going to be. Unfortunately, some domainers seem to think this indusrty will look the same in 5 years…if that was the case, then we are all technically bankcrupt! just imagine in 5 years time, still waiting for a domain auction to come along every 3 months or so, and for only 250 domains in a “live” sale that sells to pretty much the same people each time “domainers” that my friends is a big bubble that will eventually burst with the last one who’s holding the parcel going belly up! Now, if you share my optimistic view, the industry will radically change over the coming months and years, because new sohphisticated “media” entities will get involved and take it to a completely different level beyound our current imagination. These entrants will better know how to reach business end users just like commercial real estate. These guys will see an entirely different landscape than the ones generally visualized amongst domainers. A landscape based on R&D if you understand what I mean.
They do this because like Steve Balmer, CEO of Microsoft, they realize that everything you see, hear and do within the next decade will be online! …and everything online starts with a DOMAIN!…mostly KEYWORD DOMAINS!
Pat Quinn relates an argument I’ve been making for years. And his good example of the price of a full page ad in Details magazine is very cheap compared to a full color, full pager in People or Vogue or other high sales magazines (over $125,000 for one page, one month).
The companies who pay for these ads are under the “advice” of their high-powered Madison Avenue Ad agencies (MAA). The MAA definitely do NOT want their clients to know that spending $125,000 on a domain name (or even adding on another $150k for the ad agency creating the print ad campaign, making the company’s cost over $250,000 for ONE AD, ONE MONTH) can be better spent by picking up a domain name that defines the company’s prodserv. The domain will work day after day, bringing in eyeballs and direct sales visitors, and promoting their brand over and over again for years. What MAA wants their customers to know this killer online marketing secret called “GENERIC DOMAIN NAMES”? MAA’s don’t want their clients to know, because they’ll lose money. Ever see a large company’s TV commercial and the domain name promoting the company instead matches the ad “theme” and not the company’s prodserv? I can give 100 examples in the last year.
There are domainers who are professional and understand the value of domains, and don’t question or attack the prices of domain sales, or the domains that are being sold, or the seller. There are also a lot of domainer “wannabees” who spend time belittling everyone in the domain industry who has more success than they. Jealousy spawns a lot of bitter comments, especially hidden behind “handles” because they’re too afraid to reveal who they really are. Why? Because they haven’t provided anything substantial to the domain industry growth, and don’t have anything to offer but whining, personal attacks. Or, they’re afraid of the competition.
Not that I personally get any of these types of attacks directed towards me… heh heh.
We need to reach out to marketing depts of companies to educate them on the value of domain names. Period. As an industry, this is our most important collective goal.
Good article, Elliot.
some of these posts might be full of salient points but who has the time to read 6+ paragraphs.
I do and did. I appreciate longer posts assuming that they have those “salient points” or even just one simple point if that point is well made.
Guy’s, Andrew’s blog today http://www.domainnamewire.com has just pointed out what I suggested yesterday was the reason for the big sale on RoomDividers.com IMO.
Domain name Wire now says’ SEO’s are starting to get it! go read it:
http://domainnamewire.com/
If you have’nt re-evaluated your domain portfolio, now is a good time to do so…we are now IMO trading in an AR (After Rick)Pricing cycle. All those BR (Before Rick) domain pricing are now dead on arrival! Great thanks to Rick Schwartz for providing the catalyst.
Like Steve Moralez suggested right here, if you are not passionate about domains, maybe you should’nt be doing it!
Stephen Douglas,
Did you read the post after Pat Quinn’s about why ad agencies will continue to spend big bucks on traditional/outside advertising?
I believe domain names truly are valuable assets – but this poster made dead-on points, IMO, about why the comparisons between People full-page ads are crucial to even the type-in domain names. It would actually greatly help the domaining industry in their marketing efforts if domainers actually were able to comprehend this reality. Advertising is about conditioning first.
Rick catches big fish because he has big bait and has thousands of hooks in the water.
Mac
nice! Elliot’s got himself a little sassy. “There are people who are actually alluding to a conspiracy theory or some other dumb bullshit (like Rick is going to stake his rep on a $75k deal). For fuck’s sake – leave Rick alone.”
I am sure all the “haters” and whiners wouldn’t be bitching nearly as loud if they had been smart enough to have just sold one of their domains for $75,000!!
I LOVE seeing anyone sell a domain in the high $XX,XXXs or HIGHER – MORE power to ANYONE who can do it. Just keep bumpin’ that bar up!!
I realy enjoy reading all the different opinions, specialy the so called before Rick and After Rick theory.
Also the thing with MAA, traditional advertising and it still being the major thing for ad companies.
And then there is this thing about trying to educate major CEO and business owners about domain names.
I agree on all the different opinions and we can all be fortunat of having different ways of aproaching and looking into this industry.
I would like to make a suggestion about educating the so called, dont get it crowd.
Why not use the traditional way of advertising to promote the new way of advertising.
Billboards, posters, news papers. Throw something on there like a picture of lets say a “Donut” with the adress ” www . DonnysDonutShop . com underneath you would write ” Did you know this? Donut.com is looked up 15000 times each day”
and then
at the bottom ” Want customers? get a good name @ Sedo.com ”
This should be done by all of these Domain selling companies, Moniker, Buydomains, and all others! You use the traditional to promote the future.
It’s easy , but none of them do it.
To all domainers, you have my respect for staying tough in this business. Time is on our side.
Nice Blog Elliot
Interesting thoughts. As a real estate agent and a virtual property owner for the past 10 years, the comparison between Real Property and Virtual Property in many ways is very similar.
When assessing value of real property the definition of market value is as follows:
International Valuation Standards defines market value as “the estimated amount for which a property should exchange on the date of valuation between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arms-length transaction after proper marketing wherein the parties had each acted knowledgeably, prudently, and without compulsion.
Parties that have found the price too dear don’t buy, parties who see the value, bid the final price and are left with no other competition, are the ultimate buyers. There is then no question that value is determined by the purchase. Once purchased, that is its value.
Everyone has opinions on price but a property, in this case, virtual property, is ultimately determined by the price that a person pays for it on a given day, in current market conditions. Needless to say other external, international or economic factors may re-adjust the value in the future but as for now, that’s what its worth, like it or not.
faulty analogy elliot, faulty analogy…