Values.com: The Domain That Got Away
I was driving along the Henry Hudson in New York City this afternoon and my mouth dropped when I saw this billboard. Firstly, it’s very cool, especially considering the drive is right next to the Hudson River where Captain Chesley Sullenberger safely landed US Airways flight 1549 in January of 2008.
The real reason my mouth dropped was seeing the domain name Values.com. You see I almost was the owner of Values.com back in June of 2007. I thought I had a deal to buy the domain name, and even had an attorney writing up the agreement when the owner emailed me to let me know a buyer in Germany had offered more money between the time I thought we struck a deal to the time when my attorney was writing up a domain sales agreement. I thought the owner may have been bluffing to raise the price, but surely enough, it was sold to that buyer.
It looks like another organization, The Foundation for a Better Life, is now the owner of the domain name (deal appears to have been done towards the end of January 2009). Â The billboard and imagery is cool, but it would have been even cooler if I had sold them the domain name!
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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 sold seven figures worth of domain names in the last five years. 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 | Google + | Facebook | Email
Jamie
Can’t win them all but at least the domain name is being put to use.
That would have been a nice buy though depending on the purchase price.
Mike Sullivan
What an effective billboard… the image, the placement. Curious what your vision for the domain was. Something you wanted to develop or was it an investment?
Elliot
@ Mike
My vision was:
home.Values.com
watch.Values.com
autographs.Values.com
However, I would have gone for the re-sale rather than develop the name.
Tim
Foundation for a Better Life…..go read about them….interesting story of a billionaire trying to do good and not even accepting donations. The idea is to spread a positive message and hope.
The reason I know about them is that they play these TV commercials in the English language in foreign countries on their native language channels, which makes no sense to me since nobody there has a clue as to what the commercials about being played in English.
The commercials are non-stop and irritating b/c they are overplayed. That is why I researched them once while overseas. I could not understand who would spend all this money to target folks that have no idea what is being said.
Victor
That is a great name to buy! If, I had the money…I would of bought it.
Josh
If Ive learned anything Elliot and after dozens and dozens of 5-6 figure buys its been time is always of the essence, if you feel safe use a service and close quick! I can only think of 5-6 times I have used a written agreement in 5 years and it was more for the sellers sake. Now thats just me, I know the risks, take a chance but in this industry time can kill.
Elliot
@Josh
I agree, but in this case there were active trademarks involved, so it wasn’t a simple domain sale.
sin
I see this billboard in every other city. I can sure that they have out the domain to a great use than you could have put it .
I saw this billboard in many cities. Cheers
Luke Webster
The Foundation for a Better Life / Values.com have put together a great marketing campaign. I always enjoy seeing their posters when I travel. I like the Michael J. Fox and Jim Thorpe posters… They are all great.
Sorry you missed out on the domain 😉
Regards,
Luke Webster | DevRich.com