3 ms·

I'd be curious if you could do a post on that. I'm in the business and while I can't predict the future I don't see it that way. At least in the short term long

by larrys 12y ago

I'd be curious if you could do a post on that. I'm in the business and while I can't predict the future I don't see it that way. At least in the short term long term of course anything is possible obviously. While to others it might sound like you are taking a hit my guess is that you simply got a good enough number that you decided not to go for door number two. Which could be 5 years down the road or never. The market for this type of name is basically the following: a) A non chinese domain investor (good luck getting anything north of 350k from one of those). b) A chinese investor (in which case all bets are off after all they buy numeral domains for ridiculous amounts). I've sold to a ton of these guys. c) A startup (but not going to pay a million for a domain). d) Some company that needs those initials. e) Some major company that needs a brand name. And hopefully doesn't have a trademark but has a budget. As such (as we both know) you can wait forever for the right person or company to come along. So if someone throws you a million(s) for the name you are going to think long and hard about not taking the money. And the fact that, say, some billion dollar company wants it doesn't mean they will part with millions to buy it. Anyway congratulations.

jacquesm 12y ago
Let me think about that. This has been a long time in the works (years), and it's been an interesting but sometimes tiring affair. The obvious candidates to buy it have all had their chance, compared to what other 2L domains have sold for I think my asking price was quite reasonable. I think I understand why this particular party bought it and what their strategy is, so I understand the deal from the buyers perspective in so far as this is possible. For my side the short version of the story is risk/return analysis, I've made a good bit of money from the exploitation of the domain, I could have kept it and re-targeted it to some new purpose or sell it outright and re-invest the proceeds in some other way. Domains are a fickle thing, you're always operating by the grace of some other party. Another way to look at this transaction is that the sale of the domain instantly brought about 20 years worth of revenues without the associated costs. I've got many other reasons for selling, after all, a two letter domain is 'just 16 bits' and I think bits have in the end limited utility, as a brand it was useful but not spectacularly so. Though no doubt someone else could have milked it for much more (for instance, by making it a porn site). I'm fairly tired of the whole webcam concept (no matter what you do, it tends to trend to a porn site unless you feel like babysitting it 24x7) and have been very busy with other concepts in the last couple of months. The Due-Diligence work is also quite demanding, letting this go to me was not hard once the decision was made. I will miss my ultra-short email address. I'll do what I can to keep the users happy and the site up in the air, the deserve nothing less, their loyalty over the years has been astounding.
- larrys 12y ago
  Right. But nothing in the above explanation seems to address the "shift the supply/demand landscape" which you said influenced you selling at this time. As far as "20 years worth of revenues" I had a domain related to the mortgage business where I was offered an amount of money that was, let's call it, 4 years worth of revenues. This was in iirc 2006/7 prior to the crash when those terms were paying tons of money. After the crash literally no income worth mentioning. Obviously in retrospect wish I had taken the offer. But at the time it didn't seem like the mortgage landscape downside would be anywhere near what it turned out to be.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    Ah right. Sorry. Bloody small input boxes and all that. The new tlds, the fact that the domain name system as such is expanding all the time and that urls are fewer and fewer typed in makes me believe that 'shortness' is not so much a factor today as it was in the early days. You can get a two letter (not .com) for very little money. The LG deal still baffles me, though I can see with that being their brand they probably had little choice. But no company is literally called 'ww', not even mine (It is Camarades BV) so from that point of view a really large figure was probably not going to happen any time soon. The big difference is whether you approach the buyer or whether the buyer approaches you. "A price is never right, if you sold it was too cheap, if you didn't it was too expensive.". I'm happy with this sale, it's a ton of money and since I normally live without a safety net this will help a lot with my sleeping disorder. That Icann announcement of a trademark dispute, fake infringement suit (it's been tried), DHS seizure and all these other bad things that can happen to domains worry me a lot less today than they did yesterday.

by larrys 12y ago

jacquesm 12y ago

Let me think about that. This has been a long time in the works (years), and it's been an interesting but sometimes tiring affair. The obvious candidates to buy it have all had their chance, compared to what other 2L domains have sold for I think my asking price was quite reasonable. I think I understand why this particular party bought it and what their strategy is, so I understand the deal from the buyers perspective in so far as this is possible. For my side the short version of the story is risk/return analysis, I've made a good bit of money from the exploitation of the domain, I could have kept it and re-targeted it to some new purpose or sell it outright and re-invest the proceeds in some other way. Domains are a fickle thing, you're always operating by the grace of some other party. Another way to look at this transaction is that the sale of the domain instantly brought about 20 years worth of revenues without the associated costs. I've got many other reasons for selling, after all, a two letter domain is 'just 16 bits' and I think bits have in the end limited utility, as a brand it was useful but not spectacularly so. Though no doubt someone else could have milked it for much more (for instance, by making it a porn site). I'm fairly tired of the whole webcam concept (no matter what you do, it tends to trend to a porn site unless you feel like babysitting it 24x7) and have been very busy with other concepts in the last couple of months. The Due-Diligence work is also quite demanding, letting this go to me was not hard once the decision was made. I will miss my ultra-short email address. I'll do what I can to keep the users happy and the site up in the air, the deserve nothing less, their loyalty over the years has been astounding.

larrys 12y ago
Right. But nothing in the above explanation seems to address the "shift the supply/demand landscape" which you said influenced you selling at this time. As far as "20 years worth of revenues" I had a domain related to the mortgage business where I was offered an amount of money that was, let's call it, 4 years worth of revenues. This was in iirc 2006/7 prior to the crash when those terms were paying tons of money. After the crash literally no income worth mentioning. Obviously in retrospect wish I had taken the offer. But at the time it didn't seem like the mortgage landscape downside would be anywhere near what it turned out to be.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  Ah right. Sorry. Bloody small input boxes and all that. The new tlds, the fact that the domain name system as such is expanding all the time and that urls are fewer and fewer typed in makes me believe that 'shortness' is not so much a factor today as it was in the early days. You can get a two letter (not .com) for very little money. The LG deal still baffles me, though I can see with that being their brand they probably had little choice. But no company is literally called 'ww', not even mine (It is Camarades BV) so from that point of view a really large figure was probably not going to happen any time soon. The big difference is whether you approach the buyer or whether the buyer approaches you. "A price is never right, if you sold it was too cheap, if you didn't it was too expensive.". I'm happy with this sale, it's a ton of money and since I normally live without a safety net this will help a lot with my sleeping disorder. That Icann announcement of a trademark dispute, fake infringement suit (it's been tried), DHS seizure and all these other bad things that can happen to domains worry me a lot less today than they did yesterday.