Posts Tagged ‘domain name’

Are .NET.AU’s Worthless?

// August 19th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Domaining

There has been a lot of discussion over the past few days over the quality of .AU domain names being listed for sale at the various .AU marketplaces. The .NET.AU extension has particularly been slated on online blogs, forums and even the aftermarkets themselves.

I tend to disagree with the comments being generated on these sites, especially in regards to the .NET.AU extensions. I believe that ALL domain names are valuable and worth something to someone, you just have to find the right buyer for it.

Obviously LLLL (letter-letter-letter-letter) domains are worth more than say LLLL-LL or whatever combination you want to put together, however that does not at all mean that the domain with the hyphen in it isn’t not worth something to someone, and should not be listed for a sale due to its type and quality.

To a domainer a domain name with a hyphen in it may not be worth anything – however not all domain names that are listed for sale are going to be brought by domainers. I think a lot of these domainers think that their entire domain portfolio is only going to be purchased by a fellow domainer.

The real and intended reason for a domain name is not for resell purposes. The purpose of a domain name is to identify that domain name with a particular company, business or brand – whether it is a .com.au or .net.au.

I have always been of the belief that a domain name is only worth what something is willing to pay for it, no matter what the extension. The domain name can be anything, with any extension and if a particular person or business finds that a particular domain name represents their need then they are a potential buyer.

Therefore I tend to think that any domain name listed for sale has the potential to be sold. It does not have to be a premium domain name, although they are worth more, that generates some interest. If a domain name identifies itself with someone’s need then it may be worth them spending some money to acquire it, whether it has a hyphen, letter, number or whatever.

The .AU marketplace is only still very young and I think these marketplaces cannot afford to be too particular in only listing domain names that have the ability to sell for the big bucks as they are only going to turn new users away from listing their names for sale.

Do you think .NET.AU names are worthless? Do you think all names have the potential of being sold?

My New Project

// May 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // The Internet

Over the past few weeks I have been working my new internet project. Earlier this year it was announced that the Australian Domain Name Administrator would be allowing the sale of the .au domain names for the first time.

Having been buying and trying to sell .com domain names for a while I thought it might be a good idea to attempt to get into the selling and brokering of the .au domain names.

With over 1 million Australian Domain’s registered there will definately be a market for the trading of domains so hopefully if I get in early enough it might be a bit of a winner.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone selling the .au domains at the moment, so I think it will be a niche market and getting in early will be the key to some success hopefully!

So the site will be launched in the next few weeks. I have called it Name Seek: The Australian Domain Name Aftermarket and it will be available at http://www.nameseek.com.au.

 

The Need for a Name

// April 5th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // The Internet

Last weekend I saw an news story on the buying the selling of domain names. The article basically was explaining that in the mid 90’s domains such as sky.com and bbc.com were sold for mutli millions of dollars to the respective news agencies.

Immediately after watching the story, I picked up the laptop and typed “buying domain names” into Google. The search returned 3,340,000 pages on the subject and I clicked the fourth result on the list – Go Daddy. It had been a while since I brought a domain, so it was my first visit to the Go Daddy website in a long while. I would normally register domains via Melbourne IT - and pay about 5 times more for it!

I found myself at the Domain Auction’s page and had a look at the list. There are about 2000 listings, ranging from 3-letter domains to domains with all sorts of numbers, letters and other combinations. I also found myself looking at the prices some people were asking for a domain that I would not think would have much of a demand.

But it wasn’t the fact that someone was asking $50,000 for a domain that was not great, it was the fact that people were actually bidding on a domain that was not that great! Most of the domains that were for sale, that had some decent bids, were not domains that I would have thought would have attracted a buyer.

Why? Why would someone be willing to pay up to $50,000 for a domain that is 10 characters, not very generic and not even a dot com?

Why? Because to someone, whether it be a huge multinational company, a small business or even a private buyer, that name defines their business need. That name either represents their product or niche and defines their very need to exist on the internet.

So after browsing domains for a few hours, I got all inspried and decided to have a crack at it. By the end of the weekend I had registered so many names I got a call from my bank’s fraud department to ensure I had authorised all of the transactions on my credit card!

I think I ended up with about 10 domain names by the end of the weekend, including this one. Whether or not they make me a fortune or not is another thing. But I can always hold my breath hoping that one day, someone might just think that one of the names I now own defines their product or need, and that they have to buy it!