It’s Hard To Sell Something Nobody Wants to Buy
March 11, 2008 by Rick Latona
Quoted from Wikipedia, “In economics, supply and demand describe market relations between prospective sellers and buyers of a good.” This often used financial model name is a powerful thing indeed.
What is it that makes a domain sell and how do we set the price? With my new role in the domain market place, I think about these questions more often than not.
Sometimes I send out one of my Daily Emails and I’ll get 10 takers on the same domain. Naturally, I stay true to the cause and sell it to the first person that replied, at the price I put in my email.
Other times I put a name out there and nobody wants it. So, I lower the price. Then I lower it again. Then again. Again. It still doesn’t sell. Why? Is it because Aquaphobia.com isn’t worth 2800 dollars or just because nobody on my mailing list wants the name. I have to think it is because no one wants to buy it. There is no demand for it.
So then what? Do I keep lowering it every day until I’m paying someone to take it? Am I asking too many questions?
We know the supply is ONE. There is only ONE Aquaphobia.com. I realize it isn’t the greatest name in the world but the price also isn’t 50,000 dollars.
I guess it just isn’t exciting. It’s not a name that anyone WANTS to buy.
The keyword here is want. Want means demand. You can’t sell a name nobody wants. As Francois commented on my Daily Domains thread, price doesn’t matter if no one wants the name. He’s absolutely right.
It’s for this reason that price drops on names will now be once a week or maybe even once every two weeks. After all, our wants change over time, do they not? Maybe one of you will want the name a couple of weeks from now for 2400 dollars.
[...] Source: Rick Latona [...]
When a big domainer like you starts selling names, people wonder if they are such valuable, why is this guy with deep pockets selling to me.. hence the term bagholder… nobody wants to be a bagholder… Aquaphobia does not jump out at you as a commercially developable name, some names appeal well to others, in terms of what you can do with it. I guess you might need more physicans on your mailing list or something. Otherwise my question to you is, if your financially secure, and have a strong belief in the future of the internet, and domain names, why are you selling your domain names? Is another $3000 going to really add anything to your bottom line. I think there is uncertanity out in the economy, as well as caution, bottom line sedo probably has 1,000,000 sellers to 10,000 buyers, market is flooded, are the big boys selling to the little guys? Where are the guys who have gained from the domain name phenom? Are they buying, or selling, people tend to follow the trend….
Domaineer, well put. I can only speak for myself. I’m trying to build a reputation for selling great names at reasonable prices. I have an agenda. I won’t lie about it nor disclose it.
Selling names I am.
Case in point:
HighLimitBaccarat.com was for sale in the Affiliate Silent auction. Not a single bid..
What everyone missed was the news that Las Vegas Sands Corp. (The Venetian) is outfitting two of their corporate jets with high limit baccarat tables for gamblers flying either way - Hong Kong to Las Vegas while over international waters.
Huge story….no takers… Gambling at 20,000 feet, HighLimitBaccarat.com, Puts a New Spin on High Limit! Sounds great to me! I think it will just be a matter of time….
First of all props Rick, great blog and awesome domains! You do give out some bargains there.
There are market prices for every domain out there. Naturally some would sell faster than others if people see it as a bargain compared to the reseller value. Aquaphobia.com is a great one word domain, and it’s very surprising that it doesn’t have many google results.
Michael
U are my super domain hero.
Rick, do buy domains aggressively too ? Because at the rate you are selling with bargain price, you might soon run out of inventory.
I believe there are several buyers for every name. A name is a ideal and if the right person with the right ideal at the right time with the right amount of money in the bank finds the name they will buy it!
Try raising the price. LOL
Am I out of line on my prices? I’ll hold on to then till I find the right person and some day they WILL show up. You want to broker some of my name sets? Check my site thanks.
Domaineering is the web-based marketing business of acquiring and monetizing Internet domain names for their use primarily as an advertising medium rather than as intellectual property investments for resale as in domaining. In essence, the domain names function as virtual Internet billboards with generic domain names being highly valued for their revenue generating potential derived from attracting Internet traffic hits. As with traditional advertising, domaineering is part art and part science. Often to be the most effective as advertising tools, the domain names and their corresponding landing pages must be engineered or optimized to produce maximum revenue which may require considerable skill and good knowledge of search engine optimization ( SEO ) practices, marketing psychology and an understanding of the target market audience. Domaineering generally utilizes a firm offering domain parking services to provide the sponsored “feed” of a word or phrase searched for thus creating a mini-directory populated largely by advertisers paying to promote their products and services under a relevant generic keyword domain. Occasionally content is added to develop a functional mini-website. Domaineers and some of those who advertise online using keywords believe domaineering provides a useful, legal and legitimate Internet marketing service while opponents of domaineering decry the practice as increasing the ubiquitous commercialization of the world wide web. Domaineering is practiced by both large companies who may have registered hundreds or even thousands of domains to individual entrepreneurial minded domaineers who may only own one or a few.