The Value of a Domain Name

In an objective and practical way, it is known that a domain name get value when the traffic of the site having this name is higher than that of any other site with a similar contents, and with equal SEO action. I know some examples of names which were given up by their holder by disinterest, and which could have been resold a handsome price, but which was recovered by speculators.

Estimating the value of a name

In the absence of mean to compare two websites, certain criteria can indicate us if a domain name has value in oneself or not. Above all, a domain has value when the name comes naturally to mind and when it is easy to retain.
Criteria of value of a name are as follows:
- it corresponds to a word of the language or a real name (person or location),
- this word is the name of a real service or product,
- it is a keyword often given in requests on search engines,
- the TLD is .com, or it is .net if it relates to the Net, or this it is a ccTLD related to the language of the site,
- that it is a short word,
- and also it starts with the A letter or a digit, which makes it possible to be placed at top of alphabetical lists.

In general, domains whose name is composed of several words have little value in themselves, and in this case, the value of resale will depend especially on the number of visitors on the site. But there are exceptions, such as mp3audiobooks.com for which a company paid an enormous amount, because that corresponded exactly to its activity or AsSeenOnTV.com which corresponds to a usual sentence.

Examples of expensive domains

A domain name corresponding to a widely used commercial product can be resold at a vertiginous price. Some examples:

• Internet.com. Sold 100.000 dollars.
• Bingo.com. Sold 200.000 dollars.
• Blue.com. Sold 500.000 dollars in 2006.
• Computer.com. Sold 500.000 dollars.
• University.com. Sold 530.000 dollars.
• Cinema.com. Sold 700,000 dollars on February 1, 2000.
• Fish.com. Sold 1 million dollars in 2005.
• Rock.com. Sold 1 million dollars.
• Pizza.com. Sold 2,6 millions dollars.
• Vodka.com. Sold 3 million dollars to a large Russian vodka producer, Standard Russian Co, on December 4, 2006.
• Wine.com. Sold 3 million dollars.
• Business.com. Sold 7,4 million dollars in 1999.
• Diamond.com. Sold 7,5 million dollars with Ice.com, a diamonds merchant.
• Fund.com. 10 millions dollars in 2008.
• Sex.com would have been sold for 12 million dollars, after stolen and then being recovered, the usurper being fled in Mexico before being extradited (Kremen/Cohen business). But in this case, the site had already an important traffic.
• Netscape.com. 4,2 billion dollars in AOL in 1999, for the site especially but the product became open source under the Mozilla name, it remains of Netscape only the logo and the domain name.

Some examples for compound names:

• ForSaleByOwner.com. Sold 835.000 dollars.
• AsSeenOnTV.com. Sold 5 million dollars on January 18, 2000.
• Mp3AudioBooks.com. Sold 8 million dollars to Inc. of Santa Rosa on February 16, 2000.

Protecting a domain name

Check that the status of the domain is "registrar lock". A domain could be subtilized by transfer to another owner without your assent and in a country where the thief can't be sued.
Locking is not possible for EU and most ggTLD.

Cyberquatting

This term designates the fact of deposit the domain name of a mark known in an TLD or ccTLD, that was not done by the company, in the hope that the company (or a competitor) will offer you to repurchase it a handsome price. The principle is not entirely contestable as long as one sticks to a reasonable price, such as 10.000 to 20000 dollars which are only trifles for a large company.
However cybersquatting gives place to excesses. To oblige the company to repurchase the domain, one makes point the domain on the site of a competitor for example! It is also reprehensible to ask an exorbitant sum a company under pretext which the name of mark is worth well that, since it is the holder of the mark which made it its value!

These practices lead in courts in European countries, but they sometimes made the fortune of cybersquatters in USA.
Between 1999 and 2006, the OPMI (World Organization of the Intelectual Property) treated more than 20000 complaints for cybersquatting of domain names in ten different languages.

More information

• The evaluation of keywords by sites as overture, by indicating the weight of a key word gives a serious indication of the value of the name which contains it.
• Domain: all that it is necessary to know to acquire a domain name under the best conditions and to protect it.
• An interesting keyword can be available under other extensions that traditional the COM, NET etc. See at the list of TLD, Top-Level Domains.
• The sex.com affair. This novel tells how the theft of a domain name was turned over against the robber.
• How to snatch an expiring domaine.