.Tel, the new top level domain from Telnic, has apparently had over 100,000 registrations within a few weeks. With 70,000 of those occuring in the first 24 hours.

I was quite intrigued when I first read the announcement of the .tel domain as it works differently from other top level domains. The domain is not used for a website, it is simply used to hold basic information about the person.

Have a look at the video to get a basic understanding of how it works :

In the video the guy gives the girl his number by writing ben.tel on the train window but with 100,000 domains already registered, it’s fair to say that all 3 letter domains and most common first names have been snapped up already. Though for longer tel domain names I’m not sure if I see the point. It’s a handy way of holding ‘business card’ type information about yourself online but I think most people nowadays just swap email addresses or ask the person to ‘find me on facebook’.

If this was launched a few years ago I think it would have taken off but I’m not sure how much this will take off, particularly as registration prices seem to be about 50% higher than coms, nets and most other tlds.

What do you think of the .tel extension, would you register a .tel domain?

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About a month ago, Toys R Us purchased the premium domain Toys.com for a whopping 5.1 million dollars. I always thought that super premium domain names were traded between 2 or 3 parties at most and the final price took weeks to agree and involved a lot of haggling back and fourth.

So I was intrigued to see that Toys.com was sold in a phone auction. DirectNavigation covered the telephone auction last month .

There was a lot of breaks during the auction so I assume that behind the scenes were a lot of people discussing whether the bid was going too high. The bidding also seemed strange at times. For example, after toyrsrus bid $4,815,000, National A-1 responded with a bid of $4820,000.

Here is the transcript in full :

Bidding has finished.

toyrsrus bids $ 5,100,000

National A-1 bids $ 5,000,000

National a-1 asks for 10 minute break

toyrsrus bids $ 4,915,000

National A-1 bids $ 4820,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,815,000

bidding is going quick so i’m going to skip a few a

National A-1 bids $ 4,530,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,525,000

National A-1 bids $ 4,505,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,500,000. they raised their own bid

break given until 4.55 pm est

National A-1 asks for 15 minute break. Lots of bickering between toysrus and national a-1 going on over time alloted for break.

toyrsrus bids $ 4,300,000

national A-1 bids $ 4,155,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,150,000

5 minute break announced

national A-1 bids $3,755,000

toyrsrus bids $3,750,000

national A-1 bids $3,555,000

toyrsrus bids $3,550,000

national A-1 bids $3,305,000

toyrsrus bids $3,300,000

i’m live on the call. 6 bidders total. 5 remain. National A-1 seems determined as they immediately bid when needed. Toys R Us as well as the rest holding cards very tight

toys r us asks for 2 minute break

national A-1 bids $3,255,000

toyrsrus bids $3,250,000

national A-1 bids $3,205,000

toyrsrus bids $3,200,000

national A-1 bids $3,150,000

toyrsrus bids $3,145,000

national A-1 bids $3,140,000

toyrsrus bids $3,135,000

national A-1 bids $3,130,000

its been announced, bid increments have to be at least 5k.

a break as taken place to discuss bidding increments among the bankruptcy lawyers. we are not able to hear this. FYI – bidding is a very slow process. break should be over at 3:55 pm est

toyrsrus bids $3,125,000

national A-1 bids $3,100,000

toyrsrus bids $3,050,000

Frank Schilling just formally dropped out.

toys.com current bid is $2,900,000 to national A-1. i will update as bidding occurs.

Link : Toys.com – bought by Toy R Us for $ 5,100,000

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To move things along, I am going to list the final ways to value a domain, in no particular order. Some of these  methods and ideas can be used together to create a more complete profile of a domain’s value.  So far we covered:

1. Domain estimator tools
2. Overture results
3.  Previous sales prices

Let’s look at a few more ways that domainers can get a value on a name:

4.  Paid domain appraisals:   Paying a “professional” or auction service a fee to evaluate and price your domain has been around for awhile.  The top ones that come to mind are Moniker, Sedo or even GoDaddy. All of these companies have an auction service, and all of them claim to have the right expertise to price a domain.   Prices vary from $5.99 to $50 per domain. My personal experience has been a bit strange in that the 3 domains I had appraised at different times (same company) came back with exactly the same price, $2,000. Here’s one domainer’s review on Moniker and Sedo appraisals.

5. Price based on Revenue: Some domains are sold on a formula based on how much the domain earns each month in revenue (say from parking the domain). This is called, “multiples” and while it’s a very tangible, clear way to determine a price, some domains may be good and have no revenue. Normally with multiples, someone will say I will buy “X” type of domain earning $30 per month, and pay 2 years earnings. 30 X 24 months = $720 for this domain. Is that a good price? Well, it’s up to the seller.

6. Personal Experience: This may be a gut feeling on price, but that isn’t tangible or the same number to each person. Some people have gotten the opinion of other domainers, but the answers can really vary. If you are buying domains in a particular vertical (or topic), after time you do get a feel for pricing in that category. Someone who works with large numbers of domain sales may have a better feel for pricing, but it really comes down to finding a buyer who will pay a price you feel good about.

7. Pick a Number: Believe it or not, some people just pick a number they like. Now, this doesn’t work a lot of the time, but if you have very good, or even a premium .com domain, you can wait until you get the price you want or name your price. That’s not the average domainer. But if you can cover your costs and are willing to wait as long as it takes, then this approach has it’s place.

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There was a time that the concept of domaining and people called domainers was so new that no one knew it would be it’s own specialty. Today, it’s still a growing industry (despite the slowdown in the overall economy right now), and finally, professional people in the more mainstream, online and offline, are seeing the value of a good domain name.

If you are new or considering jumping in, where do you start? The first question is what is your ultimate goal with domaining? Do you want to start with a few good domains, and develop them? Do you want to spend a lot of money on one domain? Do you intend to buy a group of (probably) lesser domains and flip them? Each of these plans has a pro and a con, and in a group of domainers, you’ll find someone who tried one of these plans.

If you really don’t know the answer, then a good place to start is to read how some of the most successful domainers today got started. In the early days, domainers were secluded and worked alone with no communication with other domainers. There was no way to know what they did, what worked and what didn’t. Even until a few years ago, the top people in the industry didn’t speak publicly on what they were doing, or how they got started. This has changed. People like Frank Schilling, Rick Schwartz, and a few others started speaking more openly online. Michael Gilmour has an interesting story on how he started in domaining not that many years ago.

I recommend that you do some reading – not unlike reading the biographies of leaders in other industries, or reading about the underdog who made it from no-where. I really recommend reading Frank Schilling’s now retired blog “Seven Mile.” Frank generously shared his experiences, his thoughts on many, many domaining topics, graciously answered questions, and gave us all hope that we can be the underdog. He stopped blogging in early 2008, but the information there is invaluable.

It caused quite a stir when Frank and a few other well-known domainers starting openly sharing their thoughts. Take advantage of it! Sometimes all you need is one kernel of an idea to get you on the right track that works.

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Just saw this…Domain Consultant is promoting their new contest “Domain Madness.” Entries start today and the contest is open through March 25th. The idea is to pick the names that sell at the Domain Madness Premium auction for at least the reserve price. They make it easy to enter on the Domain Consultant site – all you have to do is check off the boxes next to the domain names you think will sell. The person who correctly picks the right results in their entry can win $1000. See if you have right stuff to call the final sales list and win! You can be new to domains or an old timer domainer, it doesn’t matter….

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Yesterday I covered some domain tools that provide a price valuation (some call it an “appraisal,” but I think of an appraisal as coming from a real person doing an evaluation) and perhaps some extra keyword data thrown in, like Estibot does.  To update, I have not heard a response from Domain Valuation, but it hasn’t been 24 hours.  I did get a response from Nameboy with a link to my domain results in the e-mail. There’s a lot of standard explanation of what goes into the appraisal. The bottom line is they priced it finally at the end:

Appraisal Value of organicbakeries.com
- Dollar Value is $3086

It was almost 3X what my domain sold for, and I would say it’s in line with previous sales of secondary quality names – what I mean by that is there are other 2-word .com organic names that are definitely top tier, like OrganicFarm.com or OrganicFood.com,etc.
I think testing a few more domains at Nameboy is worth a shot, and depending on those results, I would take their price estimates into consideration along with other factors. I don’t know if the metrics Nameboy uses is based on the current pricing market in the domain industry, which is reported down an estimated 15%, or not.

Let’s move down the list to the next item:

3. Previous Sales Prices: This type of valuation is one that is used in Real Estate (comps) and in selling antiques (price guides) as a tangible method to obtain a reasonable estimate of value. It doesn’t rely on mystery metrics, or gut feeling, but sales history which is documented information. I like to use DN Sale Price to check sales prices, but there’s also NameBio which is connected with Snap. For UK domains, Acorn Domains has a similar tool with sales prices listed and a search feature.

The pro is that you can get a good idea on recent and past values, which is nice to determine an overall value for a domain. I like that the values are compiled into one database from various sources, including live auctions or online auction sales. If yo u have a name in a particular vertical or industry, looking at similar names with similar characteristics (2 word, 3 word, .com .net etc) help give an overall idea on value as well.

The con is that using previous sales prices like this may or may not reflect a true up-to-the-minute value. You have to guess who the buyer was (another domainer, an end user, an online marketer?) which can have a big effect on a final sales price. I sold a domain a couple years ago to an end user for a good amount of money that Estibot gave a value of $30, and nothing close shows up to this name in previous sales. You also need to take into account the economic condition of the domain industry. Prices are down right now, but also the market is more flooded with domains for sale than ever, and that has a definite effect on many names.

I am sure that many human appraisal services also use a database like these sites, that incudes previous sales prices as one metric they take into consideration in doing an appraisal.

If Domain Valuation comes back with a response today, I will update this post, otherwise I’ll be back for Part III tomorrow.

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Having domains names and maintaining renewal fees is one cost that is fixed as a domainer (more or less).  That we all know.  But if you are in the market to sell domains (or keep them), what is a way to evaluate and put a price on domains? If there really is a best way, I don’t know it myself, and I have asked longtime domainers and people in the industry for a ballpark figure of value in the past on a specific domain, and it’s hard to get a solid answer.  I can understand why, because if anyone knows the secret sauce, it’s not for public comsumption.

Let’s look at some ideas on various tools and methods leading to domain valuation:

1. Domain value estimator tools: I always feel hopeful that one day I will stumble upon this wonderful tool, and know one else will know. The first one that comes to mind is Estibot.  I kinda like the feel of entering something and getting an answer that looks reasonable, if not necessarily usable.  I tried it on the domain I sold for $1,180 at silent auction – OrganicBakeries.com – and Estibot gave it a value of $400.  Glad I didn’t base my auction reserve on that price! It’s a place to start though, but not where I’d go if I am looking for a serious number.

Next I tried Nameboy.  You enter the domain and extension and your e-mail and they mail the results.  I would enter the results here, but I checked my e-mail and nothing yet, so I will let you know tomorrow in an update. You can bulk enter domains if you have a list, and there is no limit mentioned.  Maybe you need to send it during the day, but I am sure this is all automated.  Still Nameboy claims:

Instant – Emailed to you in seconds
Accurate – Appraisals based on demand and currency of words on the internet.
Objective – Consistent, industry standard metrics – no guessing, no bias.

Next, I tried DomainValuation.com.  I have never tried this site before.  It looks good in that they say they are recommended by Domaining.com (The About Us doesn’t really say who they are). They also say:

For a limited time we are proud to give you access to our famous domain name valuation service at NO charge.
This is the same system used by elite domain professionals who need to quickly valuate domain portfolios.

I submitted OrganicBakeries.com and another domain I haven’t sold, but thinking about selling, just to see what they come up with.  Again, I entered the names and fiirst name and e-mail, and this time the site said I will receive a value within 24 hours. Update in the next post.

2. Overture results: Does anyone still use Overture results to evaluate domains? Even after Overture’s Search Tool was shut down some long time domainers were buying Overture databases to use as one metric to evaluate domains. I never understood why since the data was out of date and in the SEO industry, Overture results were considered skewed at best and maybe even manipulated by some.  There has to be something to Overture numbers or domainers would have gone elsewhere.  Right now Overture is dead anyway, and some people are relying on Wordtracker for search result numbers, but I don’t know about this either.

Oh Wait! There is a remnant of November 2007 Overture numbers here, for those domainers who can’t resist!  Thank Chris Beach everyone.

Well, let’s see what the domain tool results are and continue the list in Part II tomorrow.  Have a great night!

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Longtime domainer and domain industry news journalist/publisher, Ron Jackson, reports today that the 2009 Geo Domaining Expo scheduled for April 28-29, may be not be happening. Ron reports that he has heard confilicting reports from two different Associated Cities Board of Directors as to whether the Geo Domain Expo is taking place as scheduled.

I have met Ron in person and he is a good journalist, and well respected in the domain industry. To follow this story, check out updates in the Lowdown section of Domain Name Journal. Ron also gave a detailed rundown last year in DN Journal on the 2008 Geo Domain Expo in Chicago, for those of you who are curious about it.

Geo-domaining is nothing new in domaining circles, but I noticed lately that there is more focused interest in geo-domaining for anyone serious about targeted an industry or topic in a specific location (for example, by State or City in the US). I wrote about submitting domains for live auctions the other day, and I got an e-mail from a rep at Moniker stating that one of the domain categories they wanted submissions for at TRAFFIC Silicon Valley was “geo-domains.”  Moniker gave the following examples:

 Example of good Geo names:  Sanjosehotels.com, jacksonvillehomes.com, NYPlasticsurgeon.com

From an SEO perspective, geo domains are gaining in importance, because the top SEO people are reporting (and been saying since last year) that Google has moved from basing search results on relevant keywords that appear on a webpage to what is Top SEO, Bruce Clay, called “intent-based search.”   This is in alignment with the announcement from Google last week that they are introducing “Interest-based advertising” to AdSense advertising.   Google describes “Interest-based advertising” as:

These ads will associate categories of interest — say sports, gardening, cars, pets — with your browser, based on the types of sites you visit and the pages you view. We may then use those interest categories to show you more relevant text and display ads.

Not only are “user interests” tracked, user location (easy to track by IP) and locational interest search engine queries are tracked as well. It’s totally changing the way search queries are fulfilled, and geo-domains will carry alot of gravity or weight in search engine query results if the website under a geo domain is a quality site (you know, passes the search engine quality score, natch).

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I was reading a private domainer board, and ran across this portfolio sale from Jamie Parks at Domainer Developer.  I prefer 2 keyword .com names, particularly generic keyword phrases.  There are some names on the list that look like good names for the price  ($1 !!) Some really good prices…hope Jamie still has them on the table!Some examples:

AFTERMARKETAUCTIONS.COM – $20 Could be good for cars, domains, parts and what have you. A quick check on Estibot and this one was “priced” at $80. Not that I put alot of stock in Estibot….But it’s an idea of some value.

COURTROOMFIGHTS.COM – $10 LOL – this could be a hilarious video site.

MOBILEWEBLABS.COM – $10 – I really like this one, esp as we move much deeper into the Mobile Web.
MOBILEWEBSITEDEVELOPER.COM – $10
MOBILEWEBSITEDEVELOPERS.COM – $5

NIGHTLYAUCTION.COM – $20 Is this sort of like Woot! What’s not to love? Beats the nightly news lately. w00t w00t~!

LEGALTECHCONSULTANT.COM – $10 – Could be new career direction if domaining doesn’t work out Good Field…
LEGALTECHJOB.COM – $10

LOCALRECORDSTORES.COM – $10 – I haven’t seen a local record store in a long time. Our last one locally finally died about 3 years ago. Jamie, this one might have to be discounted to the $1 pile. Sorry!

TAXADVICEBLOG.COM – $20 – Tax season is still upon us in the US. This topic is evergreen, and blogs are as big as ever.
TAXEXPERTBLOG.COM – $20

I think alot of these names on the list have the potential for a quick flip, and an extra $50-100 profit for a domainer that’s got some motivation. Anybody up for listing some names on Sedo? Or reselling on Snap? I love Snap for selling. I have sold most of my domains at Snaps auctions and Jonathan Stanfill (and the rest of the crew like Theresa) are super to work with. And they are super busy, too, with good reason. I can’t say I make a killing on what I sell, but other than my regular work, selling at Snap was my next best earner last year.

There’s a number of LLLL domains too, lots of LLLL.mobis, if you are in the market for only $2 each:

IONZ.INFO
PRYZ.INFO
SHFT.INFO
ENDD.INFO
SIZL.INFO

Have fun checking it out! There’s alot to choose from.

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I got an e-mail from Snapnames that Moniker is accepting domain submissions for the next live auction.  Personally, I have had some luck getting a few of my domains into the silent portion of a live auction before, and it was an easy way to sell a few names at a decent price.  You might find, too, that live auctions can be a way to put a bunch of your best domains into a pool for potential sale within a reasonably short time frame.

There is an art to submitting domains for live auction in order to, first (and importantly), get your domains into the live auctions.  Then secondly, to obtain a sales price you’ll be happy with.  I’ve been thinking about these things as I consider submitting some domains to the next live auction at TRAFFIC Silicon Valley.

Certainly there’s a lot of debate lately between domain sellers, the auction houses (including a series on pricing by Sahar of Bido.com), and conference producers on the best viewpoint and action to take in pricing a domain(s) for auction.  Seems to me, the people with the interest in selling the domain, are very vocal about setting a low (or even no) reserve on domains submitted to these auctions.  I asked my sales rep at Moniker for some input on setting a reserve on domains. He was reluctant to make any suggestions, so I was on my own as to the best course of action for pricing a reserve. Do I go for getting the domain into the auction (low reserve) or pricing to get what I think is a fair price, and lose a chance for the domain to get into the auction in the first place?

In my own experience, I submitted some organic keyword.com domain names to a live auction, and decided to put a low reserve on them to see what would happen. My domain OrganicBakeries.com ($1,000 reserve) was accepted into the silent auction alongside some other good organic keyword domains.  But I was pretty shocked to see that the other OrganicKeyword.com domains had reserves starting at $25,000 and up!  Two or three of those domains did sell at that price level, and mine sold, too, for $1,180. 

You know, a $1,000 reserve is low enough to create some interest and bidding at a live auction, but if the domain gets included in the silent auction, someone will pick up that domain at a steal.  Maybe the auction houses should consider allowing 2 reserves per domain, one if the domain gets into the live auction and one for the silent auction.  Somehow I doubt they’ll go for this idea, because domain sales add up (even small ones), and sales numbers sell auctions.

If you are thinking about getting some domains into a live auction, here is what Snap sent in a recent e-mail as their submission guidelines:

 

1. Submit up to 250 of your very best domains. They should be the “rock stars” of your portfolio.

Important: No typos, trademarks, hypenated or crude adult names will be accepted for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley Auction.

 

2. One- and two-word domains are always the most attractive to buyers, especially when they represent the following:
A popular commerce and/or seach engine vertical (e.g. travel, debt relief, jobs, music)

Word(s) or phrase that is easy to remember and spell (e.g. meaningful when spoken together, such as GoForIt.com rather than ForItGo.com)

 

3. Reserve pricing is the ultimate factor in leading to a successful auction.

Consider the following when setting your reserve prices:

Set the reserve price low to attract buyers’ attention and drive market excitement. Buyer participation drives the price up.

Remember the reserve price is not a “Buy It Now” price. In fact, good domains with a reserve under $1,000 are almost guaranteed to make the auction catalogue.

Additionally, good names priced at “No Reserve” perform the best at auctions and drive the most competition and interest.

 

4. Domains with Traffic and Revenue performance also do well in auctions.

Make sure that the traffic and revenue data you are submitting is accurate and from a reliable and verifiable source (e.g. DomainSponsor).

Just FYI, I have sold FineWhiskies.com, NaturalSnackFood(s).com and OrganicBakeries.com at these auctions in the past, and plan trying this sales avenue again.  I haven’t decided the best way to approach reserves, but I know that the market pricing for domains (not Premium one word domains, like the recent Toys.com sale) is down.

Anybody else out there who’ve submitted to Live auctions, and what was your experience?  What do you think about pricing and reserves for live and silent auctions? 

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