April 10th, 2007 by andy
A couple of days ago, I wrote about how ‘If i had only kept all the domains I ever registered…’
The majority of those domains were crap. They went undeveloped. They had no ‘type-in’ value. So why do I wish I had kept them? For the future opportunity value? Is a $7 per year cost worth the exclusive opportunity to develop a specific domain? I really don’t know. Part of me says absolutely. I should rush out with $10k right now and go and grab as many as I can. I’ve already proved this to myself by paying thousands in the after-market to gain those exclusive rights.
But some, like Mark Jeftovic, feel that ‘Web 2.0′ has shown that domain names have really no value by themselves. He believes, and I see his point, that this over-heated domain aftermarket that we’re in is due for a correction. Sure, sex.com, cars.com, any generic name you can think of has value because of the browser bar type-in value. But that value is declining as people get more savvy in how they find the sites they want.
April 8th, 2007 by andy
I recently took part in a survey with an aftermarket domain purchasing/parking company. I was invited because I had recently purchased buyeco.com from them for significantly more than the approximately $8/year had I bought it unowned.
One of the questions was where I had registered domains. It got me thinking back about all the domains I’ve ever purchased and where from. I bought my first domain back in 1997. 10 years of buying domains. I started (as did most people) with Network Solutions. I can’t quite remember the price now, but I think it was $35/year. Then I heard about Dotster and used them for a few years and a bunch of domains. $15 per domain per year. That was around ’99. In about 2001, I started to use GoDaddy. $9 per domain per year. In 2002 I licensed with their reseller service Wild West Domains and started a hosting/domain registrar business. I paid a rack rate for domains and could mark it up however I wanted. I think I made a buck a domain. Now I do my registering between GoDaddy and Moniker. I got a deal through Moniker that knocks the cost per domain per year a couple of bucks.
So, here’s my progression since 1997: Network Solutions > Dotster > GoDaddy > Moniker. In there, I’ve also bought from aftermarket places like Sedo and BuyDomains. Fortunately, I’ve avoided RegisterFly.
I think, in total, I’ve owned at one point or another about 1,000 domains. Most of the good ones I’ve kept. A few of the good ones I’ve lost. I think if I had kept them all and done just the SLIGHTEST bit of development on even the ones I never did anything with… Ah well.
