Just under a year ago, Swedish entrepreneur Jonas Bonde acquired the $76,000 domain name Car.info in one of the largest .INFO domain name sales of all time. As the name suggests, Jonas and his team are building a data website for cars. It looks to be a big project, but Jonas is no stranger to online business.
During the early days of the Internet in the year 2000, Jonas created Prisjakt, a Swedish price comparison website that built further presences in countries such as Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK under the name PriceSpy. The company was bought out in 2006, but Jonas stayed on as CEO until 2013 when he left to develop his car brand, initially called Wroom.
In this interview, Jonas gives us some information on why he spent $76,000 to buy the domain name car.info, and what has happened since he bought it.
NP: Can you give us a brief description of the company behind Car.info?
Jonas: We are a start-up with 6 persons; we have a passion to structure data. Our mission is to make a really good car site. At the start, most data (adverts/car statistics) are Swedish based even if the site is available in English. After the beta-period (we call it "crash test version"), more countries will be added.
NP: Why did you acquire the domain name Car.info?
Jonas: In the start, we bought the domain name wroom.com, but after discovering a Swedish car dealer site called "vroom" we felt that a new domain name was a must. After a few months of hunting, we found out that car.info was for sale.
As we want to be an info site about cars, the name car.info was a perfect match.
NP: How did you determine that Car.info was worth $76,000 to you?
Jonas: It was a bit pricey but we liked the name so we purchased it. I think the Google search results would look good with [car.info] links.
NP: Did you use any tools, services or data to determine that $76,000 was an acceptable price to pay for Car.info?
Jonas: No, we just checked the bank account.
NP: Would you have considered paying more than you did for the domain name?
Jonas: A bit more, but not too much more.
NP: What was the attraction of acquiring a .INFO domain name (car.info) over a .COM, such as CarInfo.com?
Jonas: Actually, we tried to acquire CarInfo.com, but the owner didn't answer us when we tried to contact him. Generally speaking, I think it's better to use .COM domains, but sometimes you can't get a good .COM domain name.
NP: It has been almost one year since you acquired the domain car.info (according to our research). How well has your brand developed in that time?
Jonas: Not so much yet, since we only launched the "crash test version" two months ago, and we are doing bug hunting. Brand building isn't a priority yet, but we hope to start working on brand recognition in the next year after we have implemented an advanced search function (e.g., search for cars doing 0-60 mph under 5s and cost less than 50.000), and a good car and car dealer review function.
NP: With the recent release of the .CARS new gTLD, would you ever consider switching to another domain name, such as info.cars?
Jonas: No, we like car.info
NP: As the founder of two successful websites, Prisjakt and car.info, do you have any advice for startups regarding domain acquisitions? Is the right domain key to online success in your opinion?
Jonas: The domain name can be a good booster, so a good domain name in combination with a great service is a winner. Don't be afraid to use a great domain name with a uncommon TLD!
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Thanks to Jonas for taking the time to participate in our Inside Interviews series.
Inside Interviews is a blog series profiling the buyers of high-value domain names. Find out their motives, negotiation tactics, and their opinions on popular domaining topics only on the NamePros Blog.
During the early days of the Internet in the year 2000, Jonas created Prisjakt, a Swedish price comparison website that built further presences in countries such as Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK under the name PriceSpy. The company was bought out in 2006, but Jonas stayed on as CEO until 2013 when he left to develop his car brand, initially called Wroom.
In this interview, Jonas gives us some information on why he spent $76,000 to buy the domain name car.info, and what has happened since he bought it.
NP: Can you give us a brief description of the company behind Car.info?
Jonas: We are a start-up with 6 persons; we have a passion to structure data. Our mission is to make a really good car site. At the start, most data (adverts/car statistics) are Swedish based even if the site is available in English. After the beta-period (we call it "crash test version"), more countries will be added.
NP: Why did you acquire the domain name Car.info?
Jonas: In the start, we bought the domain name wroom.com, but after discovering a Swedish car dealer site called "vroom" we felt that a new domain name was a must. After a few months of hunting, we found out that car.info was for sale.
As we want to be an info site about cars, the name car.info was a perfect match.
NP: How did you determine that Car.info was worth $76,000 to you?
Jonas: It was a bit pricey but we liked the name so we purchased it. I think the Google search results would look good with [car.info] links.
NP: Did you use any tools, services or data to determine that $76,000 was an acceptable price to pay for Car.info?
Jonas: No, we just checked the bank account.
NP: Would you have considered paying more than you did for the domain name?
Jonas: A bit more, but not too much more.
NP: What was the attraction of acquiring a .INFO domain name (car.info) over a .COM, such as CarInfo.com?
Jonas: Actually, we tried to acquire CarInfo.com, but the owner didn't answer us when we tried to contact him. Generally speaking, I think it's better to use .COM domains, but sometimes you can't get a good .COM domain name.
NP: It has been almost one year since you acquired the domain car.info (according to our research). How well has your brand developed in that time?
Jonas: Not so much yet, since we only launched the "crash test version" two months ago, and we are doing bug hunting. Brand building isn't a priority yet, but we hope to start working on brand recognition in the next year after we have implemented an advanced search function (e.g., search for cars doing 0-60 mph under 5s and cost less than 50.000), and a good car and car dealer review function.
NP: With the recent release of the .CARS new gTLD, would you ever consider switching to another domain name, such as info.cars?
Jonas: No, we like car.info
NP: As the founder of two successful websites, Prisjakt and car.info, do you have any advice for startups regarding domain acquisitions? Is the right domain key to online success in your opinion?
Jonas: The domain name can be a good booster, so a good domain name in combination with a great service is a winner. Don't be afraid to use a great domain name with a uncommon TLD!
--
Thanks to Jonas for taking the time to participate in our Inside Interviews series.
Inside Interviews is a blog series profiling the buyers of high-value domain names. Find out their motives, negotiation tactics, and their opinions on popular domaining topics only on the NamePros Blog.