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domains Inside Interview: An Exclusive Look at a $76,000 .INFO Acquisition

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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!

--

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.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I remember this sale... Glad it was developed... The site needs some work but looks promising. All the best to the owners.
 
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Nice acquisition. But currently the search results in Google don't show 'car.info' on page 1. Not sure what to determine from that.

Don't be afraid to use a great domain name with a uncommon TLD!

I hope new startups do the same so I can sell some of my ngTLD's fast :P
 
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Best quote of this story....
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.

PROOF if the end user wants it bad enough they will pay for it. Love it
 
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Congrats to the owners of Car.info, and best wishes for their long-term success.
 
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Jonas: Actually, we tried to acquire carinfo.com , but the owner didn't answer us when we tried to contact him.

It'd be funny if the owner of CarInfo.com was a NamePros member.

It's like finding out you have last weeks winning lottery number, but you have no idea if it expired or not.
 
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Nice Interview James. But, bad domain name purchase with that kind of sum.

Good luck.
 
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attorneys.info 2011 13000,- USD
amor.info 2011 8000,- EUR
anime.info 2011 2899,- USD
alex.info 2010 14500,- USD
analytics.info 2010 5000,- USD
aminosäuren.info 2010 2856,- EUR
ads.info 2010 2501,- USD
aufkleber.info 2010 2000,- EUR
agua.info 2009 8300,- USD
aeropuerto.info 2009 6500,- EUR
advertisingconsultant.info 2009 4531,- USD
assurance.info 2009 3500,- EUR
assurances.info 2009 2920,- EUR
adware.info 2008 25350,- USD
american.info 2008 23530,- USD
 
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bruno.info 2011 8500,- EUR
bewerbung.info 2011 2900,- EUR
bwl.info 2010 6000,- EUR
beautybar.info 2010 5000,- USD
bakers.info 2010 1495,- GBP
bodybuilding.info 2009 13500,- USD
bassins.info 2009 3000,- USD
bacias.info 2009 3000,- USD
bewerbung.info 2009 2900,- USD
belgium.info 2008 10000,- USD
bride.info 2008 6000,- USD
backpacks.info 2008 4520,- USD
bid.info 2008 3517,- USD
bid.info 2008 2350,- USD
babes.info 2008 2051,- EUR
 
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I think one word .info did really well in 2013 and with this sale 2016 will have some boom on one word .info
 
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I think the gTLD's have certainly lifted the value of short, logical, .info's and rescued them from the perceived junk status of the recent past. As the owner of iot.info, I've got a reasonable bit of skin in the game. I'd question stating that the site is part of "two successful websites," though because right now that is only setting them up for a fall. The site is clearly in the early stages of development. When does it become a success? When it has clearly paid for itself in profits generated, plus the investment in time and materials they'll have to put into launching it and making it cash generative OR when someone else is prepared to buy it for considerably more! I wish them well though, I think it could yet prove to be a very astute investment.
 
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But, bad domain name purchase with that kind of sum.

Good luck.

Not sure about that rain. They were willing, ready and able to buy the name. So that makes it good.
 
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I have lodge (dot) info but I am not lucky yet to get any offer like car.info!
 
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End user ..sales is like a lottery ...still lodge . info can fetch you mid xxxx to high xxxx on reseller market like flippa or sedo ....may be even np
 
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I have lodge (dot) info but I am not lucky yet to get any offer like car.info!
its a good name
dont wait for offer
go out....
 
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Nice insight into their name buying process!

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.

Wishing them every success with their endeavor, thanks for posting!
 
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.infos are going to get more attention in next days. I have bought some meaningful !!! lets hope for the best !!
 
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Wow, great sale for a .info. "Car" didn't hurt it
 
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Great interview , what did he mean by "crash test version" ?!!!
 
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I think the Google search results would look good with [car.info] links.

I have the same concern when buying a domain. I'll sometimes even go as far as mocking up a Google search results page to see how the domain looks from the POV of searchers.
 
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Just checked the site. They seem to be doing a nice job so far although I have no idea about their revenue.

Best of luck. Hope it works our for them.
 
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