Am I Selling Myself Short?

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

Hi all

My first post!

I have owned about a dozen or so domain names for about 9 years, but not sold any. I just registered them about 9 years ago and left them there, apart from a couple that I developed into websites years ago.

They have been laying dormant for about 6 years.

The thing is, a few (or one in particular) I think may be a lot more valuable that I am asking for. I want to know if I am selling myself short on it:

I won't list the domain here as I am not sure if this breaks terms of posting on Namepros but it was an online gaming website I developed through 2009-2011. It used to be pretty busy.

The thing is, this domain name was the .com of a company name that sold in 2013 for $100m USD. (They didn't own the .com, I did and before they came about). They then subsequently changed their name and there is no trademark issues.

The name still gets 300-400 uniques a month and Google gets thousands of searches for the domain 'word'.

Estibot says it's worth $9,600 and all other of these online appraisal services value it in the mid - high $X,XXX. I know these are not totally reliable but I am guessing they give some kind of domain value representation.

So my question is, is a domain that is a .com that gets that many uniques, even years after the website(s) stopped functioning, and is the .com of a well known name in the online gaming industry (with no trademark issues at all) worth more than what I am asking?

My BIN is $700 on SEDO etc - am I selling myself short, and how would I go about selling it as I just want to offload it?

Thanks all

Sirbigman · Mar 16, 2018

It seems like you are looking for an appraisal, pricing guide. Without knowing the domain, nobody can give you a decent opinion. I suggest you post in the appraisal section.

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

Thanks Sirbigman.........I have done as you said. You can tell I am a newbie on here lol.

Sirbigman · Mar 16, 2018

soopasimon said:
Thanks Sirbigman.........I have done as you said. You can tell I am a newbie on here lol.

Nobody's an expert in here. Otherwise, they wouldn't be here. NP is not a marketplace, it's a learning resource.

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

Ehmmmm... there are esperts here, and I thank them very much!

Anybody can sell here directly to buyer without fees. Keep in mind the prices are at the level of re-sellers.

@soopasimon, we must know the "domain name" for give proper advice

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

It's in the appraisal section. Being a respectful Noob here (and proud lol) I thought I'd play safe and do the 'old skool' rules of no spamming. So I threw it in the appraisal section to be safe

deez007 · Mar 16, 2018

Impossible to tell for sure without knowing what the domain name is.

However, based on the stats you mentioned it could very well be a case of your domain being underpriced...but again, it would be impossible to tell without actually know what the domain name is.

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

Okay I'll put it here as it seems like many people are asking for the domain name:

frogster.com

Best to Google frogster to see the history of it......

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

soopasimon said:
Okay I'll put it here as it seems like many people are asking for the domain name:

frogster.com

Best to Google frogster to see the history of it......

Maybe, there are some issues...

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

I have never had any trademark issues at all with the name.

Not even with the frogster article in gamesindustry.biz (look for the frogster acquisition article).
And the car was just a concept in 2001 - nothing going on there.

This one is fine - I have owned it since 2009 no issues.

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

I don't want to be a spoilsport, but we need to be careful because "frogster" isn't a generic word.

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

Indeed that was one of the things that attracted me to the domain. It's not generic, but it's certainly 'brandable'. That's why I got it in the first place and build a good site on it years ago.

But it has been lying completely dormant for years and it's ripe for resurrection.

Frogster Interactive did approach me after I bought the name but I rebuffed their advances. If you look at the trademarkia website you can see that the trademark was abandoned in 2012. This was after the $60m deal that saw them absorbed into gameforge.

So again, am I undervaluing this massively?

usernamex · Mar 16, 2018

Agree with @Bullock and the TM is not actually fully abandoned yet https://www.trademarkia.com/frogster-77982600.html

soopasimon said:
Frogster Interactive did approach me after I bought the name but I rebuffed their advances.

This is a UDRP waiting to happen.

If this domain were in my portfolio and any decent offer came in, would take the money and RUN!

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

usernamex said:
Agree with @Bullock and the TM is not actually fully abandoned yet https://www.trademarkia.com/frogster-77982600.html

This is a UDRP waiting to happen.

If this domain were in my portfolio and any decent offer came in, would take the money and RUN!

Word mark: FROGSTER
Status/Status Date:
REGISTERED
1/3/2012
Estimated Renewal Deadline: January 3, 2018

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

If you replace the last url (on the trademarkia site) with frogster-77634953.html you can see it is now abandoned. I also have owned this domain since before the trademark was first published (in 2010). Which think protected me from UDRP.

For me, as I owned it since before trademark publication, I never had any issues but moving forward, perhaps this is a good time to resurrect it for a new owner?

As you can probably tell, I am no good at this domaining thing.....I just have this (and a few other names) I want to offload as I need the money!

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

soopasimon said:
If you replace the last url (on the trademarkia site) with frogster-77634953.html you can see it is now abandoned. I also have owned this domain since before the trademark was first published (in 2010). Which think protected me from UDRP.

https://www.trademarkia.com/frogster-77634953.html

Are you referring to this, aren't you?

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

I think I have worked it out. There were two initially filed. One was abandoned in 2012.

The other has passed it's filing date. Does this sound right?

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

soopasimon said:
So again, am I undervaluing this massively?

Yes, considering brand value incorporated... but calmly for enduser target

Otherwise, if you want to liquidate the domain immediately I don't guess the threshold

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

Yes I am looking to sell. That's why I reduced the price so much. It's not really one for parking, more I think it's one for investing in or selling to an end user who likes the brandability. It's why I asked the initial question - have I priced it too low - I paid more than $700 for it 9 years ago!

I actually have a few I need to sell. But this is the main one.

MapleDots · Mar 16, 2018

soopasimon said:
My BIN is $700 on SEDO etc - am I selling myself short, and how would I go about selling it as I just want to offload it?

Lesson #1

Never, Never, Never discuss your domain here with a set bin if you are saying it's going too cheap.

First thing I did was go to sedo and afternic to verify $700 bin and lucky for you I decided I did not want to do that.

If you think the domain has a higher value the first thing is to remove the BIN. Then come and discuss and if we deem the BIN should be 2k then you can change it without someone pulling the rug out from under you.

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

OK thanks Mapledots.......showing my naivety there!

It's now been temporarily changed in afternic to what I had it for sale for in the last few months but on offer only in sedo / godaddy.

Thing is, people know my ballpark which for me is no bad thing.

I guess it could be an opportunity for someone. I just do not know how to go about this domaining thing.

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

So my search have been based on the US Serial Number: 77982600

Trademarkia

https://www.trademarkia.com/frogster-77982600.html

WIPO

http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/

USPTO

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=77982600&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch

All three confirm the Frogster trademark is Active. A professional check-out easily these things.

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

Yes but I see if you look at the history, the six year reminder was issued in January 2017. They had until January 2018 to file it.

No extension was filed, they are passed the filing date. They have a 6 month grace period - no extension has been filed. They simply do not use it anymore.

This could be a real speculative one this - 10 weeks or so until final, final grace period is over. For me it's fine - I have owned this domain since before trademark publication, but I do understand the situation when it possibly changes hands.

To see the actual request document you need to go tot the tsdr dot upto dot gov and enter the number: 77982600

Sorry for no links - I am new on here so only have a basic account.

Proper gamble this that could pay off!

Bullock · Mar 16, 2018

soopasimon said:
Y

To see the actual request document you need to go tot the tsdr dot upto dot gov and enter the number: 77982600

!

That is the third link above in my post.

Documents:

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn77982600&docId=ORC20120103002001#docIndex=1&page=1

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn77982600&docId=PRC20111129012043#docIndex=2&page=1

Even if you have registered the domain before the trademark, who can use it?

soopasimon · Mar 16, 2018

Well anyone can use it - just depends if like me they like the 'catchiness' of the name. For the next 10 weeks or so I guess it could not be directly related to gaming related activities but after that it would be potentially free to use for anything - even gaming stuff again.

For me I guess it was different as I owned it before the trademark publication, but I do understand the technicalities of it changing hands - although I think this issue is now almost non existent.

Could be a good one for gaming affiliate stuff or something. Could be used for search, traffic, anything (my old slogan for the site I had on it was 'Hop on the Net'.)

With lateral thinking the usage is actually pretty wide. But I guess that could be said for anything lol.

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