discuss 1998-registration date domain sells for low $XXX

[garptrader]

Yesterday I received notification from Godaddy that my premium listing sold.
This was a .Net domain with an original registration date of 1998.
I had held the domain about ten years and probably seven or eight years ago had turned down a high $XXX offer.
Probably around 2009 I had around six hundred .Net domains - way too many.
Over the years I have had a number of low $XXX .Net sales but .Net sales above low $XXX have been rare for me. .Net renewals are cheap but .Net domains are hard to sell.
Domain investors will often look at published sales reports of five and six figures to gauge the worth of their own domains. But while it may be interesting reading, those five figure offers never come to your inbox.
So why would I price a domain I had held for a decade so low? I just believe that is a reflection of the current market. Most end users place very little value on domain names as brands - particularly if they are not .COM. I also believe that many published sales reports of five figure sales are bogus (not just new TLDs). Just check months later how they are being used. It doesn't take that long to launch a website.
Given my experience with .TV I would hate to be stuck paying renewals of $50 or more on some of these new TLDs. One-off sales are nice but it is portfolio performance that counts and paying renewals on names noone wants is a real drag on the few names which do sell. Buyer beware.

 

[Kate]

I like .net but I can't recommend investing heavily in it. Also, you seem to specialize in Spanish names. It's probably safe to say the demand for Spanish domains is significantly lower than for English domains. I have noticed the same with French. Even though it is an international language, the demand for aftermarket domains isn't exactly massive.

 

[RJ]

Thanks for sharing your story, @garptrader. I think it is a helpful case study of a TLD in decline.

Times have changed. The appeal of .NET has been lost in the flurry of so many new gTLDs. There are too many alternatives for those who can't get a .COM.

Look at the top websites that use .NET. Techie sites like php.net, slideshare.net, uploaded.net, sourceforge.net dominates the list, not stuff that you would normally see a big advertising budget or marketing push behind.

 

[garptrader]

I believe that many domain investors are misled by reported sales into believing that five figure sales are within their grasp and that four figure sales are easy. The reality is that enough 100% losses become very costly over time.

 

[urlurl]

all the new extensions have put pressure on values for extensions like net, org, info, co, etc