domain AddMe.net

[h2o]

I recently acquired AddMe.net. How much do you think its worth if I were to sell it? (I mainly like it for my own use though.)

Cheers

 

[h2o]

Some stats: It was created in 1999.
"add me" in quotes yields 52,100,000 Google search results
AddMe.com is a seo company so no competition for my purposes.
It's taken in all the major extensions (except .me as who the hell would want addme.me nvm maybe some people)
The term "add me" is very popular among the myspace and facebook teens of today.

 

[Premiere]

The value of the phrase in a .net is not terribly strong, maybe low $xxx
But since addme.com is Ad Me LLC they are likely to chase after anything that could challenge their TM. We try to avoid these types of transactions as domainers.

If it was worth $xx,xxx yes it might be worth the risk. Either way you can't put up any advertising.

 

[h2o]

The value of the phrase in a .net is not terribly strong, maybe low $xxx
But since addme.com is Ad Me LLC they are likely to chase after anything that could challenge their TM. We try to avoid these types of transactions as domainers.

If it was worth $xx,xxx yes it might be worth the risk. Either way you can't put up any advertising.

Thanks for the feedback but I would totally disagree with you on the tm issue.
I understand about tm issues but addme.net is such a general term. Do you really think that all millions of google search results are because of the company?

Apple cannot come after any domain with "apple" in it unless it is electronics related.

If you do a seach on google dozens of myspace and social networking related things come up.

Do you really think the kiddies are all so interested in search engine optimization? I don't think so..

Also consider that addme.com was regged in 1996. addme.net was regged in 1999. They had years to acquire that name if they needed to. The name was hardly expensive for a casual user, let alone an established company.

 

[yilduz]

You could make a site where people submit their profile from myspace, facebook, etc.
Then when person A wants to add person B, he can just go to addme.net and add person B at all the social networking sites at once.

Or maybe make your own social networking site.

I think it could be very valuable if you do something with it.

 

[Premiere]

Also consider that addme.com was regged in 1996. addme.net was regged in 1999. They had years to acquire that name if they needed to. The name was hardly expensive for a casual user, let alone an established company.

The only question the lawyer will be asking is when did you acquire the name? I'm not saying you can't develop it, but rules for domain ownership due to "sqautting" laws get more difficult every day, and the tools for TM protection, archive.org, domaintools.com etc, are all readily available for determining who did what to whom and when.

 

[h2o]

You could make a site where people submit their profile from myspace, facebook, etc.
Then when person A wants to add person B, he can just go to addme.net and add person B at all the social networking sites at once.

Or maybe make your own social networking site.

I think it could be very valuable if you do something with it.

Thanks a good idea Yilduz. I know 100% if I am going to do something with it its going to be social networking related. I did think about starting my own social networking site but it will be hard to compete with myspace and facebook.

But since addme.com is Ad Me LLC they are likely to chase after anything that could challenge their TM. We try to avoid these types of transactions as domainers.

If it was worth $xx,xxx yes it might be worth the risk. Either way you can't put up any advertising.

By the say, it seems like you are implying it's ok to cybersquat tm'd domains as long has you can potentially get thousands of dollars instead of just hundreds.

So if you had the opportunity to get google.me, you might reg. because its potentially worth xx,xxx,xxx? I know that's not what you meant but I am just making a statement here.

 

[yilduz]

Thanks a good idea Yilduz. I know 100% if I am going to do something with it its going to be social networking related. I did think about starting my own social networking site but it will be hard to compete with myspace and facebook.

Well, if you're making a site that helps people more easily use social networks, you're not competing with them.

However, if you're thinking of making a social networking site, I don't think you'll be competing with them either. There may be a bit of competition among the social networking sites, but many users that use one also use several others. Bring something unique to the table that the main ones don't have and you'll get members. You don't have to think of yourself as a competitor, in fact, you may be able to use facebook, myspace, etc as a way to help get some members.

I think if you have dedication, time, and a bit of creativity, you could make a very successful site that will be worth WAY more than the domain alone. The domain is good, but it's the perfect name for a site that could be much better.

 

[weblord]

contact add me llc they might be interested
http://addme.com/about.htm

 

[h2o]

Again here is a few more thoughts:

If you do a Google Search with the terms "add me" in quotes you get search results 52,200,000. Now that's a lot for a phrase!

Now if you do a Google search with the terms "add me" in quotes but you exclude the term "seo" there are 43,500,000 results.

Using simple subtraction, only 8 700 000 of the Google search results of out 52,200,000 are related to Add ME Seo.

( About 8 million is pretty reasonable for a mid-size company. Geico the insurance company has 7,020,000 results and AllState has 13,900,000)

That means only 1/6 or about 16.7% of the "add me" google results are for the company.
Now I understand this method is not 100% foolproof but it is hard to mention AddMe (the company) without mentioning SEO as that is their main service!

Other words...

Although people have been investing in domains since the 90's domaining is still in its infancy. The general public is not well informed. They might have heard that pizza.com went for over a few million but its not in the mainstream.

The laws are still grey, especially when it comes to tld.
Take this example:

Many people who have been watching the .me auctions know that insure.me went for over $68,000.

A quick search reveals that there is another established insurance company called insureme.com. Assuming that the winner is not associated with that company, does that constitute trademark infrigement? After all the names are confusing similar.

No matter what type of insurance each company is/planning on offering - life, auto, home, health, body part insurance (think J. Lo/ Elton John anyone?) it is still insurance nonetheless. The companies therefore are in similar niches. The Apple Banjos and Apple Computer analogy does not work there.

In the case of addme.com and addme.net AddMe is so general it could refer to any industry.

Hell, if I wanted to it could be an accounting firm or I could even brand it as a calculator store.

Disclaimer: I am not and do not claim to be a lawyer.

 

[h2o]

Any more appraisals?

 

[sibs123]

some interesting info

 

[domaino]

Any more appraisals?

I will give you an appraisal later when I get some time to do a little research.

n.b. I also believe there is a TM issue. Obviously you could mitigate that threat by developing a social networking site but in the meantime I would take the SEO links of your parked page

contact add me llc they might be interested
http://addme.com/about.htm

IMO, that's the LAST thing he should be doing.