Buy* names

[markfromslo]

What are your opinions of com names that start in BUY, followed by a good generic term. For example, BuyCars.com, BuyPhones.com, etc. What kind of valuation can this type of name be assigned? Just for discussion sake, let's say that the name cars.com is worth $500,000, what would BuyCars.com be worth?

 

[Spade]

Well, the problem with this discussion is that there is no ratio for comparison. In the case of cars.com vs buycars.com - buycars.com would hold exceptional value because it is a very expensive market and very active on the internet. The same with BuyHouses.com vs Houses.com - an example that would not hold value would be

Appraisals.com vs BuyAppraisals.com

In particular, for the "buy" to work, I think it needs to be coupled with a physical good and that good has to be widely sold or purchased online, otherwise the value will be nothing.

 

[markfromslo]

Makes sense. So, what do you think of the relative value for the example above: Buy Homes.com versus Homes.com. If Homes.com is $500K, what do you think BuyHomes.com would be? 20K? 10K? More? Less? I understand it's all guesswork, but I'm curious of your ideas.

Well, the problem with this discussion is that there is no ratio for comparison. In the case of cars.com vs buycars.com - buycars.com would hold exceptional value because it is a very expensive market and very active on the internet. The same with BuyHouses.com vs Houses.com - an example that would not hold value would be

Appraisals.com vs BuyAppraisals.com

In particular, for the "buy" to work, I think it needs to be coupled with a physical good and that good has to be widely sold or purchased online, otherwise the value will be nothing.