no offense guys but "realistic" is starting to sound a lot like a euphemism for "chicken".
whats good about a "tremendous roi" if in fact one is passing up the opportunity for an even more tremendous roi. its rather obvious that 40k is 10x better than 4k. imo opinion 4k was a domainer price, something that you should have got if you needed cash right away and flipped it here. if thats the case then you did the right thing.
but in the long run success comes down to the courage to turn away loball offers and stand your ground. if you belive that interested buyers will balk at paying those levels then you will always be selling yourself short and leaving potentially life-changing sums on the table.
every situation is uniques and has to be weighed on its merits. naturally when a fellow domainer offers you a certain amount and says they wont/cant pay more than you probably ought to belive its true, more or less, and if you feel its fair and want to move on then thats fine - take the roi and let them assume the risk at the higher purchase level. we all know that corporate offers dont come that often. this is as true in .com as anything, in .tv its even more rare to see corporate offers though they do seem to be increasing.
large corporate buyers often use agents or otherwise obfuscate their identities so i always assume until proven otherwise that any inquiry is a very interested and very well off buyer. and any midsize company thats needs a particular name will in fact pay up when they firmly understand that they cannot get the name cheaper. but they will keep trying to get it cheaper until they do firmly understand this.
if a buyer tells me they are a small outfit or a nonprofit i say "prove it". i've even given names away to bona fide non-profits when they do and i like what they are up to.
domains are substantial business assets whether they are .com, .net, .tv, or .wtf. i dont care what the name is or how i feel about it, if someone knocks then they must have their reasons for wanting it and i have to assume they are valid and commercial in intent. over the years i've turned away a lot more offers than i've taken and in the end i belive i've come out far ahead. thats realistic.
Finster
Wonderful post. Good domains, like Tech.tv 'are' indeed substantial assets and the sooner people realise they own quality digital real estate the sooner they will start to make.... (blah, blah, it's all unwritten from here).
Yes, $20 to $4000 is astounding ROI in less than three months, but Tech.tv is a genuine $20,000 plus name (and that 'plus' bit could go anywhere). The problem is the many people/organisations who really should have the name don't know it is available (yet!) and/or they've not actually had the idea/meeting that ensures they are looking for this particular name.
Everyone owns names with different intentions and if Eric wants to flip this name then I agree it is a good decision 'for him'. If the name were mine I would be spending time finding a partner to develop the name with. Others, might be holding on to sell at some point in the future. We are ALL different.
Eric, I think this name will see a good auction run. Even on a domainer to domainer basis this a very low price (and I know because I've personally bought less superior names at higher prices than $4,000). I would expect that, with domainers the price could go easily over double where it stands right now. If endusers are involved then I think they will be getting a bargain at anything less than $20,000.
I've been seeing a lot more people refusing to sell names at 'fair' prices (and, conversely, those who are at the same time literally throwing names away for pennies). Are these new 'unfair' prices over-inflated, unrealistic, dreams? Or will they eventually get the prices they want because they have called a very accurate longer-term market?
WTF knows! And if they did know, do you think they would be letting everyone else know their findings?
All I know is Finster is EITHER a very crazy old man with too much money and no business sense who is destined for poverty OR a sage 'been there' 'done that' 'see it happening again' font of knowledge who will be even richer at the end of his .TV strategy period!
One final thing worth thinking about. As I write, the name Technological.tv stands perfectly available at $10. Any why? Could it be because even though the two names could be used for the same purpose, only one is the 'genuine' best name for an internet TV channel all about tech/technological products?
Companies/organisations don't want NearlyGoodName.tv (com, org, de, uk, net, etc) names - they ACTUALLY want PerfectlyGoodName.tv (com, org, de, uk, net, etc) - and Tech.tv is that perfect specimen. There is only ONE tech.tv, like there are only one of each of the 'unique' better names people have in their portfolios.
