Domain Name Seller Buyer Standoff Impact On The Business Economy And Consumers

[WhoNet]

Domain Name Seller Buyer Standoff Having Negative
Impact On The Business Economy And Consumers

Scott B. Alliy / 2008-09-18

Thousands of memorable domain names that could be used for marketing and boost business profits remain idle. Investors business owners and consumers all lose as standoff between domain name and business owners continues.

Secretly but certainly the economy suffers from an ongoing impasse between business owners and domain name owners.

Unfortunately the economic impact caused by this ongoing standoff between domain name owners and business owners remains unseen to all but industry experts.

For decades business owners have relied on catch phrases to brand their image into the minds of consumers. Mention an orange and white box with an athletes picture and you will instantly invoke images of a certain breakfast cereal in consumers mind.

Domain names aka Internet addresses as in yourname.com are the images of the Internet according to Scott Alliy an Internet pioneer and creator of the worlds largest training search engine FindaSeminar.com.

Many businesses could obtain instant recognition and realize an increase in business and profits by acquiring and putting into use domain names that relate to their business product or service and or invite or provide reason for consumers to act.

Many businesses have now come to understand the benefits of owning one or more Internet domain names which contain catchphrases relating to their business product or service that could quickly and easily be implanted in consumers minds. These tech savvy business owners get the fact that branding their business with memorable domain names is a low cost but sure fire way to increase business profitability.

The issue says Scott is that by the time that business owners or marketing staff engage in acquiring domain names they need and want for their marketing campaigns they find that the domain names are already taken.

These in-demand domain names my be taken but are not always in use says Scott whose company owns eComInvestments.com and DomainsAvailableNow.com where many high quality useful domain names are listed as available for sale. He adds that business owners can expect to pay a premium for good names but as his own experience as President of FindaSeminar.com proves a good and memorable domain name can contribute greatly to growth and profits year after year.

Scott who was past President of the Online Business Ethics Association points to a lack of understanding on the part of business owners about the true value of domain names and unethical business practices by some domain name owners as reason for the ongoing standoff between the parties.

There are domain name owners, some with very large portfolios who make a great living off of parking their domain names with companies that create advertising pages and provide the domain name owner a percentage of income generated from the page when people click on the ads. On the surface this action seems like a legitimate business and in most cases it is.

Unfortunately says Scott unethical people among the ranks of domainers have acquired and are using domain names that are typos of common company names. In still other cases some domain names that these unethical few are using are blatant trademark infringement activities by anyones standards. These unethical few have given a black eye to the entire domain industry as far as the public and businesses are concerned.

Well known corporations have even formed an organization to combat the unethical purchase and monetization of derivatives of their company name and product brands.

So, the question remains how to break the stalemate, end the bad blood and get the domain names into the hands of business owners.

The first thing that needs to happen according to Scott is that businesses have to come to grips with the changing times and add buying domain names to any new projects they start.

A case in point says Scott is the brue ha ha currently announced over the alleged infringement of trademark by domainers who snapped up domain names relating to a proposed merger of two major banking entities. This troubling incident could have been easily avoided had the teams in charge of the merger put buying related domain names as a priority before announcing their intentions to the public at large.

It is not too late for businesses who missed the boat by obtaining domain names relating to their business product service or industry according to Scott who suggest that business owners use who is contact information to find and contact and partner with owners of domain names that are of interest and benefit to them.

Scott goes on to suggest that businesses should look at Domain name owners of domains that they are interested in as having a real value like any outside consultant offering a product service or expertise to them.

He adds that there are many tools and services online that provide valuation services. A company could partner with a domain name owner by offering them compensation in return for the use of their domain name says Scott.

The compensation package might include payment for the use of the name for a term aka lease in the case of a specific ad campaign or it could even include terms for a long term buyout or residual income. According to Scott his company and other domain owners may even be interested in a partial cash stock deal for domains in their portfolio althought that would be up to the individual domain owner and business to decide.

The second thing that needs to happen is that the domain name industry needs to do a better job of teaching ethical business practices to industry newcomers and industry members.

I speak for myself and others when I say that most in our industry neither respects those who engage in trademark infringement or other unethical behaviors says Scott.

In either case says Scott whose own portfolio includes such names as SexierSkin.com, OwnTheHome.com, MyTire.com, YouAreDiscovered.com, AutoLoanByWeb.com, WeFinanceHomes.com, and PriceQuotesDirect.com there is a lot of money being left on the table and domain owners, business owners, and consumers suffer each day the stalemate continues.

網域名稱 投資人 部落 - Domain Name Investors Blog

 

[sgtppr]

The reason is that business owners are smart and they intuitively realize the domains are overpriced. They are not aware of domain forums or that there are reseller prices and end user prices, specifically, but they can sense it. They can sense they are being taken advantage of. Nobody likes this feeling.

I remember a couple of years ago I tried to buy the domain of a business I was creating and was quoted over $1,000. I knew nothing about domains but I know this was a bloated price for that domain and did not pay it on principle. Now that I know about domains I can say this domain is maaaaaaybe worth $50. Likely not even that, I do not think I would reg it today were it available.

I think what will happen over time is the inefficiency that exists in the market will close. That inefficiency being the huge gap between reseller and end user prices. End users will become more savvy and domainers will get sick of sitting on domains for years that never sell as end users become less willing to pay high prices, and the names will flow more freely from investors to end users.

 

[Seabass]

The reason is that business owners are smart and they intuitively realize the domains are overpriced. They are not aware of domain forums or that there are reseller prices and end user prices, specifically, but they can sense it. They can sense they are being taken advantage of. Nobody likes this feeling.

I remember a couple of years ago I tried to buy the domain of a business I was creating and was quoted over $1,000. I knew nothing about domains but I know this was a bloated price for that domain and did not pay it on principle. Now that I know about domains I can say this domain is maaaaaaybe worth $50. Likely not even that, I do not think I would reg it today were it available.

I think what will happen over time is the inefficiency that exists in the market will close. That inefficiency being the huge gap between reseller and end user prices. End users will become more savvy and domainers will get sick of sitting on domains for years that never sell as end users become less willing to pay high prices, and the names will flow more freely from investors to end users.

I'd like to try to give this subject some perspective. If you had a little square box that spit out money, how much would you sell it for? That is what profitable domains are.... little money making boxes. So, I've never got sick of sitting on a domain that makes a net profit with virtually no maintenance.

I would also venture to say that most business owners and over half of domainers can't even tell a good domain from a bad one..... it takes either years of buying experience or tons of bulk buying to know heads from tails.

I'm not a domain seller. I'm one of those high price guys.... that make you run. I really only buy, and I get tons of inquiries so I put very high prices on my domains so that if someone wants to pay the quoted price it is worth my time..... anything else is using my valuable time, and quite frankly, I don't want to sell my domains...... passive, continuous income is more powerful than money in the bank, especially if you can create a ton of it in different investment fields.

I've only sold five domains in 13 years on the Net out of thousands I own. I have no intention of selling them either....ever..... only if you want to pay the high price. It's a win-win for me..... why would I do it any differently.

New ways to monetize domains will appear and anyone who sells their premiums will be sorry one day. This is just the beginning..... so why sell out my future and all future profits as well?

Thus the impasse exists b/c we consider domains worth more to us than it is to them. We are essentially the highest bidders since we see more value in it than most end users. Until that changes..... domainers will control most good domains.