Domain valuation question

[serverfm]

Hello,

I am trying to learn about geo domain valuations and i have a theoretical question about names that i neither want to buy or that i own.(because i cannot afford it obviously)

what is the value of a name like latinamerica.com in your opinion?

How much would a name like mauritius.com or borabora.com be worth?

Thanks much

 

[hopkism]

My Short Take on Geo Domains

Welcome to the forums serverfm!

So you're into geo domains huh? Those are definitely my favorite!

I try to break them up into the following categories:

• Pure Geos - Country, state or City Names
• Regional Geos - Counties, Continents, Natural Features, etc.
• Geo + Service - local locations with the inclusion of a product or service

Pure geos seem to hold the greatest value and are not that often sold. These can easily be 6 figure names for popular cites, states and countries in a desirable .com. However many big name cities and states remain unsold at that level. It definitely seems like a buyers market.

Sometimes they can easily fall from that six figure amount like United-Kingdom.com which only sold for $100

If you stick to small cities, towns, etc. you could pay $xxx in .com Just be aware the demand is often not there.

If you check out some countries are still available for registration in extensions like .net, .org, .info .biz, .me and .mobi.

Regional ones tend to sit around awhile unsold. I find a lot of county names go for bargain bin prices, many remain unregistered.

I remember a guy trying an ambitious project of buying each and every county in .info in the United States. It was a collection of a ton of domains and really ended badly for him when there was little or no interest and the process of developing became incredibly daunting.

Services like ColumbusPhotography, DenverPlumbing, MemphisAirConditioning, etc. seem to be popular and can sell in the $xx to low $xxx from what I have seen.

Paying attention to sales on Flippa I see some listed in the low $xxx get no hits but some selling for $40-50. eBay often has a number for less than $40.

 

[serverfm]

thanks for the reply. yes i am interested in geos but more in tourism geos at the moment. i think tourism related geos are some of the best.

that's why i wanted to ask what the 3 above tourism geos would be worth.

just trying to understand valuations.

what is a name like Kilimanjaro.com stonehenge.com, yellowstone.com, ayersrock.com etc. worth in your opinion?

Services like ColumbusPhotography, DenverPlumbing, MemphisAirConditioning, etc. seem to be popular and can sell in the $xx to low $xxx from what I have seen.

do you mean here in the forum or end user sales?

 

[chicagorox]

I always wondered why they are priced so high and are still available. I guess eventually each country will come to terms to pay a premium for such a domain.

 

[Keith]

If you're asking for the value of domains like latinamerica or borabora it's 6 figures.

 

[biggie]

:talk:


unless you ask the owners of these domains what their actual asking prices are, then what we say means nothing.

 

[serverfm]

unless you ask the owners of these domains what their actual asking prices are, then what we say means nothing.

the problem is asking price is not necessarily a realistic value. Some may not want to sell and and just ask astronomic prices and some other may overvalue their domains. i mean i can register whatever domain and ask 100 million for it but that doesn't mean it's worth that much.

the question is what would be a realistic value for such names? is there even such a thing, or is this entirely subjective? That's why i am interested in opinion to get an idea what people feel such names are worth?

personally i have no idea but i assume it would be in the 6 figure range. i read that some say that the value of the domain is just the value of the type-in traffic for the end-user. but i personally i doubt that such names are just being sold based on type-in value.

If you're asking for the value of domains like latinamerica or borabora it's 6 figures.

low, mid, high?

so my personal guess is(i have really no experience):

mauritius.com 400k
.net, .org: 40k
info, biz: 4k

latinamerica.com 300k
borabora.com 150k

what do you think?

 

[Keith]

low, mid, high?

so my personal guess is(i have really no experience):

mauritius.com 400k
.net, .org: 40k
info, biz: 4k

latinamerica.com 300k
borabora.com 150k

There is no real way to put a value on any domain. If it's already registered and you want it, you're at the sellers mercy.

The domains you mentioned could be 6 figures, maybe 7. Or perhaps they're just not for sale!

 

[serverfm]

any other opinions?

 

[NameAgency]

latinamerica.com 300k

Beware with this domain. It's a typo and has no value. The correct spelling is latinoamerica.com.

 

[biggie]

the problem is asking price is not necessarily a realistic value.

:talk:

value is also based on perception and both the seller and the buyer will perceive value differently.


as, "realistic" is a term often used as a synonym for lowballing, in my experience.

the question is what would be a realistic value for such names? is there even such a thing, or is this entirely subjective?

what do you think?

:talk:

the majority of factors are subjective, but there are some concrete means to "justify" value.

such as actual traffic and revenue earnings, or proven demand for the domain, based on number of previous offers received for it, etc.

but i think this is top on the list of "subjective" factors to consider:

"the need or desire to sell versus no desire or no need, to sell this/that or any other domain in their portfolio."

that need or lack of, will definetly affect pricing.
who owns the name, their respective knowledge of the domain market ( or their lack of it) and their knowledge of market ( or their lack of it) for which the domain may relate to...can affect pricing as well.


another factor is time, as in value now versus value 5 or 10 yrs from now.

the price you feel is too high today, could be seen as a steal, a few years down the road.


many names have increased in value over the years, while some haven't and some not as much.

but those increases or stagnations, all are or can be influenced by other factors.

imo...

 

[hopkism]

what is a name like Kilimanjaro.com stonehenge.com, yellowstone.com, ayersrock.com etc. worth in your opinion?

Quote:
Services like ColumbusPhotography, DenverPlumbing, MemphisAirConditioning, etc. seem to be popular and can sell in the $xx to low $xxx from what I have seen.
do you mean here in the forum or end user sales?

The names you reference here are likely to be pretty valuable but again, it's hard to put a price on these. If you are a casual domainer, they are way out of your price range to say the least.

For those names I mentioned I do mean here on the forums but also on places like Flippa and eBay. They are more often turned into made for Adsense sites.

the problem is asking price is not necessarily a realistic value. Some may not want to sell and and just ask astronomic prices and some other may overvalue their domains. i mean i can register whatever domain and ask 100 million for it but that doesn't mean it's worth that much.

the question is what would be a realistic value for such names? is there even such a thing, or is this entirely subjective? That's why i am interested in opinion to get an idea what people feel such names are worth?

personally i have no idea but i assume it would be in the 6 figure range. i read that some say that the value of the domain is just the value of the type-in traffic for the end-user. but i personally i doubt that such names are just being sold based on type-in value.

You really have to look at these on a case by case basis. Although you can separate the kind of domains. Some of them are so incredibly successful for the owner that they are not for sale. Many owners are just incredibly passionate about the geo domain and will put up the ridiculous price for it, looking to never sell.

I would have a hard time agreeing that the value of your typical geo domain has to do with type-in traffic for the end user.

More important in the value is how marketable it can be. Even if the intention is not to develop, marketability has a lot do with it. How does one judge the marketability? More often it has to do with population figures, the type of population and tourism.

Pure geo domains often get developed into tourism sites or portal hubs filled with tons of local news.

Thus you can see that names like you mention, LatinAmerica.com and Borabora.com are much more valuable to the average person because of larger populations as well as the opportunity for tourism.

As an example, a geo for a city in California is likely to have more value than for a geo for a city in Montana.

Before investing in anything like these though I would have a firm business plan in hand for development. This includes realistic intentions, possible connections, potential advertisers, content creators and firm grasp of the region you are looking into.

As an example, if I'm from North America and only speak English and I buy Belarus.com it might not make sense if I don't have any Belorussian friends, business contacts or information.

From several I have talked to who own pure city geo domains these are a lot of work and the revenue can be frustrating initially.

---------- Post added at 02:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:03 PM ----------

Beware with this domain. It's a typo and has no value. The correct spelling is latinoamerica.com.

I think you might be confused here. Latin America is a catch all phrase to refer to a geographic location of similar culture, language and history, regardless of how colonialist it might sound.

It is often used when discussing news, politics, sports, weather and the all important tourism industry near the equator.

LatinAmerica.com has a lot of value based on its usage, search frequency and its target audience.

In comparison, LatinoAmerica.com would be a bit awkward sounding. Best to just use Latino.com in this sense.

Just check the search data.

 

[NameAgency]

I think you might be confused here. Latin America is a catch all phrase to refer to a geographic location of similar culture, language and history, regardless of how colonialist it might sound.

It is often used when discussing news, politics, sports, weather and the all important tourism industry near the equator.

LatinAmerica.com has a lot of value based on its usage, search frequency and its target audience.

In comparison, LatinoAmerica.com would be a bit awkward sounding. Best to just use Latino.com in this sense.

Just check the search data.

Just check keyword tools:
[latinamerica]: 1600 searches
[latinoamerica]: 40500 searches

Spanish is my second language (first is catalan) and the expression "latinamerica" is never used. Otherwise, "latinoamerica" is used to describe exactly what you said. Check also some spanish newspaper.

 

[hopkism]

Oh okay... I think I understand what you are saying. You are saying neither phrase is hardly used in Latin Europe and that both are awkward in your second native tongue?

Perhaps the phrase is different in European Spanish compared to Spanish in Latin America, which is what I am referring to. "Latin America" is so commonly used here in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

For example, major news hubs (Bloomberg, Huffington Post) use the words Latin America to describe news from the region.

Looking at Keyword Tool is see:

[Latin America] 49,500 Exact
[Latino America] 2,900 Exact

I don't want to steal the thread from the OP, so please send me a PM with some info if I'm being really ignorant and uneducated.

Just check keyword tools:
[latinamerica]: 1600 searches
[latinoamerica]: 40500 searches

Spanish is my second language (first is catalan) and the expression "latinamerica" is never used. Otherwise, "latinoamerica" is used to describe exactly what you said. Check also some spanish newspaper.

 

[ProSence]

Great discussion.

If you can elaborate more from business point, if I have a name of country, what business can be suitable with a country name domain?

 

[NameAgency]

Hopkism, I think both of us are correct. My GKT data are true and yours too.

And you are right. In English you use "Latin America" and in Spanish is expressed with "Latinoamerica".
Really, if i had found latinamerica.com as dropped, I would think about it as a typo domain.
Thank you for that lesson.

 

[serverfm]

Great discussion.

If you can elaborate more from business point, if I have a name of country, what business can be suitable with a country name domain?

i researched this a bit by randomly typing in popular (international non-us) city names and country names(in english) in i feel that a lot of these type of geos earn income by advertising tourism related stuff (hotels, flights, rooms, restaurants ) some of them are local portals and many are just parked apparently never sold.

check: copenhagen.com, oslo.com, southafrica.com, dhaka.com, peru.com, colombia.com, recife.com, greece.com, thailand.com to get an idea.

 

[hopkism]

Great discussion.

If you can elaborate more from business point, if I have a name of country, what business can be suitable with a country name domain?

As the last post stated from Serverfm, it sounds like most owners are going the tourism route. They will have affiliate links for hotels, flights, restaurants, cruises, etc. This is pretty common.

A lot of cities and towns like this example (one of Elliot Silver's) illustrate another common development style which caters to the local population with a touch of tourism elements.

Population has a big impact on this though. One cannot develop a local themed geo on a small city or town without incredible work, intimate relations with the area and a lot of patience. Yet, small ones like this example (with an awful domain name) do exist.

Right now I am experimenting with developing a geo from an historical standpoint (highlighting historical tourism) and biographical information of the region. Payout is going to be incredibly less but so will the ongoing work.

 

[serverfm]

a more general question: how do you value a domain?

I know most will answer that there is no formula and this is not an exact science but do you have any rule of thumb that you apply?

 

[biggie]

a more general question: how do you value a domain?

I know most will answer that there is no formula and this is not an exact science but do you have any rule of thumb that you apply?

:talk:


gut feeling plays big part.

but that comes with experience from previous gut feelings, where in retrospect, were good choices because either the names sold, had traffic & revenue or both.

many of the names i bought early on, had ovt score with extension. so picking them was a no brainer.
where,potential value then = domain w/ext


an idea for a viable business model = value, when it can be effectively communicated.


applicable keywords, etc.

to name a few.


imo...