new gTLD Facebook bought the domain Work.Place for $50,000+

[Arpit131]

The domain name Work.Place was sold and the buyer is Facebook that launched today its enterprise-focused messaging and social networking service to market under the name Workplace.

The seller Edward Alfert (@ealfert) has not revealed the sales price but since I had a very small part in the deal I can make an educated guess.

Edward asked for my opinion on what price to quote and also told me that he thought the buyer was Facebook. I gave my opinion but don’t know what happened next and what the negotiations were.

I believe the sales price was at the $50,000-$75,000 range. Probably closer to $50,000.

Source

 

[wwwweb]

So a domainer (not a registry) finally made a good gTLD sale to an end user ? I wonder what the net profit is.

It's a numbers game, this person registered over 1000 GTLD's, many of the better ones acquired in EAP, their investment value is in the 6 figures 2.5 years into the release. A one off sale, is a nice bump, but the real numbers will not be told until maybe we are 7-10 years in, and all the costs are recovered, and they can make a healthy sales schedule on their names.

Credit to them, the GTLD's are all about quality, this person spent the money to acquire the majority of the quality names within their grasp. If the GTLD's take off he will benefit, if they get diluted within the crowd he will suffer.

 

[Cebe]

And?...

 

[joro001]

First things first congrats @ealfert on an awesome sale and great price.
I hope the sales continue rolling in for you.

However, it is slightly irritating when new gtld lovers come out with any positive story and talk it up. One great sale doesn't change the overall picture which is bleak at best. Even the seller was honest enough to admit he is still in the red with gtld's after investing for 2+ years and he clearly is way better and has more guts in his asking prices than almost all gtld domain investors.

That tells me you'd better pick great names at great prices and have a huge budget/war chest to have a prayer of making ROI over a 5 year timeframe. Me personally, i'd rather keep investing in .coms, nets, orgs etc. for now, I go where the ROI is but each to their own.

New investors be careful to not carried away by this story and jump all in to new gtld investing without a clear plan IMO. Again congrats to the seller, phenomenal sale, just needs some balance to see the overall picture. it is only a tiny number of people who are making ROI with gtld's.

 

[Sophia Alice]

Congrats @ealfert , Amazing Sale

Good luck with your other domains as well

 

[garptrader]

I would say congrats to the seller on recognizing the buyer as a MAJOR player. The seller should realize however that this domain is really not that exceptional and that sales like this are basically lottery ticket wins (the vast majority of aftermarket sales occur at $1500 and below so statistically this sale is many standard deviations above the median). In a casino there will be an occasional lucky streak. That does not make the gambler a genius at playing slots etc. Even though the gambler will have occasional wins, the house will eventually take every dime they gamble. Unfortunately, there are many new TLD gamblers who will never see a sale like this to bring them back to breakeven. Domaining by its nature is speculative but new TLDs are by their nature the most unproven and biggest gambles. Until end users start viewing domains as valuable brands useful for promoting products and services and are willing to pay real money (not just $XX) for them, alternative TLD investments will continue to struggle.

 

[Restaurants]

The right combination of words and extension can always work well. We own many .com domains, .info etc. but also got in with the new extensions...many when they first launched. Like Honey.company, Salt.company, Villa.company, Income.work, Tycoon.work, Television.work, Tablet.work, Coal.center, Cupcake.center and the list goes on. It has to 100% make since when it come to combinations. The right ones will pay off in time. Congrats on the sale also, may many more come in the future.

 

[Michael Ehrhardt]

how about :

WorldWide.Work ?

you got already contact

 

[Landov]

Looks like workplace.com is valued around $50,000 too. Finally, new gtld sales have caught up with .com

Almost surely no one wanted to broker this domain until Facebook appeared as buyer.
I'm positive that in 2 years end user awareness will change (I'm counting for the help of the brokers, too) and good new gtld will be constantly sold through intermediates.

 

[wwwweb]

Looks like workplace.com is valued around $50,000 too. Finally, new gtld sales have caught up with .com

Almost surely no one wanted to broker this domain until Facebook appeared as buyer.
I'm positive that in 2 years end user awareness will change (I'm counting for the help of the brokers, too) and good new gtld will be constantly sold through intermediates.

WorkPlace.com if it was valued at $50K Facebook would own it, clearly it is worth more. To put a price on such a domain without factoring who owns it, what it is currently used for, and who wants to buy it, clearly that gives it a higher valuation.

Yes, we all know investors in GTLDs who registered them yesterday, last week, or last year are hoping for the .com pay off minus 20 years of waiting, it is just not that easy.

This person owns over 1000 GTLD's they had a hunch who wanted it, and they had the experience to wait on it, they will tell you themselves, as I will, these deals are never easy, or wham bam 3 days later here is the money. They take weeks of ups, and downs, never knowing if you are truly going to get paid.

It is just not that easy, imagine owning 1000 domains, and have $40,000 renewal bill, that means you need $3,500 each month just to break even in sales.

 

[Landov]

Let me be sincere...

WorkPlace will generate revenues of 1 billion dollars yearly. Facebook would never abandon the brand Workplace as they already launched MarketPlace.

They will buy Workplace.com too, which is now owned by a company, to protect this brand. Still Work.Place is more beautiful than WorkPlace.com and FB wants only the best.

If I would been in seller shoes, I would not sold it with less than 10 million USD.

 

[Brands.International]

Let me be sincere...

WorkPlace will generate revenues of 1 billion dollars yearly. Facebook would never abandon the brand Workplace as they already launched MarketPlace.

They will buy Workplace.com too, which is now owned by a company, to protect this brand. Still Work.Place is more beautiful than WorkPlace.com and FB wants only the best.

If I would been in seller shoes, I would not sold it with less than 10 million USD.

You might be right, I agree..but you know..when you are in seller shoes..sometimes it is better to grab 50k, comparing to wait for much better offer. Mainly when you are seller of new gTLDs..market is still very very unpredictable. I think he did well, mainly because when you check his portfolio, he has another tens and tens of excellent names which are easily comparable to the sold one. So he will for sure survive to letting one go

 

[ET76]

Amazing, congrats!

 

[Akos123]

Nice sale, congrats!

 

[Jasper schilperoord]

Workplace.nl

Freshly caught

 

[art.work]

I'm still in the red, but getting close. This has not been my only new gTLD sale in the past 2 years.

You showed brilliant taste and class by selecting work.place . It's a masterpiece. Your customer is in your debt.

 

[wot]

I'm still in the red, but getting close. This has not been my only new gTLD sale in the past 2 years.

Awesome sale and well deserved. I am one of the very few domainers who has actually shown a profit on gtld with not very many registrations but simply pure luck.
You and I are in the very small clique of domainers to sell a new gtld for $xx,xxx out of the millions of gtlds that have been registered. The only other sales of significance are registry and registry promoted conference sales.
Make of that what you will.

Spend the money unwisely!

 

[Michael Ehrhardt]

i like new gTLD,s

 

[nomand]

I wish that someday I will sell a domain name at that price.

 

[Premiums]

I have

MEN.place
Flights.place​

​

 

[hookbox]

It is classified as a premium and yearly renewal is $42.

I submitted an EAP pre-order at Godaddy and someone else did too. So the domain went to auction and I won the auction for $164.

I'm surprised they let it go so cheap. I would think this would be a name they would put the premium tag on and hold it themselves at a five figure price. Congrats on a great sale.