From ugly to $1 million, guy wants to trade up his ugly domain name

[domaindigger]

I just saw this on digg and wanted some perspective. This guy wants to trade up his oneuglydomain.com for a more "beautiful" one worth $1 million. It's like that oneredpaperclip idea, but with domains.

My question is, does he have a chance or is this just a parody? I have a couple of dead domains I wouldn't mind trading for if I can feed off the publicity this might generate.

Thoughts?

 

[RogueWriter]

I think the next round might end up with a few good ones.

TribalChiefs.com is a pretty good name, imo, that would make an excellent site for a multi-player game. I suppose you could also go the history route, and make it an informational site about Native American Indians, a repository of profiles. Would be a nice site for students and historians to explore.

If TribalChiefs.com makes it, that's one I will definately put up a good domain for.

 

[timmaay]

TribalChiefs.com created on 1/17/07 ... must of been a drop

 

[Rom]

I was the one who submitted TribalChiefs.com.

I hope it gets accepted, if no I'll develop it to history site of Tribal Chiefs.

 

[RogueWriter]

Great domain, Rom! :tu:

 

[Archangel]

Blookumentary.com -- It's decent but in no way a real challenge.

CowboySaddles.net -- I don't think there's a big enough cowboy saddles niche out there...

Specialize.mobi -- Doesn't match the ext

Mammaries.mobi -- Ditto

Ravage.mobi -- Ditto

DreamBoat.mobi -- This would be good but I don't see how a mobile site could use it for much

Bootlegged.mobi -- Hmmm I don't think OUD needs a domain that would be used for illegal practices

PRO1.mobi -- The 1 makes it too random IMO

Onto others....

Kaity.info -- What does this mean? Rule of thumb: If you have to look something up in the dictionary, then it's probably a bad domain

BeachVolley.mobi -- Doesn't fit the ext

DreamProducts.us -- The ext hurts a lot -- too much for me to care for it

HollywoodCelebrities.us -- Ditto. This looks valuable but not a sufficient YoG.mobi trade-up

And the ones he's weighing...

Crissy.us -- Oh, I like this... my issue is if it'll be a sufficient trade-up. But this is nice

Trainees.mobi -- This would be pretty helpful, all things considered. Train would be better and I'm not too sure about the --ees but this doesn't look bad.

Wabash.in -- It could be valuable to a local business but I don't think ppl would go for it. It's not a "state extension" and I don't know how well it would do (some ppl would see it and think it's an Indian site)

LegalAge.us -- Hmmm... it has a broad enough usage so yeah, I suppose this could work

CronTasks.com -- As Andres said, I couldn't see a site doing much with this

TribalChiefs.com -- Not the best but I like it. It's not as limited as some ppl might think

XboxMarket.com -- My only beef: I'm not too sure if a potential trader would risk trading up for a trademark domain

CasinoArticles.info -- I don't like this much but it fits the ext and gambling domains are popular these days. So I'd have to give this a passing grade

All of this is just my 2 cents, of course.

 

[verbster]

VOAL.net just might be the domain that REALLY gives OUD a kick... but that's my opinion. Again -- what do you ppl think? Should I offer it up?

Think in terms of not what you think, but how voters will think. Do you think voters will uniformly recognize voal.com as a domain that will stand out as an obviously more valuable domain than YoG.mobi? If so, submit it. If in doubt, don't.

That's what this is all about, isn't it...someone is willing to give up a domain of value and get a domain of lesser value in return for the publicity and such. Instead, some submitters seem to be looking for a way to trade up...a way to submit a domain of a lesser value with hopes of winning a better domain and the publicity.

The problem is that the submission\acceptance of domains are not clearly more valuable than the current top domain, in this case YoG.mobi. It shouldn't be a matter of which one of these five latest domains is better than the current winner; it should be which of these five submitted domains, all of which are obviously better than YoG.mobi, is worth the most of the five.

 

[timmaay]

bingo ... and the other "problem" is - the domains he seems to like (will make it into the voting) seem to be all more of the "brandable/developable" type. The problem is if one of those types of domains win then he needs to

1. find a person that really likes this name
2. hope to highwater that they have a domain worth trading up for

Not knocking TribalChiefs it is a pretty cool name and yes it has lots of dev potential.
But lets all be truthful here, it made it all the way to 2007 before getting reg'd - it is worth regfee unless developed or "sought after" by some end user.

Yog.mobi has a value of $150-350+ today (depending on who you talk to).

He is in a pickle right now, someone has to either be pretty sure 3L.mobi will be like 3L.com in the foreseeable future and be willing to give up a $400+ name

I feel none of those names he is pondering are worth spit compared to the current one

 

[Archangel]

Think in terms of not what you think, but how voters will think. Do you think voters will uniformly recognize voal.com as a domain that will stand out as an obviously more valuable domain than YoG.mobi? If so, submit it. If in doubt, don't.

That's what this is all about, isn't it...someone is willing to give up a domain of value and get a domain of lesser value in return for the publicity and such. Instead, some submitters seem to be looking for a way to trade up...a way to submit a domain of a lesser value with hopes of winning a better domain and the publicity.

The problem is that the submission\acceptance of domains are not clearly more valuable than the current top domain, in this case YoG.mobi. It shouldn't be a matter of which one of these five latest domains is better than the current winner; it should be which of these five submitted domains, all of which are obviously better than YoG.mobi, is worth the most of the five.

That makes a lot of sense. I've seen far too many people submit bad domains (or in the case of Wii60Scene or whatever that worthless piece of trash was, ppl reg domains from scratch) and try to trade up. Ultimately, I think the goal (Hey -- G is next to V, too lol) is to give Andres a more valuable domain and the trader a more desired domain (if the trader had no desire for a domain, I don't think he'd offer a trade-up for it).

I'm unsure about VOAL.net. I've seen comparables sell for $x,xxx (as I've posted above). I might offer it but maybe not this round... 4 letter .nets are srange things and sometime hard to pin a number onto. But I have a little feeling that VOAL.net might be a little too steep a trade-up, on my behalf, for a 3 letter .mobi.

 

[dontknow]

(Hey -- G is next to V, too lol)
So this baby could be coal, goal and even foal(for the horse crowd)...
It's a typo's dream!

 

[domaindigger]

That's what this is all about, isn't it...someone is willing to give up a domain of value and get a domain of lesser value in return for the publicity and such. Instead, some submitters seem to be looking for a way to trade up...a way to submit a domain of a lesser value with hopes of winning a better domain and the publicity.

The problem is that the submission\acceptance of domains are not clearly more valuable than the current top domain, in this case YoG.mobi. It shouldn't be a matter of which one of these five latest domains is better than the current winner; it should be which of these five submitted domains, all of which are obviously better than YoG.mobi, is worth the most of the five.

I'm not so convinced he should be worrying so much about how objectively valuable an offer is. I think we're forgetting about the principles of "relative value". Say, for example, that a Native-American Tribe is sitting on CasinoGames.com, but has no use for it because they already have hundreds of casino sites. Now imagine what TribalChiefs.com might be worth to them. We would all agree that, objectively, CasinoGames.com is more valuable, but to the Native-American tribe, TribalChiefs.com would be more valuable. That's why I think he should be focusing on doing more trades and generating more publicity and participation in the earlier rounds and worrying about objective valuation later on.

I'm surprised YoG.mobi is not getting more and better offers, as .mobi's value has been established and 3 letter .mobi's are all taken, making this a perfect way to diversify if you don't hold any .mobi's, IMHO.

Remember, RELATIVE VALUE.

 

[dontknow]

I think he got the gears for accepting any name that came down the pipe,
so now he's a bit tentative about what he let's slide by...
I also believe people are reluctant to offer up something good,
in hopes of trading crap for $$$.

 

[fautebol]

Remember, RELATIVE VALUE.

I agree with timmaay. IMHO (newbie), the problem here I is because YoG.mobi has value as an LLL.mobi, which is not really relative value. Maybe it has a value between 150-400$. But, being a LLL.mobi its advantage is that it's very liquid. You know that you could sell it 5 minutes for 140$. Now you take a domain that you think could sell for far more than YoG.mobi to an end-user. For how much could you sell it in 5 minutes?

Thus do you compare the value of YoG.mobi and the domain offered regarding a secondary market where 3characters domains are easy to sell because the value can be easily established or do you compare values for an end-user.

I believe that if you take the first approach you will have to get a very good domain in comparison if it's not a three character one.

Btw, I offered trainees.mobi (I read today that 6% of all mobiles searches were jobs search http://www.mobilepeople.com/25_january_2007.html).

 

[Archangel]

I'm not so convinced he should be worrying so much about how objectively valuable an offer is. I think we're forgetting about the principles of "relative value". Say, for example, that a Native-American Tribe is sitting on CasinoGames.com, but has no use for it because they already have hundreds of casino sites. Now imagine what TribalChiefs.com might be worth to them. We would all agree that, objectively, CasinoGames.com is more valuable, but to the Native-American tribe, TribalChiefs.com would be more valuable. That's why I think he should be focusing on doing more trades and generating more publicity and participation in the earlier rounds and worrying about objective valuation later on.

I'm surprised YoG.mobi is not getting more and better offers, as .mobi's value has been established and 3 letter .mobi's are all taken, making this a perfect way to diversify if you don't hold any .mobi's, IMHO.

Remember, RELATIVE VALUE.

I think he got the gears for accepting any name that came down the pipe,
so now he's a bit tentative about what he let's slide by...
I also believe people are reluctant to offer up something good,
in hopes of trading crap for $$$.

Not meaning to dig up WebPortals.org again but this kind of defends against it, the relative value thing. The value of a domain is never exact -- it's just what ppl see it as. ppl might have decided YoG.mobi was more suited for a RealitySeries.tv trade-up but that doesn't mean WebPortals.org would be a bad trade for YoG.mobi. But let's not argue that -- we already did. It is all in relative value.

IF OUD fails, it might not be 100% because of Andres. ppl have to start submitting good domains, things that might have a value. I'd still offer WebPortals.org & eAthlete.net again if he's interested but I'm not gonna try to debate them in. If at the end of submission time he sees little domains of real value, he can look into these. (As said though, I don't mind if he doesn't. I have VOAL.net I might submit soon and I might have a few others eventually.)

And yeah, C, F, and G are right next to V. lol If COAL.net, FOAL.net or GOAL.net ever become popular sites--if they aren't now--this might get a lotta type-in traffic. $x,xxx looks about right.

 

[dontknow]

hmm, just a couple more days left
and still no names in the running...

 

[Archangel]

hmm, just a couple more days left
and still no names in the running...

VOAL.net is still tempting me... what do you think it would take for this round to end with a trade-up? A 3-letter .com would work lol but I kinda doubt we'd see that for awhile. So... what would make a good trade-up for YoG.mobi?

 

[dontknow]

VOAL.net is still tempting me... what do you think it would take for this round to end with a trade-up? A 3-letter .com would work lol but I kinda doubt we'd see that for awhile. So... what would make a good trade-up for YoG.mobi?

I like your voal.net
Reminds me of those little creatures that ran around our farm(voles).
Maybe I should offer up another LLL.mobi that has a better acronym list...

 

[Archangel]

I like your voal.net
Reminds me of those little creatures that ran around our farm(voles).
Maybe I should offer up another LLL.mobi that has a better acronym list...

I think you should wait it out. I'm just a bit wary of the idea of trading one LLL.mobi for another ATM. But in the next round, if YoG.mobi is still there, you might wanna try it. If ppl choose to keep YoG.mobi twice, then maybe Andres should get a new .mobi -- or maybe he just needs ppl to offer better domains.

 

[dontknow]

-- or maybe he just needs ppl to offer better domains.

:bingo:

 

[Archangel]

:bingo:

Andres is doing all he can. Now, it's up to traders. I have things in mind that I might do -- VOAL.net is one of them -- but we need some more competition. Come on, ppl -- stop offering TrashyDomainName.ac and put some real meat on the table.

I have interest in VOAL.net but I like trades. Although I wouldn't be shocked to see it get a $x,xxx offer, I'd be willing to trade for one of those other LLL.mobi you mentioned having.

 

[dontknow]

I have interest in VOAL.net but I like trades. Although I wouldn't be shocked to see it get a $x,xxx offer, I'd be willing to trade for one of those other LLL.mobi you mentioned having.

Thanks for the offer, however,
I just enjoy the thrill of the ugly name site...

:tu:

 

[Archangel]

Thanks for the offer, however,
I just enjoy the thrill of the ugly name site...

:tu:

It's an interesting site... but it has to go somewhere. I wish we'd see some good domains this round At least we're helping with the choosing process a degree.

 

[dontknow]

Finally some offers accepted!
Some good ones at that...

 

[airwav]

"I'm going to start with an unquestionably ugly domain, oneuglydomain.net, and I'm going to trade it up for prettier and better domains until I end up with a beautiful domain worth $1 million."

I don't know that ABeautifulDomain.com is worth a million dollars, but I just offered it to him... :]

 

[Broker]

"I'm going to start with an unquestionably ugly domain, oneuglydomain.net, and I'm going to trade it up for prettier and better domains until I end up with a beautiful domain worth $1 million."

I don't know that ABeautifulDomain.com is worth a million dollars, but I just offered it to him... :]

LOL, I think he may just be accepting that one for some reason. He may even offer you money for it so in the end he can promote his million dollar domain. thats funny, cool name imo!

 

[Keynes]

This is funny: there's a LLL.org "on the fence", while 5 mediocre domains have been accepted. Good luck!