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?

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Consolidate is a good keyword, but we are moving down the TLD chain a little too quickly...
Not a fan of this one, but OUD has every opportunity to prove me wrong!
-Allan

 

[Sam]

Hello Andres,

I'm writing to share my thoughts about the fiasco in this round. I think the problem was not making the usual checks. Did you know that triguard.net, triguard.org, triguard.biz and triguard.info were all registered one day before they were offered at OUD?

I think this was an important detail. It means nobody is interested on those domains. They are so uninterested they even don't pay 8 USD for triguard.net. If there had been so many companies interested on that domain we would expect at least one of them would register triguard.net but they didn't.

triguard.net is not even worth 8 USD. So, how much is it worth? Simple. It is worth between zero and 8 USD. Ok. Now we have a price limit for the .net version. As you might know a .net is worth only %10 of the .com. This is according the statistics from actual domain sales. triguard.com is worth 10 times more than triguard.net. Therefore triguard.com's value is between zero and 80 USD.

Now you have a maximum price for triguard.com. I think you should accept any domain that might be worth more than 80 USD.

I am willing to bet money the owner of triguard.com payed some people some $NP to bid on his name.

 

[Rom]

YoG.mobi -> F9Y.com -> TriGuard.com -> Consolidate.biz

Hmm

$200 -> $100 -> $50 -> $25?

 

[Sam]

This site is a failure imo. Three straight down trades = bad. . If you are the owner's friend STOP bumping this thread up =_=.

Rigged Voting just destroyed the nice concept :gl:

 

[Brandon Sheley]

ouch, this guy doesn't look like he's making any progress.. still fun to watch :D

 

[verbster]

Consolidate.biz may be worth a couple of hundred bucks to someone. yerx.com is one of those $10 or $1000 type of domains...the "Who knows?" kind.

80+% of all the submissions are worth less than $200, but some of the others were pretty good. I guess I just don't understand why he thinks consolidate.biz is better than triguard.com, and some of the others weren't.

Although increasing value is the goal, it's probably better to do a lateral trade for a domain that possibly has better audience appeal than to seemingly arbitrarily choose a domain that at least appears to be of lesser value. (Look back a few trades; there are at least a few rejected domains that appear better.)

I mean no offense to the owner of consolidate.biz....my personal evaluations are what they are.

It's too bad the domain values can't be supported somehow...or perhaps that's the only way they should be judged...a vote on specific value. Andres lists them; people vote on a specific $ threshhold (e.g. is it worth at least $200 or not?); Andres sees the results and publishes a short list of the only the names "valued" above the 'value" of the predecessor. The next submissions would have to be valued higher...and so on. We can argue all we want about the names, but a vote on a value might help.

 

[Rom]

Consolidate.biz may be worth a couple of hundred bucks to someone. yerx.com is one of those $10 or $1000 type of domains...the "Who knows?" kind.

80+% of all the submissions are worth less than $200, but some of the others were pretty good. I guess I just don't understand why he thinks consolidate.biz is better than triguard.com, and some of the others weren't.

Although increasing value is the goal, it's probably better to do a lateral trade for a domain that possibly has better audience appeal than to seemingly arbitrarily choose a domain that at least appears to be of lesser value. (Look back a few trades; there are at least a few rejected domains that appear better.)

I mean no offense to the owner of consolidate.biz....my personal evaluations are what they are.

It's too bad the domain values can't be supported somehow...or perhaps that's the only way they should be judged...a vote on specific value. Andres lists them; people vote on a specific $ threshhold (e.g. is it worth at least $200 or not?); Andres sees the results and publishes a short list of the only the names "valued" above the 'value" of the predecessor. The next submissions would have to be valued higher...and so on. We can argue all we want about the names, but a vote on a value might help.

You are looking at end-user values.

None of the submitted domains are worth more than $100.

Btw, are you really from Alaska?

 

[Archangel]

As domaindigger said Andres stated the golden goal rules and fully abided by them.
I'm baised (as the ex owner of consolidate.biz) but i dont see much value for yerx.com. The major forums are awash with prounouncable coms and most struggle to make $30
Unless there's an organisation out there called yerx who wish to make a serious offer for it I dont see any value in it.
One good thing re: the golden goal is its impossible for anyone to make totally unfounded vote rigging allegations

I know how his "sudden death" thing worked. Unlike many ppl, I read the fine print (or the standard-sized text, as was on the site). It was still sad that he didn't hold a vote. That's all I'm saying. But OUD is Andre's endeavor. I just think it was a mistake not having a vote. But... was it? The F9Y set won with 30% of the votes and then ppl started bitching that it was a bad trade. The TriGuard set, the same -- It had what? 60% of the votes and ppl still said it was a trade-down.

YERX was acquired from a trade; the "original" owner had just acquired it for under $20. I don't see a lot of value in it, either, but you are bypassing the fact that some LLLL.com's fail to sell for $20 while others sell on SEDO for $xxx and higher. Domains are subjective -- what looks worthless to some could be valuable to others.

Looks like OUD blew it. I would appraise consolidate.biz at around $35 (a tragic result since a few rounds back a LLL.mobi was traded). The take home lesson is that successful domaining requires more than just assessing possible trades to be successful. It requires knowledge of ongoing trends, expertise at domain valuation, good timing instincts, intelligence on potential customers, integrity (potential trademark issues seem to have chilled the latest round), and perhaps most important, patience.

And again, you're right. Some ppl see things differently than others. If we all saw the same things as good OR trash -- no gray -- then domaining would be kinda hard since ppl would be too smart to make a bad buy. SUBJECTIVENESS.

YoG.mobi -> F9Y.com -> TriGuard.com -> Consolidate.biz

Hmm

$200 -> $100 -> $50 -> $25?

I won't argue the F9Y set but the basic idea is there, yes: The domains regressed to something worth about the price of a pizza. And at a time, there was a LLL.mobi and a CCC.com. Both were at least $100 each. And what now?

This site is a failure imo. Three straight down trades = bad. . If you are the owner's friend STOP bumping this thread up =_=.

Rigged Voting just destroyed the nice concept :gl:

Just to note for the curious: I have no affiliation with Andres or OUD. I am simply a guy who hated--then liked a little--and then fell sick of OUD.

But anyway -- WE voted for the trade-downs (aside from the last one). Too much of the power was placed in our hands. Instead of picking what seemed the best, he allowed us to vote for it. I was never keen on that idea. If we voted to see a guy jump off a 30-story building, don't you think the would-be jumper would be getting a rip-off just to entertain us? My idea of subjectiveness killing OUD seems to be proving itself true. The problem wasn't Andres picking bad domains for vote or rejecting the good ones. It was simply that because we can't all be on the same page with a domain, the value of it would change (ABC.com would be worth $10 if no one was willing to pay more for it. A domain is worth what ppl would be willing to pay, remember). Trading a Ford for a Chevy, both new models and in perfect condition, would be hard but trading a rock for a lump of gold? We can easily see whether the rock-to-gold would be good whereas it would be picky choosing with the vehicle swap. But not all domains are as obvious as rocks and gold -- and some just might treasure rocks more. Does all of this sound confusing? Likely so. But all & all, domains aren't always as obvious to people and their value differs. Contemplating trading gold with rocks is a no-brainer (avoid the trade!) but domains are a different beast.

Hope this makes sense, coming from a psychotic guy. lol

 

[RJ]

OUD is far from a failure. This thread has 733 replies and almost 20,000 views. People are talking about it, and I'm seeing a lot of passion from everyone -- whether you love it or hate it. The buzz he's created already trumps whatever domain he may be holding.

I give him a :tu: for making a move to trade away TriGuard and move onto the next name. Was it a good move? Who knows.. I liked several of the names that were rejected better than this one. But I like the action and am going to keep watching to see how it turns out.

:imho: Happy trading.

 

[BrandYourself]

I think oud is a learning curve - Andres is pretty new to domains and I firmly believe his site will do very well in the long run if he sticks at it. As the ex owner of consolidate.biz I tend to agree that he's traded down to some degree over the last 3 rounds. I'm not a big fan of .biz but i'm sure there's quite a few debt companies out there who would be interested in a strong finance keyword even if it is combined with the .biz extension, companies who would be prepared to offer a lot more than $25 for it.
Anyhows keep going Andres, your site will no doubt stumble along the way but i'm sure it won't be too long before you're back on track.

 

[danielj314]

Adding my voice of support

I am happy to hear some positive comments being expressed about Andres and OUD.

I have been sad to witness the spirit of negativity that has taken hold on this board recently. I had to smile when I read someone implying that I offered NP$ for someone to offer up something for TriGuard.com.

I stand by the quality of the TriGuard set, and think its worth will be proven over time.

I purchased TriGuard.com on auction at GoDaddy. There were many bidders and the final price was in the mid xxx$. I have already beheld firsthand the general interest in the real world for this name with many people people expressing that interest in the form of over 18 bids. Each with cash in hand.

I think it is a great name with great potential. Not only are there several companies that would have an immediate interest in it, it is simply a good name in its own right signifying triple protection--and in this day and age, that is a great concept to communicate.

I think comments here about subjectivity are valid.

Andres has advocated eloquently and well for TriGuard, and I have appreciated that even when public opinion turned against it.

I think Andres has been conducting OUD very well. He is a skilled communicator and seems to handle every situation with good nature, grace, and an undeniable flair.

I was impressed that in my limited dealings with Andres related to our trade, he was very professional, kind, and generous. I think he has the combination of personal attributes and skills that it will take to see OUD through good and bad times and through to a successful conclusion.

Maybe he has some things to learn, but we all do. He seems to me to be very eager to learn from everything that is written here. I have seen that he is willing to accept feedback and adapts accordingly.

So I simply add my voice to the positive chorus of support a few of you have expressed for OUD. I look forward to watching (and maybe even participating) in something that I think has become fun, educational, and entertaining for all of us.

 

[Alan Glennon]

Well, for one thing, we are talking about OUD. So from that point of view, everything is going fine. After all, good stories always need obstacles and tension. OUD is close to square one, but I suppose that's the way things work for many endeavors. If Andres learns from the mistakes and is persistent, he can probably make some good progress.

 

[Archangel]

Well, for one thing, we are talking about OUD. So from that point of view, everything is going fine. After all, good stories always need obstacles and tension. OUD is close to square one, but I suppose that's the way things work for many endeavors. If Andres learns from the mistakes and is persistent, he can probably make some good progress.

I concur. Andres is still learning and fine-tuning his endeavor. I don't forsee OUD becoming much for a long time and I still hold my belief that subjectivity will limit this from ever gaining to a $x,xxx (resell; technically, there have been a few valued at $x,xxx to an enduser) domain. Of course, it'd be nice to see him prove me wrong.

Sorry, RJ -- This thread could have 500,000 views and 13,000 posts -- it would make no difference if the domain on OUD is still at early to mid $xxx.

 

[RogueWriter]

Actually, I think OUD is going rather well. He is developing a following, there is some horse bartering going on, I've seen a few domains offered up that I am going to follow up on later, and most of all, there is activity at the site.

Shortening the voting process increases the activity, the number of times people visit, and makes the site seem quite current to any new visitors.

Hits and misses are part of the overall process. Subjectivity increases and decreases a domain's value by +- amounts, and at the beginning stages that fluctuation can amplify one's impression of how the project is coming along. As an example, suggesting that TriGuard.com is only worth fifty bucks is a lot lower than what I would value it for.

So, I'm happy, actually with how this project is going along, I think he had a great idea, it is an open ended project that might take days, weeks, months or years, but so what?

If he gets traffic coming in, if there is activity and a community forming, the overall value of oneuglydomain.com itself is increasing, which is really the hidden asset, not just the domains that keep getting traded.

One thought:
The offers for these domains will go up considerably if end users start popping in. If tarps dot com was the latest domain to be offered up here, you can bet that my offer for that domain would be huge. So, if he is not already doing so, perhaps it would be in Andres interest to not only research end users, but invite them to the show, just to see what they might be willing to put into the mix.


ONE OTHER THOUGHT:

Why not trade for money as well? Why not accept offers of money, if he takes the money, then that amount gets offered up in the next round, and people can put up domains that we vote on to trade for the bucks. If you get end users in here, they will have more ready access to cash, and will be willing to kick in more money than many of us would. They will, afterall, be intimately more familiar with the true value of the domain at stake.

ONE OTHER OTHER THOUGHT:

Actually, holding "money Rounds" might be a nice way of stirring things up. Think about this. Say, there is $500 in the pot. How much would you pay to get that $500 back, along with a link at the top of the page? How much is that permanent link worth? $5? $25? $100? Once the PR of this domain get up to a six or so, a permanent link might be worth quite a bit! And even early bids might be decent, if people look at this as a long term project.

 

[danmanmktng]

The money round idea is fantastic!

Hope Andres takes it

 

[Erdy]

ONE OTHER THOUGHT:

Why not trade for money as well? Why not accept offers of money, if he takes the money, then that amount gets offered up in the next round, and people can put up domains that we vote on to trade for the bucks. If you get end users in here, they will have more ready access to cash, and will be willing to kick in more money than many of us would. They will, afterall, be intimately more familiar with the true value of the domain at stake.

I like this idea very much. I think the good point about this is that it allows end users to join the game. An end user might like a domain but might not have a good domain to trade for it. Offering money makes perfect sense.

 

[RogueWriter]

The thing is, some of us may not find the current alternative attractive, but EVERYONE has a domain they'd be willing to trade for cold hard cash. It's what we do!

 

[dontknow]

I wonder what would happen if the site
decided to accept $$$ bids from end-users?
It would be fun to submit names to trade for
what's in the money pot from the previous round.

I mentioned money trades last month,
but nobody took notice at the time...

 

[RogueWriter]

Didn't see your post then, but I think it would add some flexibility.

 

[Archangel]

ONE OTHER THOUGHT:

Why not trade for money as well? Why not accept offers of money, if he takes the money, then that amount gets offered up in the next round, and people can put up domains that we vote on to trade for the bucks. If you get end users in here, they will have more ready access to cash, and will be willing to kick in more money than many of us would. They will, afterall, be intimately more familiar with the true value of the domain at stake.

That's a pretty good idea. ppl will argue about the value of a domain but ya can't argue $1,000 isn't worth $1,000.

 

[verbster]

You are looking at end-user values.

None of the submitted domains are worth more than $100.

Btw, are you really from Alaska?

Guess it depends on how you evaluate a dollar figure. On one domain in the current batch just rejected, I turned down two offers over $100 and one over $200. I don't know if they were from endusers or not. To me, that makes it worth over $100. In the previous rejections, at least one domain was featured on Great Domains for $10k...even if only worth 1/50th, that is $200. And, for what it's worth, a third domain was hand-appraised by Moniker at over $2k...1/10th is still $200. Having said that, the only way to definitively value a domain is by either paying for one or selling one and using the sale amount...which could work in OUD.

Yes, I'm from Alaska...where the 1150 mile Iditarod (dog-sled) race just started yesterday.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

That's a pretty good idea. ppl will argue about the value of a domain but ya can't argue $1,000 isn't worth $1,000.

Agreed - but I think that I'd be a little worried (As a participant, not as a buyer/seller) that the creator would take the money and run

But then again - it could bring out better bids as there is $ on the table (Bids in terms of the domains submitted).

-Allan

 

[Sam]

Sorry, but I stand by my comments. IMO YOG.mobi was the PEAK of the OUD concept, then greed became a factor. Its not hard to find many cash strapped "newbies" laying around, offering a Few $NPs to vote for their name. (I am not accusing anyone of doing it, but the possibility of fraud is ENORMOUS, Especially with the small amount of votes).

IMO, I wouldnt even pay $25 for consilidate.biz, but thats just me (Not a big fan of .biz). IMO the owner once he got yog.mobi, should have started privately deciding which name to take.

 

[Archangel]

Sorry, but I stand by my comments. IMO YOG.mobi was the PEAK of the OUD concept, then greed became a factor. Its not hard to find many cash strapped "newbies" laying around, offering a Few $NPs to vote for their name. (I am not accusing anyone of doing it, but the possibility of fraud is ENORMOUS, Especially with the small amount of votes).

IMO, I wouldnt even pay $25 for consilidate.biz, but thats just me (Not a big fan of .biz). IMO the owner once he got yog.mobi, should have started privately deciding which name to take.

I agree on this 100%. Even as the winner of YoG.mobi, I think he should have adapted to the new offering. Voting could be rigged far too easily and with a $xxx he should have started making his own decisions.

 

[dontknow]

I had hopes that when I offered up YoG
that I'd score a great .tv and also up the
ante in this contest. Not sure what's
happening now...