How to price brandable domains

[svede]

I am looking to get the community's opinion on how they price brandable domains. When I say brandable domains, I am referring to:
- non-dictionary .coms (or it must be a very odd/archaic dictionary to break this rule)
- LLLL.com
- 5-7 Letter pronounceable .coms
- dictionary word .com that has been modified (i.e., -ly ending)
- 2 dictionary words that fit together or sound good together (RedBox.com, FitBit.com)

Obviously, we all hope that an enduser sees our domain and tracks us down, but that tends to be less likely in brandables IMHO. So how do you decide how much to price for your BINs - whether listed on Sedo/Afternic or your own brandable domain site (assuming you make the choice - unlike BrandBucket.com). Do you list really low and hope it invites buyers? Do you list high hoping to find companies willing to pay it? How would you find something in the "middle"?? I have been comparing all sorts of brandable domain sites (BrandBucket.com, Brandroot.com, Namerific.com, and all sorts of smaller ones) and don't see much of a strong pattern. Any thoughts? I wan't to maximize profits (obviously) while realizing that higher quantity sold can sometimes be higher profits.

EDIT:
Also, for anyone who has their own brandable domain website, do you invite offers/negotiation despite having a BIN? If so, do interested parties usually ask on their own? Or do you "advertise" that in some way (without impacting those who might be willing to pay BIN??

Any and all constructive comments welcome!!

Thanks,
Stephen

 

[Kate]

The sweet spot for domain names (in general) is often between mid-$$$ and low-$$$$.
The more you ask, the more difficult to sell, unless the domain is highly desirable/generic.

If you look at the big sales, they seldom involve pure brandable domains, but the more generic kind.

 

[svede]

The sweet spot for domain names (in general) is often between mid-$$$ and low-$$$$.
The more you ask, the more difficult to sell, unless the domain is highly desirable/generic.

If you look at the big sales, they seldom involve pure brandable domains, but the more generic kind.

I am talking more the type that places like BrandBucket.com sell - many of which are NOT generic. I am more familiar with generic domain pricing, but I am trying to better understand how these website determine their prices. The price range you gave is what I typically see, but how to price something in midd $$$ vs low $$$$ and all the variations between is what I am looking for input on. I currently use my "gut feeling", but am curious what others do and if they have any advice.

Thanks!!

 

[urlurl]

The price are suggested by brandbucket (with a range the seller can increase or decrease by, they are most likely basing it off of past sales.

Determining a price comes from experience and seeing what types of names have sold for.

$xx - very low end brandables (random letters, semi pronounceable, no meaning) example: vraqu.com

$xxx - Lower end brandable (pronounceable names with no meaning) example: blugabo.com

$x,xxx - good brandables (pronounceable, connected to a niche or product, unique)

$xx,xxx excellent brandables (pronounceable, dictionary words, unique, and/or attached to a strong niche/product, 3L's or good 4L's)

$xxx,xxx supper brandables (rare, dictionary words or powerful near words)

 

[svede]

Thanks for the feedback, but according to what you are saying, many of the domains on BrandBucket, etc should be only $xxx... but they do sell for much more. A brandable domain doesn't need to be connected to a product or niche if it is a strong pronounceable domain without meaning... Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[tomcarl]

IMO it depends on what type of brand it is and the industry it represents.

If it's a 5L - 6L domain that has no meaning, does not target a specific industry, then I am usually content on pricing it $2,500 or less as an end user looking for this type of name has several options to choose from and this is the usual sweet spot for these type of names on Brandable marketplaces. These are "impulse-buy" brands so should be priced accordingly.

If it's a short brandable that derives from an actual word or replaces one or two letters, I'll price those $2,500 - $5,000 depending on the word it's a play on. Obviously "Ensurance" would be worth more than "Kittiez"

I tend not to price brands that are actual 2-3 word phrases that are popular or well known, example of brands that are actual phrases: LastCall(dot)com, HitMe(dot)com, FatBoy(dot)com, GetALife(dot)com

These domains can easily fluctuate in price because the chances of a person or team with an actual budget, sitting down and brainstorming are a lot more likely to throw around common phrases that would be a clever play on the service they offer or product they sell. If a name is not acquired on impulse and there's an actual intent on buying, that's when these can go for 5 figures and upward as we seen from some of Michael Berkens brandables that sold for 5 figures and they would've probably sat around with a low 4 figure price tag otherwise.

 

[svede]

Thanks tomcarl, that is very helpful. It helps me get into others' minds when they are pricing their domains.

 

[urlurl]

I have been selling brandables for a while now, the most successful brand names I sold had some connection to a word, industry or niche. The name doesn't need to match an industry exactly but it helps.

keep in mind there is a 30% markup on BB names to cover commissions.

 

[svede]

Thanks, that is really good information!

 

[hookbox]

The best example to use for this discussion would be BrandBucket because they have the most names listed (almost 10,000) and have had daily sales for the past 6 or 7 years. The reason it's good to break down their pricing structure is because it is a proven business model and to analyze that model makes sense.

BB has 9971 domains listed of which only 300 names are listed below $1,000. Out of these 300 names about 90% are listed between $900-$1000. So only a very few are under 900 bucks. But this grouping of 300 names only equals less than 1/3 of 1% of the total domains listed at BB.

Between the price of $1,025-$2,500 is their sweet spot. About 6700 names are listed in this range which is about 67% of all domains listed. Basically 7 out of every 10 domains are listed in this range. Understanding a companies sweet spot is very good info to know. Remember it's a proven business model.

Between the price of $2,525-$5,000 there are about 2400 names which is about 24% of all names listed at BB.

Around 8% are priced above $5,,000. These 8% would be all of the overpriced .ly libyan domains they added and most of the 4 letter domains.

All of this info may sound like nonsense but it helps to give a really good baseline of where you need to be in your pricing structure.

I know I didn't directly answer your question but this is good food for thought until I have time to add more later.

 

[svede]

Doesn't sound like nonsense at all! This is very helpful information and great stats. I was trying to find information on their stats so this is awesome. Thank you!

 

[thekiller]

A really good topic, I would want to see BB representative's opinion on this.

 

[muttus]

Great discussion here, constructive and productive. I think the initial question is one of the most important in domain field. All your inputs here are definitely valid in to some extend, but there are too many factors that determine price of brandable domain. I do agree that short brandables with some meaning (connection to word or niche) seems to have higher value that random pronounceable nonwords. I believe that overall feeling, or sound of the name influence price of the domain significantly. You can have domains like Bankrr (suggesting connection to high payingniche) and let's say Swoosh. Which one would you price higher? And there it is when gut feeling must come in.

Regarding pricing on Brandbucket it is difficult to analyse names without knowing those that actually sell. I have listened to the owners which said that sweet spot is between $1.500 - $3.000 but as we know that is where majority of domains are priced, hence is is not surprising that majority of sales come from this bracket. But does it mean that domains around sweet spot do have higher chance to get sold (the share of sold domains within this category is higher then the share of of sold domains in other price categories) or simply they call it sweet spot since they make majority of business from these domains. That we will not know until sales or at least more detailed stats are available.

Also when we look on other marketplaces we see great variation of prices for brandable domains, hence it is difficult to determine the price easily.

I do believe that brandbale short 5-6-7 letter domains are slowly decreasing perceived value on brandable marketplaces since more and more places offer them in large quantities hence customer have lot to choose from.

 

[hookbox]

The best example to use for this discussion would be BrandBucket because they have the most names listed (almost 10,000) and have had daily sales for the past 6 or 7 years. The reason it's good to break down their pricing structure is because it is a proven business model and to analyze that model makes sense.

BB has 9971 domains listed of which only 300 names are listed below $1,000. Out of these 300 names about 90% are listed between $900-$1000. So only a very few are under 900 bucks. But this grouping of 300 names only equals less than 1/3 of 1% of the total domains listed at BB.

Between the price of $1,025-$2,500 is their sweet spot. About 6700 names are listed in this range which is about 67% of all domains listed. Basically 7 out of every 10 domains are listed in this range. Understanding a companies sweet spot is very good info to know. Remember it's a proven business model.

Between the price of $2,525-$5,000 there are about 2400 names which is about 24% of all names listed at BB.

Around 8% are priced above $5,,000. These 8% would be all of the overpriced .ly libyan domains they added and most of the 4 letter domains.

All of this info may sound like nonsense but it helps to give a really good baseline of where you need to be in your pricing structure.

I know I didn't directly answer your question but this is good food for thought until I have time to add more later.

I just realized I wrote something wrong. I wrote "But this grouping of 300 names only equals less than 1/3 of 1% of the total domains listed at BB."

This grouping of 300 names is actually 3% of BrandBuckets total.

 

[Genius327]

Just wanted to add for your knowledge that (I think last year) DomainSherpa did an interview of BrandBucket's founder and I think that you should watch it if you're into brandables.

I am also into brandables and have been researching a lot lately. Initially I am planning to acquire like 50 names with being able to hold them for as much as 10 years. I know it's a long time but in about that time I don't even think any 5 letter domains will be available for registration, not even xyshq.com, lol.

If it helps you, I have gathered some small data on brandables and wrote all about it here.

Thanks,
Shahil

 

[hookbox]

Great discussion here, constructive and productive. I think the initial question is one of the most important in domain field. All your inputs here are definitely valid in to some extend, but there are too many factors that determine price of brandable domain. I do agree that short brandables with some meaning (connection to word or niche) seems to have higher value that random pronounceable nonwords. I believe that overall feeling, or sound of the name influence price of the domain significantly. You can have domains like Bankrr (suggesting connection to high payingniche) and let's say Swoosh. Which one would you price higher? And there it is when gut feeling must come in.

Regarding pricing on Brandbucket it is difficult to analyse names without knowing those that actually sell. I have listened to the owners which said that sweet spot is between $1.500 - $3.000 but as we know that is where majority of domains are priced, hence is is not surprising that majority of sales come from this bracket. But does it mean that domains around sweet spot do have higher chance to get sold (the share of sold domains within this category is higher then the share of of sold domains in other price categories) or simply they call it sweet spot since they make majority of business from these domains. That we will not know until sales or at least more detailed stats are available.

Also when we look on other marketplaces we see great variation of prices for brandable domains, hence it is difficult to determine the price easily.

I do believe that brandbale short 5-6-7 letter domains are slowly decreasing perceived value on brandable marketplaces since more and more places offer them in large quantities hence customer have lot to choose from.

Ray from TLDinvestors.com did some good research about what names do sell on BrandBucket. It is from 2013 before BB had 10,000 names listed but it's very relevant info. Link below

http://tldinvestors.com/2013/07/brand-bucket-sales-inside-the-numbers.html

There is a lot more info in the article but here is a quick look at the list of sold domains at BB.

abuncha.com
accoria.com
accuit.com
acentria.com
acinia.com
acropont.com
actero.com
acterus.com
adenvy.com
adenzo.com
aderati.com
adflair.com
adge.com
adnomix.com
adsnip.com
aerialux.com
alfilo.com
allevant.com
alouda.com
alquemy.com
alsoa.com
altmkt.com
alvasta.com
alve.com
amiato.com
amicius.com
amolia.com
amplifly.com
anaboo.com
anafin.com
andiago.com
andromo.com
anedo.com
anomo.com
anumi.com
apaxo.com
apeza.com
aphora.com
apiqa.com
appenda.com
appixo.com
applauze.com
appsup.com
aprique.com
aptris.com
aroxa.com
ascentiq.com
asimpa.com
astorica.com
aucti.com
auzio.com
aveas.com
avensio.com
avojo.com
avoni.com
avorite.com
avventuro.com
axianta.com
azazo.com
azulia.com
besaba.com
bevato.com
bevolve
bidzy.com
bigabite.com
bigmash.com
binxie.com
bippet.com
bitmesh.com
bittn.com
bixxon.com
bleebo.com
blurit.com
bodingo.com
boldmine.com
bonaclara.com
boosterfuel.com
boostmetrics.com
bopzy.com
boxspy.com
braineo.com
brandnouveau.com
braveaux.com
brightcandle.com
brightclient.com
brownsparrow.com
burgr.com
buxee.com
buxxa.com
buzzangle.com
buzzchain.com
buzzpunk.com
byln.com
bzzy.com
bzzzr.com
cantava.com
caretactics.com
careza.com
cashsnap.com
centeract.com
certari.com
certuso.com
chatso.com
cheddr.com
chewd.com
cibaro.com
citiq.com
citzn.com
clixico.com
clixlab.com
clixxo.com
closedwon.com
cloudico.com
cloudize.com
clusterous.com
clyng.com
coaxa.com
coaxl.com
cocobop.com
cognia.com
commeris.com
commutr.com
comoyo.com
conexsta.com
contentco.com
corexis.com
covax.com
covue.com
credly.com
crocodoo.com
crossfuse.com
cryptly.com
cultr.com
cutester.com
daflee.com
dailystew.com
dazaro.com
dealee.com
dealmode.com
deciem.com
dema.com
depe.com
deriv.com
desingo.com
deskly.com
destinx.com
diaxi.com
diaxo.com
dioli.com
ditso.com r />divoli.com
docsup.com
dopo.com
doqa.com
dotfuse.com
dotzot.com
drazo.com
drinkify.com
drooble.com
ducara.com
duplia.com
duravida.com
durj.com
dynacart.com
dynamity.com
dysko.com
eateri.com
eazier.com
eazly.com
eclecti.com
ecociety.com
ecruos.com
edozo.com
eeow.com
ekera.com
electrapop.com
elevara.com
emogo.com
enado.com
endiem.com
enectric.com
enfinio.com
enizy.com
envicore.com
envizi.com
envolta.com
eprenda.com
equara.com
erodos.com
eroose.com
ethoria.com
etract.com
everlush.com
evinto.com
evolze.com
exabo.com
exercore.com
expy.com
exundo.com
factals.com
familius.com
fanoramic.com
fastiq.com
favoraid.com
fevio.com
fezu.com
fingertaps.com
fintia.com
fizola.com
flerp.com
flexnext.com
flingi.com
flizo.com
fluidui.com
flynance.com
flyunder.com
foodsy.com
foozo.com
freshio.com
freshmuse.com
frizzin.com
frogsy.com
frostbox.com
fundaq.com
fundcrowd.com
fusephase.com
fusionfly.com
fusivo.com
galxz.com
gawq.com
geomash.com
geomingle.com
gido.com
glimpsa.com
globelis.com
gloxy.com
gogova.com
gotstore.com
govago.com
greenza.com
groovetop.com
groupio.com
hatchbuck.com
heedo.com
heritus.com
hiplogic.com
hipzu.com
honnex.com
hybroid.com
ideqa.com
ideza.com
idezi.com
igglet.com
igniva.com
imperalis.com
inavit.com
inbold.com
infanit.com
iniz.com
inovad.com
inovic.com
interloq.com
intrazen.com
intreca.com
invibox.com
iqzo.com
irecess.com
ispera.com
itmo.com
itzybitz.com
izro.com
jabtab.com
jamooli.com
jetsup.com
jibri.com
jiffix.com
jigsy.com
jiksu.com
jilp.com
jotsy.com
joxu.com
jubee.com
jukebin.com
jumra.com
kajolt.com
karabu.com
keepie.com
kevy.com
kidify.com
kiovu.com
knicket.com
knowy.com
knowzo.com
kohort.com
koniva.com
kookio.com
krmit.com
kudoso.com
lastlevel.com
launcha.com
lazada.co
m
lexero.com
lexicoin.com
listimo.com
litheo.com
littlevittles.com
liveolive.com
logixal.com
lootsy.com
lucrae.com
lunanza.com
lutema.com
luvvy.com
luxeffect.com
luxeva.com
lydor.com
magixo.com
manymeans.com
mapango.com
mapvine.com
mapzoo.com
mattermark.com
mavry.com
mazena.com
mediaque.com
mediateq.com
medrina.com
meetling.com
mentorus.com
meximas.com
mezora.com
mindmingle.com
mintster.com
misswish.com
mixoria.com
mobd.com
mobibi.com
mobinetic.com
mobinga.com
mobixi.com
mobizi.com
mondano.com
mondie.com
mondovo.com
monetium.com
montango.com
mooblo.com
moovr.com
mopio.com
motofy.com
mozarto.com
msharp.com
muriad.com
napkn.com
neowatt.com
netzy.com
nexify.com
nibl.com
niod.com
nitnit.com
nitua.com
norq.com
novexis.com
nreality.com
nuphoric.com
nutrien.com
nutriza.com
obixo.com
oblato.com
observex.com
obsido.com
ocamo.com
odaho.com
oddboss.com
odeza.com
offertis.com
ogomo.com
ogova.com
oheyo.com
okuru.com
olixo.com
ominent.com
omobio.com
onbuzz.com
onteco.com
onvivio.com
opennova.com
opexo.com
opezo.com
opremio.com
opulous.com
orchia.com
oroll.com
osphere.com
outr.com
oxisto.com
oxry.com
oxyzo.com
ozeca.com
pactis.com
pagerise.com
partheum.com
paycasso.com
pazuki.com
phitz.com
photive.com
phozo.com
phria.com
picmash.com
picue.com
piqpaq.com
pixala.com
pixapro.com
pixingo.com
pixiny.com
pixoto.com
pixplicity.com
pixse.com
plixa.com
plosko.com
plundit.com
podnod.com
popclix.com
popfizzle.com
poplobby.com
popzy.com
powr.com
prediq.com
prolifio.com
pulsemob.com
puntiva.com
pusku.com
puxeo.com
pykl.com
qalorie.com
qinz.com
quarkie.com
quatris.com
quaturo.com
quintesso.com
quixxer.com
quovus.com
recommendo.com
redbooth.com
regenti.com
regico.com
rejuvium.com
reneux.com
reox.com
retrophilia.com
revibia.com
pan style="font-size: 11pt;">rezp.com
ringydings.com
risali.com
rixim.com
roadsy.com
romza.com
roqio.com
routy.com
runnia.com
saay.com
sassoo.com
savivo.com
savvic.com
scavado.com
scede.com
sconso.com
scoopist.com
scrybo.com
scuvo.com
seatly.com
seethex.com
sellsy.com
semihot.com
semoto.com
seoassist.com
seospin.com
seothing.com
seowiz.com
setaway.com
shocut.com
shoxie.com
slasto.com
snippt.com
socialnova.com
sociary.com
sociomo.com
sociomoto.com
solvably.com
solveda.com
solvexis.com
solzo.com
sonaron.com
sonobi.com
soralite.com
sphier.com
spinnr.com
spoonzo.com
spovo.com
spreadon.com
spressa.com
squaroo.com
stackio.com
stackpop.com
stargo.com
starzy.com
stemia.com
stimply.com
storeq.com
streetfuel.com
streetster.com
strivos.com
strovis.com
styck.com
summetry.com
sunovis.com
surecart.com
sweetfry.com
swysh.com
syncwise.com
synovum.com
synterna.com
talkoff.com
tatero.com
teamzo.com
teamzoom.com
technish.com
techtrics.com
tellica.com
tellza.com
terxa.com
thatsaid.com
thaxa.com
thinkzoom.com
thoughtly.com
todzo.com
tomator.com
topjot.com
tourala.com
trasada.com
travizia.com
trbo.com
trekt.com
trevala.com
tribuo.com
trickl.com
triente.com
trucept.com
truelyics.com
tumbleweb.com
tunemash.com
tunigo.com
tunistic.com
tveak.com
twillion.com
twiply.com
twoople.com
ubifon.com
ugex.com
uhapi.com
umbrex.com
umbrio.com
umyum.com
unizia.com
upbuck.com
upmatic.com
uptivity.com
uzto.com
uzuni.com
valti.com
vayalo.com
vedez.com
velonix.com
vendium.com
vercero.com
verdaro.com
veridant.com
verivia.com
vertalo.com
vespy.com
vestip.com
vestrics.com
vidcrowd.com
viddies.com
viddyup.com
vinamo.com
virbly.com
viritus.com
visato.com
vistox.com
vitabs.com
vivetto.com
vivri.com
vmoi.com
voddog.com
vodeox.com
vodly.com
vogati.com
voillo.com
voipity.com
vokeo.com
tyle="font-size: 11pt;">vomogo.com
vonatalk.com
voncore.com
vonjour.com
voomio.com
vosby.com
voslo.com
voxxi.com
vozmo.com
vuid.com
vutune.com
wadiddy.com
waggr.com
wattera.com
wealthery.com
webizo.com
whisq.com
whizley.com
whurk.com
widgt.com
wiguys.com
winzia.com
womara.com
workoid.com
wrazz.com
wribbit.com
wurka.com
wurtle.com
wushy.com
wuzzit.com
xala.com
xeam.com
xebi.com
xersus.com
xodo.com
xoura.com
xquared.com
yabbly.com
yaloha.com
yambly.com
yemba.com
yimmy.com
yirz.com
yiva.com
yobud.com
yoodly.com
yoozit.com
yoqzi.com
yorb.com
yourmet.com
yozilla.com
yumbug.com
yumjunkie.com
zapty.com
zazooka.com
zcheckout.com
zedera.com
zeebly.com
zellera.com
zemio.com
zenuvo.com
zerebral.com
zffiliate.com
ziffit.com
zipder.com
zistics.com
zizly.com
zlik.com
zocia.com
zonim.com
zoonda.com
zoonga.com
zosi.com
zthernet.com
ztheworld.com
zukr.com
zumero.com
zunak.com
zunzy.com

 

[Azwan Asban]

what a long list!

 

[svede]

Thank you everyone for the amazing input and discussion!

Great discussion here, constructive and productive. I think the initial question is one of the most important in domain field. All your inputs here are definitely valid in to some extend, but there are too many factors that determine price of brandable domain. I do agree that short brandables with some meaning (connection to word or niche) seems to have higher value that random pronounceable nonwords. I believe that overall feeling, or sound of the name influence price of the domain significantly. You can have domains like Bankrr (suggesting connection to high payingniche) and let's say Swoosh. Which one would you price higher? And there it is when gut feeling must come in.

I agree and it is such a hard thing to evaluate, especially compared to keyword domains that I used to. I do believe, based on seeing some sales, that a strong pronounceable can have really high value - even above some generic keywords.

Regarding pricing on Brandbucket it is difficult to analyse names without knowing those that actually sell. I have listened to the owners which said that sweet spot is between $1.500 - $3.000 but as we know that is where majority of domains are priced, hence is is not surprising that majority of sales come from this bracket. But does it mean that domains around sweet spot do have higher chance to get sold (the share of sold domains within this category is higher then the share of of sold domains in other price categories) or simply they call it sweet spot since they make majority of business from these domains. That we will not know until sales or at least more detailed stats are available.

Also when we look on other marketplaces we see great variation of prices for brandable domains, hence it is difficult to determine the price easily.

I do believe that brandbale short 5-6-7 letter domains are slowly decreasing perceived value on brandable marketplaces since more and more places offer them in large quantities hence customer have lot to choose from.

That is what is so hard... do they put that at that range simply to sell more? Are they leaving money on the table? Or is that actually simply the best price? I am definitely getting a better idea from this discussion I think...

Also, I don't think that strong brandable 5-7 letters have a decreased value so much.. I think as a whole people are looking down upon them due to the quality of most presented... I walk past many low quality "pronounceable" domains like are sold in the forums almost every day..

I think the value of the strong ones is only going up and will continue as LLLL.com are harder to find..

Thanks so much!!

Just wanted to add for your knowledge that (I think last year) DomainSherpa did an interview of BrandBucket's founder and I think that you should watch it if you're into brandables.

I am also into brandables and have been researching a lot lately. Initially I am planning to acquire like 50 names with being able to hold them for as much as 10 years. I know it's a long time but in about that time I don't even think any 5 letter domains will be available for registration, not even xyshq.com, lol.

If it helps you, I have gathered some small data on brandables and wrote all about it here.

Thanks,
Shahil

Yes, I listened to that interview - it is very helpful in other aspect of brandable domains, but doesn't really get as in-depth as I need. It goes only surface deep on what they look for in a brandable, but not how they price. I will check out what you wrote. Thanks!

Ray from TLDinvestors.com did some good research about what names do sell on BrandBucket. It is from 2013 before BB had 10,000 names listed but it's very relevant info. Link below

http://tldinvestors.com/2013/07/brand-bucket-sales-inside-the-numbers.html

There is a lot more info in the article but here is a quick look at the list of sold domains at BB.

Thanks for the link and the list! That will be of great help to me in analyzing.. and I am studying Machine Learning, so maybe there is more that can be done with the data.

Thanks!!

 

[svede]

I was just thinking about something else that I remember reading (I believe it was in relation to BrandBucket), but brandables also change from year to year - that is what is "hot" and selling... Certainly some domains could be evergreen, but in analyzing past sales I try to keep this in mind... still helps understand the market, but I also want to understand it keeps changing. But looking at that list there are a lot that leave me puzzled due to their lack of pronounce-ability (in English at least) or my low opinion of them... many of those I wouldn't have regged... so I suppose that adds something to this discussion...

 

[muttus]

That is what is so hard... do they put that at that range simply to sell more? Are they leaving money on the table? Or is that actually simply the best price? I am definitely getting a better idea from this discussion I think...

Also, I don't think that strong brandable 5-7 letters have a decreased value so much.. I think as a whole people are looking down upon them due to the quality of most presented... I walk past many low quality "pronounceable" domains like are sold in the forums almost every day..

I think the value of the strong ones is only going up and will continue as LLLL.com are harder to find..

Thanks so much!!

I did not mean that strong brandables are less valuable, what I meant is that due to huge supply of those names on brandable marketplaces the valuation (hence selling price) might be decreasing. It might be just my feeling but it seems to me that currently accepted domains are relatively cheaper to those submitted year ago when they handled only 1500 domains. I might be wrong, but from businesss model perspective this make sense. Before they sold their domains as luxury goods, but now it is more like supermarket. Any thoughts?

 

[muttus]

I love the list by the way. I am not really skilled in language analysis, but I will try to use my background in statistics to see if some pattern emerges. I will post results if I find something. Keep the discussion running, this is great stuff.

 

[svede]

I did not mean that strong brandables are less valuable, what I meant is that due to huge supply of those names on brandable marketplaces the valuation (hence selling price) might be decreasing. It might be just my feeling but it seems to me that currently accepted domains are relatively cheaper to those submitted year ago when they handled only 1500 domains. I might be wrong, but from businesss model perspective this make sense. Before they sold their domains as luxury goods, but now it is more like supermarket. Any thoughts?

Thanks as always for your thoughts..

This may be the case, but I am not sure it is. I think that in a diluted market these domains will stand out even more. So say you have a really nice CVVCV or something with the consonant being the same letter and a real nice sound. I would call that one of the premium 5 letters. Say 3 years ago it would be priced at $5,000. Today there are twice as many 5 letter domains on the market. However, the number of super premium 5 letter (of this quality) has not increased. Instead, because of the 4 letter and 5 letters like this one being harder and harder to find, the accepted quality has gone down. That is, people are more willing to accept something that is harder to pronounce or not as smooth. I think one example of this is the arrival (several years ago) of domains like "flickr". But even if these new domains that have been added to the market are all priced at $2,000-$3,000, I don't think it means that the super premium 5 letter you have will now be priced less. If anything, I think it could be priced higher than it was 3 years ago because those domains it directly competes with (super premium 5 letter) are harder to find. Does that make sense - I know this was a long paragraph. Basically, I don't think sub-premium domains necessarily decrease the price of premium domains.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

[muttus]

That is the really good and rational thought. The question is whether market, selling system and marketplaces are rational entities working same direction. I will not talk about market since we cannot do much about it.

Selling system - we now have 3 large brandable marketplaces with more than 20000 brandable domains on inventory. So when customers come there I think they must overwhelmed by those choices and in that case they start to filter. In my case one of the first filters would be price leaving more expensive and possibly more valuable domains away, hence lowering the chance of sale for domains valued high.

Marketplace - since brandable marketplaces earn their money from the commission they might be suggesting pricing of accepted domains (BB case) to optimize their revenue stream. In such environment above average value domain listed for high price might not be the right solution for them. If i.e, domain sale likelihood is highly depended on listing price than for them the rational solution is to list domain on lower price and have lets say 50% chance to sell than double the price and lower the chance to 10%, even if it means sacrificing extra revenue.

So although really good brandables might have high value and its value should be growing due to being more scarce, the current market setting might be forcing them the other way.

I have currently 5 domains on BB.
1 LVVL for $3095
1 Double word truly meaningful phrase for $2695
2 short brandbales for around 1500$
1 double word for $1400

I am currently having about 40 short 5-7 domains in the pending phase so lets see what comes out.

 

[svede]

Again, great thoughts from you..

A couple thoughts that I came away with:

1) A backed tech startup doesn't care as much about the difference between $2,000 and $5,000... not that they aren't still trying to be tight with money and careful, but at the end of the day, they know that a name could make or break them (and possibly win more funding if it draws more interest).

2) The marketplaces definitely have an impact. And if they undersell or oversell something, then it impacts the pricing of smaller buyers. So if all sub-premiums are sold at a minimum of $2,000, the startups are either going to handreg stuff or start paying that. On the other hand, if premiums start being sold for $1,000 they are going to expect to pay less.

Hope this helps!

 

[dncafe]

In a lot of ways, for brandables (non-keyword / made up words), I think you're selling the service of finding and curating the domains for others to buy.

You could register a domain that maybe expired recently or hasn't even been registered before and get it in front of the right eyes and sell it for $x,xxx. Is a domain you just registered for $x worth $x,xxx? If you take a tech startup for example that has funding, they could spend weeks and many of hours trying to find a name and domain for their service, but if they can browse your brandable site and find a name within 20 minutes, that is worth that $x,xxx to them.

I don't think there can be a set price criteria for brandables that are 5-8 letters long at the present time because there are so many variations that it doesn't create a scarcity that you would see in a 3 or 4 letter domain that have a set price range.

You could list a brandale for sale here on NamePros for $50 and no one buys it, and then list it on BrandBucket for example, and it later sells there for $1,500 because the right person/company saw it, rather than the "domainer" crowd here at NamePros.

To do a price break down on domain sale prices on BrandBucket is not an accurate reflection on the value of a brandable domain, but more a reflection of the marketplace in my opinion.

I have a brandable site (in my sig) that is online, but not ready to fully launch. I only have a few names on there now and because of that, they're all priced low $xxx. When I begin to list more and provide better features and create a more valuable service for potential buyers, I will slowly increase the price.