advice New domainer question: what price range should I expect for domains like these?

[Redazaki]

Hey everyone,

I’m relatively new to the domaining space and looking to get a sense of the price ranges you all might feel comfortable with (wholesale price) for certain types of .com domains. For example, I’ve been building a small portfolio that includes names like:

GreenLaminate.com
DialGauge.com
SkisPass.com
AnswerPrompt.com
BSEHA.com
100AGI.com
Suedine.com

I’d love to get some feedback from the folks here on what kind of pricing you’d consider reasonable (you as a domain investor) or what you think end users might typically pay for domains like these.

I’m not looking for appraisals in a formal sense, just a friendly gauge of what you all have seen or would expect. Any insights would be super appreciated!

Thanks a lot!
Reda

 

[URL Stream]

Hey everyone,

I’m relatively new to the domaining space

 

[Ali Mustafa]

Hey everyone,

I’m relatively new to the domaining space and looking to get a sense of the price ranges you all might feel comfortable with (wholesale price) for certain types of .com domains. For example, I’ve been building a small portfolio that includes names like:

GreenLaminate.com
DialGauge.com
SkisPass.com
AnswerPrompt.com
BSEHA.com
100AGI.com
Suedine.com

I’d love to get some feedback from the folks here on what kind of pricing you’d consider reasonable (you as a domain investor) or what you think end users might typically pay for domains like these.

I’m not looking for appraisals in a formal sense, just a friendly gauge of what you all have seen or would expect. Any insights would be super appreciated!

Thanks a lot!
Reda

Wholesale value for most of these would likely be low probably reg fee to low $xx among investors. End-user pricing can always be higher, but liquidity at the wholesale level depends heavily on strong keywords and clear commercial use.

welcome to Namepros anyways

 

[Redazaki]

Wholesale value for most of these would likely be low probably reg fee to low $xx among investors. End-user pricing can always be higher, but liquidity at the wholesale level depends heavily on strong keywords and clear commercial use.

welcome to Namepros anyways

Thank you very much Ali for your comments. Very clear and straightforward. I'm so happy to be here and learn from you guys. Because I don't want to naively start reg domain names that would virtually never be useful for anybody. I try indeed to focus on industry keywords and add a descriptive word next to it like the name GreenLaminate.com. Curious by the way how you personally think about this one? I work in the laminate industry myself and I know it has value but curious how you feel about it and if it has any potential in your opinion?
Many thanks

 

[fka1080405]

You should think about the value the domain will deliver to the buyer.

Let's imagine you're starting a new company that sells laminate flooring and your surname is green. You think, "I'd love to call my company Green Laminates!" and so you go to GoDaddy and type in "greenlaminates.com" and discover it belongs to someone else. The domain could be listed for $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000... what type of thoughts would come to mind when deciding whether to buy the domain? The prospect might think something like...

"I am starting a new business, I only have $5,000 capital to invest: is spending [$500, $1,000, $5,000...] on a domain name a good use of that capital? I could register "greenlaminates.net" or "greenlaminatesohio.com" for just $10. My name is important but I don't have any brand recognition yet, so an exact match domain name is a nice to have."

Perhaps, down the line, the business is a success and they have lots of money and a couple of customers have said "I tried to visit your website but it is down?" and when the customer explained "I typed in greenlaminates.com" the business owner thought, "perhaps now is the time to upgrade to a more expensive domain given I could be losing lots of prospects!"

At that point, how much might the domain be worth to the company? How much can they afford? If the company is making millions of dollars in profit per year, and every customer is worth $10s of thousands of dollars, then losing just 5 customers per year could make the domain worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the business.

Another possibility: a successful flooring company is thinking about a rebrand. The industry is shifting more and more towards "green" (eco-friendly) laminate products, and that is where the company is focused. The company engages with a branding consultant and eventually concludes that the ideal new name for the company is "Green Laminates". The company, already successful, has money, and decides they want an exact match domain name. The company cannot directly link the domain name to revenue but they have a strong sense that it will be valuable.

Another possibility: a successful company is ran by someone who, for some reason, loves domain names. The company has $100,000 in the bank and in a moment of impulsive madness the owner decides they want your domain name no matter the cost, even if it costs every penny in their bank account!

You should think about these type of scenarios when pricing your domain. The reality is, most domains will never sell, nobody wants most domains, and no price can change that, but if your domain is one of the few that someone wants, then you can use this strategy to find a good price.

If your domain is useful to lots of companies in an industry with a lot of money (e.g: an AI domain) then the price will naturally be much higher than a domain that is useful to 1 company in a low-margin industry. My assumption is that flooring is a relatively low margin business, in which brand is relatively unimportant and it is relationships with wholesalers / developers that drive business. For that reason, I'd guess a domain name for a flooring business wouldn't sell for much.

 

[URL Stream]

You should think about the value the domain will deliver to the buyer.

Let's imagine you're starting a new company that sells laminate flooring and your surname is green. You think, "I'd love to call my company Green Laminates!" and so you go to GoDaddy and type in "greenlaminates.com" and discover it belongs to someone else. The domain could be listed for $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000... what type of thoughts would come to mind when deciding whether to buy the domain? The prospect might think something like...

"I am starting a new business, I only have $5,000 capital to invest: is spending [$500, $1,000, $5,000...] on a domain name a good use of that capital? I could register "greenlaminates.net" or "greenlaminatesohio.com" for just $10. My name is important but I don't have any brand recognition yet, so an exact match domain name is a nice to have."

Perhaps, down the line, the business is a success and they have lots of money and a couple of customers have said "I tried to visit your website but it is down?" and when the customer explained "I typed in greenlaminates.com" the business owner thought, "perhaps now is the time to upgrade to a more expensive domain given I could be losing lots of prospects!"

At that point, how much might the domain be worth to the company? How much can they afford? If the company is making millions of dollars in profit per year, and every customer is worth $10s of thousands of dollars, then losing just 5 customers per year could make the domain worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the business.

Another possibility: a successful flooring company is thinking about a rebrand. The industry is shifting more and more towards "green" (eco-friendly) laminate products, and that is where the company is focused. The company engages with a branding consultant and eventually concludes that the ideal new name for the company is "Green Laminates". The company, already successful, has money, and decides they want an exact match domain name. The company cannot directly link the domain name to revenue but they have a strong sense that it will be valuable.

Another possibility: a successful company is ran by someone who, for some reason, loves domain names. The company has $100,000 in the bank and in a moment of impulsive madness the owner decides they want your domain name no matter the cost, even if it costs every penny in their bank account!

You should think about these type of scenarios when pricing your domain. The reality is, most domains will never sell, nobody wants most domains, and no price can change that, but if your domain is one of the few that someone wants, then you can use this strategy to find a good price.

If your domain is useful to lots of companies in an industry with a lot of money (e.g: an AI domain) then the price will naturally be much higher than a domain that is useful to 1 company in a low-margin industry. My assumption is that flooring is a relatively low margin business, in which brand is relatively unimportant and it is relationships with wholesalers / developers that drive business. For that reason, I'd guess a domain name for a flooring business wouldn't sell for much.

@Bob Hawkes wrote a great article a few years ago along these lines that has stayed with me and helped guide how I select names to buy. It’s a must-read for anyone starting out, IMO.

Why Is That Domain Name Not Selling? (And Some Things To Do About It)

 

[biggie]

You should think about the value the domain will deliver to the buyer.

Let's imagine you're starting a new company that sells laminate flooring and your surname is green. You think, "I'd love to call my company Green Laminates!" and so you go to GoDaddy and type in "greenlaminates.com" and discover it belongs to someone else. The domain could be listed for $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000... what type of thoughts would come to mind when deciding whether to buy the domain? The prospect might think something like...

"I am starting a new business, I only have $5,000 capital to invest: is spending [$500, $1,000, $5,000...] on a domain name a good use of that capital? I could register "greenlaminates.net" or "greenlaminatesohio.com" for just $10. My name is important but I don't have any brand recognition yet, so an exact match domain name is a nice to have."

Perhaps, down the line, the business is a success and they have lots of money and a couple of customers have said "I tried to visit your website but it is down?" and when the customer explained "I typed in greenlaminates.com" the business owner thought, "perhaps now is the time to upgrade to a more expensive domain given I could be losing lots of prospects!"

At that point, how much might the domain be worth to the company? How much can they afford? If the company is making millions of dollars in profit per year, and every customer is worth $10s of thousands of dollars, then losing just 5 customers per year could make the domain worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the business.

Another possibility: a successful flooring company is thinking about a rebrand. The industry is shifting more and more towards "green" (eco-friendly) laminate products, and that is where the company is focused. The company engages with a branding consultant and eventually concludes that the ideal new name for the company is "Green Laminates". The company, already successful, has money, and decides they want an exact match domain name. The company cannot directly link the domain name to revenue but they have a strong sense that it will be valuable.

Another possibility: a successful company is ran by someone who, for some reason, loves domain names. The company has $100,000 in the bank and in a moment of impulsive madness the owner decides they want your domain name no matter the cost, even if it costs every penny in their bank account!

You should think about these type of scenarios when pricing your domain. The reality is, most domains will never sell, nobody wants most domains, and no price can change that, but if your domain is one of the few that someone wants, then you can use this strategy to find a good price.

If your domain is useful to lots of companies in an industry with a lot of money (e.g: an AI domain) then the price will naturally be much higher than a domain that is useful to 1 company in a low-margin industry. My assumption is that flooring is a relatively low margin business, in which brand is relatively unimportant and it is relationships with wholesalers / developers that drive business. For that reason, I'd guess a domain name for a flooring business wouldn't sell for much.

Hi

that’s a lot of “what if’s”

if only the OP owned the plural version “laminates” then I could feel what you’re saying

imo…

 

[Ali Mustafa]

Thank you very much Ali for your comments. Very clear and straightforward. I'm so happy to be here and learn from you guys. Because I don't want to naively start reg domain names that would virtually never be useful for anybody. I try indeed to focus on industry keywords and add a descriptive word next to it like the name GreenLaminate.com. Curious by the way how you personally think about this one? I work in the laminate industry myself and I know it has value but curious how you feel about it and if it has any potential in your opinion?
Many thanks

You welcome Buddy no problem at all & yeah If you are already in the laminate industry then you probably understand the end user landscape better than most domain investors. From a domainer perspective it looks like a niche two word product term so wholesale demand may be limited. However if there are manufacturers, suppliers, or eco focused laminate brands that could use Green Laminate as a product line or marketing angle & then the value would mostly come from the right end user rather than investors.

 

[Redazaki]

You should think about the value the domain will deliver to the buyer.

Let's imagine you're starting a new company that sells laminate flooring and your surname is green. You think, "I'd love to call my company Green Laminates!" and so you go to GoDaddy and type in "greenlaminates.com" and discover it belongs to someone else. The domain could be listed for $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000... what type of thoughts would come to mind when deciding whether to buy the domain? The prospect might think something like...

"I am starting a new business, I only have $5,000 capital to invest: is spending [$500, $1,000, $5,000...] on a domain name a good use of that capital? I could register "greenlaminates.net" or "greenlaminatesohio.com" for just $10. My name is important but I don't have any brand recognition yet, so an exact match domain name is a nice to have."

Perhaps, down the line, the business is a success and they have lots of money and a couple of customers have said "I tried to visit your website but it is down?" and when the customer explained "I typed in greenlaminates.com" the business owner thought, "perhaps now is the time to upgrade to a more expensive domain given I could be losing lots of prospects!"

At that point, how much might the domain be worth to the company? How much can they afford? If the company is making millions of dollars in profit per year, and every customer is worth $10s of thousands of dollars, then losing just 5 customers per year could make the domain worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the business.

Another possibility: a successful flooring company is thinking about a rebrand. The industry is shifting more and more towards "green" (eco-friendly) laminate products, and that is where the company is focused. The company engages with a branding consultant and eventually concludes that the ideal new name for the company is "Green Laminates". The company, already successful, has money, and decides they want an exact match domain name. The company cannot directly link the domain name to revenue but they have a strong sense that it will be valuable.

Another possibility: a successful company is ran by someone who, for some reason, loves domain names. The company has $100,000 in the bank and in a moment of impulsive madness the owner decides they want your domain name no matter the cost, even if it costs every penny in their bank account!

You should think about these type of scenarios when pricing your domain. The reality is, most domains will never sell, nobody wants most domains, and no price can change that, but if your domain is one of the few that someone wants, then you can use this strategy to find a good price.

If your domain is useful to lots of companies in an industry with a lot of money (e.g: an AI domain) then the price will naturally be much higher than a domain that is useful to 1 company in a low-margin industry. My assumption is that flooring is a relatively low margin business, in which brand is relatively unimportant and it is relationships with wholesalers / developers that drive business. For that reason, I'd guess a domain name for a flooring business wouldn't sell for much.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to share your thoughts in such detail. The idea I had in mind when registering GreenLaminate was actually very much along the lines of what you mentioned regarding the eco-friendly transition. It’s really interesting to consider the different scenarios you outlined as well.

 

[Redazaki]

Hi

that’s a lot of “what if’s”

if only the OP owned the plural version “laminates” then I could feel what you’re saying

imo…

Yep, originally I only wanted the singular (the plural was already taken). My idea with GreenLaminate is that it’s more brandable. So It could in one hand redirect to already established brands like GreenLam (from India), but also work as a platform to publish news and sustainability initiatives from major industry players like Egger, Kronospan...

 

[xwat]

I try indeed to focus on industry keywords and add a descriptive word next to it like the name GreenLaminate.com. Curious by the way how you personally think about this one? I work in the laminate industry myself and I know it has value but curious how you feel about it and if it has any potential in your opinion?
Many thanks

I do not think your general idea is bad but it needs to be better implemented. I personally see no reason for someone to pay $$$ for that name. If they wanted it they would probably cap out and move to another name.

The weird thing is I think GreenLaminate could be used for a retro site because there was a time green was kind of hip and cool.

 

[ScruffyBeard]

These names are symptomatic of a person who thinks they can ignore undefiable laws of human language and that everyone will just ignore these laws because they registered the names.
I see this all the time in the domain names space, where people, who often come and go, think they can defy the laws because they are just great & cool and that other people will ignore their nonsense.

With the possible exception of BSEHA (maybe some organization's acronym) and maybe dialgauge, the rest are worthless and not worth even the registration fee.

You need to learn to crawl, before you can learn to walk and before you can learn to run. You've skipped the first 2 steps and started running and you have now crashed into obstacles with the junk you have registered.

You need to properly learn about domain names, how to create them, what has value and what does not and also, understand who do you think would buy the ones you are thinking of creating. Plus, when you think you have found a name that is unregistered, you should stop and think about why it is not registered. It might be a good name, but equally, it might be worthless and the real reason why no-one has registered it.

There are incalculable mountains of junk in the world with each item of junk being unique. The reason for 99% of these items not being valuable is that no-one wants them, even though they are all unique.
Uniqueness must be paired with desirability in order to have something valuable.
Domain names are the same. Every domain is 100% unique, but relatively few of them have worthwhile value.

Thinking you have discovered some great names that no-one else has thought of, it a classic marker of delusion.

 

[Redazaki]

These names are symptomatic of a person who thinks they can ignore undefiable laws of human language and that everyone will just ignore these laws because they registered the names.
I see this all the time in the domain names space, where people, who often come and go, think they can defy the laws because they are just great & cool and that other people will ignore their nonsense.

With the possible exception of BSEHA (maybe some organization's acronym) and maybe dialgauge, the rest are worthless and not worth even the registration fee.

You need to learn to crawl, before you can learn to walk and before you can learn to run. You've skipped the first 2 steps and started running and you have now crashed into obstacles with the junk you have registered.

You need to properly learn about domain names, how to create them, what has value and what does not and also, understand who do you think would buy the ones you are thinking of creating. Plus, when you think you have found a name that is unregistered, you should stop and think about why it is not registered. It might be a good name, but equally, it might be worthless and the real reason why no-one has registered it.

There are incalculable mountains of junk in the world with each item of junk being unique. The reason for 99% of these items not being valuable is that no-one wants them, even though they are all unique.
Uniqueness must be paired with desirability in order to have something valuable.
Domain names are the same. Every domain is 100% unique, but relatively few of them have worthwhile value.

Thinking you have discovered some great names that no-one else has thought of, it a classic marker of delusion.

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I genuinely appreciate the honesty!

To be fair, I’d much rather hear this kind of direct feedback than be told everything looks great when it’s not. That’s the only way to actually improve and move forward. Looking back, I can clearly see that some of the names I registered don’t carry real value, so your point definitely lands. I’m here to learn, and I’m open to these kinds of conversations because that’s how I’ll get better over time.

Lately, I’ve been trying to refine my approach; listening to resources like Domain Sherpa, and also shifting my strategy a bit. Instead of only hand-registering, I’m starting to explore drop auctions as well, even if that means paying 10–20x more for a name. The idea is to better understand what the market actually values, while staying disciplined and not overbidding. I’m also trying to narrow my focus more toward exact-match domains and industrial or product-related terms, where there’s clearer real-world demand.
Appreciate the reality check, it helps a lot

 

[korganian]

I compliment You for not getting defensive about criticism the way most new investors are.

When you are new to domaining, "Less is More" when it comes to how many domains you register or buy during your first couple years as You learn the ropes.

Instead of seeing each domain as a lottery ticket that may return a $1,000 sale for a one time $11 purchase, imagine the next 12 months coming to an end with 1,000 similar domains coming up for renewal at $11 each totaling $11,000 due. If during that year You had been fortunate enough to have 10 domain sales of $1,000 each, You would still have lost money and be faced with a renewal bill of $10,890 for your remaining 990 names. What's worse is that the value of the portfolio You keep renewing degrades in value as You sell off your best domains just to pay the renewal costs for your portfolio. This is a simplified example, but a good mindset to reduce your financial losses and pain down the road.

 

[biggie]

I compliment You for not getting defensive about criticism the way most new investors are.

When you are new to domaining, "Less is More" when it comes to how many domains you register or buy during your first couple years as You learn the ropes.

Instead of seeing each domain as a lottery ticket that may return a $1,000 sale for a one time $11 purchase, imagine the next 12 months coming to an end with 1,000 similar domains coming up for renewal at $11 each totaling $11,000 due. If during that year You had been fortunate enough to have 10 domain sales of $1,000 each, You would still have lost money and be faced with a renewal bill of $10,890 for your remaining 990 names. What's worse is that the value of the portfolio You keep renewing degrades in value as You sell off your best domains just to pay the renewal costs for your portfolio. This is a simplified example, but a good mindset to reduce your financial losses and pain down the road.

Hi

and above is only all your names are dot com

as many of the new extensions have higher registration/renewal costs than com

imo…

 

[ScruffyBeard]

As a follow up to what korganian said, what often catches new investors out, is the low cost of domain registrations. Its only around $10 so the risk seems negligable. But $10 here, $10 there, $10 tomorrow, $10 at the end of the week, a few more next week and within a few months, you find you have 20-50 or more names.

With each domain registered or acquired, they soon become like familiar things in your life (like new clothes or furniture does after a little while has passed) and mentally you adjust to the new situation - its your new normal. This can change your behaviour, because having acquired some names, and not getting any interest in any of them (the most likely experience for most domain name investors, most of the time), the impetus may arise to propel you into buying more.

If you feel that impetus, you need to resist it, until you properly understand what you are doing with your money, which currently, it is evident that you do not understand.

There are beginner resources on this site, plus, search the web for articles about what makes a domain name valuable, watch YT videos & listen to podcasts, which are all worthwhile resources to use and they are all free.

Finally, you need to understand that the domain name world is very developed, which means all the best and most interesting and valuable names are already owned by someone or being use for active businesses.
The chance you will come across a great name (or even a good one), that is not registered, is less than a 0.5% chance - you are in barrel scraping territory now.
Its much more likely that you will have to buy names at action for considerably more than registration fee amounts and with that comes the hard task of deciding "is this name worth $xxx, or $x,xxx. $xx,xxx?".

I don't envy new people coming into this field and if I did not already have a portfolio of names, I would not bother with this field, at all, because there is mostly only junk names that are available and I don't have $5,000, $10,000 or more readily available to buy good/great names.

 

[ScruffyBeard]

To be fair, I’d much rather hear this kind of direct feedback than be told everything looks great when it’s not.

That attitude will help you a lot in life, in all sorts of ways.