.mobi The "End-User" Fallacy

[jeremyp]

There are quite a few private transactions occuring on the secondary market, many with End-Users. Trust me on this one. They are almost all entirely private.

The question "was it an END-USER?" in reacting to a public sale at auction is almost every the time asked by a less experienced domainer with limited transactional experience.

The answer is quite easily determined - often no.

Most public sales at auction are to an undefined market of buyers. In the case of .mobi, speculative. In the case of .com, buyers who are looking for PPC revenue. Sales at auction are almost always NOT to end users. Not always, almost always.

End-Users like privacy. End-Users who are flush with cash pay a premium do close deals in a discrete fashion. End-Users who are in cash strapped phase tend to behave much like the flush with cash, in that they want the deal to be private in nature. Unlike the flush end-user, the more cash strapped end-user seeks to work a deal, will negotiate... but, more often than not, the true leverage is with the domain name holder.

So, are there End-User deals going down in mobi? Yes... daily.

Will they be reported on DNJournal? As a general rule, no. End-Users like privacy.

Finding End-User sales is somewhat like finding a mouse in the living room. Look hard enough and you'll find them. Don't expect the mouse to do a song and dance.

Jeremy Padawer

 

[garrett200]

Good post. After hearing your interview on allthings.tv, I respect your insight very much regarding domaining.

 

[acc]

I agree, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. Nice generic names are being sold both to be developed as well as for investment purposes. The market is there, it is developing, it is expanding. The naysayers had better get used to it, but who really cares about that distraction.

As a domainer it's nice to know about all the sales to help set and fine tune price ranges. But as a business person it's best to keep them quiet. It is really nobody's business what a name sells for or how the deal went down.

 

[-REECE-]

Well said Jeremy and Bill. I bought antioxidants.mobi myself for enduser applications. It never made it's way into DnJournal because:

1) I see no reason for the publicity, granted I'm not planning on reselling this particular name.
2) I see no reason to bother the kind woman who sold me the name with providing proof of the sale granted 1)

When I buy names with the intention to develop them, I do as you say -- I pay a fair (maybe even generous) price because price isn't what's most on my mind. I would have happily paid twice what I did for antioxidants.mobi, just because it was the name I wanted most -- it certainly isn't worth twice what I paid.

If you have a good name, the mouse may come to you (I did in that case). Be a cool cat. Don't necessarily pounce on my first offer, but don't kill me with your counter-offer.

 

[dag]

If you have a good name, the mouse may come to you (I did in that case). Be a cool cat. Don't necessarily pounce on my first offer, but don't kill me with your counter-offer.

Nice job continuing the mouse analogy! :tu: :kickass:

 

[jeremyp]

Good post. After hearing your interview on allthings.tv, I respect your insight very much regarding domaining.

Thank you,
Jeremy

 

[mjnels]

There are quite a few private transactions occuring on the secondary market, many with End-Users. Trust me on this one. They are almost all entirely private.

Shhhhhhhh

 

[Keith]

Can someone explain the advantage of keeping a sale private? It seems as though if made public it would draw attention and traffic to that site.

keithmt

 

[qO_Op]

Spot on Jeremy

 

[dag]

Can someone explain the advantage of keeping a sale private? It seems as though if made public it would draw attention and traffic to that site.

keithmt

If it's an end user, they probably wouldn't want to draw traffic until they're ready with the site. Better to do a big "Grand Opening" and keep 'em coming back...

 

[robertjr]

I have found about 1/2 "end users" wish for privacy and actually bring it up in negotiation. When they do not bring it up, I do. Although, I seldom make a transaction public.

From a marketing standpoint, almost any publicity is good publicity.You just have to point it in the right direction.:imho:

 

[labrocca]

It's not a question that end-user sales exist. The question is what's the quantity?

 

[Alan Glennon]

Can someone explain the advantage of keeping a sale private? It seems as though if made public it would draw attention and traffic to that site.

Here are a few reasons:
--Many end users do not want the price of the transaction associated with the value of their product or service.
--Domains often are strategic acquisitions, either to fill an identified gap or for a future product. Offering that information directly to competitors or customers is not always desirable.
--Transaction price sets expectations for future acquisitions (ie. "You bought your last domain for $50,000 and you are only offering me seven dollars for mine?").

FYI -- 100% of my end-user sales have been private.

 

[Keith]

Here are a few reasons:
--Many end users do not want the price of the transaction associated with the value of their product or service.
--Domains often are strategic acquisitions, either to fill an identified gap or for a future product. Offering that information directly to competitors or customers is not always desirable.
--Transaction price sets expectations for future acquisitions (ie. "You bought your last domain for $50,000 and you are only offering me seven dollars for mine?").

FYI -- 100% of my end-user sales have been private.

Good explanation. Thanks for the clarification.

keithmt

 

[duceman]

Here are a few reasons:
--Many end users do not want the price of the transaction associated with the value of their product or service.
--Domains often are strategic acquisitions, either to fill an identified gap or for a future product. Offering that information directly to competitors or customers is not always desirable.
--Transaction price sets expectations for future acquisitions (ie. "You bought your last domain for $50,000 and you are only offering me seven dollars for mine?").
FYI -- 100% of my end-user sales have been private.

Another point to be made is the "end user" may not be finished with their acquisitions. By doing a private transaction or attaching a NDA they may be able to keep the market for similar domains from going through the roof.

 

[sld7]

I agree. Almost all of my purchases go unreported.

In the past few weeks I have purchased a .tv for $XXX,XXX and multiple .mobi's for $XX,XXX.

The "underground" domain business is more vibrant and involves much higher transactions.

Also porn.com is not the highest domain sale this year and is 1/3 of the highest sale I personally know about.

Almost all End Users have NDA's in place to protect their purchases.

 

[Kate]

Can someone explain the advantage of keeping a sale private? It seems as though if made public it would draw attention and traffic to that site.

keithmt

Indeed.

Actually quite many sales are publicized and reported because it's good advertising. Acquiring an expensive name also conveys an a powerful message: you are taking your brand image seriously.
Domain purchases from end users will often be one-off transactions so it's another reason why they don't all bother with privacy and NDAs.

Now I could imagine a different scenario: it may be embarrassing for a fat-cat corporation to admit that somebody beat them to the domain game so they would prefer to keep it quiet.
Also don't forget that the public at large does not know the difference between domain and cybersquatter. Purchasing a domain could (in their minds) amount to paying ransom to hijackers :blink:

 

[jeremyp]

I agree. Almost all of my purchases go unreported.

In the past few weeks I have purchased a .tv for $XXX,XXX and multiple .mobi's for $XX,XXX.

The "underground" domain business is more vibrant and involves much higher transactions.

Also porn.com is not the highest domain sale this year and is 1/3 of the highest sale I personally know about.

Almost all End Users have NDA's in place to protect their purchases.

Good to see you here! I actually had you, as well as quite a few others, in mind when I wrote this.



Jeremy