domain vip(dot)ie

[jv2222]

Hi,

I've owned vip(dot)ie since 1994.

At the moment I have a ning social network with 1000+ members on it.

Before that, I had Irish related content that was pulling in about 1m uniques per year via Google.

Before that I had the "virtual irish pub" chat site that also pulled in about 1m uniques.

It has lots of potential to be taken in many directions and naturally lends itself to fantastic SEO due to one owner for 15 years.

Any thoughts on how much it might be worth?

Cheers,
JV

 

[Kate]

It's difficult to appraise the name alone, because there is a developed site on it. If you're looking to resell, I think it will not be just a domain but a fully-fledged business.

It's a very nice domain, however there are restrictions on ownership of .ie domains. As a result, it's difficult for somebody with no Irish connection to acquire that domain. So the base of possible buyers is limited.
Plus, the .ie TLD is underutilized by European standards. It's popular in Ireland but I don't think there is an established aftermarket for .ie domain names at present.
IMO you should also look at revenue (if any) and also the demographics of your membership base (ie. how monetizable is it). Last but not least, the time and effort that went into it. Probably you won't want to sell under €€,€€€.

 

[kemjika11]

yes, its a pretty good LLL.ie, and with traffic+development, i would think high $x,xxx at least

 

[jmcc]

Any thoughts on how much it might be worth?

IEDR tends to frown on the resale of .ie domains. However it is a good domain and it does have possibilities. There's only around 132K .ie domains but Ireland is moving towards being ccTLD positive and .ie tends to have a very high brand recognition, moreso than .com now. Almost every advert on TV is for a .ie url. I'm not sure if VIP magazine is still publishing but they might be an obvious end-user candidate.

Regards...jmcc

 

[blacknight]

IEDR have deleted several .ie domain names when they found out that they were sold on the aftermarket

Also, due to the way .ie works, you won't be able to sell it to anyone you like. The new domain owner has to be able to qualify for the domain as per the IEDR's policies, which are very restrictive.

The age of the domain is pretty much irrelevant, as Google et al don't really take age into account when dealing with .ie - though it would help in terms of the possible number of inbound links etc

 

[Kate]

IEDR have deleted several .ie domain names when they found out that they were sold on the aftermarket

Ouch
Not to get off-topic but do you have examples ? I think the OP needs to be aware, if he can't sell safely.

 

[jmcc]

Ouch
Not to get off-topic but do you have examples ? I think the OP needs to be aware, if he can't sell safely.

It is the way that .ie ccTLD operates. A registrant needs to prove that they are entitled to the domain and that they have a clear link with Ireland (for registrants outside Ireland) through commerce or via an EU/UK/US trademark. Buying domains purely for resale is generally disallowed. Most of the transfers that I've seen would have been due to the business owning the domain being sold. End user to end user transfers are very rare and often when they happen they are part of the dispute process. In terms of parked domains, only around 2.7% of .ie domains are parked on PPC servers and the bulk of that is transitional parking (domains parked by hosters/registrants prior to development). In real terms, less than 1% would be genuinely PPC parked.

The vip.ie initial registration would have predated much of the regulations and the legislation on .ie ccTLD but there is no real secondary market in .ie ccTLD. It is a very sticky TLD in that when registrants get their domain, they tend to hold on to it.

Regards...jmcc