Walmart Acquires TechBetter.com from Michael Krell

[Arpit131]

Michael Krell is the most prolific seller on BrandBucket, month in and month out Michael racks up at least a dozen sales.

One name that was reported sold in May was TechBetter.com, the name apparently sold for $2,395 according to DNBolt.com. The whois has updated and the buyer is WalMart.

The fixed pricing of BrandBucket may have saved WalMart some money and cost Michael some. It stands to reason they had a bigger budget than $2,395. Now you can’t get caught up in the hype of some that think a Fortune 500 will pay six figures because they can afford to do that.


Source

So, the learning is, you should know who you are dealing with.
Of course you can't do that when putting a Buy Now price on your names on marketplaces, and also on brandables when putting them on sites like brandable marketplaces, but the buyer research can be done in other cases, which helps you determine the final price for the domain.

 

[frank-germany]

Domaining is more or less gambling. You gamble to put a fixed price on your domain, you gamble to put your domain up for auction with no reserve, you gamble to renew domains, ect ect. So the seller gambled that someone would buy the domain at a fixed price. Had he known it would have been a major company like WalMart purchasing it, the price would have been higher, or the domain would have been at auction with a high reserve. Either way, I'm assuming he made a pretty decent profit, so worrying about what "could have happened" is a waste of time.

if the price would have been higher
walmart would have choosen other name
they can live without that name

so he has done the right thing

 

[frank-germany]

They are selling them because they are making nice profits off the back of BB.

Eg. You register a name for $2 at dotster, get it accepted at BB and sell it for $15. Do this 10 times a week and you can earn a nice profit.

It is no different to the stock market.

Why do people trade pips when they can hold a stock for 5 years and earn 100% profit potentially?

$130 / week is not a nice profit
in my part of the world

 

[Joe N]

The site looks good. It's a solid brandable name for sure. What makes it great is its versatility, since we can infer a wide range of meanings from it. For example: use technology better, build technology better, combine technology better...

It sounds nice rolling off the tongue. It's short, easy to spell. No uncommon words. Solid name.

And this is inaccurate:

Hmmm... It'd be a better betting site or tech start up fundraising site than whatever Wal Mart could ever use it for.

You're thinking of the word "bettor".

 

[Silentptnr]

Michael Krell is also a good buyer! In the same month he sold TechBetter for 2395, he also bought Fondly.com for $2500. I think it was a good deal.

Source: http://tldinvestors.com/2016/07/michael-krell-hits-another-one-out-of-the-park-with-fondly-com.html

 

[golan]

In this particular case, Walmart could not buy this domain if it wasn't listed on BB. Maybe they had a mission "to search for a fit domain on BB only". So, in this business there is no point to talk "what if", "would" etc.

 

[bashariqbal]

I think with such petty news, we are unnecessarily giving publicity to Brandbucket, as if Brandbucket is the leader in the market. There is too much facts is hidden here with Brandbucket. Innocent domainers are cheated. Only its owners are benefiting by selling their own domain names. I have been with them for the last several months with 20 domain names, but so far not even an inquiry came. And the same story is with most of us too. By talking about Brandbucket we are indirectly promoting the domain names of the promoters/owners of Branndbucket. A thorough investigation on the sale of domain names will reveal the truth. Michael Krell, is the Managing Director of Brandbucket and he is the only one who sold most of the domain names belonging to HIMSELF.

It is plain n simple why MK has most number sales at BB bcz he has the biggest portfolio there with high quality names. You can not compare his 5000+ portfolio of quality domains to yours of 20.

 

[bashariqbal]

Even if an outsider has more than 5000 names and of similar quality like MK's, he will not getting the same sales results like that of MK. This is pure, unfair business practice. Do not try to argue without knowing the facts. Here are some burning questions from the those people have listed the domain names in Brandbucket:
(1) He’s paid by BrandBucket, since he’s the Managing Director;

(2) He gets his own inventory listed on BrandBucket without the same hurdles faced by customers (i.e. submission, rejection, and listing fees);

(3) He owns a very large share of domains listed at BrandBucket;

(4) He contributes commissions and listing fees that are (in percentage terms) lower than the percentage of BrandBucket domains he owns. That means his inventory benefits from BrandBucket marketing to a disproportionate extent;

(5) He’s ultimately in charge of BrandBucket marketing campaigns, which spend money provided by other domainers;

(6) He is more likely to interact with BrandBucket buyer customers personally than BrandBucket sellers (who don’t get emails and phone calls);

(7) He will naturally think of his own names first because he remembers them, which naturally causes him to recommend his own names to buyers who approach him via BrandBucket.
(8) Michael Krell would be able to influence BrandBucket’s algorithm in subtle ways to bias it toward his own domains if he chose to do so.
(9) Michael Krell gets a salary, disproportionate listing privileges, and a big marketing budget supplied by other domainers!

I have read this whole of this at http://tldinvestors.com/2016/07/michael-krell-hits-another-one-out-of-the-park-with-fondly-com.html
You are calling the above comments as facts as well as questions in the same breath. Sorry they are not yet proved to be facts. He was successful even before joining BB.

 

[NPer]

The fixed pricing of BrandBucket may have saved WalMart some money and cost Michael some.

I wonder how true that is.

Alternatively: The fixed pricing of BrandBucket may have cost WalMart some money and given Michael a profit.

 

[DU]

BetterTech - makes sense
TechBetter - makes no sense

Because you are too literal.

Better Tech is simply a crappy adjective on Tech. It's no different than BestTech GreatTech AwesomeTech InsertAnyAdjectiveTech
TechBetter is using tech into a verb which so it's positive improvement statement "to tech better". You cannot really have TechAwesomer

TechBetter is also brandable and therefore trademarkable.

I'm not saying I love it but TechBetter is far superior as an advertising line than BetterTech.

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

I think with such petty news, we are unnecessarily giving publicity to Brandbucket, as if Brandbucket is the leader in the market. There is too much facts is hidden here with Brandbucket. Innocent domainers are cheated. Only its owners are benefiting by selling their own domain names. I have been with them for the last several months with 20 domain names, but so far not even an inquiry came. And the same story is with most of us too. By talking about Brandbucket we are indirectly promoting the domain names of the promoters/owners of Branndbucket. A thorough investigation on the sale of domain names will reveal the truth. Michael Krell, is the Managing Director of Brandbucket and he is the only one who sold most of the domain names belonging to HIMSELF.

If that is the case then xan we say he himself was cheated now cause I think he would have liked to add atleast one zero.to the end of that price if he knew.ot was WallMart.

 

[domeen]

I said the fast majority of domain name sales happen via direct navigation - i did not say 100% of sales happen via direct navigation.

And like I said, thats not true!

 

[Haroon Basha]

Your comments are baseless. The main advantage MK has over us is that he knows which names sell. So he owns names that are similar to the ones that sell. Given his transparancy we can copy his strategy.

The only reason his names sell is because he owns good names. Period. He also owns 5000 hence his chances are greater than our chances.

If MK owned ordinary names he would not be selling any names. As the saying goes..."you can't polish a turd".

Maybe non sellers should review their turds???

If only MK names are good, then why Brandbucket filter and select our names if they are not Salable?

 

[Justin Matmor]

Every name on BB can sell because BB has a method of promotion and saleability.

However not every name is equal. Some names are better than others.

It just happens than MK owns the better names.

 

[Justin Matmor]

If you believe in their model then you will do ok. If you dont then there are other platforms to list your names. Noone has forced anyone to list on BB.

 

[Justin Matmor]

We are giving more exposure to Brandbucket than it deserves as if it is the only place where we can sell brandable names. NO. Certainly not, a common man, cannot easily sell his name through Brandbucket, however good his/her name is. Moreover, they are very very secretive, they are not transparent. May be they fear that if they release the real numbers, they will not be getting the same kind of free publicity. Brandbucket is a product of hype, and so many innocent people like me, fall for the hype, just to keep our domain names in dead stock.

If you don't think BB deserves publicity you are doing yourself no favours by continually posting about BB.

 

[Justin Matmor]

Brandbucket "Accepted or Published" domain names are selling on NamePro between $ 10 to $ 20.
Why do these domain owners are selling these names so cheap when Brandbucket's suggested prices are between $ 2000 to $ 3500? They are dumping their domain names because they do not have any more faith on Brandbucket, they are sure of one thing that they will not be selling a single domain name through Brandbucket.
It is better Brandbucket remove outsiders' domain names from their marketplace and return the listing fees they collected from us, and let them sell their own domain names. At least we will be relieved from living in false hope.

They are selling them because they are making nice profits off the back of BB.

Eg. You register a name for $2 at dotster, get it accepted at BB and sell it for $15. Do this 10 times a week and you can earn a nice profit.

It is no different to the stock market.

Why do people trade pips when they can hold a stock for 5 years and earn 100% profit potentially?

 

[Justin Matmor]

$130 / week is not a nice profit
in my part of the world

it is if you rinse and repeat all day long every day...

 

[Justin Matmor]

Don't for a second think that Walmart went to BrandBucket looking for a name. That's foolish. They landed at BB when they typed in the name to see if it was taken or not.

I assume Walmart told you that?

 

[Justin Matmor]

Wal mart needed a tax write off. And the 3 names you stated are nice, but the fourth that we are discussing? You really feel it makes sense? Hmmm... It'd be a better betting site or tech start up fundraising site than whatever Wal Mart could ever use it for. Still not strong or worth the money. Ask yourself, please, "if it were up for auction, where would my stopping point be?" $5? $10, maybeeee $15 if I had a few Heinikens? Come on man.....

BetterTech - makes sense
TechBetter - makes no sense

Who knows what Walmart was thinking

At the end of the day they saw value and bought it.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

It was a great sale! I'm sure he paid $8

Clarification of what MKrell paid for TechBetter.com.

Comment from: http://tldinvestors.com/2016/07/walmart-using-brandbucket-for-domain-acquisitions.html

@michaeljkrell has been MIA from NamePros since June 8th, 2016.

 

[Nappy Bunch]

Walmart have put a little website up on it now.. i like the name..

 

[Doron Vermaat]

Thats not 100% correct. I have parked domains at sedo, and listed at afternic also at buy now price, and this year I have made more sales via afternic - where the domains are not parked actually.
they have integration to godaddy, thats probably it.
The money is where the end-users are.

I said the fast majority of domain name sales happen via direct navigation - i did not say 100% of sales happen via direct navigation.

 

[Justin Matmor]

Nothing is stopping anyone from building their own site and promoting their own BB names on their site. In fact MK does that and so do several others.

If you are not doing this, then you are setting yourself up to fail.

 

[Haroon Basha]

If you believe in their model then you will do ok. If you dont then there are other platforms to list your names. Noone has forced anyone to list on BB.

We are giving more exposure to Brandbucket than it deserves as if it is the only place where we can sell brandable names. NO. Certainly not, a common man, cannot easily sell his name through Brandbucket, however good his/her name is. Moreover, they are very very secretive, they are not transparent. May be they fear that if they release the real numbers, they will not be getting the same kind of free publicity. Brandbucket is a product of hype, and so many innocent people like me, fall for the hype, just to keep our domain names in dead stock.

 

[Haroon Basha]

If you don't think BB deserves publicity you are doing yourself no favours by continually posting about BB.

Brandbucket "Accepted or Published" domain names are selling on NamePro between $ 10 to $ 20.
Why do these domain owners are selling these names so cheap when Brandbucket's suggested prices are between $ 2000 to $ 3500? They are dumping their domain names because they do not have any more faith on Brandbucket, they are sure of one thing that they will not be selling a single domain name through Brandbucket.
It is better Brandbucket remove outsiders' domain names from their marketplace and return the listing fees they collected from us, and let them sell their own domain names. At least we will be relieved from living in false hope.