We are always glad to see the domain industry get coverage in non-domain publications.
The E-Commerce Times, just published a story discussing the value of buying a good domain name, highlighting the purchase of Bobblehead.com and Bobbleheads.com last year.
According to the story both domains were purchased by Warren Royal, last year at Sedo.com for $29,112 and $36,000, respectively.
The story notes:
Mr. Royal is quoting as saying “””the domain purchases, he said, likely will pay themselves in less than a year… and I have already turned down an offer of more than $300,000 for the bobbleheads.com domain.””
It is a nice story about the domain aftermarket, and the power of a brandable domain. Sedo and Jeremiah Johnston, its chief operating officer, are widely quoted. Jeremiah also serves as President of the Internet Commerce Association.
Congrats to all.
Check out the full story here.
Warren Royal owns Bobbleheads.com and is this month’s cover story on Dnjournal.com. So who is Royal Cummings?
Guess you need to ask Jim Offner the author of the article.
Great to see our industry getting “GOOD” press coverage.
Warren Royal is the name ha ha!
Regards,
Robbie
Looks like E-Commerce Times somehow managed to botch Warren’s name. The WhoIs record for his domains have a Cumming, Georgia PO Box so they may have picked up Cumming from that and then pluralized it. Doesn’t look like they ever talked to Warren directly as there are no comments from him in quotations.
Possible that Sedo’s PR firm, who has been good at getting articles into mainstream media, pitched the story idea with a reference to Warren’s experiences (since he bought his domains through them) but his name got mangled somewhere along the way. Still good press – though it flys in the face of the famous quote about publicity – “I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.” (Incidentally, no one knows for sure who first said that – it has ben attributed to Mae West, W.C. Fields, P.T. Barnum and Will Rogers among others.)
I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right
I’m going to attribute it to you Ron.
Thanks for the bang on clarification.
name already corrected in the article
Great now we can correct it as well
thanks to all
I believe Warren is a trailblazer for many domainers.
A few years from now, we will mostly own developed sites and ppc sites will end up being a small part of our revenue.
Great press.
The VAST majority of websites (and domain names) are small-time, small business, personal or vanity in nature. This is an anomaly for the most part and the main reason domain name re-selling is such a moving target. Because of these “needles in the haystack”, EVERYONE that owns even a plausibly recognizable domain name thinks it’s worth a million dollars. The fact is, of the thousands and thousands of domain names for sale, the $36,000 sale is extremely rare compared to the inventory.
Domain names are NOT real estate, for if they were, the domain “squatters” would realize the tons of money they are losing by holding on to inventory in the hopes of that one big score, while the rest of the internet community suffers with over-inflated prices.
Even a real estate broker knows that basic truth. ANYTHING for sale needs legitimate buyers that can afford the price. If you offer something for sale, it should be MOVING, not sitting in inventory.
So, for any domain name, if you don’t receive an offer of any kind for a year, it’s not worth squat! If you haven’t received an offer that matches your asking price for over 3 months, you are priced too high. If you truly want to compare domain names to real estate, I suggest you take a few real estate courses and you may learn you are quite delusional.
Yes; good article and nice industry coverage…though a piece of this nature w/out actually interviewing Warren leaves something worthwhile missing.
Thankfully, Ron Jackson doesn’t make such mistakes in his reporting.
Wyatt
You comments are wrong on many levels
“”””EVERYONE that owns even a plausibly recognizable domain name thinks it’s worth a million dollars.”””
I own 75,000 domains and think very few are worth anything close to $1,000,000.
Most professionals in the domain space understand the value of their domains
Furthermore you under the perception is that all domain holdings are actively for sale.
They are not.
That is not to say that we would not sell a domain if the right offer came in.
However, most of us make money while a domain as you say “sits in inventory”, and we can continue to sit on inventory and continue to make money on the domain forever.
What you have to keep in mind is that when you buy a domain, your taking that income away from the domain holder, so the domain holder needs to be compensated, in addition to the value of the domain, for the amount it needs in capital to replace the income.
For example at today’s current interest rates how much cash do you need to replace a domain making $100 a year?
at 2% interest you need $5,000 in cash to replace that income stream.
Many domains make $100 or more a day.
How much cash do you need to replace that lost income?
Great that the domain space is being covered, but the article is a bit “all over the place” and seemed a bit canned by a PR push.
“burgeoning bobblehead business” ? lol
I think it’s very important that people read the rest of the story about Warrent at DNJ and understand what Warren is creating . . . I’m positive there’s a lot more involved then the domain in making this business a success but the domain sure makes it easier for him.
Oh and don’t forget guys when you buy a domain “It’s important to ask for traffic laws” !
lol
Wyatt,
Your 3 month time frame is limiting you. I guess if all you do is flip domains you should want to sell in 3 months, but that is not the nature of the domain business for many. That is just true perhaps for domain flippers if you were to buy into that timetable. However when you buy a unique asset and you buy quality, how fast you sell it does not tell the entire story. Matter of fact, it is only one sliver of the story. Hell, it would take me 3 months to even experiment and gather the data to price the domain!
See when you invest in quality domains, selling them is not a priority. Learning and earning are. When you have quality they pay dividends. Patience in business is key and those that set artificial time lines get disappointed.
If I had listened to your advise years ago I would still be chasing my tale. It’s completely off the mark. On the other hand those that buy crappy names to flip should flip them in 90 days.
Perhaps there are two types of domains. Investment grade domains and all the rest. As Mike discussed above, you would need $1.8 Million in the bank at 2% to get the revenue that a domain making $100/day earns over the course of a year and $180,000 for just a $10/day domain. Many professional domain investors don’t see a need to rush and sell when you focus on domains like that.
And, the last time looked, I don’t recall seeing another asset on the planet that has gone up faster and further in value than domain names. Not exactly the right asset to be in a rush to sell.
Bottom line, you are mixing up 2 different businesses and 2 different business models.
wyatt…how many home or commercial realestate owners have people knocking on the door asking how much?
Also how many realestate holdings let you build whatever you want on the property and as big as you want?
Wow, I guess I got put in my place. Nice Job guys!
I initially felt like tearing all your arguments apart, but to what end. I’d just be fighting the sycophantic burrito. I got what I came for: a true understanding of your industry.
Still, I can’ help myself, so, I’ll just pick on one of you, and you all can rip me a new one, but rest assured; I won’t read any of it.
MHB,
Seriously dude, if I had 75,000 domains making even 10 cents a day, I wouldn’t be wasting my time trying to justify my existence to a total stranger. Your arguments fall short on that point alone. You certainly wouldn’t find me arguing minutia with the likes of me if were pulling in that kind of residual cache. I’m embarrassed for you. Go buy a Ferrari or something. Millionaires don’t need to comment on blogs.
Wyatt
First I don’t want a Ferrari. I Already have a beautiful wife and proper sized member so the expense is unnecessary.
Second its my blog, so I have no choice but to comment to those who have a misunderstanding of the industry.
You are correct that “Millionaires” don’t “need” to comment on a blog, but the whole point of this blog was to give back to an industry which has given me so much and to further the industry along. Part of that is explaining, not justifying, what we do to the general pubic who have little understanding of it.
Finally the 75,000 domains make significantly more than $.10 a day each.