Remote bidding will be available through SnapNames.com
Lets start with the star of the auction, Restaurants.com
The domain name Restaurants.com besides being a category killer domain is an active site with revenue.
Here are the facts and figures from the domain holder:
“Restaurants.com is the premier domain asset for the $580 billion restaurant industry.”
“It generates between $80,000 – $90,000 per month or $1MM – $1.1MM/year (95% net margin). ”
“It is ranked #1 in Yahoo and Bing and #2 in Google for the keyword.”
“The figures for September:”
“Visitors: 259,389 (audited by Google analytics).”
“75.86% direct type in traffic.”
“20.81% search engines (80% Google).”
“3.32% other sites.”
“Google Ads Revenue: $48,831.10 (audited by google adsense)”
“Restaurant.com affiliate commissions: $61,183.16 (audited by commission junction)”
“Total revenue: $110,014.26”
Reserve price I’m told is north of $6 Million making this seem like a no-brainier great deal if you have the cash.
Since the domain seems to be making $1M a year its a 6+ year payback and you still get the category killer domain.
If Restaurant.com is the start then second billing would have to go to Bid.com
With Auction.com having sold for $1.7 Million, Bid.com seems priced right at $750K-$1M, it arguably is the top 3 domains in the auction space
Here are some of the more interesting higher priced domains in the auction:
AdAgencies.com $25,001 – $50,000 (I would like the singular much more)
ETFs.com $50,001 – $100,000 (hundreds of these are traded in the markets)
Supplement.com $50,001 – $100,000 (plural would be much better)
Wheels.net $50,001 – $100,000 (huge category)
PrinterCartridges.com $100,001 – $250,000 (huge category)
DayTrading.com $250,001 – $500,000 (another wall street domain, but has been in several auctions now).
Shout.com $250,001 – $500,000 (talk about a great Web 2.0 Domain, certainly worth it to an end user).
Mx.com $250,001 – $500,000 (great two letter .com and the country code for Mexico).
Zero.com $250,000- $500,000 (lots of products out there using “Zero” also could be a Web 2.0 Domain).
Gun.com $750,001 – $1MM (guns sold for last year for $800K this one sounds high in light of that sale).
Smile.com $750,001 – $1MM (nice name for dental industry or any web 2.0 company)
Campaign.com $1MM – $5MM (personally think its overpriced)
Cheat.com $1MM – $5MM (I know game cheats are huge and I guess you could use this for a “dating” site, think its priced way high)
Commercial.com $1MM – $5MM (very broad term with uses from real estate to advertising but pricey)
Digital.com $1MM – $5MM (Great domain)
Physicians.com $1MM – $5MM (huge health domain, but hard to spell)
Sexy.com $1MM – $5MM (Great domain which could be used for adult or mainstream, big price range here, + I would have liked to know what Sex.com sold for 1st).
SlotMachine.com $1MM – $5MM (another big price range domain, we know slots.com sold for $5.5M so its hard to justify anything close to that for this one).
Vehicles.com $1MM – $5MM
Zip.com $1MM – $5MM (that seems like a LOT of money for this domain)
Out of the rest of the live auction domains these are the ones we like:
SatinRobes.com $1,001 – $2, 500 (lots of these)
Bravo.org $2,501 – $5,000 (nice one word .org)
ClearanceCenters.com $2,501 – $5,000 (There are a lot of these and this is certainly the right economic times for this)
DetoxKits.com $2,501 – $5,000 (Another huge product)
Guys.org $5,001 – $10,000 (nice short .org)
PetPsychic.com $5,001 – $10,000
GoodMorning.com $10,001 – $25,000 (instant brand recognition domain)
Pregnancies.com $10,001 – $25,000 (obviously the singular would be much better but a six figure domain)
Rakes.com $10,001 – $25,000 (huge product catagory)
MissingPersons.com $25,001 – $50,000 (category killer domain could be a huge go to website)
Deeds.com $25,001 – $50,000 (great real estate domain)
MyCard.com $50,001 – $100,000 (I like this domain but definitely end user pricing here)
GovernmentPrograms.com $50,001 – $100,000 (well the typo Govermentgrants.com sold for $53K making this a pretty good buy)
RadioShow.com $50,001 – $100,000 (nice domain for that industry
Rewind.com $50,001 – $100,000 (like this domain something for the entertainment industry, I bought rewind.tv last week)
ShortSale.com $50,001 – $100,000 (couldn’t find a hotter topic right now certainly not in the real estate world)
SupplyCenter.com $5,001 – $10,000 (nice domain to sell almost anything)
Finally a Picks and Pans post wouldn’t be complete without a few domains we don’t like at all.
(sorry if yours is on this list):
DvdRental.com $25,000-$50,000 (talk about a dying technology, didn’t Blockbuster the biggest company in the space just go Bankrupt?).
EastGermany.com $10,000-$25,000 (I’m all for good Geo domains, but Germany unified in 1990, its pretty late for this domain).
Temptations.com $50,000 – $100,000 (unless your going to open a strip club I’m not sure what you do with this domain & its pricey).
Restaurants.com – Too good to be true
Approximately 6,500 people blindly type-in “restaurants.com” in their browsers, every day?
If that’s true, that’s incredible.
I like the restaurants name and think it would be a great fit for a number of media companies that already have directory type of businesses….as a standalone, without some sales people, it would be hard to take to the next level…
restaurants.com is simply amazing, and a business
if someone buys for 6 million, they stole it
imho i think will sell for 10 mill. + and there will be buyers there
Mike,
My first look at restaurants.com makes me think it’s restaurant.com. Do you think there is any chance that restaurant.com could come after the plural ?
I have four domains on sale at AfternicDLS (that is one of your main sponsors) do you post also lists of Afternic’s auctions?
anyway, there are many interesting domains in the list
for “interesting” I mean domains to be used for REAL sites (and not only to sell, resell, sell again, etc.)
“Restaurants.com – Too good to be true”
agree, but it’s price is a bit high
Larry
“”that restaurant.com could come after the plural”
Based on trademark infringement?
many of these high priced domains are long or multiword or both BUT very contextual with the web apps they can/will be used for
so, why only these domains are sold at so high prices while my (similar) long BUT very contestual domains, on sale or on auction (like BreakingNewsBlog.co.uk) aren’t sold, so far, at similar prices?
@ mike, yes that is what I’m thinking.
no-one can spell restaurants!
80k on 250k traffic per month? 32 cents net per visitor?
Yes, Restaurants.com is the sparkle in this one. The list of potential buyers is just incredible. It would be very interesting to know to what extent Moniker really promoted the sale of the domain. Something like Restaurants.com has such massive appeal, it would take months to reach all potential buyers.
In 2007, the domain would have likely sold for $5 million. The value of the name is still there. The question is if the US market has shored up enough that buyers are in a position to make this kind of acquisition. Would hate to see a domain like this go for cheap. It’s in the realm of Hotels.com, Apartments.com, Homes.com.
Also, there is no close substitute for the word “Restaurants” so its comparative value far exceeds something like “eatery” or “sports bar”, etc.
Just to be on the safe side…and in this economy…i would not pay more than $3M for restaurants.com
“Digital.com”
yes, great
so great I still don’t understand why HP sells it instead of use it as brand for one of its lines of products!
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@ Menius
Your comment shows your lack of understanding of business.
I sincerely hope your “domaining” skills are better…
You must be joking if you think Restaurants is on a a par with Hotels or Homes..
With hotels, best use is they can have a directory portal & booking system where the siteowner can get commission from the hotel (usually big chains).
The internet is the perfect delivery channel for bookings (hotels, flights…) since it’s all on database anyway.
Not so with restaurants.
All it can ever be is a glorified page with display ads & listings (ala Yellow Pages) with TONS of competition vying for their (restaurants) ad dolllars (there’s one on the singular, Restaurant.com, to add to the confusion).
Plus most restaurants are 1 or 2 branches & local.
ps. I don’t believe the stats of Restaurants.com
Then again, I don’t know anyone who uses it. LOL
Hi Em-Bee,
Your “naughty list” of domains you don’t like included “DVDRENTAL.dotcom”
You said it was overpriced and mentioned Blockbuster going down…
However, millions of people “rent DVD’s” still, and are doing it by Netflix and many independent/corporate companies, even through kiosks! It’s still a good domain! Not sure in 5 years when everything is digitized and streamed, but for now, not bad!
what you think? did I change your mind?
cheers!
@Aggro –
Thanks for the report card on my intelligence! 🙂
If forced to choose, I’d pick Hotels.com over Restaurants.com. The upside potential of Restaurants.com in the right hands, and with top branding, could be impressive.
@Aggro and Menius,
Both of you are right to a certain point. However, I’m right all the time, so listen up! 😉
•HOTELS.COM monetizes down a different revenue path, and obviously is one of the most valuable domains in the world.
•RESTAURANTS.COM will most likely be utilizing New Media technology to promote their restaurants. One new service I’m excited about is CHECKPOINTS.COM™, which provides rewards to consumers for using their cellphones and a cellphone app. This area of revenue generation is going to be mind-blowing and fun.
Cellphone scanning will be a huge part of the consumer shopping/buying culture by 2011, and in full swing by 2012.
Guys, if you were ever bored shopping with your girl (or partner), think about having fun just using your cellphone apps to scan things for rewards. It’s incredible. (Also less annoying to your partner if you’re watching a sports event on your smartphone! She comes up to you and starts talking and you’re still watching the slo-mo replay!)
Okay, so I opened up another new Future Trend tech subject. Let’s see if anyone understands the domain power of this niche. CELLPHONE SCANS AND ADVERTISING.
Stephen
Netflix well aware of the company watched the stock go from $80 to $150 in a year.
Why has that stock skyrocketed while blockbuster went down the crapper, the iPad
Since the iPad was announced that stock doubled meaning that they own the segment and the future people will be using the app to watching your movie on your computer than it going to be getting a DVD in the mail.
DVD in it self is dead we are already on to Blueray, than 3D then on to the next one from there.
No
You didn’t change my mind
If you love the domain take the $100K and buy stock in Netflix
very interesting list – i amxious to see what most of these domains sell for. I do believe there are MANY people who blindly type in restaurants.com into their browser – its no surprise – food is a social activity. millions of people go out to east every day so its no surprise many type it into their browser. its a killer domain. Great pickup on rewind.tv <- thats very catchy and works.
How many of these names are stolen?
I’m sorry but “direct traffic” as recorded by google analytics does not equal to type-in traffic. This is not accurate.
Further how do you determine the price of a website without looking at traffic trends?
“but Germany unified in 1990, its pretty late for this domain”
true
hard to sell it at this price
Ive built 13 restaurants. 2 had the roi restaurants.com is showing.
Heh,
Em-bee, you kinda sold me on your position. lol
I am just wondering how long those “DVD” rentals will hold out. Nobody actually uses the term “We’re going to go rent the “Blu Ray” of any movie, they still use the term ‘DVD’. However, your points are correct in seeing the real tech future direction, and ummm… that’s where I usually look. I don’t look back.
Thx for the explanation. Tip o’ my hat.
.
sex.com is good for an “hard” adult site
sexy.com is good for a “soft” adult site
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@Aggro
Attacking M. Menius like that is way out of line and completely unprofessional.
Anything Mr. Castello says, I fully agree.