The domain name SmartDate.com sold according to DNjournal.com in May 2009 for $2,000 on Sedo.com.
Back in March 2010 the company got a $2.2 million dollar cash investment which came after a $400K angel investment earlier.
So from a $2,000 domain sale in May 2009 the company has now raised close to $8 Million dollars in just about 1 1/2 years.
That’s a great domain. Seller should have asked for $xx,xxx range. I guess he wanted a quick flip.
It’s not the domain name that is valuable in this case… it’s the website, traffic, and good will from promotions.
very lucky! 🙂
could, the same, happens someday with my BreakingNewsBlog domains for news sites? 🙂
I agree with Elliot
I acquire domains all the time and there is a set budget on the domain name acquisition. We stick to it and if the seller gets unreasonable or just plain greedy we simply move on the the next one in line. The money saved can then be put into promotion or other resources for development.
SmartDate.com doesn’t have the right feel for that type of site IMO. ‘Smart’ infers a techy site; whereas ‘date’ should infer fun.
If they had spent more of their budget on a better domain, maybe they wouldn’t have needed to spend quite so much of their funding on getting going.
” … or just plain greedy …”
Yea, right, “corp domain guy.”
And you no doubt define “greedy” as any amount higher than what you/your client is willing to pay for a domain.
Fact is, greed does not exist in domains. Was Rick S. “greedy” for holding out for 750k for iReport.com? For 3 million + 15 years of rev share for Candy.com?
You and your ilk no doubt would believe so.
Anyone’s entitled to ask whatever they want for their domain/s. If someone doesn’t want to pay that for it, so be it.
No sale. Get over it. And without trashing the domain owner.
Labeling another human being as being greedy is nothing more than an attempt to paint them with a negative characteristic to alleviate one’s own unhappiness and disappointment at not getting the domain they wanted for the price they wanted to pay for it.
You and others who believe as you do … save your character-bashing paint for worthwhile purposes … like on yourselves … where it belongs.
it’s interesting to know if the investors have earned some profits from this project or if it’s the nth bottomless pit
@ Steve M
Is “Corp Domain Guy”
the same as “Domain Guy”
It seems like its that same old …. Anti-Domainer ….
costs to much girli-man whining spue again 🙂
I really don’t see why you guys are piling on “Corp Domain Guy”. He’s just telling the truth.
For every one example of a domainer selling a ‘jackpot’ dumb-luck domain and leaving money on the table (CamRoulette, SocialGraph, etc) there are probably 1000 names belonging to 1000 other domainers that bust a profitable sale (usually, a hugely profitable sale) because they don’t comprehend that a name like Candy.com isn’t in the same universe of desirability as a name like SmartDate.com.
Keyword names (and particularly, category killers) aren’t like brandables. With brandables, there are unlimited alternatives and with unlimited alternatives comes unlimited supply.
But oh well. Keep on dreamin’, holding out for the infinitely brighter tomorrow and be sure to load up on those 3d and .co domains before you miss the boat!
The seller sold the domain at a price which was acceptable to him, what more needs to be said. That domain could have easily sat for a decade. The odds are very long for an “idea domain” to find a buyer with the desire and ability to turn it into a multi-million dollar business. Then to think the buyer is going to show up and offer $50k, come on. Rick can afford to say no, everyone else better jump at turning $8 into $2,000.
bfitz is on the money.
There’s a prerelease name- right now- @ $69 with no bids (nor will there be any bids for it) that a few years back, I bid $500 for on SEDO, budgeted out to $1500, for a small client.
I bid $500, seller counters $8000, I bid $750, he counters $7500, I immediately end negotiations since this was clearly a lotto-ticket idiot and move on to a suitable alternative.
Doyle Brunson once said that it was all the small pots he stole during the course of the tournament that allowed him to gamble on the big pots. Small time, late-to-the-game domainers really need to get with this. Lighting doesn’t always strike huge. Sometimes, it’s strikes small but if you’re so stupid to forgo all those smaller hits because of some fantasy that all domains must sell for XX,XXX or more, well, of 1000 of you, 999 sit there and lose money until the ‘Leaving Domaining” firesale post on Namepros, while 1 gets dumb-lucky and inspires the next batch of dolts who keep Bob Parsons in Ducatis and Harleys.
Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered.
Greed does not exist in domains ? That is the line of the year. And please people who are not Rick Schwartz stop using this outlier of a domainer for every domain discussion in the world.
Why can Rick hold out ? Why can dogs lick their balls ? BECAUSE THEY CAN, most domainers cannot.
Most domains I sell are in the $xxx/low $xxxx range.
I have some domains that are brandable – industry specific but brandable, that I get enquiries about. For whatever reason, I like these domains to the point where I wouldn’t sell them for less than I value them for myself. One such name is –yachts.com which someone enquired about two weeks ago; a company which sells yachts. I gave them a price of 6000GBP – not over the top at all but even though I bought it at tdnam for $20 a few years ago, to me it’s worth 5999GBP. This isn’t greed – I like the domain – and until someone comes along who likes it a little bit more, I’ll keep it.
Got another one, –fly–.com that I wouldn’t let go for less than $25k. Nothing to do with greed, that’s what it’s worth to me.
That said, I have some that I’d flip for $100 and it wouldn’t bother me who bought it and for what purpose.
“One such name is –yachts.com which someone enquired about two weeks ago; a company which sells yachts. I gave them a price of 6000GBP”
@James – If you’re selling Yachts.com for £6K you’re INSANE (or Lying?) .
MegaYachts.com went for $150,000 a few years back to a reseller and Yachts.com is FAR better.
Wish I had a spare £6K right now but in all honesty I think you’re talking shite 🙂
There a quite a difference on selling a domain for $2K and $50K (quoted by Bfiz above) or looking at Mr Schwartz that typically starts at $100K or higher.
A domain like SmartDate.com is a domain that should have and easily could have sold from $15K-$20k.
this is the kind of profitable business I like and I hope to do 🙂
@ Gazzip
The domain in question is two letters then yachts.com – LLyachts.com (the two letter aren’t ‘L’s though) when I wrote the post I used hyphens where the two letters are but the system only apparently allows one hyphen at a time. Same with the other domain I mentioned.
I think it was SuperYachts.com that sold for $150k a few years ago – there’s a nice site on it now.
LS: “He’s just telling the truth.”
If you’re referring to his statement that such “want too much” domain owners are greedy, you’re wrong, LS.
He, you, I, no one has the right to call someone else “greedy” because they won’t sell a domain to us for what we want to pay for it.
Someone offers you $100 for a domain you tell them you want $10,000 for, are you being greedy?
Someone offers you $5,000 for a car you want $25,000 for, are you being greedy?
Someone offers $100,000 for a business you want $1,000,000 for, are you being greedy?
Fact is, “greedy” is an attack on a person’s character based merely on a difference on price.
That’s unfair; and just plain wrong.
The difference between “Greed” and “getting a fair value for your property” is a thin line.
So lets use this example
Lets say you bought a 1000 shares of Apple stock at $8o when the market was at its low point at what price should you sell it without being greedy?
So here is the way it works.
If you sold it at $160 figuring you doubled your money you did well.
Who can complaint over making a 100% profit of $80,000?
Unless and until it hit $200 a share, then the same people will tell you you’re an idiot for selling it at $160
Now that the stock is $310 it was “obviously” a horrible decision, selling it for $160, unless the market tanks and the stock goes back to $200 at which point you will be called greedy for not selling it at $310
“A domain like SmartDate.com is a domain that should have and easily could have sold from $15K-$20k.”
I could see that as it is a really nice brandable domain in a lucrative market, short n sweet.
@James – Ahhh, that’ll do it LOL, I have a couple of LLyachts as well, phew..I thought you were needing the men in white coats to take you away 🙂
“I think it was SuperYachts.com that sold for $150k a few years ago – there’s a nice site on it now.”
It was MegaYachts.com that sold for $150k on 8/7/07 (I’m 100% sure of that)
..but here’s the link incase you don’t beleive me 🙂
dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2007/ytd-sales-charts-2007.htm
I was looking at that superyachts a few months back and its a beautifully done site, it is recently launched but I have never seen it published anywhere that the domain was bought for 150k – When you consider the cost of renting a yacht for a week I could definitely imagine it went for “at least” that or more….a tank of fuel costs more than that!
I have GigaYachts.com – Bigger is Better…or so they say 🙂 I’m waiting for a Russian oligarch like Abramovich to buy it LOL
@ Gazzip
Megayachts.com it is. It was that $150k sale that I was thinking of when I went to superyachts.com to see if it had been developed. Funny how a few short years (and several hundred bottles of vino collapso) dulls the memory 😉
If you’re referring to his statement that such “want too much” domain owners are greedy, you’re wrong, LS.
———–
No. That I wasn’t really ‘agreeing’ with that part, but I disagree with your characterization of ‘greed’ as being some sort of assassination on a mans character.
There is healthy greed, there is unhealthy greed, there is idiotic, dreamers greed.
There is measured, intelligent greed that makes money, there is hysterical, green-eyed greed that causes money to be lost.
Anyone who participates in commerce of any kind- PARTICULARLY speculators- are greedy, and that’s OK. Greed is the basis for growth. Those who are able to balance that greed with their bottom line usually do quite well. Those who constantly shoot for the moon fail more than the win, even if they do win a few.
We can’t compare the domains held by guys like Schwartz to the typical domains being sold by a late-coming domain speculator. There is *just no comparison*. The inability to comprehend the difference is what keeps a lot of new domainers glued to the bottom and flowing red. They see Schwartz sell Candy.com for millions, they get a sucker on the line for eCandy-Website.com for a grand, they think it’s too low… Those clowns lose money.
From just a domain to a Website to a Portal.
There’s no business like the domain business.
@ MHB
This is a better way to stay out of the RED
(i never, never break this rule)
$80 to $160 is not doubling your Money … WHY?
$80 made one time, is for your TIME – Effort – Outlay
$80 made two times is $160 (double) + $80 Outlay …
$80 doubled is $160 Profit + plus $80 outlay =
TOTAL “$240 ” really doubled your money” 🙂
Landon
Ok lets got back to 3rd grade.
If you had a new shinny nickel and someone gave you another shinny nickel you now have 2 shinny nickels when before you only had 1.
1+1=2 and you have twice as many shinny nickles as before.
In my example I bought shares of Apple stock took me 30 seconds of my life like the and took as much effort and time as it takes the etrade baby.
@ MHB
(Quote) If you sold it at $160 figuring you doubled your money you did well. (Unquote
AND
(Quote)1+1=2 and you have twice as many shinny nickles as before.(Unquote)
Your Wrong …
How can you have TWICE as many “when you already have 1” …
If you had $80 to start … and ended up with $160
you made $80 “ONCE” NOT DOUBLE …
RULE OF THUMB IS ALWAYS $3 FOR $1 = DOUBLE YOUR MONEY, (-)
Now you know why 3rd Grade teachers complain of being underpaid 🙂
The phrase ‘to double your money’ means to end up with twice the amount of money you started with.
With the example, to start with $80 and end up with $240 would be to ‘triple your money’, ie, to end up with triple the amount of money you started with.
To go from having $80 to having $160, is to double the amount of money.
@ Landon White – “If you had $80 to start … and ended up with $160
you made $80 “ONCE” NOT DOUBLE …”
Yes, you made $80 profit, hence doubling your (the amount you have) money.
The phrase is ‘double your money’, not ‘increase your original stake by double that amount’.