Mike Kugler is the gentleman that purchased Vacation.Rentals for $500,300. Currently the highest reported new gtld sale. Yes Gay.app has been touted as being sold for $1million. No confirmation by any source that industry participants rely on.
A website by the name of AMAfeed.com did a Reddit style ask me anything with Mike.
Some of the questions were about the website, others about vacation rental properties, some were about domain names.
The one below was the most interesting answer in my opinion. A commenter asked the question, What do you think is the future of dot-com era? Is it coming to an end?
Hi TAE123,
Good morning and thank you for the great question.
I honestly and truly do not know what the “powers” will ultimately decide when it comes to the future of the internet. One thing I can assure you of though is that dot-com will never go away as long as there is an internet. It is too well established and has firmly entrenched itself into the way we live.
Having said that, I am willing to wager the days of obscene dot-com sales are coming to an end now that the gTLDs are available and gaining ground even moreso. People are no longer forced to dot-com everything and can start to break their addiction to dot-com’ing everything.
One of the ways this can be accelerated is for end users to start utilizing sites that are gTLD related, forcing the search engines to give relevance (even if the search engines don’t want to) to the new domains. In my case it is Vacation Rentals. So instead of a person just AirBNB’ing it, they could look at our site (And save money in the process.)
Right now, it is a wild stretch to even write something like that, but in a years time – if we are sitting on 10,000 listings – not so much. My job between now and then is to get as many listings as possible to accelerate this possibility for both sides and give the community a new way of searching the internet.
Thank you again for the question, Mike
You can read the full AMA here
I just searched for Vacation Rentals on Google. Vacation.rentals is on the #1 page. How much is that worth? 500K could look like a bargain. Clearly you have to have a quality website with content to go with your domain but it does work.
Well like Rick wrote about, it was something that Mike discussed with me before Rick posted, the site doesn’t have many listings. We put in major destinations.
I know you are pro .new gtld but they have done nothing to make anyone think .com prices are going down for premium, prime .com domains.
New gtlds have been a terrible investment for many domain owners, The owner of this blog has had a few nice sales and one of the best portfolio’s out there. Mike will tell you hasn’t been a great investment. That’s with a premium portfolio with some names purchased on Day 1 EAP.
You have to be precise with new gtlds, like you can own so – so .com names and still turn $8 into $1,000 on a sale from time to time, new gtlds for the most part you need the real good stuff.
I am not anti new gtld, I have sold a few, I did not go crazy but I like .club, .tech, .media, .online, .store/shop. But it’s been hard to get great names in some extensions without the premiums. As a veteran of .tv I knew what this was going to be like, having to explain “Well thanks for the $3,000 and no it won’t be $20 to renew, there is a premium renewal.”
haha.
Oh – well then this MUST be True because some dumb ass spent a half million dollars on a stupid domain extension.
These extension were nothing more than a blatant cash grab from the start and have gone NOWHERE.
the propaganda you guys push on this site have really helped to kill it.
There has never been any propaganda here, neither Mike or I believe what Mr.Kugler said, you can read my comment above to Colin.
All domaining is a cash grab, whether I am giving the cash to a registry or another domainer, I hate both parties, registries and domainers. End users hate the whole f’n industry.
What would you prefer, VR, a free market with competition for assets – which is all that the domain market is – or regulations which prohibit such? Let’s say no domain could be sold for more than $10, then someone who owned a domain like Business.com might use it to advertise a lemonade stand. What a waste that would be.
Was this written in 2014?
60 days ago Michael.
How many times have we heard this from new tld owners over the years?
btw Colin, What happened to Coffee.club? That was supposed to be the “canary in the coalmine”. The canary looks to be dead with 10 visits per day according to semrush.
That is pretty funny. Despite its great name and great search rankings, its not doing well. Maybe people are having trouble remembering it and getting back to it, stunting its growth. Maybe signups are lacking since its a weak trusted URL. Comparing its Alexa to some of its competitors has it looking pretty dead.
VacationRentals.com and NOT Vacation.Rentals is on Page one of G.
Vacation.Rentals has also been on first page, it’s what sparked Mike bringing it up and then Rick writing about the empty website.
http://www.ricksblog.com/2018/06/fake-site-on-a-fake-gtld-sale-the-tale-of-no-results-found-at-vacation-rentals/#.Wyg-PIona1s
I’m seeing VacationRentals.com as #1 organic result, Vacation.Rentals is on the first page, but below the fold on a large monitor. I’d say it’s a little early to call this a failure, give Mike K some credit for taking a risk, as an entrepreneur he has to decide how to invest his time and money – and live with the results.
While I agree that many non-dotcom domains are valuable, I think the most relevant fact is that every day so much more money is spent advertising dotcom websites than websites of any other extension, that dotcom is continually being reinforced in peoples’ minds as the extension which trustworthy and dependable firms use. Although it’s somewhat dependent on general economic conditions, I think sale prices of dotcom domains will go up, not down.
guy who spent 500k on a new gtld thinks .com’s will fall in value..shocker.
He probably gathered dumb investors money over $10million for this project and bought this domain and alot of other crap to show his sucker investors.
Then he will file bankruptcy and run away with all the left over cash.
In the end, freddie kuger will be on permanent vacation not to be found anywhere while investors will be left crying…
Happens all the time…easy money for kuger!!!
And u thought he was dumb for buying vacation.rentals for 500k
he is probably laughing!!!
Is anyone watching WorldCup Soccer? Only a billion people.. Noticed its FIFA.com not another TLD in which giving .com global exposure to millions of soccer fans, globally.. If your staying local, use a creative TLD to stay small and niche, if your going global, use the .com gets you access into USA, India, China Europe, Immediately.
Deja vu for real. Ended up agreeing to disagree with this purchase and time will tell…
What a perfect time and place.
This is MANDATORY reading and viewing for all domain investors, folks. There will be zero tolerance for shirking. Read the article but also watch the “60 Minutes” video:
• “Google – One of the Largest Monopolies in the World”
• https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/06/16/google-one-of-the-largest-monopolies.aspx
I was going to say if you want to go full screen you can find the video on CBS.com, “How did Google get so big?,” May 20, 2018, but right now it says “Sorry, this video is currently unavailable…” Oh, what a surprise. 😉
Mike should have been more in tune with the extension he bought and how schilling and company runs,they ask for the moon and accept hail ,I know for a fact that they would have gift wrapped it for 100k , Hes a real smart guy but he could have made a better spash if he put the same work into a .info
VACATI0N.RENTALS This link can serve the same purpose if its got an seo program ,also someone clicking on a link being redirected will not know that the o is a zero
Also even google recognizes this domain above as the keywords
I lost 25 000 on a .mobi domain name, shit is nothing worth i learned my lesson .com all day
Everything I see says that growing companies still want the .com, even if they start with another extension. New gtld’s have to be cream of the crop to sell for significant value as well. After the cream, the quality and value drop off very quickly in new g’s
I believe that there are many more sales surprises of more than 2 Million USD. There are single word gtld domains that in their day pay in domains (.com) 10 to 15 million USD can now negotiate about 5 to 10 Million USD. and as always we will not know the investors.
GTLD’s are a JOKE. waste of money.
Interesting read. I do feel that such high-priced.com domains like aged one-word domains except maybe just a few, seem to have their values going down over the years (see most recent sales from Namebio for these relevant domains). So I think two-word exact match .com domains are indeed a much better investment or value with more clarity or even one-word .io domains which seem to be the best alternative to one-word .com domains at a much lower cost especially for startups – I do have quite a few of these .io domains for sale at Sedo.
You’re wrong, .Com domains will continue to rise in value.
New gTLD’s have made .Com even more valuable.
Mark Thorpe has it right.
mining.camp or miningcamp.com ?
give me MiningCamp.com
Instead of buying vacation.rentals for $500K he could’ve bought VacationRentals.xyz or .link or .whatever for $10. Then he could’ve spent $500K on paid advertising targeted to the markets he caters to, in addition to the SEO. The extension doesnt matter in SEO, right? Or only for exact match TLDs but not exact match .coms? I forget from all the different “expert” viewpoints being preached as fact.
If you are just starting out it makes no sense to spend that kind of money on a domain unless you got the bankroll to back up the full business. The fact that this guy is doing a lot of talking in lieu of work is a red flag imo.
The few best example of full new domain names (not merely the TLD itself in most cases) are certainly worth a lot and to be prized. That’s for end users, not just domainers who might only care about easy flips.
THIS IS NO THREAT TO OR SUBTRACTION FROM THE VALUE OF .COM. In fact, in my humble opinion this whole phenomenon still only accentuates and enhances the value of good .coms.
THE REAL THREAT TO .COM is the the “mandatory reading and viewing” I posted up above and things like it. But people don’t want to face or address that.
P.S. Yesterday I did the kind of goog search on Vacation.Rentals where you highlight the text (only the domain there, nothing else) > right click > search. What I experienced with that search is that Vacation.Rentals was actually then sitting at the #1 spot on page #1 of organic results.
Oops, my mistake – I searched on the domain and not the phrase. Of course the site would be at #1 for that. More coffee…
ngtld’s are gaining ground? I don’t know of any end-users using an ngtld for their website. Vacation.rentals is probably the most over-priced domain purchase in history. If vacationrentals.com was not in use, it could probably have been bought for less than 500k.
Also, there is a difference between the truth and what you want to be true. He wants .com values to go down. He wants ngtld values to go up. Why? Because he’s vested in ngltd’s and wants to drive up the value of his website/domain.
Am I saying he won’t make money with his site? No. Based on his search rankings, he’ll probably do well. But, realistically any domain can rank well and make money.
My point is .com’s are the best for branding and marketing. You want a website that ends in .com. You want a biz card that has .com. You want VacationRentals.com as your brand, not Vacation.Rentals.
Just my 2 cents.
Here is your TLD story in a nutshell:
Business Owner: “Hey, if you would like to use our service, visit our website at Vacation.Rentals”
Prospective Client: “Ah, you couldn’t get the DOT COM, huh?”
ALL – DAY – LONG!
There is no reason for an end user that uses a new GTLD to be so concerned about any domain or extension other than their own. That’s just one of the reasons imho I don’t believe what he says. Then he comes across as nicey nicey until he is challenged. Then that mean streak comes right out. I don’t believe him, I don’t trust him, I would not do business with him or his site and that is my RIGHT and my CHOICE!
His flimsy evidence of a wire transfer that he has posted around is less than convincing. My bank wire statements don’t look like that and have a bank logo. But even if the sale is legit, I don’t trust the site, I don’t trust the owner and his attitude SUCKS!
Lastly, imho, this guy is not very bright. His site does not work well and when you tell him he gets all angry and defensive. IMHO he has an agenda plain and simple after seeing this crap for so many years.
I had an open mind at the start, but as I have seen him in action, just not credible to me. Others can believe what they want. Being gullible is not against the law and feeding CRAP to gullible people is within bounds too. Seems the only ones that believe the sale are those that are invested in GTLD’s and WANT to believe it. My 16lb schnauzer thinks he’s a Great Dane. So what??
PS: Besides so few listings, his site has a major flaw. It will guarantee his failure. But he is too busy challenging .com to pay attention or fix it. LOL
Does anyone know what is the renewal on vacation.rentals ?
It seems like social media and Millennials and even Gen-X are using Vacay more than Vacation, so maybe VacayRentals.com would be better than Vacation.rentals. It’s for sale at MDJ Domains (not familiar with — but somebody here probably knows it) and they state that they love “equity deals” — maybe the owner of Vacation.Rentals can strike an equity deal with this domain company and upgrade his URL to VacayRentals.com?
I’m sure people query more for Vacation Rentals than Vacay Rentals, but in time?
“People are no longer forced to dot-com everything and can start to break their addiction to dot-com’ing everything”
Whoever paid 1M for gay.app ought to register notgay.app for $16
Businesses Dial 9 to get out.
Guys, what some of you are really talking about?
When I search here from Czech Republic for phrase vacation rentals, website at vacation.rentals is ranking at FIRST page at Google!!! What else do you need when you are a business owner? You need exactly THAT!
That was an excellent business decision to pay for this domain, as they got now very very quickly ahead of almost all of their competitors online. So they are exactly where they need to be, and this is all that really matters.
In this context, 500k for this new gTLD is really a bargain. Just imo 🙂
@Marek no surprise your name links to a new gtld site, you need a lot more than to be on the first page of Google to be successful. A lot more………..
@Ronald, but first page on Google achieved during such short time, and when competition is so tough, will not hurt your business success, right ? 🙂
Hi there,
I am waiting for the coffee to brew before I get started into the day ahead. In going back over the timeline of the previous few months and came back to this blog and thought I would bring people up to speed on the sites performance to date.
We are now in November, 2018 and for 8 straight months the site has never left the first page of Google, never. We have been numbers 2-9 but always on the landing page. No matter what I say here, it will always be followed up with “Yeah, but…” and that is true. If I were to land at #2, it would be “Yeah, but you are not #1” If we land at #6 it would be “Yeah, but you are below the fold” If we were to have 3 spots on the top 10, it would be “Yeah but, you don’t have the top spots for Ads…” and so on.
I have to tell you, I am wildly thrilled with the performance and the breakthrough of the site. Are we doing as well as Cannabis Club or Home Loans? No, unfortunately. It could be due to the competitive landscape of the market. But, I would have to think that Home Loans would be far more competitive than Vacation Rentals. Yet, Blake continues to dominate the front page of Google now without fail.
We are now over 1300 listings and growing each and every day with bookings and inquiries. Overall, a nice start for a fledgling company who is rising.
Someone mentioned something earlier in the comment where people will automatically put the dot com at the end of the 2 words when told of the URL. Remarkably, our website hits jumped significantly when we countered this with telling the people w-w-w before the 2 words. In every instance, it clicked with the recipient. So now we just tell them http://www.vacation.rentals and all is well.
Have a good one, Mike