ExerciseBalls.com closed at DropCatch yesterday for $5,212. This was the third time the name sold, each time for a lower price. However there is one other step along the way, it sold as a website a little over 2 years ago on Flippa for $10,650. Ali Zandi was the seller of the website.
From the sales listing:
Background
The domain ExerciseBalls.com was acquired in 2015 from SnapNames after being dropped by a major domain investor who bought the domain at a domain conference auction for $17,500 in 2008.
The website was implemented shortly after it was acquired in the summer of 2015. I have invested a significant amount of time building this business.
This is a 2-year old well-established website that is highly ranked in most search engines and is on the first page for Exercise Balls in most search engines.
The website has not been accepting payments aside from the first month because I have been overwhelmed with other commitments and a 1-1/2 year old baby. I started this website a few months before my baby was born so I didn’t have the time to focus on building the business.
With a category killer domain, ExerciseBalls.com is positioned to be the leader in this particular market. The site did receive one sale the first month before we even got the DigiCert EV SSL. It was about $90 for 2 exercise balls.
The website did have a Facebook page with just a few likes and a few updates. Looks like it was based out of San Francisco. Twitter account had no activity with just 4 followers and one tweet.
Exercise Balls has maintained it’s interest line over the last 5 years so it’s not a term that has become a fad or outdated like selfie stick.
I still do not understand what kind of site it was: ExerciseBalls.com and why will this domain be entered into DropCatch.com?
What happend to Ali, he opened up something star with a few people, and kind of just disappeared?
A lower price with every sale. I’d say it would be very hard to rank and the category has probably been “amazoned”
Great example of the disconnect that exists (has always existed) between domainers and marketers.
A name is a label for an idea or concept held within the reader’s mind. That meaning or “identity” is based on a belief system, which is supported by culture, a-priori knowledge, experience… and a host of other factors.
A web site on a domain is an experience… and in just microseconds the visual experience of landing on a web page confirms or denies pre-existing beliefs and expectations. From there, marketing on a domain name is about the reader learning, or reacting emotionally, whether that is based on confirmation, shock, enlightenment, contrarianism, etc etc etc.
Whether “ExerciseBalls” is a good domain name or not depends on how it gets deployed, to whom, when, and in what context… this history or prior pricing and deployment is helpful from an evidentiary perspective (some people tried some things) but doesn’t tell much of a meaningful story with respect to name value.
From my cultural background, experience, and perspective…. which of course reflects my age, race, socio-economic status over time, and observational experience as a professional internet business man, that name has little value for marketing…. the market for “exercise balls” is too small, and relatively undifferentiated. Add in the likelihood (or not) of people using it for direct navigation, and the likelihood of search engines to rank organic product pages today… low value.
Market research shows that even branded/marketed exercise balls e.g. “SoAlpha” sell for a mere $15 each, and need to be bundled with bands or other attractors in order to compete with generic low-cost equivalents.