Domain Value

NeptunesMoon

Hi,
How would I find out how much my domain is worth? Would it be based on what somebody is prepared to pay for it and what would I need to do to find out? Could I use this as an asset to get a loan? I don't want to advertise it for sale anywhere {because I don't want to sell it yet, or let people know I'm thinking of selling it} so is there a way around it without doing this? Also, if it's a .ie domain, can it only be sold within Ireland and what procedure would I have to go through to transfer it to the new owner?

Cheers!

mneylon

You can't sell an IE domain.
With regard to speculating in domain names - unless you are very good at it you won't make any money and a bank manager will laugh at you
Sorry, but the very idea that you would get a bank loan based on a domain name only made me almost spill my coffee

NeptunesMoon

Well what if I was to sell the company as a whole. The company is basically going to be the domain, without the domain, there wont be a company so can I not sell up the domain and the company? I suppose it is hopeful that a bank manager would see the domain as an asset, but if anything did go wrong I could pay them back by selling the domain to somebody who may be interested in buying it.

Oriel

Unless you have www.sex.com or something, I doubt you'll make a lot of money.

dahamsta

As an aside, there's a great story behind sex.com. Theft, corruption, millions of dollars, etc. Read a few of these if you're interested.

http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22sex.com%22

adam

jmcc

NeptunesMoon wrote:

Well what if I was to sell the company as a whole.

The domain would be the property of the company so this would be ok.

I suppose it is hopeful that a bank manager would see the domain as an asset, but if anything did go wrong I could pay them back by selling the domain to somebody who may be interested in buying it.

It all depends on the domain. As a rule, .ie domains are barely worth the registration fee because .ie cctld is miniscule compared to a gTLD such as .com and there is a world of difference between the values assigned. The only time a domain is truly worth anything is when it is sold and money changes hand. Therefore it would not really be collateral for a loan.

I've got a pile of .com domains and I've only ever received an "offer" for one. The person making the offer wanted me to give up for the price of the registration. I have a few others, Waterford related, and Waterford Crystal's US lawyers nervously wanted to know what I was doing with them all.

Though if it is a .ie domain, forget about trying to sell it and build up the company. Then sell the company.

Regards...jmcc

dahamsta

jmcc wrote:

I've got a pile of .com domains and I've only ever received an "offer" for one. The person making the offer wanted me to give up for the price of the registration.

I've had a few offers on my portfolio, but never more than a hundred bucks.

adam

mneylon

We're always being contacted by people and companies looking to buy domains that we don't actually own (ie. we're listed as tech-c)

jmcc

Ken Shabby wrote:

I've had a few offers on my portfolio, but never more than a hundred bucks.

Yep Adam but this was for a great Irish domain to do with a theoretical guide to gigs. The rest are either search or hosting related domains. I mentioned a few on the Open list but the reality is that generic domains are difficult to market and expensive to build a business around. One of the biggest mistakes in the domain business that people make is going for a generic domain name rather than building an identifiable brand. Almost reminds me of the time that McAfee (the AV firm) thought they were Hackwatch.

Regards...jmcc