Frank Schilling, commenting on this domain few days ago on his blog, had this to say:
I bought LastNames.com for five figures over the last few days.. That wasn’t cheap. In fact the cheapest name anyone has offered me all year was Autograph.com and they already had an offer of $55,000. Again, that’s not cheap, it’s just the cheapest name I’ve been offered.
What is your take on it? How would you appraise it? Would you base your numbers on traffic, keyword advertising rates, industry potential, domain sales history, a combination possibly?
Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this.
Sahar
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Sahar
I think it was a fair price for the domain. I don’t think it was a “bargain”.
For development purposes I think its one of those names that really need the “s” at the end.
Autographs.com is probably better than the singular form. After all, people want famous persons’ autographs. The singular seems to be more fit for a brand, company name or label.
Incidentally, TravelCuba.com went for a mere $4,211 today at NameJet.
Agreed, Autographs.com would have been the better buy.
OV History Autographs.com Vs. Autograph.com
autographs.com
111 (2007-07-11 10:33:44)
133 (2006-12-28 04:34:26)
92 (2006-04-30 12:42:32)
109 (2005-11-23 14:25:07)
122 (2004-09-10 04:34:26)
164 (2004-06-20 09:45:21)
autograph.com
67 (2007-07-17 12:54:15)
60 (2006-12-30 17:39:17)
39 (2006-04-28 13:47:42)
66 (2005-11-22 11:13:20)
44 (2004-09-10 04:34:03)
81 (2004-05-20 02:08:04)
Remember Autographs.com has relevant content on site which means, this traffic pattern may include return visits.
Sahar
I noticed the recent sale earlier on the Sedo site and thought it was a vert good purchase price. Nice purchase Sahar. Congrats on another quality domain.
I think the singular can be as good as the plural here. Everyone wants An “Autograph” from a famous person. You could build a great business from either. If you could attract major athletes and Movie stars to help endorse the site it could really be special. I would have thought it to be a 6 figure name. Great catch, Good luck with it.
It didn’t sell during the last Great Domains auction, so there isn’t a lot of investor demand for it at $55k. I agree that the plural version is better…unfortunately, it’s already in use.
Yeah plural would be better, this one is cool too.
Not cheap at all, I’d rather say a little overpriced.
I have to agree with Howard Bowling’s response to your post.
It is a GREAT Catch
Haha, the irony is that TravelCuba.com ended up in the hands of Frank Schilling.
Looks more like a Good Bye!
55k seems very over priced to me. The plural version would be worth well over 100k but I just don’t see the value at 55k for the singular version.
Hopefully the new owner will prove me wrong.
Hello Sarid,
Gee I wonder what a well funded advertising company would sell this name for to an end user client? Probably a ten fold premium, I’d guess. Makes you wonder how really valuable direct navigation names are?
Maybe someone on this forum has a calculator handy. What is 5 % of the on line advertising Industry? That is the low low end of just the direct navigation industries, slice of the pie that we eat. This slice of the pie is only going to get larger, as the public starts getting wise on how to dial up companies addresses directly. Great Industry to be in right ?
Would you imagine in your wildest dreams someone wanting those kinds of dollars for themselves, and all they have to do is pick off small holders one by one and in so doing setting precedence as they go. Knowing that if the Snowe bill passes the take gets bigger. On top of this the small business owners have no $ coming in 24/7 to protect their interests, because knowone cares to pool assets to fund a passage residual income source used to protect their turf?
Our competition employs professional fund raisers, with a planned systematic approach to change our addresses to theirs. Its been going on now since I’ve been in the business for as long as I can remember.
The ad companies aren’t pushing direct navigation because they don’t control the addresses. They will not quit, without a fight. Please support a fund raising initiative for the I.C.A. “HelpRaiseFunds.com “
Maybe I should chime in a little. I look at it from a business perspective rather then simply as a traffic generator. I look at the industry, asking myself what better names are out there? Some of you said the plural and while I do not fully agree let’s assume it is better for the sake of argument. Let’s also face the facts: it is gone and in use and most likely will never to be free again. The second best then becomes the best.
Next, looking the industry I don’t think anyone doubts the magnitude of the industry.
Next, looking at what kind of item it is. Is it a good fit for the web? Again, not much doubts here that it is as such items are scattered around the globe and are usually not confined to a local area, storage.
Not too many letters, industry category domain, highly recognized, defensible, and a .com.
All in all I thought it was a great catch, completely underpriced, again, from a business perspective.
Sahar