Domain Name Wire yesterday reported about the latest short .me domain to sell for thousands. Capitalising on the popularity of Twitter, someone managed to sell the domain Tweet.me for $11,505. I actually think that the domain could have went for a lot more, considering how popular that term is.

Some of the other top .me sales include preview.me for $2,605, aweso.me for $2,005 and bookmark.me for $1,755 (which I think could have sold for more).

There’s nothing on the tweet.me domain just now but I have no doubt that a Twitter script or portal will be launched there over the next few months.

Here’s how they explain it themselves :

Looking for a cool domain name, but can’t think of one yourself? Think all the good domains are already taken? You’ll love PickyDomains.Com

Here is how it works. You deposit $50 and give us your specifications. Our contributors start submitting their domain name suggestions. When you see that perfect domain, you just register it. If none of our suggestions worked for you – you just get your money back. See, there is no risk involved.

If you become a contributor then you will get $25 (50%) sent to your PayPal account. It’s a really good idea and it’s certainly a site I will think of using next time I’m stuck for a new for a new project.

Link : Picky Domains

As a known moneymaker, Schoemaker trademarked ShoeMoney to stop people using his name for profit. With regards to Adwords, this meant that no one could target the word ShoeMoney except for Jeremy Schoemaker himself. However, ShoeMoney noticed one person who was getting through the adwords system and was making money through his trademarked name.

To cut a long story short, he tried contacting the owner of the site (myincentivewebsite.com) but was not replied to. His ‘Cease and Desist’ was not answered either. After going through the courts and forcing the host to replace the website owners information it turns out that the guy worked at Google as an AdWords Account Strategist. The guy had been using his position to bypass the adword controls and view all the keywords and phrases that ShoeMoney had been targeting.

It looks like ShoeMoney has a very good chance of winning this case (as well he should). Here’s hoping it works out well for him

To read more about this please visit the link below.

Link : ShoeMoney Sues Google Employee For AdWords Violations

I was quite intrigued when I first read the announcement of the .tel domain as it works differently from other top level domains. The domain is not used for a website, it is simply used to hold basic information about the person.

Have a look at the video to get a basic understanding of how it works :

In the video the guy gives the girl his number by writing ben.tel on the train window but with 100,000 domains already registered, it’s fair to say that all 3 letter domains and most common first names have been snapped up already. Though for longer tel domain names I’m not sure if I see the point. It’s a handy way of holding ‘business card’ type information about yourself online but I think most people nowadays just swap email addresses or ask the person to ‘find me on facebook’.

If this was launched a few years ago I think it would have taken off but I’m not sure how much this will take off, particularly as registration prices seem to be about 50% higher than coms, nets and most other tlds.

What do you think of the .tel extension, would you register a .tel domain?

So I was intrigued to see that Toys.com was sold in a phone auction. DirectNavigation covered the telephone auction last month .

There was a lot of breaks during the auction so I assume that behind the scenes were a lot of people discussing whether the bid was going too high. The bidding also seemed strange at times. For example, after toyrsrus bid $4,815,000, National A-1 responded with a bid of $4820,000.

Here is the transcript in full :

Bidding has finished.

toyrsrus bids $ 5,100,000

National A-1 bids $ 5,000,000

National a-1 asks for 10 minute break

toyrsrus bids $ 4,915,000

National A-1 bids $ 4820,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,815,000

bidding is going quick so i’m going to skip a few a

National A-1 bids $ 4,530,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,525,000

National A-1 bids $ 4,505,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,500,000. they raised their own bid

break given until 4.55 pm est

National A-1 asks for 15 minute break. Lots of bickering between toysrus and national a-1 going on over time alloted for break.

toyrsrus bids $ 4,300,000

national A-1 bids $ 4,155,000

toyrsrus bids $ 4,150,000

5 minute break announced

national A-1 bids $3,755,000

toyrsrus bids $3,750,000

national A-1 bids $3,555,000

toyrsrus bids $3,550,000

national A-1 bids $3,305,000

toyrsrus bids $3,300,000

i’m live on the call. 6 bidders total. 5 remain. National A-1 seems determined as they immediately bid when needed. Toys R Us as well as the rest holding cards very tight

toys r us asks for 2 minute break

national A-1 bids $3,255,000

toyrsrus bids $3,250,000

national A-1 bids $3,205,000

toyrsrus bids $3,200,000

national A-1 bids $3,150,000

toyrsrus bids $3,145,000

national A-1 bids $3,140,000

toyrsrus bids $3,135,000

national A-1 bids $3,130,000

its been announced, bid increments have to be at least 5k.

a break as taken place to discuss bidding increments among the bankruptcy lawyers. we are not able to hear this. FYI - bidding is a very slow process. break should be over at 3:55 pm est

toyrsrus bids $3,125,000

national A-1 bids $3,100,000

toyrsrus bids $3,050,000

Frank Schilling just formally dropped out.

toys.com current bid is $2,900,000 to national A-1. i will update as bidding occurs.

Link : Toys.com - bought by Toy R Us for $ 5,100,000

1. Domain estimator tools
2. Overture results
3.  Previous sales prices

Let’s look at a few more ways that domainers can get a value on a name:

4.  Paid domain appraisals:   Paying a “professional” or auction service a fee to evaluate and price your domain has been around for awhile.  The top ones that come to mind are Moniker, Sedo or even GoDaddy. All of these companies have an auction service, and all of them claim to have the right expertise to price a domain.   Prices vary from $5.99 to $50 per domain. My personal experience has been a bit strange in that the 3 domains I had appraised at diferrent times (same company) came back with exactly the same price, $2,000. Here’s one domainer’s review on Moniker and Sedo appraisals.

5. Price based on Revenue: Some domains are sold on a formula based on how much the domain earns each month in revenue (say from parking the domain). This is called, “multiples” and while it’s a very tangible, clear way to determine a price, some domains may be good and have no revenue. Normally with multiples, someone will say I will buy “X” type of domain earning $30 per month, and pay 2 years earnings. 30 X 24 months = $720 for this domain. Is that a good price? Well, it’s up to the seller.

6. Personal Experience: This may be a gut feeling on price, but that isn’t tangible or the same number to each person. Some people have gotten the opinion of other domainers, but the answers can really vary. If you are buying domains in a particular vertical (or topic), after time you do get a feel for pricing in that category. Someone who works with large numbers of domain sales may have a better feel for pricing, but it really comes down to finding a buyer who will pay a price you feel good about.

7. Pick a Number: Believe it or not, some people just pick a number they like. Now, this doesn’t work alot of the time, but if you have very good, or even a premium .com domain, you can wait until you get the price you want or name your price. That’s not the average domainer. But if you can cover your costs and are willing to wait as long as it takes, then this appraoch has it’s place.

If you are new or considering jumping in, where do you start? The first question is what is your ultimate goal with domaining? Do you want to start with a few good domains, and develop them? Do you want to spend a lot of money on one domain? Do you intend to buy a group of (probably) lesser domains and flip them? Each of these plans has a pro and a con, and in a group of domainers, you’ll find someone who tried one of these plans.

If you really don’t know the answer, then a good place to start is to read how some of the most successful domainers today got started. In the early days, domainers were secluded and worked alone with no communication with other domainers. There was no way to know what they did, what worked and what didn’t. Even until a few years ago, the top people in the industry didn’t speak publicly on what they were doing, or how they got started. This has changed. People like Frank Schilling, Rick Schwartz, and a few others started speaking more openly online. Michael Gilmour has an interesting story on how he started in domaining not that many years ago.

I recommend that you do some reading – not unlike reading the biographies of leaders in other industries, or reading about the underdog who made it from no-where. I really recommend reading Frank Schilling’s now retired blog “Seven Mile.” Frank generously shared his experiences, his thoughts on many, many domaining topics, graciously answered questions, and gave us all hope that we can be the underdog. He stopped blogging in early 2008, but the information there is invaluable.

It caused quite a stir when Frank and a few other well-known domainers starting openly sharing their thoughts. Take advantage of it! Sometimes all you need is one kernel of an idea to get you on the right track that works.

Appraisal Value of organicbakeries.com
- Dollar Value is $3086

It was almost 3X what my domain sold for, and I would say it’s in line with previous sales of secondary quality names - what I mean by that is there are other 2-word .com organic names that are definitely top tier, like OrganicFarm.com or OrganicFood.com,etc.
I think testing a few more domains at Nameboy is worth a shot, and depending on those results, I would take their price estimates into consideration along with other factors. I don’t know if the metrics Nameboy uses is based on the current pricing market in the domain industry, which is reported down an estimated 15%, or not.

Let’s move down the list to the next item:

3. Previous Sales Prices: This type of valuation is one that is used in Real Estate (comps) and in selling antiques (price guides) as a tangible method to obtain a reasonable estimate of value. It doesn’t rely on mystery metrics, or gut feeling, but sales history which is documented information. I like to use DN Sale Price to check sales prices, but there’s also NameBio which is connected with Snap. For UK domains, Acorn Domains has a similar tool with sales prices listed and a search feature.

The pro is that you can get a good idea on recent and past values, which is nice to determine an overall value for a domain. I like that the values are compiled into one database from various sources, including live auctions or online auction sales. If yo u have a name in a particular vertical or industry, looking at similar names with similar characteristics (2 word, 3 word, .com .net etc) help give an overall idea on value as well.

The con is that using previous sales prices like this may or may not reflect a true up-to-the-minute value. You have to guess who the buyer was (another domainer, an end user, an online marketer?) which can have a big effect on a final sales price. I sold a domain a couple years ago to an end user for a good amount of money that Estibot gave a value of $30, and nothing close shows up to this name in previous sales. You also need to take into account the economic condition of the domain industry. Prices are down right now, but also the market is more flooded with domains for sale than ever, and that has a definite effect on many names.

I am sure that many human appraisal services also use a database like these sites, that incudes previous sales prices as one metric they take into consideration in doing an appraisal.

If Domain Valuation comes back with a response today, I will update this post, otherwise I’ll be back for Part III tomorrow.

Let’s look at some ideas on various tools and methods leading to domain valuation:

1. Domain value estimator tools: I always feel hopeful that one day I will stumble upon this wonderful tool, and know one else will know. The first one that comes to mind is Estibot.  I kinda like the feel of entering something and getting an answer that looks reasonable, if not necessarily usable.  I tried it on the domain I sold for $1,180 at silent auction - OrganicBakeries.com - and Estibot gave it a value of $400.  Glad I didn’t base my auction reserve on that price! It’s a place to start though, but not where I’d go if I am looking for a serious number.

Next I tried Nameboy.  You enter the domain and extension and your e-mail and they mail the results.  I would enter the results here, but I checked my e-mail and nothing yet, so I will let you know tomorrow in an update. You can bulk enter domains if you have a list, and there is no limit mentioned.  Maybe you need to send it during the day, but I am sure this is all automated.  Still Nameboy claims:

Instant - Emailed to you in seconds
Accurate - Appraisals based on demand and currency of words on the internet.
Objective - Consistent, industry standard metrics - no guessing, no bias.

Next, I tried DomainValuation.com.  I have never tried this site before.  It looks good in that they say they are recommended by Domaining.com (The About Us doesn’t really say who they are). They also say:

For a limited time we are proud to give you access to our famous domain name valuation service at NO charge.
This is the same system used by elite domain professionals who need to quickly valuate domain portfolios.

I submitted OrganicBakeries.com and another domain I haven’t sold, but thinking about selling, just to see what they come up with.  Again, I entered the names and fiirst name and e-mail, and this time the site said I will receive a value within 24 hours. Update in the next post.

2. Overture results: Does anyone still use Overture results to evaluate domains? Even after Overture’s Search Tool was shut down some long time domainers were buying Overture databases to use as one metric to evaluate domains. I never understood why since the data was out of date and in the SEO industry, Overture results were considered skewed at best and maybe even manipulated by some.  There has to be something to Overture numbers or domainers would have gone elsewhere.  Right now Overture is dead anyway, and some people are relying on Wordtracker for search result numbers, but I don’t know about this either.

Oh Wait! There is a remnant of November 2007 Overture numbers here, for those domainers who can’t resist!  Thank Chris Beach everyone.

Well, let’s see what the domain tool results are and continue the list in Part II tomorrow.  Have a great night!