Originally posted by goh
FYI: It is at US$3,200.- at this moment.
It's difficult to estimate the final selling price of a domain name in an auction without knowing who the bidders are.
This condition may sound odd, but as many domainers (like safesys) have noted, there are two very different subsections to the domain name market: speculators (resellers) and business end-users.
In fact, I would actually argue that there are 3 distinct markets:
1) Speculators (resellers0
2) Small Business End-Users
3) Corporate End-Users
One of the great misfortunes of the domain market--and something that continues to hurt all domain sellers--is the lack of domain sales data. Because of this, substantial domain sales must often be whispered and hinted at, and information is rarely shared in public forums.
Nevertheless, it is my sense that high prices are still being paid for
very good domains by corporate end users. The rule of thumb I've often heard (and on occasion seen) used is that a good second-tier domain (not first-tier like stocks.com, media.com, etc) is worth in the neighborhood of a one-day, full-page ad in a major newspaper: approx $30,000 - $60,000.
Of course, if the buyers are not corporate end-users, and are small business or speculators, then the final selling price will be substantially less than if coporate buyers were bidding.
It's sort of like owning a house in an ordinary neighborhood. If you
have to sell--a distress sale--then you're going to be selling for a very low price, possible to speculators who will flip the property. If it's a normal sale, then you'll get an average price. However, if your house is on a property slated for some sort of corporate development, then, if you play it smart, you're going to make a
lot of money: in such a situation, corporations are know to pay two and three times market value...to them, given the situation, it's worth it.
Also note that the vast majority of sales on Afternic are made to speculators, or buyers for third-party businesses looking to save money by "hiding" behind a speculator-buyer.
If the private auction for "few.com" is currently only at $3k, then I'd say corporate buyers aren't involved, at least not openly. Sure, it's not a spectacular name, but it's a real word, only 3 characters, and it can have positive connotations. Any larger company whose name acronymizes to "few" would pay good coin for this .com.
Miles