closed GeographyForum.com - Please post your thoughts.

[Icenevermelts]

I'm the new owner of GeographyForum.com, open to appraisals.

 

[Icenevermelts]

Nothing?

 

[WhoDatDog]

You probably overpaid, even if you paid a small amount. When people think of forums, it usually comes with the idea that the forum will be filled with people who are passionate about the subject. I never heard of a person in world history who proclaimed that they were passionate about Geography. Sure, people are passionate about travel, passionate about the world, and generally fascinated by where everything is, but I'm not sure there are many people who are passionate about Geography.

The name doesn't have any sizzle, either. It is a little bland. Yes, if you are excited about Geography, you could start a forum and spend 40 years on it, but you could do that with any other name, so you wouldn't need this one. Your one other option would be to sell to someone who wanted to start their own forum. Once again, they will be fine using another name instead of paying your rent by buying this name off of you.

Unless you can convince me that GeographyForum.com brings something to the table that will allow someone to make more money than they would with any other similar name, then I'm afraid it isn't worth what you think. There are people out there who go broke who have poker forums with lots of members. That would seem to be tough to do, as poker creates lots of action, and you can sign up players with an affiliate link to play at various sites and get nice commissions. The word Geography is not associated with commerce in any way. Geography does not mean travel. But even if you had TravelForum.com you still have to execute a business plan. But TravelForum.com would bring extra value to your business because of the name. I have never heard an advertisement or read of one online or in a magazine or newspaper that included the word Geography. That is very telling.

If you started a forum relating to Geography, whatever success you had would be because of your hard work and effort. This name wouldn't give you any extra value in my opinion, and it rings a big flat to me. So, I believe the name is worth close to zero, and it will cost you money, time, and effort, to own it. That said, 99 percent of people don't accurately account for how much time and effort they put into their names. Someone might suggest it is worth a few hundred, but it is almost a certainty that you will put more than a few hundred dollars worth of man hours into the name just thinking about it.

You are at $50 or so right now. Just putting up this thread has cost you an hour of your time, as you check back for messages and write posts. Someone had to sell you this name. They were willing to let it go pretty cheap, I bet. I have a feeling you thought you pulled off a great deal, but the seller is likely very happy.

In my opinion, this is a dangerous name to own, because at first glance, it looks like a somewhat valuable name. But it won't ever help anyone make a dollar that they couldn't otherwise make with something else, so there is no reasonable expectation that someone will pay you a nice amount.

You asked twice for thoughts, so I thought I better step in. Good luck with it. Your target audience is a new domainer with very little knowledge. If I am wrong, then offers will be flooding into you after people read my post.

 

[amplify]

You probably overpaid, even if you paid a small amount. When people think of forums, it usually comes with the idea that the forum will be filled with people who are passionate about the subject. I never heard of a person in world history who proclaimed that they were passionate about Geography. Sure, people are passionate about travel, passionate about the world, and generally fascinated by where everything is, but I'm not sure there are many people who are passionate about Geography.

On the contrary, I had a professor who was so passionate about Geography and kept in touch with his all his students (10+ years back) who went into the same major/teaching degree. This could quite possibly be a networking forum for people with the ability to teach geography (Master's Degree and K-12 education credits in order to teach) looking for a job or quite simply helping out students around the world (no pun) about geography. A better resource/direct niche than Yahoo! Answers and Course Hero for a specific topic.

...I've never seen someone so passionate about a school topic except Oceanography...

However, most of WTD said is correct. It's going to be real hard finding that person who wants to take the time to operate a forum (if they went into the field of Geography, they probably didn't do too many computer classes and would fail to maintain it at first).

Low $XX reseller, low $XXX+ end user IMO

...Additionally, there's the saying that a domain is worth what someone will buy it for as well...

Good luck!

Edit: In addition to that, a professor has a great target audience already... his classroom. "If you want help, post it on my forum." (instead of staying behind or appointments)

 

[WhoDatDog]

Well, the whole group of Geography professors have had the chance to make offers for this name over the years, and my guess is that not a single one of them thought that spending real money to acquire GeographyForum.com would help their lives. But OP would definitely be wise to spend 100 hours searching professor databases to find someone who might understand. If he values his time at $10 per hour, which is a low estimate, then he is minus $1,000 before he even sends the emails. Good luck convincing a geography professor to buy the name for any price, let alone enough that would render your time investment a wise one.

But even if he just spends an hour or two searching the globe for Geography professors, the odds that he can turn a profit are slim. The odds that he can get very lucky are close to zero, so that means that the name will likely take more from him than it ever gives back, just like it is taking from me right now.

I'm out. Good luck with it.

 

[amplify]

Totally agree with you again as some professors will decline because it's against the school's code of conduct to do something like that. Some professors may do it as a hobby though. That's why I said low $XXX (they make $100+ an hour at most universities, what's low $XXX for a hobby when a tennis racket costs $350?...). Not arguing the fact that this is worth a thousands of dollars, but it can fetch a buck or two... but it will take time... more time than usual... because people won't come to you.

Hopefully you get your investment back, but if you paid under $100 for this domain... I wouldn't contact anyone, wait for them to come to me... if I paid $500-$1500, I would be getting out there and finding professors because the hourly rate example given above. Once you connect with one professor, he generally has a network of professors that he knows that may be interested in it too... so be tactful with your sale if that's your approach. I.E. you find one working at Florida State College that's a low level professor, but studied under someone in let's say Harvard and he recollects that his professor (who is now retired) always wanted to continue teaching... you just networked to a better lead.

Good luck!