What are vanity email addresses worth?

[Deleted member 70408]

If a person wanted to sell a great email address - such as Lawyer (at) hotmail.com, Poker (at) aol.com or Domains (at) gmail.com - is there signigicant value in these email addesses? What do you guys think their value would be?

 

[jkosolis]

I don't really think they would have value and I don't know if hotmail for example allows to sell that

 

[Bob]

I have seen some Yahoo email addresses sell for $50+ in the past.

Also, there was a market awhile back for 6 digit ICQ numbers. I cannot remember what they were going for though. you would see them on eBay all the time.

-Bob

 

[WhoDatDog]

At first blush it looks like a potential great market; however, think of the potential for unintended information to get passed to the new owner. If someone was using [email protected] then the new owner would likely get lots emails that were intented for the previous owner, at least at first.

These emails could potentially have passwords on them and/or lots of other stuff. It seems that there would be too much risk to sell it in most cases. Somewhere you would think there would be value, but it probably lies in the first owner using the email as some sort of development and/or marketing plan.

 

[RazorNF]

Yeah, I've seen prices vary... However these days, like people's names, I think vanity addresses are just a magnet for spam.

 

[typeins]

lol 6 digit icq numbers going for cash eh?..

I've got a very low ICQ number.. lower than that

 

[Deleted member 70408]

Assuming the owner changed the email address attached to all of his accounts, it wouldn't be a problem, and that would be the seller's issue and not the buyer's.

 

[GT Web]

How could you monetize something like [email protected]?

As for Hotmail addresses, they look so unprofessional I doubt anyone would spend very much for one.

 

[WhoDatDog]

Assuming the owner changed the email address attached to all of his accounts, it wouldn't be a problem, and that would be the seller's issue and not the buyer's.

It's a problem if I use the email every day whether I change all of the accounts or not. It better be a good offer for me to have the potential for someone to get my personal correspondence in the future.

This potential drawback would hamper the market. How much do you want me to pay for your personal email address right now? You can change your accounts all you want, but I am still going to be able to read stuff that is intended for you.

 

[Deleted member 70408]

How could you monetize something like [email protected]?

As for Hotmail addresses, they look so unprofessional I doubt anyone would spend very much for one.

I am sure you can't, and that wouldn't be a reason for someone to purchase it.