The Domain Industry is Doing Fine: Perspective
When you put the current situation in perspective, the domain name industry is buzzing along nicely.
Let’s face it, 2008 wasn’t the best year in the domain industry. It certainly wasn’t as good as 2007 on a whole. Nor 2006.
But what regarding compared to 2004?
The reason we’re down in the dumps regarding domaining is that the industry was doing very, very well for a couple years, so domainers lost perspective.
Perspective is notable. Today I filled up my gas tank for $2.00 a gallon. The guy next to me was complaining regarding how gas is up 30 cents or so. I recalled a picture text message from my little sister back when prices were dropping. It was of a station selling gas at the bargain basement price of $2.59 per gallon! She was so excited, having paid $4.00 a gallon just months earlier. And now someone’s complaining regarding $2.00 gas.
It’s all regarding perspective.
Looking back at DNJournal’s sale data from 2004 makes you realize that domain values are still above where they were just 5 years ago.
Reviewing the list, I see only a handful of domains that may not sell for as much at auction today. And that’s at auction, not to end users.
Looking at some of these seemed like “steals” if you reviewed them a couple years ago compared to the high auction prices of the day; now they just seem like good deals. Consider:
Cairo.com $35,001
CleanEnergy.com $31,950
AntiDepressants.com $30,000
Actor.com $30,000
HotelReservation.com $27,500
Band.com $26,000
38.com $20,000
So if the value of these domains is arguably higher now, why are we so negative? Well, look at these 2007 sales that may seem frothy now:
Dollars.com $650,00 (which recently sold for a lot less, so if this was the actual sales price then the buyer took a bath)
Greeting $350,000
Clock.com $175,000
Walkers.com $175,000
Lips.com $135,000
Note.com $115,000
Debit.com $100,000
And don’t forget what has happened to domain parking. It’s worse than a year or two ago, but much better than when I started in this business in the late 90s (i.e., $0).
Unless you bought everything at the top of the market, it’s not as dismal as it seems.
