A few end user sales:

[Murray]

They were not justifications Murray - go back and read again.
I simply mentioned just SOME of the 125 reasons that buyers purchase keyword domains.

Once again, just for emphasis: just because you do not comprehend/know how a buyer can possibly value a certain domain, in a certain niche, at a certain price - that does NOT make their decision to purchase that particular domain a stupid one.

Please put together this.. it would benefit you no? you could include a link to your research on your sales emails as evidence as to why people should want your domains

Please do a study of these types of co.uk domains you've sold in the past year

Id love to know at least the following

1. What total number and % of domains sold have legitimate sites on
2. Of those with sites on, how are they ranking in google
3. How many are running adword campaigns

You can really show me up with how these intelligent business men have made great successes out of your bargain quality domains

Ready to eat some humble pie

Thanks

 

[deluxedomains]

this is a very interesting thread thanks people, after reading it back through I can see a lot of good points from many people but at the end of the day like many threads on here not everyone will always agree with each other and that's ok as its good to have a healthy debate.

 

[Federer]

Just got an email back from the buyers of CharteredTaxAdvisers.co.uk - after asking them what was the mean reason for them purchasing my domain (...).

They said "We are chartered tax advisers and obviously wanted to make use of that. Please let me know if there are any similar domains coming up. Kind regards...."

No, Murray - they are not stupid, in any way, for maybe wanting to own that niche category - as niche as it may be.

 

[martin-s]

Just got an email back from the buyers of CharteredTaxAdvisers.co.uk.

Right now they're a bad example as they have just 301'd the name to their existing website russellphillips.co.uk.

They can't use that strategy with Adwords and it won't help at all with SEO (the domain had no existing links).

So there's zero value so far.

But maybe they have plans to build out the name later.

 

[martin-s]

CharteredTaxAdvisers.co.uk

Interestingly, they use the alternative (more Americanised I believe) spelling on their website "advisor"

 

[Lovekraft]

Federer is right, most buyers appreciate owning the service they provide in domain form. It's a tiny investment for them. Sorry Murray but this is a domain name forum, so to come in here and try pissing all over some ones sales success is just bad form, especially as isn't exactly charging the earth for them!

 

[Murray]

I did a little research in the past 10 minutes of the co.uk sales you've publicly posted (none from the original post in this thread); I only got up to 21, can't spend all day on it sadly.


Domain use

11 have no website or a holding page (mostly unchanged domain for sale holding page)

4 redirect to the main site

2 seem to have proper sites on that are the main website

4 have micro sites (well, one is just a wordpress site with no content)

Rankings and advertising

Of the 6 domains that do have sites, 0 rank on the first page of google for their keywords

1 domain is using adwords, CustomTies, which I have to say is a nice enough name

My thoughts on the findings

After reading all the reasons why you believe people buy these domains, it's quite surprising the only one is being used in any real meaningful way

Also, that one, CustomeTies, Isn't a bad name and I wouldn't lump in with what I consider to be worthless

I guess we shall wait and see what becomes of these domains you've listed here in your original post.

 

[martin-s]

It strikes me there's an opportunity for an enterprising web developer to contact the new registrants of these domains (and any others sold) and explain to them what they need to do to really get some value out of having them...

If they've paid £100-150 for a name, you'd imagine they'll pay a few hundred quid to throw a quick website up too.

 

[Murray]

If they've paid £100-150 for a name, you'd imagine they'll pay a few hundred quid to throw a quick website up too.

Gamblers mindset, chasing your loses

 

[ian]

I guess it depends what the buyer hopes to achieve from the purchase. If it is just to protect the service or product they offer, fair enough, but if they are being actively told by the seller that "you need this domain because it will help with traffic to your site and position in Google" then that possibly isn't being honest with the truth, but ultimately it is for the buyer to then research, which I suspect they would do if the values were much higher.

 

[Federer]

Just sold a small set of (recent hand-registration) domains to RankingSolutions.co.uk:

seolancashire.co.uk
websitedesignlancashire.co.uk
socialmediaagencymanchester.co.uk
socialmediamarketinglondon.co.uk
seoblackburn.co.uk

£250


and HelicopterTourNewYork.com for $199.

 

[Federer]

I did a little research in the past 10 minutes of the co.uk sales you've publicly posted (none from the original post in this thread); I only got up to 21, can't spend all day on it sadly.


Domain use

11 have no website or a holding page (mostly unchanged domain for sale holding page)

4 redirect to the main site

2 seem to have proper sites on that are the main website

4 have micro sites (well, one is just a wordpress site with no content)

Rankings and advertising

Of the 6 domains that do have sites, 0 rank on the first page of google for their keywords

1 domain is using adwords, CustomTies, which I have to say is a nice enough name

My thoughts on the findings

After reading all the reasons why you believe people buy these domains, it's quite surprising the only one is being used in any real meaningful way

Also, that one, CustomeTies, Isn't a bad name and I wouldn't lump in with what I consider to be worthless

I guess we shall wait and see what becomes of these domains you've listed here in your original post.

Murray, you do not have the right to question WHY buyers purchase the domain names they do. I do not promise buyers anything in my template; a few ideas of what they could one day do with the domain are mentioned - but they know 100x more about domains/SEO/ranking than I will ever know - that is why I keep the email short and sweet.
MANY MANY sales occur every single week for more reasons than you could possibly imagine. As already mentioned, a number of domains that are sold on a weekly basis are simply stocked and not built upon, at least not for some time to come.


Some sales that have been reported (not mine / nicer names) over the past months include:

retirementmortgages.co.uk sold for $2,865
skiresorts.co.uk sold for $4,934
bettingcalculator.co.uk sold for $6,084
golfmarket.co.uk sold for $2,410
worldofbooks.co.uk sold for $4,390
caraudiosecurity.co.uk sold for $2,654
upholstery.co.uk sold for $4,413

There is nothing meaningful/valuable yet on those domains. That does not provide a reason for you to question if the buyers were sane or not when they forked over those amounts.

 

[martin-s]

retirementmortgages.co.uk sold for $2,865
skiresorts.co.uk sold for $4,934
bettingcalculator.co.uk sold for $6,084
upholstery.co.uk sold for $4,413

To be fair, some of these are much nicer names (and much better prices - well done)

 

[boxfish]

To be fair, some of these are much nicer names (and much better prices - well done)

*whoosh*

 

[Federer]

To be fair, some of these are much nicer names (and much better prices - well done)

Agreed. However it goes to show that a large number of domain buyers (for amounts large and small, high/low quality), do not build out their investments for some time in the future. In fact, some may NEVER build out/re-direct etc. But they have their reasons in buying these domains.

 

[Federer]

Another small end user sale:

HandSpecialist.co.uk - £75

Can you believe it was picked up by a hand specialist? Can't think of ANY reason why a hand specialist would want this one (...). Another "stupid" buyer maybe Murray?

 

[martin-s]

WTF is a hand specialist?

 

[Federer]

A hand specialist is a physician who focuses on the hands and arms.

Ex. http://www.handsurgeryconsultant.co.uk/
"At The Hand Clinic, be reassured you will receive very safe care from our highly-qualified hand specialists, including Mr Shyamalan (Shyam) our renowned hand surgery consultant."

(170 monthly searches)

 

[fuzzer]

Federer Vs Murray.... lol

Advantage Federer.

Murray to serve.

 

[Federer]

Just sold another one:
DebtRecoverySpecialists.co.uk - £75.