Parked and Wasted Domains ?

[Ging]

I posted this as part of my Introuduction thread but maybe posting might provoke more discussion.

I am amazed at how many premium one word domains are owned by individuals that do nothing with them and just park them. I don't want to go into specific domain names but to give an example :

A .co.uk domain has been owned by the same individual for the last 7 years that I am aware of . It was for sale 7 years ago at £21K. Then disappeared off sale for years and has been parked for the last 6 years (no contact details). The revenue on it probably is in the low hundreds a year. After tracking down the owner via companies house (Domain regged to company, own by another company, registrant director of other company etc) and talking to him I find the domain is for sale at a price that , in my opinion , could never be realised . A figure in the £xx,xxx.

I would be the perfect buyer for the domain as an end user and the value to my business would be nearer to £x,xxx. What makes it even more nuts is the parked pages they are on list my business at the top !

I've found the same situation with other domains that are parked for years and the owners just 'disappear' . Anyone else got stories ?

 

[retired_member3]

There are loads of cases like that. I can only assume people are sitting on them as an investment and not aware of parking revenue.

 

[rob]

Would the value of the name to your business exceed £21,000 over 7 years?

 

[Ging]

Would the value of the name to your business exceed £21,000 over 7 years?

Absolutely not and probably not to anyone else either. It is a very specific dictionary word. It would'nt add any more value to the business apart from a 'vanity issue' on having the domain name.

I am assuming that it's not been actively marketing as it was very difficult tracking down the current owner.

 

[Ging]

Domain owners often get a bad wrap for this and are often accused of being greedy etc.. but it cuts both ways. I've been approached on more than one occasion by people masquerading as a member of the public with £100 to spend but when you start to dig they're actually representing an often large business.


I often see people say that a domain is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, well that's only true if you're trying to sell it quickly, the real truth is it's only worth what someone is willing to sell it for. It's easy to say something is only worth £**** when you don't own it but I wonder what some of these people that accuse us of being greedy would be asking if the glove was on the other hand.

I was upfront with the owner and said we were an end user and we had a price in mind we thought it was worth to our company. Asked what he had in mind for it and he came in with the high end figure I ended the discussion pretty much straight away as it was obvious that there was going to be no room for negotiation.

I'm not questioning 'greed' issue just the fact there are some domain owners that hold quality domain names with no real intention of using them or selling. I'm not talking about the mainstream, I'm talking about the elite domain owners that sit behind offshore companies and multiple company facade's.

Thanks for the input.The number of times I've had ' I'm buying the domain for my daughter/son as a present so can't afford much' line

 

[rob]

Absolutely not and probably not to anyone else either. It is a very specific dictionary word. It would'nt add any more value to the business apart from a 'vanity issue' on having the domain name.

vanity is worth something

Do I get my house glazed by Windows.co.uk or by SmithGlazing.co.uk ?

The other aspect is people who hold lots of good names may only 'need' to sell a single name every so often to keep things ticking over.

Likewise, 'use' of a name can be problematic for numerous reasons and is quite often the reason behind either bland search boxes or 404 errors on some decent names.

Obviously its hard without knowing the exact name to see what the situation is, but it could be any number of valid reasons.

 

[Ging]

Obviously its hard without knowing the exact name to see what the situation is, but it could be any number of valid reasons.

I don't want to divulge the domain but to give you an idea why it's so daft , googlin it , the no 1 returned link after two sponsored links is Wikipedia.

The current owner of this domain does not need the money, trust me :mrgreen:

 

[stevebrowne]

just the fact there are some domain owners that hold quality domain names with no real intention of using them or selling. I'm not talking about the mainstream, I'm talking about the elite domain owners that sit behind offshore companies and multiple company facade's.

But that is entirely their right. When the time comes they will either trade or sell, or even forget to renew (although not often!)

Much of the world's fine art is locked away in private collections, and this frustrates people, much as a good generic URL left unused does amongst domainers. But that's the way it is.

If you want to buy something there is only one of in the whole world, then the seller holds all the cards. You either want it badly enough to pay for it, or you have to pass on it. In your case, it isn't worth the £21k quoted, so fair enough. The seller has to decide whether to reduce that to get a guaranteed good sale, or he/she sits on it until someone else wants it, or it becomes redundant.

But some end users need to waken up (not you - you have decided the value of that domain to your business). They are quite happy to pay £50k for a single page of advertising which is tomorrow's chip wrappers, but don't want to pay a few hundred/thousand quid on a generic domain name. Madness.

 

[newday 56]

Well you appear to of bough a domain name of mine how much would setmenu.co.uk be to get back.

 

[retired_member11]

I was upfront with the owner and said we were an end user and we had a price in mind we thought it was worth to our company. Asked what he had in mind for it and he came in with the high end figure I ended the discussion pretty much straight away as it was obvious that there was going to be no room for negotiation.

I'm not questioning 'greed' issue just the fact there are some domain owners that hold quality domain names with no real intention of using them or selling. I'm not talking about the mainstream, I'm talking about the elite domain owners that sit behind offshore companies and multiple company facade's.

Thanks for the input.The number of times I've had ' I'm buying the domain for my daughter/son as a present so can't afford much' line

Ending the discussion straight away was a self fulfilling prophecy - there is an art to negotiation.

 

[Juniper]

.co.uk renewal at £3'ish per year, parking making £100 per year - why sell unless someone is willing to pay the price you put on the domain?

I was approached by a person who wanted to buy a domain I own for a 3rd party new set up business. I bought the domain for a commercial project I was going to do but later chose to use a different shorter domain.

My domain was without doubt ideal for the company and the niche they were going to be operating in, when I was approached I was told that if I were after £x,xxx's I could forget it - I replied I wasn't however I was expecting £1k - the sale never happened.

Am I bothered? Not really, I have a domain that costs me very little a year to own, that could potentially be used by someone who wants to create a rival business too my own - so I'm happy to sit on it.

If someone wants it that much, they will pay my valuation.

 

[retired_member11]

"Parked and Wasted Domains?"

Ownership is the key issue here. You don't own the domain, hence your dissatisfaction. Every point you make flows from your dissatisfaction. If you owned the domain your points would flip.

It's ying and yang... Ging.

 

[khalid]

Interesting discussion, good topic and many views.

I don't have the cash to sit on names and wait for a sale, 90% of my portfolio is developed/under development because the value you add to a ranked and indexed name is often much more than the hassle of doing it and makes it easier to sell/generate revenue.

I've seen plenty names, some decent, others "ok", just sitting doing nothing. I've e-mailed, telephoned and sent letters, and at least 75% don't get a reply.

It's business, it's life.

 

[redbird]

vanity is worth something

Do I get my house glazed by Windows.co.uk or by SmithGlazing.co.uk ?.

Is Bill Gates reduced to selling double glazing now then?

 

[lebowski]

I don't want to divulge the domain but to give you an idea why it's so daft , googlin it , the no 1 returned link after two sponsored links is Wikipedia.

The fact that Wiki is top doesn't devalue the dn. Wiki is top for sooo much, including some excellent generics with major commercial appeal. There are invariably only 9 organic results to compete for on that first page.

 

[woopwoop]

This is a great discussion.

...The current owner of this domain does not need the money, trust me :mrgreen:

This is why he can sit back and wait for a crazy high offer which may or may not come. Like someone said it's only £3/year for him to keep it. Even if he keeps it for 20 years he just needs to add £60 to his asking price (and maybe inflation depending on how he values it in future).

Plus you don't know the pices he's been offered in the past or how many offers he's received. I think you mentioned that it isn't such a common word but he thought about registering it...

...Do I get my house glazed by Windows.co.uk or by SmithGlazing.co.uk ?

I'm probably not the norm. I'm a domainer who hates typing in generics. I think it's because I love advertising and brands. Generics are a bad option for brands imo. There's no creativity there. SmithGlazing.co.uk makes me think it's a family business and they'll appreciate my business and do a better job.

But some end users need to waken up (not you - you have decided the value of that domain to your business). They are quite happy to pay £50k for a single page of advertising which is tomorrow's chip wrappers, but don't want to pay a few hundred/thousand quid on a generic domain name. Madness.

Completely agree. I've a domain which I used for a project and am not sure if I need it for anything in future. It's a .com and is the same as a .co.uk that a subsidiary of an ad firm. They ren't interested in the domain because they said they are only UK based!

Their parent company is international, the .com domain gets type ins plus I'd sell it for £300!

Ending the discussion straight away was a self fulfilling prophecy - there is an art to negotiation.

Good advice. The guy would probably sell for 15k if he's asking 21k. Of course it depends on the name. Also if you told him it's only worth 7k for example, he's gonna think that he can milk another 5k out of you at least.

 

[Ging]

Ending the discussion straight away was a self fulfilling prophecy - there is an art to negotiation.

I agree. You can't negotiate when one party has no intention setting parameters that leave room for negotiation though can you ?

They could have set a value of a million pounds or five hundred thousand pounds.It makes no difference to the negoiation if one party's expectation is so far revmoved from the other.

 

[Ging]

"Parked and Wasted Domains?"

Ownership is the key issue here. You don't own the domain, hence your dissatisfaction. Every point you make flows from your dissatisfaction. If you owned the domain your points would flip.

It's ying and yang... Ging.

This post makes no sense to me sorry.

Other people have experienced the same thing where domains languish that the owners just sit on for years and years where someone else might have a really good use for them.

 

[rob]

Well you appear to of bough a domain name of mine how much would setmenu.co.uk be to get back.

Great thread revivial!

How did sean buy a name of yours? If he has it, it is not yours?!

 

[rob]

I'm probably not the norm. I'm a domainer who hates typing in generics. I think it's because I love advertising and brands. Generics are a bad option for brands imo. There's no creativity there. SmithGlazing.co.uk makes me think it's a family business and they'll appreciate my business and do a better job.

Best of both worlds is something like The Missing Link: www.sausages.co.uk , great domain and great family biz