A trip to the domain name conference

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/02/13/a-trip-to-the-domain-name-auct.html

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”Hyphens make your domain less valuable—unless you’re in Germany”

Really? The Germans, who happily make all kinds of compound words in literature, like dashes in their domains?

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I hate these guys and their parasitic business model.

Once I actually inquired about a domain name I wanted—one that was pretty obscure and not likely to be valuable to anyone but myself—but they wouldn’t accept an offer of less than $10,000. I told them that for me to pay that kind of money for a domain name, it would have to be a magic domain name. Like, if blindfolded children spun around and chanted it three times, my website would load in their bathroom mirror. Or, if it were engraved on a ring, it would grant me the power to rule Middle Earth.

Then I promptly settled for the .org.

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That’s the low ball? So, when I get a notice that somebody is interested in my domain I should spitball a $10k offer at them?

I think their strategy was to register scores and scores of domains and wait for a corporation to make an offer on one of them. If you’re playing the averages like that, then it makes sense to turn down small offers, even if nine times out of ten the domain in question ultimately never sells. By holding out on domains which actually generate interest, you’re maximizing the possibility of finally netting a corporation with five or six figures to spend. It’s a particularly obnoxious strategy because it makes a large number of domains completely unattainable to almost everyone.

If you just have the one domain, though, and you actually want to sell it, then high-ticket probably isn’t the way to go. Unless, of course, someone is inquiring from @disney.com address.

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I’ve been thinking about a vanity domain based on my last name ending in .ch, but since no one sells two letter names any more, I’m pretty much out of luck.

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