When Domain Names Sell For $7.5 Million… Watch Out
from the bubble-bubble-bubble... dept
It seems like every few days now there’s some mainstream press article looking at whether there is or there is not a new internet bubble. We won’t come down on one side or the other, but will note one similarity. Following so much domain name speculating, comes the news that the domain name diamond.com has been sold for $7.5 million. That number is significant, because for those of you who were around in the last bubble, it was the highest price paid for a domain name at the height of the last bubble, about six months before the internet world started to deflate. Business.com was sold for the same $7.5 million and never really became anything special. Perhaps times have changed, and perhaps we’re not accounting for inflation… but $7.5 million is an awful lot for a name.
Comments on “When Domain Names Sell For $7.5 Million… Watch Out”
When Domain Names Sell For $7.5 Million...
You could overpay for a lot of bogus search engine clicks for that kind of money – and still be better off.. :))
I don't know which is worse...
that they paid $7.5 million for the name, or that they only paid $2 for the diamonds.
Tim is right!
If they released all of the stock piled diamonds on to the market, a 2 carat rock would cost about $2.99…
I am sometimes ashamed to be part of the human race…
Diamonds
You sure that’s not an urban legend about the stock piled diamonds?
Re: Diamonds
Who knows. If they’re anything like the oil companies, or countires with Oil (
Re: Diamonds
Debeers started out as another diamond mine owner. They went to the other mines and formed an agreement to only let out a certian number of diamonds at a time. Their ad campain took a simple, rather worthless, chain of carbon and attached emotion to it. carrat = love, greater carrat = greater love. It used to be 1 months salaray, now it is two or more. Before the 40’s and 50’s, this hype was not around. But no one can remember a time before “I forever do” (yuck). Even the Russian government was paid off to keep their stock pile of diamonds in fear that they would distablize the debeer’s market. Industrial grown diamonds for the computer market that mimic every detail in how real diamonds are made and need “supper” sensitive equipment to discern the difference between them and “real” ones from debeers, came under heavy attack (Wired Mag). Debeers is working on legislation to have anything not theirs to be marked “less than real” so people will pass over other real diamonds for theirs.
Re: Diamonds
unfortunately it is not a legend
Incorrect summary
from TFA:
“Odimo, an online retailer based in Sunrise, has sold its diamond and jewelry business, including the domain name http://www.diamond.com, for $7.5 million ”
The domain name alone wasnt sold for 7.5 million.
Still Wrong!
Here’s the skinny:
http://www.triangletechjournal.com/news/article.html?item_id=1401
Incorrect...
They bought the business too…
This is sort of a misleading story. They also bought the business and then the inventory for an additional 2 million over that.
Cheap
For those of you that think that 7.5M is a lot, …
There are a lot of domains that have sold for more. Prices are just not disclosed at that level. I was personally involved with one that sold for more. Six months later it was turned and making a million a day.
Many companies are sitting on expensive names without the resources to capitalize on it nor the will to sell it.
Re: Cheap
If I bought a domain for over the record price I would want to disclose the amount for the publicity alone.
I went to diamond dot com just for the curiosity of knowing.
What are these people stupid, obviously not. They have the money to spend and not care if anyone knows.
Re: Re: Selling an Expensive domain gives you a bunch of f
I think this just reinforced the idea behind http://www.TheRecordBreakingDomain.com which itself is trying to break the world record for the most expensive domain name just for the sake of getting millions worth of free publicity. That sure is a lot of diamonds-worth…
Re: Cheap
Ahhh yes, the infamous anonymous millionaire who has nothing better to do with his time at 3 am than respond to half-truth inflammatory blog posts.
Just call yourself “Troll”, it would be less obvious. Im sure everyone here is quite impressed by your powerful fist quivering over our heads, fearing the moment you might drop and tell us that we can burn in hell at your fiery hands.
Oh wait, youre a 13 year old loser. Go to bed you have school tomorrow
Re: Re: Cheap
I am not a millionaire but a 40 yr old enterprise architect involved in building large .coms.
You made a personal attack and acted as a child. The fact that things happen in the e-world and you don’t know about it does not make them fiction. In this case it just means you are on the outside as are most people.
In this case, you are the troll, trying to get someone to respond, and you did. Go hide your shame troll.
Re: Re: Cheap
“you have school tomorrow”
you posted this on a friday.
Re: My Domains
I read your response and I figured I would e-mail you to get your opinion. I purchased several space tourisim domains a couple of years ago, and now that this industry is starting to ignite I want to sell the for the most money that I can. Google virgin galactic and you will see what I am talking about. Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply.
farestoouterspace.com
farestospace.com
humanspaceflights.com
outerspacefares.com
spaceflying.com
spaceflying.co.uk
spacetravelfares.com
suborbitalflying.com
traveltoouterspace.com
where is this stock pile of diamonds at?
*gets gun and dog*
lets go fido!
Diamond values
For the record, diamonds litter the planet. They are not scarce by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, they make machine blades out of them. The sole reason diamonds are valuable at all is to DeBeers monopolizing the entire world market, and some serious marketing for the past 70 years.
Personally, I prefer stones that are actually rare, and therefor valuable… ruby, emerald, etc.
Re: Diamond values
“Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.”
http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyrics/2147430444/Tool/Right_In_Two
Re: Diamond values
You have it wrong Jason.
Diamonds are scarce, at least on the surface of the planet. They are formed within the earth’s mantle (many miles below the earth’s surface) and therefore are only available if they have been brought to the surface by volcanic activity. That’s why most diamond mines are in or around extinct volcanos. Only a very small percentage of diamonds mined are suitable for use as gemstones. Most of them are too small or too flawed to be used for jewelry, which makes those that are even more rare.
They don’t make machine blades out of diamonds. They coat certain machine blades, drill bits, and other industrial products with diamond dust and small diamond particles. These coatings are made from the mined diamonds that are unsuitable to be used in jewelry.
Claiming that DeBeers monopolizing the entire world market for the past 70 years is the reason for diamond’s value is ridiculous. Firstly, DeBeers doesn’t control the entire world market. They do control a lot of it, but if you wanted to buy wholesale from someone else you could certainly purchase diamonds that DeBeers has never touched. Secondly, diamonds have been considered valuable for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. DeBeers simply hasn’t been around that long.
Please, let’s stop with the DeBeers conspiracy theories now.
Re: Re: Diamond values
Wikipedia on DeBeers
Re: Diamond values
They make machine blades out of synthetic diamond, which isn’t used in jewelry or other cosmetics. There is also such a thing as synthetic ruby and synthetic emerald, but you never really see it because A) It’s essentially an emerald/ruby, and B) Why synthesize an emerald or ruby when you could dig one up and make it worth $100,000 more than its actually worth?
Re: Diamond values
ummmm you must be referring to crude diamonds or the boron-carbide composites… Those are the ones used typically in cutting blades. Chemically, yes, they are abundant, but to find a naturally occuring near flawless and clear quality…. well, it really isn’t as common place as you think. You mentioned things rare as rubies, well corrundum and low quality rubies can also be found in most areas and are also common, but once again, the high quality ones aren’t so common. Btw, rubies are easily synthesized, diamonds are not.
Buying History?
It may be like buying a portion of history. A domain name is something that will ALWAYS be with you and if you do the marketing right it could make millions.
However, is diamondex.com Really 7.5 million less valuable? Something liek this is a brand which could be build and would eventually (with 7.5mil of marketing) stand out MUCH MORE than diamonds.com.
Do people reallly just type in domain names rather than search in google?
Did any one read the actual article????
Ice.com bought the entire business,
the domain name was just extra that came with it.
I dont have a business degree but 7.5m seems pretty reasonable for jewlery business
Didn't Sex.com just sell
for a lot more than 7.5 million anyways?
Re: Re:
“Your grammar is terrible – Dont “Enterprise Engineer’s” have to graduate from “college” these days kid? Try this one more time with a semester of community college under your belt (If you can even aspire that high.)”
Actually, aside from his obvious dislike for using commas, his grammar is better than yours. Being a keen observer of the human race (if not yourself), I assume you have noticed that there are a lot of successful adults in this world who simply don’t bother to write well.
A piece of advice: it’s generally a bad idea to attack someone’s grammar unless it renders the post unreadable. Aside from the fact that it makes you a nit-picking a$$, it’s almost guaranteed that you yourself will make at least one error (or many) in doing so and additionally look like an idiot.
Also, apostrophes typically don’t express plurality. 🙂
Re: Re: Re:
Grammer geeks unite!
Re: Re:
Quote:
His post was perfectly readable, and I only saw two missing commas and an extra apostraphe — which I’ve seen misued often enough to confuse anyone who doesn’t study grammar for a living – after re-reading it for scrutiny. You, however, missed two commas, misused parentheses, and capitalized a letter you shouldn’t have.
Corrected:
Oh, and by the way, my “community college” freshman composition teacher, who was the head of the english department, wouldn’t have recognized those errors. Thank god, I went to a good high school.
julery
Ummm… I have bought quite a few synthetic diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and ruby’s. They are in every jewelry store just about. They are termed “created”. Like the other ones weren’t and just appeared as though a miracle. The synthetic diamonds are what is used on machine tools as was noted above. They have made perfect diamonds for jewelry also, but they got smacked down by DeBeers. Now they call them some fake name so people don’t think they are diamonds.
Yes, the diamond market is artificially inflated. That is why DeBeers does not do business in the U.S. They have monopolized the market and are actively engaged in price manipulation, which is illegal in this country. Very much like OPEC.
Don't forget something
Don’t forget that what created the bubble which eventually burst, as all bubbles do. We had a problem with investors sinking money into internet businesses with flawed business models that had poorly thought out businees plans. I myself was approached numerous times to create sites for people who had not solid means of turning a profit on their sites. We aren’t seeing this so much now, people are paying top dollar for quality web sites which back up an already tested business model.
Ahhh see now your cunt is showing – As I never made claims of being a high roller in the secret inner circle of ultra-high powered Internet movers and shakers, I have made no claims of my own grammar, or where I might fall in the education gamut. He, however, has. Thank you for the grammar lesson (In which you made many errors yourself.) Please crawl back into the hole from whence you came, as I assume youre an Elementary school teacher? Maybe preschool. Whichever.
Lesson 1: Anything you share beyond going to work at Taco Bell & eating cheetos in bed is a lie. If one person’s achievements list fits on a single square of toilet paper (large block letters), so does everyone else.
Lesson 2: Using a “gooder cuss word” instantly makes you superior.
Lesson 3: Arguing on the internet is cool (chicks dig it).
The above is courtesy of MySpace generation.
So basically what youre saying VPR is that youre too dumb to contribute to the conversation? Just spit out random (unfunny) comments and nothing else.
Personally I dont believe theres any way in hell that Domain is the mover and shaker he claims to be. Oh wait maybe he could be, none of the execs Ive met go to bed before 3AM, they all prefer to sit up late reading pointless blogs and sharing dark company secrets. The closest he is to being “personally involved” in this phantom business secret is if he overheard his daddy talking about it.
Cheap
I never claimed to be a rich man or mover/shaker. I am however in the biz. Every wealthy person or business has a multitude of persons who carry out the necessary work.
Grammar is in the eye of the beholder. You can focus on content or delivery…I choose content. If you have nothing to offer then I guess you, the troll, must focus on delivery.
Again, you are TROLLS, and I suspect, very bored childish unemployed knowitall mad at the world trolls. Crawl back in your hole if you can’t have a civilized conversation.
boring!
domains and superbowl ads
I don’t know. If a one minute superbowl ad is worth 2 million bucks, how much is it worth to own the domain brand for your whole industry? Its worth a lot.
I think domains have been selling too cheap for a long time. Especially considering people are leaving TV for broadband in droves…
Good Old Flamewar....
Somethings never change…;)
Children...
…you’re all nothing but a bunch of children.
If you don’t know what your talking about then just keep your blithering mouths shut until you’ve done your research. It would make this site so much more enjoyable for the rest of us.
*note – the MORE youre referring to is in excess of 7.5 million dollars. So youre claiming to be PERSONALLY INVOLVED with the sale of something that went for more than $7,500,000. I dont know about everyone else but that sounds to me a lot like claiming to be both rich, and a mover and shaker. Stop backtracking, or even better, stop making things up.
(P.S. We can all go back and read what you wrote so it really isnt working.)
Take the time to read the whole thread fuckface. Reading is fundamental.
This thread makes me want to e-cum.
Pathetic
Anonymous Coward,
Don’t you have anything better to do with your time? Does it make you feel good about yourself to randomly attack people over pointless nonsense? How pathetic. You’re honestly acting like a little snot-nosed child. It’s sickening to see what is presumably a functional adult pick apart someone else’s post and instigate a ridiculous fight over nothing.
Let’s say that Cheap really is an eight year old kid that over heard his father talking about work. What does that matter to you? Are you the Intarweb police that you have to jump down off of your perch and start correcting away? How do you even know that he wasn’t part of the project that he mentioned?
Are you trying to convince everyone that you’re intelligent? Are you picked on when not in the safety of the chair behind your keyboard? Are you over-compensating for a complete lack of confidence?
What is your problem?
It must be our job, no, our duty to regulate and correct all other Internet users. People may not appreciate it, but hey, we’re pseudo intellectuals, if someone’s not using perfect, articulate English, we throw a big hissy-fit and begin flaming their pants right off. If we don’t completely buy their story, we sling insults in every direction. We’re constructive to society, right?
You’re just a regular Internet superhero, aren’t you…
Everyone, just get over this pointless debate and talk about the topic this is meant for…. please..
Sorry, 42, but it would appear that Grammar and Psychology makes a more interesting discussion than domain name prices.
Signed, 38
If a company would pay 7.5mill for a domain, wonder why they cant pay the impoverished natives of Africa more than 70cday to mine them. Hell, they could have payed 20mill and still come out on top.
Some people “cough nb109 cough” just dont get the point, do they? When people fly around claiming to be king swaggercock throwing their weight around making million dollar deals left and right, some people are too stupid to call them on it, and accept what they say as fact. And fact becomes rumor, rumor becomes truth, etc.etc. It doesnt take a genius to understand that these kinds of embellishments are harmful, maybe not in small doses, but then what is the maximum dosage? Id rather not know.
As for the whole grammar thing, I really could give two shits if his grammar is worse than a 4 day Chinese immigrant. I was just pointing out the logical inconsistiency that this obvious poorly thought out post created and the subsequent hole in the story, big enough to drive his fathers faux BMW through. Please be a tree on the other side – Is that too much to ask?
Flame War
These derisive personal attacks do not contribute to the point of the discussion. One can easily engage in constructive rhetoric, and impeach facts without personal attacks, if one tries. What ever happened to good manners?
That is EXACTLY what I’m saying. You’re so clever! You must be the type of person Mommy told me about (she said that one day if I try really really hard & rise every morning with the burning desire to reach the minimum standard, I can be just like you).
I do find it funny that you replied to only my HORRIBLE general comments as your first post. Sorry, I’m not the weak link you’re trolling for 🙂
As you were Roger.
stupid
Its stupid to sell domain names for so much. Its like selling a home address for a price. oh well, you can still search for a name and buy on one of those one price fits all sites.
Enterprise Architect?? Haha! Architect used to be reserved for people who design incredible buildings and structures like bridges.
Howadays, just because you know a little bit about programming, know how to write a SQL statement or two, and can throw out buzzwords like enterprise, scalable etc. you get the architect title so that you or your company can put in a bill rate of $200-$300/hr.
Give me a break!
Grammer
Anonymous Coward, how fitting a name, for such a person who has the time on their hands to go ruining a whole thread for all the people that will read it, and to what point and purpose? To disprove, using insults and bad logic, that someone who they will never meet and will never have to be bothered by is not involved in the internet marketing business. Why don’t you either get a name so I can skip all your comments in the future, or go to some other place where we won’t have to deal with you.
Domain, please don’t be angered at this fine website as a result of Anonymous Coward’s actions. They are most certainly not the kind of person we want contributing to disscussions, or furter more near us. I sincerly hope that this incedent doesn’t prevent you from posting in the future
Its stupid to sell domain names for so much. Its like selling a home address for a price. oh well, you can still search for a name and buy on one of those one price fits all sites.
I don’t really think so. “Buying a home address,” as you put it, sounds an awful lot like buying real estate. When you buy real estate what do you look for? Location, location, location. That’s what the zeitgeist says anyway. So you buy some land to start a business, and you can build a great building to put your business in, but nobody will go to it if it’s in some out of the way spot in the confusing side streets of the city.
Similarly, buying a good domain name makes perfect sense. After all, most people don’t want to have to google search for you because they can’t remember your domain name. If you’re looking to buy a diamond, and you’ve heard of diamonds.com, that’s probably the first place you’ll look. Diamonds.com, not diamondsx.com, not morediamonds.com, not buydiamonds.com.
Granted, in a perfect world people would be more engaged consumers and shop around more than that. As you certainly know though, this is NOT a perfect world.
Sorry, I’m not used to posting here, forgot I had it on HTML, didn’t put in line breaks. Here it is with them.
Its stupid to sell domain names for so much. Its like selling a home address for a price. oh well, you can still search for a name and buy on one of those one price fits all sites.
I don’t really think so. “Buying a home address” sounds an awful lot like buying real estate to me. When you buy real estate what do you look for? Location, location, location. That’s what the zeitgeist says anyway.
So you buy some land to start a business, and you can build a great building to put your business in, but nobody will go to it if it’s in some out of the way spot in the confusing side streets of the city.
So, buying a good domain name makes perfect sense. After all, most people don’t want to have to google search for you because they can’t remember your domain name. If you’re looking to buy a diamond, and you’ve heard of diamonds.com, that’s probably the first place you’ll look. Diamonds.com, not diamondsx.com, not morediamonds.com, not buydiamonds.com. Granted, in a perfect world people would be more engaged consumers and shop around more than that. As you certainly know though, this is NOT a perfect world.
Funny...
how ppl come back to the same story just to red what others write about there comments. And to add more. start an argument that leads nowhere with no winners just weiners.
“Arguing is like being in the special olympics. You may win but but at the end of the day your all special.”
Feel free to write comments as i probably (okay wont) be back.
Yeah grammer, speelings butt thats my 2 cents and away i go.
Diomands
Diomands: I had a scribe in law school. I didnt write one word, did it all orally. Still cant spell any word with more than one valule.
Heeeeeeeeee!
Doug
wow
what a bunch of idiots…
This story is in-correct. They fail to mention that it also included the entire business and inventory of at least $2M.
Another point: The reason the bubble crashed in the first place was business models based on thin air and investors throwing money at them instead of keeping them in check. It didn’t have anything to do with domain valuations, nor does it in today’s market.
Domains are like real estate. Expect them to rise in value as traffic increases.
Boyan Josic
This story is in-correct. They fail to mention that it also included the entire business and inventory of at least $2M.
Another point: The reason the bubble crashed in the first place was business models based on thin air and investors throwing money at them instead of keeping them in check. It didn’t have anything to do with domain valuations, nor does it in today’s market.
Domains are like real estate. Expect them to rise in value as traffic increases.
Boyan Josic
Some people are born stupid and bitter.
I am 21 now. When I was 19, I, (An averagely not wealthy young guy from a normal family) got gap year employment at the largest tech firm in Europe. Its called QinetiQ; most people will be unfimiliar with the name. Anyway, as a mere member of this company I found out ridiculous things about deals and technology; I knew the methods by which illegal imports were detected, technologies used on radar’s and the intricacies of missile guidance systems. I knew of the vast sums of money that swapped hands for many deals. I even know of technology that would literraly blow some peoples minds.
I could if I wish tell everyone about these, I choose not to. It helps having one of those classified forms signed by me that could send me to jail. Point remains: I am an average guy with above average knowledge of certain aspects of life born from my experience. To say whatshisface couldnt have knowledge of a deal above 7.5 mill without himself being rich is utter rubbish. I think his accusers are the children.
Re: Some people are born stupid and bitter.
Exactly my thoughts. I have been personally involved in deals worth tens of millions of dollars… my cut was $7.50 per hour.
Idiots
what i dont get is why didnt they want to buy the more probably more cheaper domain of “diamonds.com”.
Small weenie
Anonymous coward has a small penis.
Superior coward
You’re not much better, but in this case I’ll agree.
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I think the domain name deserve that price.
Selling my roller blades
I have a pair of roller blades that are almost brand new. They are red, black, and gray. The reason I’m selling them is because they’re too small. They are adjustable from a 3.1-3.4 kids. They have to be tied and velcroed.
what a sweet ending…
diamonds
Very good point. Nice that i have found this blog. Great done.!
That number is significant, because for those of you who were around in the last bubble, it was the highest price paid for a domain name at the height of the last bubble, about six months before the internet world started to deflate.