[quote=scaredyclassic]Ballpark how much is it worth? Does it all depend on who the buyer is?[/quote]
Finally something I can contribute to on this board after 4 years of (mostly) lurking!
Yes, it depends on who the buyer is.
So my business is internet marketing. This is peripheral to it, though not my focus at all. I do know many people that would identify themselves as ‘domainers’, including some of the truly large portfolio guys. Large collections can easily be valued in the $10M’s and there was a time 5-10 years ago where $200M+ was not a ‘crazy’ number. BUT. Those collections typically have a large amount of advertising revenue associated with them ($10M’s) — so the valuation is effectively a multiple of their revenue.
The question of “how much is it worth” is really between the buyer and the seller and is VERY much influenced by the needs of both. There are examples of seemingly mundane names for going for large sums because the buyer had both money, and a unique need — iReport.com for example sold to CNN for $750k. Presumably, CNN had already identified the marketing branding etc and really wanted that name. Not getting that name would likely have required them to rethink all the branding. The seller knew they were negotiating with CNN and effectively took advantage of the situation. He’s been quoted as saying something along the lines of “pick a number that will make a difference in your life” as the way he decides how to price a domain.
In this example, I’d suggest you look at it similarly. You bought it for a fun reason and you identify with it. So it has some value to you beyond the $10 you pay to renew it every year.
Decide what price would make it so you wouldn’t regret giving up that value + the hassle of transferring it (should be minimal, but your time is worth something).. then pad it up some and go with it.
Odds are its not not a serious buyer and they’ll get mad at you wondering why you expect them to pay you more than $10, after all, that’s all you paid.
If FOMO makes you nervous, then try and figure out who the buyer is what they want with it. Heck, maybe just ask them.
[quote=njtosd]Whatever you ask, it should be less than it would cost for someone to contest it. Unless you’re planning on having a website active at the oldmanstrong address.[/quote]
Unless you happen to be infringing on someone else’s IP, this is not an issue. Owning a domain without putting a website on it does not constitute any kind of contestable offence. It’s kinda like owning land without building anything…
For those of you that like data 🙂 this is a pretty reliable source of high value domain sales$ figures — http://dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm. Sadly the guy that runs that site isn’t as good with Excel as Rich is, so there are no pretty graphs
