Why Do Domainers Pay More For “Dropped Domains” Than Owned Domains
This is a question that has puzzled me for years.
The psychology involved with dropped domains vs. Owned domains.
When a domain is in a drop auction at NameJet.com or Snapnames.com it seems everyone is willing to pay more, a lot more, than they would for the same name if it was for sale by the owner.
I have never understood why, but I see evidence of it all the time.
Take the name raspberry.com, which is currently in auction at at SnapNames.com, which closes on later today and already has a high bid of $15,500.
Now don’t get me wrong, raspberry.com, is a nice one word domain.
It is a fruit and it is used as a term as in “give the rasberry”.
However it is a singular word, which pulls no ads on a Google search, and not something you really can sell on the Internet.
It’s a cool Web 2.0 kind of domain.
If it was on the open market as an owned domain, through the TRAFFIC auction, with a reserve of $25K would people bid on it or says its overpriced?
This is certainly not the first nor the last drop domain which has sold for 5 or 6 figures but it still puzzles me why people seem more willing to pay “Big Money” for domains that are expired and drop than those actually owned by companies and offered for sale.
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“I’m still not sure what you can build this domain into other than just using it as cool word for a Web 2.0 site.”
MHB,
“Raspberry” can be used for more than just “fruit”.
There are lots of other possibilities for usage.
Raspberry is often used to describe a color.
It’s also the kind of name I see used by small restaurants and food shops
all the time.
It would be perfect for a branding name -Raspberry Brand.
In NYC there is a clothing store chain called Strawberry.
They sell girls and young women’s clothing (I think) and have been
around a long time.
They do not own “Strawberry.com” though.
Their site is “StrawberryStores.com”.
If you check out Strawberry.com, you’ll see it’s owned and used by a
German company and has nothing to do with Strawberry as a fruit.
I don’t read German but it seems to be an Information Technology firm.
Back to the Strawberry clothing stores, I used to work in Manhattan
in the 1980s.
Although they are no longer around a competitor to Strawberry had
opened up and they called themselves Raspberry.
It’s not likely they ever made it to the Internet. I believe their stores
folded some time ago.
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“Jason, the one word names regulating.com, transmitting.com, reproducing.com do not come close to the power of raspberry.com in my opinion – decent names all the same but not in the same category.”
Alan,
Jason didn’t write that.
MHB did.
His company bought those domains.
I had the same reaction you did.
——–
“I can’t imagine anyone search for raspberry, just raspberries/rasberries.”
Jody,
If you use Google’s External keyword search tool you’ll see that Raspberry
far exceeds Raspberries in # of searches.
SEARCH VOLUME
Keyword——————March Searches———–Average Search Volume
Raspberry——————-1,000,000——————-673,000——-
Raspberries——————165,000———————110,000——-
–
Which word is more popular?
Raspberry or Raspberries?
Using the keyword popularity tool at Google Fight.com,
we see that Raspberry kicks Raspberries butt again.
Raspberry———12,500,000—-results
Raspberries——–4,920,000—-results
—
Patrick that is just the entries into google which includes stuff like raspberry recipes, raspberry pie. If you’re talking about natural traffic, don’t have to look at tools, it’s a no brainer raspberries would have way more, but the singular may be better for “branding”. This is where common sense comes into play. Throw out the tools. Just think what people would search for.
Ex. Car has 1 billion entries. Cars 1/2 billion. It’s a no brainer cars gets way more natural traffic. Both killer names to brand of course.
Lesson learned. More google results does not mean more natural traffic.
I think everyone is putting way too much thought into this one. I think the reason is quite simple. It’s psychology. In a drop-auction we know 1 thing for sure, somebody is going to buy the domain. Futhermore we don’t know what they will do with it. Will it end up at a TRAFFIC auction later in the year? Maybe, maybe not. If it does it will surely be listed higher than whatever it goes for at Snap as well.
So why pay more at Snap, because if you really want that domain you had better buy it then because you may not get another chance. There is no sense of urgency at a TRAFFIC auction. If nobody bids on an “overpriced” name it doesn’t sell. Send the owner an offer 6 months later if you still want it, as they probably still want to sell it.
I notice alot of times at the live auction, as soon as a domain gets 1 bid, more bids start to roll in, even it if was a challenge to get that first bid. That first bid creates that sense of urgency, where you know somebody is going to walk away with the domain.