Tech Crunch is reporting today that the domain name Alice.com was sold for $250,000 (Tech Crunch calls that a “fair price”) and belongs to a couple of entrepreneurs who have already started and sold 3 business in the last 10 years.
A total of $4.3 million has been raised to start his new venture.
“””Alice.com will be an open, online retail platform for consumer packaged goods, focused primarily on linking manufacturers of essential household stuff like tooth brushes, toilet paper, trash bags etc. to end consumers directly””””
It’s An interesting article you should check out.
steve says
Interesting find. The exact post about the purchase is here:
http://flywheelblog.com/2008/09/alicecom/
“Why Alice.com? It meets all of the criteria that I mentioned in my last post. It has personality and it stands out from the crowd in our market space. And most importantly, it is really memorable and supports the value proposition of our new company perfectly. What is that value prop you ask? You’ll have to stay tuned to see what Alice is up to. 🙂
Downside? The name wasn’t cheap. We paid six figures, but consider this: We are going to be spending a tremendous amount of money and energy getting consumers to even know we exist. A name like Alice.com gets people to smile, tells them immediately that we are different, AND gives us the best chance that you will remember us two weeks or even two months later. Well worth the price in our opinion.”
RegFeeNames.com says
Thanks Mike for the post on this.
These two guys have done well for themselves lets hope Alice.com is another that shall work!
Here is what they said about buying Alice.com
“Downside? The name wasn’t cheap. We paid six figures, but consider this: We are going to be spending a tremendous amount of money and energy getting consumers to even know we exist. A name like Alice.com gets people to smile, tells them immediately that we are different, AND gives us the best chance that you will remember us two weeks or even two months later. Well worth the price in our opinion”
Just shows you that smart realise you need to own an easy to remember brandable domain that is the .com also.
Regards,
Robbie
Founder
RegFeeNames.com
owen frager says
where are all the usual posts telling you they just regged myalicetrashbags.com and wondering how many million it’s worth?
MHB says
Guys
For all of your that think $250K or six figures was a good deal for the domain, several of these types of domains sold for or we passed on the last few traffic shows for much less.
judy.com sold for $30K, doug.com was passed with a $65K reserve.
There were others but those are the only 2 I can recall at the moment.
steve says
True, they probably did overpay, but Alice is already a high-branded female name and worth quite a lot more than Judy. Unlike Judy it also has only one possible spelling.
MHB says
“and worth quite a lot more than Judy””
My wife is not going to like hearing this.
Oyster says
thanks for bringing this news,
this is an excellent example of why First Name domains are so valuable, it’s because they carry strong emotional attachment, and we already know that emotions are the only things that truly matter in this world, and why people buy.
Here are a few first female names, if anyone is interested. I will make you a better deal than Alice:)
http://namer.ca/tag/first-name
Oyster says
according to my records Alice.com would be the second most expensive first name sold, Jasmin.com sold for 300K back in 2006
Rob Sequin says
Sort of related
Vacation rental Web startup reaps $250M investment
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081111/ap_on_hi_te/vacation_site_financing_1
So, maybe there is no better place to put money these days.
Would you rather invest in real estate stocks or domains/Internet based ventures?
No place I’d rather be than right here buying, selling and brokering domains.
John Bomhardt says
I like Alice.com – It’s actually a pleasant sounding name… (ahhh refreshing like a cold mocha frappucino) 🙂
John
http://unplain.com
Damir says
Alice.com – Sure it is a nice .com $250k is also a nice amount of money = win situation for the seller and buyer.
Steve M says
Come on everyone who thinks otherwise and should know better … Alice.com at anywhere near 250k is WAY overpriced.
Who bought the domain doesn’t make it worth more.
The fact that these fellows have been successful before doesn’t make it worth more.
The fact that they received 4+ million to start the company doesn’t make it worth more.
The fact that TechCrunch reported the sale doesn’t make it worth more.
They could have easily found another well-known, popular, short .com girl/woman’s name for much less than 100k (and possibly for less than 50k) with a little time and effort.
… and MHB, Judy.com IS worth at least as much as–if not far more–than Alice.com is. 😉
MHB says
Steve
I have to agree with you on all counts.
Oyster says
i think what made it worth more than 250K is
the fact that there was/is a special woman in someones life named Alice 🙂
MHB says
Oyster
That would be Jackie Gleason
Man I’m old.
Mike says
They have millions at their disposal… was obviously worth it, so 250k isn’t really all that much to them. Good investment and sounds like the guys are in it for the long run. They surely had their sights on it for a while and got it. Congrats and wish em all the best.
Greg B says
Well, as far as branding goes, the “Alicebot” wins the Artificial Intelligence (ie chatbot) competitions all the time and certainly if or rather when the internet becomes voice capable they could be at the forefront of having robotic clerks on their store.
I suppose then that “eliza.com” would be next to go.
MHB says
UPDATE
TechCrunch updated this story today, some 8 months later
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/22/alicecom-is-your-housekeeper-and-personal-shopper-rolled-into-one-easy-to-use-site/?awesm=tcrn.ch_4PZ&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_content=techcrunch-autopost&utm_medium=tcrn.ch-twitter&utm_source=twitter.com