According to a press release today the domain AreaRugs.com was purchase for $405,000.
More great news for the domain industry.
Here is the press release:
AreaRugs.com has new ownership, having been bought by a group of investors for an astounding $405,000 for just the domain. Randy Ward, President and CEO, AreaRugs.com Inc., says, “Our goal is to be the number one shopping destination online for area rugs. We feel we have assembled a great team to accomplish that.”
Even in the desolate economy, Ward and his team are confident that the domain will thrive and will eventually become a big success. The team considers the endeavor less risky than most from the outside would and is very optimistic in regards to is expected return on its investment. “It is very rare to have the opportunity to buy a premium ‘.com’ domain name in a proven online consumer category,” said Lee Weber, Head of Marketing, AreaRugs.com. “In economic times like this you have to think outside the box for ways to get the most out of money and our investors feel that we should have no problem getting a decent, if not exceptional, return out of this investment.”
The Web site currently serves as a domain for consumers to learn more about area rugs, providing expert advice, tips and information on the rug industry. Homeowners and designers alike will find tips and advice to enhance any space, from the hallway to the bedroom.
By leveraging their substantial brick and mortar buying power, they will be able to offer some of the best prices and largest selection of area rugs.
As the proud new owners of AreaRugs.com, Ward and his fellow investors plan on carrying a huge selection of area rugs including all of the top brands including the likes of Shaw, Mohawk and Karastan will continue to provide information and expertise on area rugs. A well-known floor covering expert in the state of Iowa, Ward will be applying his extensive knowledge to the Internet with this investment.
“We have formed a partnership between a group of investors that includes the state of Iowa’s largest carpet/rug dealer and some of the state’s leading online commerce and marketing experts,” said Ward.
A custom built robust e-commerce store will be launched in several months. In the meantime, AreaRugs.com serves as a leading authority in the carpet/rug industry.
Contact:
Lee Weber
Head of Marketing
Lee (at) arearugs (dot) com
301-631-0505
When accessing this site from Domaining.com, why do I again have to sign in to Domaining.com, why can’t Francois stop keep pulling the rug on people and once and all decide whether visitors need to sign in or not.
Nelson
Domaining signs me out frequently as well, then I have to sign back in
Nelson/MHB
http://www.namebee.com
Drama free
Michael what is your opinion on AreaRugs.com selling for more than Jets.com ?
I think they are both great buys for an end user, although from a pure domain valuation basis, I think Jets.com has more upside.
Jets.com is great for a charter operator or broker.
AreaRugs.com is category killer for a much lower priced product, but which can actually be sold over the net.
For an end user, both are nice acquisitions and good selling prices for the seller, although I think Jets.com could have fetched more if the Seller was willing to wait another couple of years until the economy heated up again.
I think arearugs.com, as a domain has limited upside, but if developed into a site (as it is planned) then its one of those sales we will be talking about in a few years when the owners cash the business out for big money.
Call me crazy for disagreeing with our host (I wouldn’t blame you), but, looking at Google keywords exact searches numbers leads me to believe that AreaRugs.com is more valuable.
Who’s buying jets on a web site? Sure it’s a great, short, amazingly brandable name. But what are people looking for when they search for jets? Most likely pizza or the NY Jets.
The exact searches come up this way if you believe the Google Keywords Tool:
Jets: 90,500/month Local and 135,000/month Global
Area Rugs: a mind-boggling 1.83 MILLION/month Local and 1.22 MILLION/month Global
Clearly, people searching for this term are looking for an area rug and nothing else. Granted, rugs are very large and heavy to ship, and buyers might be reluctant to buy on the web. But if they could shop locally and buy the same name-brands cheaper online, this name is the winner (in my little mind, anyway).
Excellent analysis, I agree Jets.com has more pure upside domain wise. AreaRugs.com is priced out pure domain. Great name for the business though and a competitive advantage over any other area rug site.
Pat
I won’t call you crazy, but I will tell you to read the post on Andrews blog and then come and tell me jets.com wasn’t as good a purchase:
http://domainnamewire.com/2009/09/22/private-jet-company-buys-jets-com/
I read it, but I still don’t get it (why you pick jets.com as the better name, that is).
If I could have either name, I’d pick arearugs.com in a heart-beat based on the exact searches for the terms (1.8 million vs. 90K) and the cpc (area rugs is about double jets).
It’s longer, it’s two words, not as sexy by a longshot – but if you parked these two, I think area rugs wins by 100 miles – so how is jets better, other than that great intangible — branding?
Like Elliot said in his comment on domainnamewire.com – that traffic is almost certainly NY Jets traffic, not airplanes.
I would imagine that the seller could have sold Jets.com for much more than what Fly.com sold for recently. A lot of people will not get the value of Jets.com if they are not frequent flyers.
Private jets are for the rich and famous. Anyone offering that service over the internet will need to bolster every ounce of credibility. No other domain name could have done that than Jets.com.
When I saw the selling price of $375,000 I was a bit shocked, as I believe it is worth much more. The owner must have been desperate for for the cashflow.
And Pat, what does a rug sell for VS a jet?
Seriously.
Well compared to this, ProteinBars.com looks like a bargain.
Just a note about Jets.com, it was part of a liquidation. I don’t believe it was bankruptcy, but they decided to liquidate all of the company piecemeal. So they probably could have gotten more if they held on for a couple years, but they didn’t want to.
Andrew
However the former owner of Jets.com sold all its other assets prior to listing the domain to another charter company, so I think the former owner could have waited to sell if he wanted to.
http://www.thedomains.com/2009/07/22/jetscom-for-sale-on-sedo-after-sale-of-the-company-that-owns-it/
Jets.com is a much more valuable domain! The exact search numbers do show that there are more people looking for area rugs then jets, but you are only thinking of the value of Jets.com as NY Jets or Jet planes. Jets.com can be anything online and what a cool domain name for any company to brand itself as Jets.com. You can’t do that with AreaRugs.com.
Jets.com is great for private jet rentals. I think the buyer will use it in this direction as the economy turns back the co-operate jet rentals will increase in demand too. The profit margin is much much higher with Jet rentals than Area Rugs.
Overall what these sales tell us is that the domain industry is looking good and getting better!
That’s a great news.
Excellent news for the domain after market…it’s starting to ripen : )
Area rug is really impress me. I am looking more info
The sale of AreaRugs.com is astounding! first i thought maybe the website is included but no. Congrats to the seller and and the buyer
In a business, there is always a problem encountered. All you have to do is to make sure where to use the money if it will help improve the company then go for that certain plan, then if not,better throw that idea.