How much is a domain worth?

[GameStudioD]

I am interested in the domain: http://www.gamesolutions.com

I contacted the person who is selling it and he wants $1500 for it. The most I would pay for it would be a few hundred dollars, max. I expect that this person has not had many offers for it either.

Is this site worth $1500 or $200?

[Andy]

Please pardon me GameStudioD I can't get your love to this domain - don't know if you have something special about it.

But it worth the registration fee and maybe 50$ for interruption of the previous owner. That's all really. Domain got no any traffic at all, has long and strange wording - are you going to sell game engines of different type or what?

Relax on a moment, take a deep breath and you will understand that you can easily find even better free domain name if you spend small time on researches.

May this link could help? - http://www.domainsbot.com/

[kerchen]

I agree with Andy. "gamesolutions" just doesn't sound very interesting to me so I wouldn't even pay $200 for it. Even if you plan to sell "solutions" to game developers, there must be better domain names available.

[Coyote]

It would be something else if there was actually a BUSINESS of some kind that went with it.

But this is purely some dude speculating and hoping to turn a $15 registration fee into $1500. That's bogus. If it didn't have the words "for sale" across it, I'd swear that he was just deliberately over-pricing it because he really DID want to do something with it, and that's just his price for someone talking him out of it.

[Valen]

What a domain name is worth depends on what the word (or words) in it are worth. A domain name like "restaurants.com" or "toys.com" might be worth millions. The name "gamesolutions" in itself is worth zip, zilch, nada. The worthiness of the domain name is of course not to be confused with the worthiness of the site it points to. In most cases, the site (and its established brand) is what's worth the money.

[Mike Wiering]

I was just thinking about getting a few more domain names myself (when I started, a few years ago, I only registered http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/).

I was quite surprised to see that http://www.wieringsoftware.com/ was already taken! The ´popular links´ lists the keywords from my own site. Even the names of my games aren´t available anymore: http://www.charlietheduck.com/, http://www.superworms.com/ and my next game: http://www.charlie3.com/!

[Coyote]

A domain name like "restaurants.com" or "toys.com" might be worth millions.
Maybe "sex.com". But post-dot-com-bubble-burst, I'm not sure about the others. The domain name is only a one part of the equation. People these days are more likely to either do a google search or to try an already-known brand name (like www.borders.com, or www.walmart.com) rather than cold-typing a generic name plus '.com'

Having a good domain name certainly supports other factors like branding, search engine placement, reputation, etc. After all, if I was looking for professional contractors to help me with game development, I'd be more inclined to follow up on a link from "www.gamesolutions.com" than one from "www.tripod.com/members/~someguy/stuff.html" And a killer name can get you extra hits.

Anyway --- I think this guy is still living in a 1999 fantasy-land. But I'm not a marketing guy. Maybe I'm wrong, and he's got people lining up wanting to shell out >$1K for a so-so domain name.

[GameStudioD]

Thanks for the feedback. Personally, I think its a good name and describes what the site offers (game development solutions(services, tools, libraries, stock media, etc)). I have several other candidates for names.

I would never consider spending $1500 on a domain, and the more I think about it the more outrageous the price seems.

[arcadetown]

If it can bring good future income then $1500 really isn't that much. I looked at a good url where the owner wanted $1000 then 6 months later he wanted $12k. Apparently he'd received some interest inflating his ego so he thought if he didn't sell it for good $$ he'd make it into a money maker. So far looks like no takers at his crazy price and the site he launched shows he only understands being a domain leech and doesn't understand web marketing.

Anyhow looking back I should have gotten over my anger/disgust and snapped it up at $1000 as it's future potential was good.

[arcadetown]

I was quite surprised to see that http://www.wieringsoftware.com/ was already taken! Even the names of my games aren´t available anymore: http://www.charlietheduck.com/, http://www.superworms.com/ and my next game: http://www.charlie3.com/!
On the bright side just a sign of success?! That's where the $8 godaddy.com price would have come in handy but hindsight is everything. Some guys have zero ethics when a dollar bill is waved in their face.

[Andy]

Some guys have zero ethics when a dollar bill is waved in their face.

As everybody always teaches me in forums "welcome to capitalizm" :)
Just a business I suppose.

Mike, that was pretty bad for you to not register at least that "yourmain.com" :(
I do realise that this is too late for such remarks - but I suppose you should seat, think about and make something. If you are planning to grow up to visible online company.

PS No, I had no registered that Mike's domains... ;)

[Greg Squire]

I was just thinking about getting a few more domain names myself (when I started, a few years ago, I only registered http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/).

I was quite surprised to see that http://www.wieringsoftware.com/ was already taken! The ´popular links´ lists the keywords from my own site. Even the names of my games aren´t available anymore: http://www.charlietheduck.com/, http://www.superworms.com/ and my next game: http://www.charlie3.com/!

Yep, I was also suprised that my real name was also taken. http://www.gregsquire.com is being used by a canadian real estate agent. (No, that isn't me there, it is a different Greg Squire.) I will be using a different domain anyway, once I've gotten a name nailed down (still working on that).