WHY AM I STILL DOING THIS
January 22, 2019 7:08 AM   Subscribe

Think you know how much the internet is worth? Try Domain Name Pricing Game. Inspired by this tweet.
posted by backseatpilot (39 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Saw this the other day, and immediately questioned its accuracy when the result said that pentathalon.com was more valuable than beaverhunter.com.
posted by terrapin at 7:10 AM on January 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


Hey a game I'm good at that's not Katamari.
posted by wellred at 7:17 AM on January 22, 2019


I work for a domain registrar. Thank you for sharing this. We're having a lot of fun in our slack channel with this game.
posted by Fizz at 7:19 AM on January 22, 2019 [17 favorites]


I suck at that. 3/10. Maybe that is the point.
posted by AugustWest at 7:21 AM on January 22, 2019


Saw this the other day, and immediately questioned its accuracy when the result said that pentathalon.com was more valuable than beaverhunter.com.

And yet...

pentathlon.com = $16,125

beaverhunter.com = $2,688
posted by solotoro at 7:26 AM on January 22, 2019


Oh wait, or did you actually mean "pentathalon"? In that case, you're right:

pentathalon.com = $2,145
posted by solotoro at 7:28 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


It's not what the domain is actually worth; it's what the current owner thinks it's worth. There is virtually no cost to holding a domain so these deluded fools will hold on to their idiotic names and demand millions for them on the off chance that some sucker will buy them.
posted by suetanvil at 7:30 AM on January 22, 2019 [4 favorites]


I had to check my toot on Mastodon, and I typed "pentathlon" but my recollection is the two were closer in price, so perhaps I meant the second one, solotoro? *shrug*

Which ever it was I still would have thought a potential pr0n site would be more valuable.
posted by terrapin at 7:32 AM on January 22, 2019


brb yarnbones.com is on sale for $10
posted by yhbc at 7:35 AM on January 22, 2019 [6 favorites]


There is virtually no cost to holding a domain

Not entirely true, there is a minimum yearly fee for keeping that registered in their name. And if it is a domain that is considered to be premium (a domain that has a single word or one that has been in existence for a very long time), the fee to transfer it to another registrar can dramatically increase based on how the gaining registrar and ICANN values that domain. But the cost of maintaining that registration at it's existing registrar is usually set by that registrar.

How certain premium domains are valued though is kind of fuzzy and even on an internal level, I've never truly been able to determine how that gets set.
posted by Fizz at 7:48 AM on January 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


When registering my company name years ago, I also registered several homophones. Another startup had picked one of them for their name, and I made a few grand selling it to them.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:57 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


I got 11/12 by always choosing .com domains and English words over everything else.
posted by hat_eater at 8:00 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


Wow I am extremely bad at this. But come on, why is infusedberries.com $988 and localnuts.com only $300? WHY?
posted by beandip at 8:04 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


why is infusedberries.com $988 and localnuts.com only $300?

because grindr already has a domain name
posted by allegedly at 8:11 AM on January 22, 2019 [26 favorites]


I stopped playing after going 0/4.

This inspired me to look into the status of the domain frenchboyfriend.com, which I'd registered to set up a gag on a friend (damn, that was over ten years ago). Anyway I allowed the domain and hosting to lapse as the joke grew old and I tired of paying fees to keep it up. I was surprised to see that the domain is available instead of being than in the hands of a domain squatter or in actual use, as I think some entity snatched it up after I failed to find a buyer for it. Fortunately or not, archive.org has a copy of the joke site. One of the reasons I donate to them!
posted by exogenous at 8:11 AM on January 22, 2019 [5 favorites]


When I was in the process of looking for a new domain, I tried dozens of stupid-but-memorable names before I found one that wasn't squatted, usually for thousands of dollars.

I assumed at the time that squatters probably own portfolios numbering in the tens of thousands of items and consider it a success if they manage to sell 1% for profit.

I am slightly disappointed that my previous stupid-but-memorable domain name has not been taken. Those squatters are missing out on dozens of hits per month.
posted by AndrewStephens at 8:29 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


I can tell you DabbingWhileCrying.com was about $35 if it ever comes up.
posted by gc at 8:37 AM on January 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


A friend sold his two letter .com domain a few years ago for a tidy sum and the new owners have done absolutely nothing with it. They haven't even redirected it away from his site. I guess it's just an investment.
posted by ODiV at 9:02 AM on January 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


The Internet is weird.
posted by ODiV at 9:03 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


They haven't even redirected it away from his site. I guess it's just an investment.
Often it's just about owning it so someone else can't use it. Disney owns muppetfucker.com for a reason.
The Internet is weird.
It certainly is.
posted by Fizz at 9:23 AM on January 22, 2019 [5 favorites]


marseillecougar.com
or
horseraddish.com


I got this one right (marseillecougar at just over $1,300), but only because I assumed that cougar breeders in Marseille were more flush with cash than your average horse radish farmer.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:37 AM on January 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


I should have bought catsinboxes.com when it was available 2 years ago.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:09 AM on January 22, 2019


I gave away rr.com in 1996. Yeah, I am an idiot.
posted by bz at 10:50 AM on January 22, 2019 [3 favorites]


brb yarnbones.com is on sale for $10

Why, when you can have philosophersocks.com and keep $1 of that! I’m guessing most Philosophers wear sandals without socks - hence the bargain price. But come on there has to be a market for selling socks to Philosophers.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 11:19 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


I’ve been running about 70-80% right so far using the following fuzzy logic:

- English words beat non English words
- Shorter words beat longer words (and less compounded phrases beat more compounded phrases)
- .com domains beat all others
- Medical words beat non-medical words (my reasoning due to class action lawsuits) - like clots.com going for $175k
- Retail goods or services beat non-retail
- Religious phrases tend to be high value
- Financial services tend to be high value
posted by inflatablekiwi at 11:29 AM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


I wish there was an actual formula for this. I own a four-letter .com domain, and while it is borderline pronounceable, it's not actually a word. Is it worth $5? $50? $500? $5,000? Who knows?
posted by maxwelton at 11:32 AM on January 22, 2019


This is a strangely painful game for me, because when I first learned about domains it was back in 1994 or so, the whole idea of domains having monetary value was foreign.

I remember a friend and I, two computer geeks, punching in random names into Whois just to see what was available. Most of them I forgot, but I have a clear memory of one: flowers.com.

Which I could have bought. For whatever the standard price was back then. $20? $50? I can't even remember.

Given that plants.com recently sold for $450,000, I look for ways to console myself and come up short every time.
posted by jeremias at 1:32 PM on January 22, 2019 [4 favorites]


Paging ChuraChura: orangutanlover.com is a paltry $250 right now.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:45 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


In the immortal words of Derek Powazek, (I quasi-quote), "Buying a domain is one of the most optimistic things a techie can do. Because you're saying, 'Oh, yeah, I will totally have time for that.'"

Which is why I'm about to lose screenlessinseattle.com. The idea was to make a directory of places that don't have TVs to suck conversation away. I still think it's a good idea, but...
posted by aurelian at 1:55 PM on January 22, 2019 [4 favorites]


chocolatemousse.com ($39,000)
posted by not_on_display at 2:05 PM on January 22, 2019


One of the big regrets of my online life is having let hairyback.com expire. Now nobody wants it but the squatters are still demanding ~$5000 for it.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:19 PM on January 22, 2019


my sense for the value of domain names is almost perfectly backwards. I'm currently playing this game using this strategy:

1) figure out which domain name I honestly think is worth more, then
2) click on the other one.

I'm at 10 out of 12 so far...
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:36 PM on January 22, 2019 [2 favorites]


I am not good at this game but it was extremely fun, what a rare combo! I got the giggles quickly and started laughing at anything even if it wasn't funny, "loudlocker.com" really busted me up.

An ex used to work for GoDaddy so she and all her coworkers owned a bunch of funny/weird domain names. We had a shitty relationship but I am really sad that I can't remember what they were and don't want to reach out to her to ask, and I couldn't post them even if I did remember since I always refer to her as my shitty ex and enjoy that she doesn't know this Metafilter handle.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 3:58 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


forchefs.com ($1,449)
or
cognacsquad.com ($2,200)


Well, I mean, obviously.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:43 PM on January 22, 2019


rabeyaislam.com ($2,095)
or
existentialnihilism.com ($988)
WRONG!
SCORE: 2/10


It's a void. I get it.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:44 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


thing's broken

elevatorapp.com ($7,500)
woodchunks.com ($790)
posted by soakimbo at 9:43 PM on January 22, 2019


I feel like woodchunks.com should redirect to bondcliff's block chain.
posted by NMcCoy at 1:34 AM on January 23, 2019 [3 favorites]


Which I could have bought. For whatever the standard price was back then. $20? $50? I can't even remember.
I recall domain registration being pretty expensive in the 90s -- at least relative to my paltry student budget at the time. I have a lot of "if only" thoughts about that time.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 7:11 AM on January 23, 2019


At netsol after 1995 it was $100 for a two-year registration and then changed to $70/yr in 97 or so.
posted by bz at 12:36 PM on January 23, 2019


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