Buy Dot-Com
With home sales slumping, Boston’s hottest real estate may be online.
Web addresses can fetch killer prices, as thriving local URL-selling firms (like Newbury Street–based Internet Real Estate Group) know well. To get a taste of the market, we asked analysts at two of these companies, NameMedia and Sedo, to appraise a few locally owned domains for fun. Though their policies prohibit dealing in already trademarked names, they were happy to play along.
|
|
|
|
|
|
APPRAISAL |
: $2.4 million. Geographical names limit potential audience, says NameMedia, but they still draw lots of ad revenue. |
$60,000. Cameras.com sold for $1.5 million, but value decreases for singular words and dot-orgs, NameMedia says. |
$5,000. "It’s questionably an ‘adult’ term, but dating/adult names can go for a ton," says a Sedo rep. |
|
OWNERS |
The Boston Globe |
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (C.A.M.E.R.A.) |
Canton-based retailer Casual Male |
|
WOULD THEY SELL? |
"We’re not comfortable commenting on the acquisition of the site, even in a lighthearted manner," says a spokesman. |
Yes—for $10 million. "It would create a permanent endowment for [us]," says associate director Alex Safian. |
No, says CEO David Levin. "Our URL makes it clear who we are" (and that’s a company selling clothes, not porn). |
Source URL: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2008/03/buy-dot-com/