OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
I own a book that was published in the 1930s. It is not just a 1st edition. It is not just signed by the author. It is also leather bound and believed to be, what bookworms call, a presentation copy.
It was probably leather bound according the author’s request and used by the author when he was presenting the book to bookstores, etc. He finally gifted the book to someone he respected or needed a favor from.
I bought it for mid 4-figures a few years back. I have only read on the internet about one book that might be similar to the one I own and it was sold for low 5-figures about 3 years back. I believe there no more than 3 in existence like this. The itself book is the most famous in its field with tens of reprints up until this day.
Would I sell it? Sure. For $100,000 I would.
Would I sell it for $10,000. Hell no!
Do I get tens of emails everyday to sell the book for $20? No because I don’t have the book for sale and there is no whois for books.
But still, if I had the book for sale at AbeBooks.com, a popular rare book exchange website, would I get offers for $20 on a book listed for $25,000? I highly doubt it. That is because domain name buyers are either not educated at all about domains (and they don’t try to get educated) or clearly misinformed. Mostly by domain name registrars and mass media.
I am sorry but this is how the world works. One of a kind things sell for high prices. And when the buyer is not motivated to sell, or even worse when he/she doesn’t want to sell, things sell for even higher sales.
Does this make me a book squatter? I don’t think so. So, why am I a domain squatter?
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You are not. You take it too personally. Sometimes uneducated buyers may try to make it personal. You should simply ignore them.
Maybe I do…
Book Squatter, Art Squatter, Gold Squatter, Diamond Squatter, Property Squatter, Watch Squatter, Car Squatter there are so many squatters out there….
lol
So I am one?
K-we own the name OxfordEdition.com Why don’t you buy it from us and then you can be a domain and book squatter all in one! lol
No need. I own BookAuctions.com!
That’s funny and a great name you own re: BookAuctions.com. You’re so right as to “buyers” in this domain space. Being in finance and real estate most of my life I find it very interesting the “buyer mindset” in domains. Other than perhaps a .com keyword or a .com low numeric I truly think that it’s whatever the buyer will pay. We all know the example of DuDu.com for $1 million or Apple paying $4.5million for iCloud.com ( which actually makes sense really for Apple because of what they can do with the name)
i get where you’re coming from. one time this guy domain shane said something rude to me…. i wanted to drive to his nursery and pull up all his hydrangeas but i didn’t. there are many odd people on the internet.
No question. You’re definitely a book squatter. 🙂
Damn!
K-remember Warren Buffet became wealthy being a stock squatter! lol
I think there’s a few reasons why domainers are seen as squatters:
1. A domain can be registered for $9. A rare book like yours cannot be bought for such a low price.
2. You own thousands of domains and you do not use most of them. So people may see you as a greedy hog.
3. Domain names are intangible items, so uneducated users don’t see the value in them. Things like jewelry and classic cars can be easily appraised within industries that have existed long before domains came around.
Note: These are not my own sentiments.
1. The book was a gift at that time. And other books were sold for $3.
2. I own thousands of books and don’t read them all.
3. Music or books are intangible yet copyright remains for 100+ years.
Just because something is new it doesn’t mean it has no value. Bitcoin is both new and intangible. And actually money is also intangible. Just bits in a server.
Note: just saying
I have mentioned this before in other posts but we are still not anywhere near a tipping point where end users, developers, small business owners, much less the general public in mass recognize a domain name as a valuable tool for promoting products and services which is worth budgeting for – like other advertising/marketing expenses and IT project costs. Rather, domains are generally viewed as an $XX cost like buying a garbage can for the break room. Who spends $5000 on a trashcan?
Being cheap can cost you a lot of money.
And it is not just the end users that are to blame. Most often than not is the advertising/marketing and web developer’s fault.
“We will build you a website for $50,000 on a $10 domain name.” Hmmmm…
I get also pretty annoyed when somebody uses word squater…. Though at least this days most people realize that short name cost money. I have a start up with really good generic name, and amount of questions i get … how much did it cost? assuming it costed a lot in a tone… is actually very big. So people at least intrinsically understand that short generic one word is expensive.
Spouse squatter = Someone who won’t give you his / her wife / husband when offered $20.
Awareness levels about domain names are very low even at some big corporations. Companies that spend millions on IT infrastructure and marketing hesitate to spend even $ xxxx on domain names.
Even SMBs who spend $ 2000-3000 on site design and SEO etc ask domains for $ 100.
Some companies spend $ xxxxx per year on some keywords at Google adwords but they hesitate to buy that keyword domain name for $ xxxx.
We have to live with these things. We failed to educate people through mass media.
Introduction of new extensions may further complicate and confuse people. We have to live with these things.
I have seen a company which spends seven figures annually on IT and professional services registering newbie quality handregs for projects.
You know what i love here is that you publish all comments i posted a comment on another domain blog ml for eg and because i was against new tlds and supported dot com instead and nicely said i believe dot com is and will always be king they would not publish my comment and banned it so will never go back there congrads on showing balls and publishing all comments weather you agree or dis agree that shows the mark of a true grentlemen who respects others opinions weather he agrees or not i will vote next year for blogger of year as the others suck