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Value comparison of a domain

petermeadit

Top Contributor
Just wondering about value comparison of a domain

Scooters.com.au $7,890

vs

Skateboards.com.au $5,114

Skatebords seems more valuable yet it sold for less?
 

James

Top Contributor
Scooters can be a more expensive item, they range in price from 100- several thousand.

where as Skateboards are 100 or so.

That been said didn't Skateboard sell on the DROP auctions and Scooters was an aftermarket sale?
 

Shane

Top Contributor
James raises a good point about the prices of scooters v skateboards, but another consideration is that skateboards and related accessories are far easier to ship and more likely to be purchased online.

On that basis I'd probably agree with Peter that skateboards.com.au is a superior name.
 

zhenjie

Top Contributor
I agree with James. It was Skateboard being in a drop auction with interested parties and Scooters was an aftermarket sale with negotiations.

IMO both are still great price for an end user.
 

Chris.C

Top Contributor
These days I tend to avoid buying domains for items that don't sell for at least $500. The margins get too skinny on products lower than this and it becomes hard to build a business around.

Also, when you are buying a domain, if you know you can build a business around that one domain just buy itself you can be far more confident that someone else will also see value in it one day if you aren't willing ot start that business yourself.

So I prefer Scooters.com.au simply just because a decent percentage of people searching for this term are willing to spend $XXXX and there are 10,000 new scooters sold a year in Australia so that's a decent market to go after with a domain like this...
 

snoopy

Top Contributor
These days I tend to avoid buying domains for items that don't sell for at least $500. The margins get too skinny on products lower than this and it becomes hard to build a business around.

The typical online purchase is around $80 from the stats I have seen. I don't know if a margin necessarily correlates well with the price of the product.

Most of the higher priced items I have bought online are very price competition, electronics mainly at that price. As the price gets higher I tend to compare prices more also. For example a TV I would do a lot of research on (over say a week) and maybe the difference between the cheapest and 2nd cheapest is $5-$10. A lampshade I might only do 5-10 minutes research on price wise. Though maybe that is just me.

Can you give an example of name you have passed on simply because the price of the item is under $500, curious to see the type of name you mean.
 

Chris.C

Top Contributor
The typical online purchase is around $80 from the stats I have seen. I don't know if a margin necessarily correlates well with the price of the product.
No doubt gross margins would be bigger for lower ticket items - but the net margins I would be lower unless you were pushing through serious volume if your average sale was $80.

Also I'm of the belief that the purpose/value in a domain isn't always to product a "sale". Often sales processes is better started with generating a "lead" and then have a traditional salesperson close the deal.

This is still how most higher ticket products are made - and where margins are slightly fatter in my opinion.

The online store model, from what I've seen, is all about skinny margins and high volume because switching costs are close to zero.

Also a domains value, at least when it comes to product perception is diminished somewhat when selling low ticket items.

Ie - Are you more likely to perceive that coffee mug from coffeemugs.com.au will be better value than the ones from eBay or Amazon? Do you do much research when you are buying coffee mugs? Or do you just type in eBay and compare what's on eBay because you know they'll have a decent selection?

Whereas if you are looking buy a jetski you'd definitely do some research via Google and and if I saw the the domain jetskis.com.au in the SERPs I would definitely visit it...

And it may just be my personal preference but I'm just not into having 100 customers which I make $5 profit from when I could have 1 customers who I make $500 profit from.

Can you give an example of name you have passed on simply because the price of the item is under $500, curious to see the type of name you mean.
As for domains I've passed over - it would be literally THOUSANDS.

Part of my due diligence on every domain I buy is to go to ebay and see what the product is typically selling for...

From today's drop list here are just a couple of domains that are valued highly by NetFleet's BIN system yet are domains I wouldn't pay 5% of their BIN for because they are low ticket items:

stethoscope.net.au
ipad3cases.com.au
rabbitcages.com.au

Back on to the topic of skateboards vs scooters according to ebay:

$36 for a new skateboard:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PRO-COMP...55794?pt=AU_Skateboarding&hash=item27d9f3c3d2

Even if you sold 20 of these a day you still wouldn't be making more than a full time job.

$2195 for a new scooter:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BRAND-NE...1839359?pt=AU_Motorcycles&hash=item4d143a2f7f

You could sell just 1 of these a day and have an income to go full time.

I'm not saying you couldn't turn skateboards.com.au into a quality site and a small business (you definitely could) so I'm not saying it isn't a great domain - it is.

I'm just saying I'd prefer to be in the Scooter business than the Skateboard business...

;)
 

FirstPageResults

Top Contributor
Both good names.

And it may just be my personal preference but I'm just not into having 100 customers which I make $5 profit from when I could have 1 customers who I make $500 profit from.

How many prospective customers would you have to pitch to before you get that solitary sale though :)

James raises a good point about the prices of scooters v skateboards, but another consideration is that skateboards and related accessories are far easier to ship and more likely to be purchased online.

I agree, as selling a skateboard is fairly easy. It's something that you decide you want and then find the design that you like. No need for a sales pitch.

The decision to buy a scooter that costs thousands is not as easy, and it's something that most people will want to do in person.


$2195 for a new scooter..

You could sell just 1 of these a day and have an income to go full time.

But on average theres only 27 sold per day country wide ;)
 

Shane

Top Contributor
And it may just be my personal preference but I'm just not into having 100 customers which I make $5 profit from when I could have 1 customers who I make $500 profit from.

There are arguments for both sides.

I was talking to a guy last year who runs the same type of business as me. His overall revenue is only slightly higher than mine, but his average per client is a massive 20 times higher than mine.

You'd think his model would be the better one, but the difference is that his office goes into meltdown when a single client is at risk of leaving. Mine on the other hand loses a few clients each week and it's just part of the business.

So from a risk perspective, I'd rather have 100 clients paying $5 than 1 client paying $500.

Slightly off topic sorry, but your comment reminded me of that conversation...
 

snoopy

Top Contributor
Ie - Are you more likely to perceive that coffee mug from coffeemugs.com.au will be better value than the ones from eBay or Amazon? Do you do much research when you are buying coffee mugs? Or do you just type in eBay and compare what's on eBay because you know they'll have a decent selection?

This reminds me of a domainer who once made the argument that towels.com wasn't worth much because anyone can buy a towel for $5 from K-Mart and why would anyone buy a towel from somewhere else?

Do you regularly buy crockery? If not ask your wife/girlfriend/other females if they buy their crockery on ebay.

Whereas if you are looking buy a jetski you'd definitely do some research via Google and and if I saw the the domain jetskis.com.au in the SERPs I would definitely visit it...

Tell the same person you are looking to buy a jet ski and ask them where you should buy it from. They'll probably tell you ebay....they are all the same. A motor that is too loud, a bit of plastic around it and a vinyl seat. Just buy the cheapest one.

And it may just be my personal preference but I'm just not into having 100 customers which I make $5 profit from when I could have 1 customers who I make $500 profit from.

How about making $40 on the $80 sale versus $40 on the $500 sale?

$2195 for a new scooter:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BRAND-NE...1839359?pt=AU_Motorcycles&hash=item4d143a2f7f

You could sell just 1 of these a day and have an income to go full time.

When I hear the word scooter this is what I think of.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Razor-Po...H_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2331159e63&_uhb=1

I've already decided to buy my kids scooters for christmas so I'm in real trouble if they are thinking of what you linked to above lol
 

findtim

Top Contributor
wow, great thread and even off topic was still on topic really.

i'm for skateboards, I actually pitched that domain to a client but he wasn't cashed up to even consider a bid but afterwards he said "only $5K "

he sells them from $119 each so his break even point on a $5k purchase would be pretty quick, plus he can post a skateboard but not a scooter.

as mentioned before, he doesn't have to spend time on customers, they are already SOLD on the idea........ its just which one, the buyers expectation is already met as a skateboard is a skateboard, the end user KNOWS the terms and "specs"

so it becomes a "here it is, pick one, buy it " online sales experience.

tim
 

snoopy

Top Contributor
plus he can post a skateboard but not a scooter.

as mentioned before, he doesn't have to spend time on customers, they are already SOLD on the idea........ its just which one, the buyers expectation is already met as a skateboard is a skateboard, the end user KNOWS the terms and "specs"

so it becomes a "here it is, pick one, buy it " online sales experience.

tim

It is not a term mainly about motorbike stuff. It is a term about kids wanting $100 razors. If the buyer bought it to sell vespa style stuff they are going to get very little advantage with that domain.
 

findtim

Top Contributor
ohh, chris C lead me down the path of a vespa $2195 profit so I thus went motorbikes !

so based on that if it is the razor then i'm still with skateboards, skateboards have stood the test of time, they may be going through a slump but they are not going away, razors are a fade like a yo yo and their sales will do that.

they will boom then bust, where as skateboards will just be rolling wave forever.

tim
 

petermeadit

Top Contributor
True that skateboards and scooters are both great medium range products for selling and shipping online.

For premium products like high-end motorised scooters, I would think people would be looking for brand names. Same with brand name skateboards.

The value of these domains being similar, it would be interesting to see how many more, or less dollars would have been paid if they were both picked up on the drops?


Sent from my HTC One X using DNTrade mobile app
 

Bacon Farmer

Top Contributor
There are 3 types of scooters.

Razor type scooters (kids)
Vespa type scooters (hipsters)
4 wheel scooters or mobility vehicles - usually sporting a hi vis flag (seniors)
 

findtim

Top Contributor
There are 3 types of scooters.

Razor type scooters (kids)
Vespa type scooters (hipsters)
4 wheel scooters or mobility vehicles - usually sporting a hi vis flag (seniors)

yep, forgot about the oldies.

kids = quick searching
hipsters = long decision searching
oldies = hmmmm, maybe not searching as much, bricks and mortar needy

tim
 

zhenjie

Top Contributor
With Scooters the main market is your general commuting scooters for regular inner city folk (not necessarily hipsters).
 

findtim

Top Contributor
I think we have gone into a full loop here

dove= chocolate
dove= soap
dove= birds

its whatever the owner intends to do with it

tim
 

Chris.C

Top Contributor
How many prospective customers would you have to pitch to before you get that solitary sale though.
Maximum 3 if your sales skills are as good as Tim's.

:p

Also there is an upside to this "big ticket solitary sales" - those that are not your customer are also not your liability.

Whereas if you have 100 customers you made $5 from you still have 100 liabilities and not much of a provision to handle complaints or refunds which could wipe out all your profits from dozens of sales.

Also let's not forget that there would be just as many businesses selling skateboards as their would be motorised scooters (if not more).

The decision to buy a scooter that costs thousands is not as easy, and it's something that most people will want to do in person.
I agree that many people would like to "talk to someone" when it comes to buying items that are $1000+ - but I beg to differ on the "in person" statement.

These days I suspect 90% of people would be happy to buy over the phone if it saved them 10% - 20% and if you had the supporting digital material, ie digital versions of your brochures, photos and videos.

And I know from experience this business model works on higher capex products.

;)

I was talking to a guy last year who runs the same type of business as me. His overall revenue is only slightly higher than mine, but his average per client is a massive 20 times higher than mine.

You'd think his model would be the better one, but the difference is that his office goes into meltdown when a single client is at risk of leaving. Mine on the other hand loses a few clients each week and it's just part of the business.

So from a risk perspective, I'd rather have 100 clients paying $5 than 1 client paying $500.
I agree that de-risking a business is important - though in this situation I think it's subtly different, in that scooter and skateboard sales are one time events rather than an on going sale.

This reminds me of a domainer who once made the argument that towels.com wasn't worth much because anyone can buy a towel for $5 from K-Mart and why would anyone buy a towel from somewhere else?
I don't think it is worth much either nor do I see a multi-million dollar having being built on it...

:confused:

So I don't get your point.

Do you regularly buy crockery?
Do I strike you as a regular crockery buyer...

:D

I've already decided to buy my kids scooters for christmas so I'm in real trouble if they are thinking of what you linked to above lol
HAHA

I'm just visualizing your kids opening their present on Christmas morning with a disappointed look on their faces as they turn to you and say "What the hell dad! What's sort of budget scooter is this?!? What do you mean I have to push it myself?!? Where's the damn engine Paul?!?"

:D

so based on that if it is the razor then i'm still with skateboards, skateboards have stood the test of time, they may be going through a slump but they are not going away, razors are a fade like a yo yo and their sales will do that. they will boom then bust, where as skateboards will just be rolling wave forever.
See my thoughts are the complete opposite - scooters have been quite popular since the second world war and their sales each year are very much inline with previous years.

I'd bet my bottom dollar skateboard sales have fluctuated all over the place depending on what's cool with kids at the time - ie when roller blades took off no doubt skateboard sales went down - now that scooters (the kiddie type) tare popular that would be eating into skateboard sales - hell even the internet and game slike World of Warcraft probably hurt skateboard sales...

Skateboards are an entertainment toy - they depend on being popular with kids.

Motorised scooters serve as a functional way to transport oneself around the place which is always required.

With Scooters the main market is your general commuting scooters for regular inner city folk (not necessarily hipsters).
That's what I would have thought.
 

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