Prime geographic domains sell well. In Australia, a few sales have even been in the rarified 6 figure range.
But in the last few days I read about the sale of LasVegas.com for potentially $US90 million dollars. WOW!
The details of this sale (which happened back in 2005) were uncovered by master domain “sleuth” George Kirikos from Canada.
Ron Jackson of DN Journal summarised the deal perfectly a few days ago; and it was also well covered by Michael Berkens from The Domains.
Creating A Deal
As I’ve often written on here, sometimes to maximise your price – and create a win / win with a purchaser; you should be prepared to be creative with payment terms.
Otherwise you might not get a sale – or be forced to settle for a figure way below future potential.
This LasVegas.com deal was certainly creative – and the seller certainly maximised their sale price. But the buyer obviously saw value and potential which is why the deal has endured.
As George Kirikos outlined, less than $30 million has been paid so far. $60 million more is to be paid by 2040. If Vegas.com (the purchaser) stop paying in 2016, they’d give up the LasVegas.com domain.
A Footnote On Valuation Tools
George K also pointed something out which I thought was totally indicative of how online valuation tools bear no semblance to reality!
For those who still believe in the value of automated domain name appraisals, Estibot puts a value on LasVegas.com of $231,000. The monthly payments alone are nearly that level, and of course the owners got $12 million up front, 10 years ago!
What Now?
Perhaps put another “0” on your asking prices of any geo domains; and start structuring some creative payment terms. There’s gold in them there hills! 😀
I hate estibot except when i am buying a name good for neg then , love all gambling and po*n names as i find someone cant pay me big money unless they can earn big money , like all ar , vr and mixedreality keep up the great work