The domain MountainBikeShop.com is at auction, ending today and is sitting around $220 with a Godaddy Valuation just under $3k.
It seems like a good domain right? You know what it is, you could go to their store or website and know without a shadow of a doubt what they do before you get there.
On the surface it looks good, it has bids so if you were a new domainer you could bid with a certain level of confidence that this is a desirable domain that would sell, because others are bidding on it. 🙂
I think this domain sucks.
I don’t hate the concept of this domain, as a group of words bound together that make sense, and in the past I would have said it was decent. I’d even pay reg fee for the thing right now.
But this is the problem, Domains like this that look good but will never sell, well except maybe to other domainers. It’s hard to turn it down, I think it would probably be a mistake to pay anything above $10. It’s tempting if only because at first glance it looks like a domain that should have value.
This is why I think it’s a bad domain:
First, the whole point of the exercise is to buy names that have some chance of selling to an end user for some multiple of auction or registration price. Is it a name that a bike business would buy?
The name is too specific and there are too many alternative versions available for a business to pay a domainers retail price. More importantly, bike shops don’t name their businesses anything close to this. Here’s a list of bike shops close to me, right out of the Google SERP. They’re mostly brandables, GEO’s or Owner identity names.
Rails to Trails
Bicycle Outfitters
Leed’s Cyclery
Gung Ho Bikes
Worldwide Cyclery
Universal Cycles
The Cycle Works
In Gear Cycling and Fitness
Holmes Cycling and Fitness
Downhill From Here
Lancaster Bicycle Shop
The Bike Shak
Green Mountain Cyclery
Roy’s Bike Shop
Deluxx Bikes
The Common Wheel Bicycle Shop
Jack’s Bike Shop
Era Ski and Bike Shop
All of these store are within 50 miles of me. None of them use anything close to this domain. You would think that with all the alternate extensions these small businesses would be fighting over keyword domains for their brand and websites.
They are not. According to NBDA.com, the national bicycle dealers association, in 2015 there were around 3800 Specialty bike dealers in the US alone. I assume that means small non chain bike shops. ( that’s not a pun, these bikes have chains)
While the number of bike shops is down from a decade ago, it’s still quite a few and that’s just in the us. You would think somewhere in the world there would exist a bike shop that would want this name or something similar to use as their domain.
If your still not sold on my idea, that this name won’t sell, let’s look at the past usage and alternate extensions.
The name has been registered since 1999, there is nothing in Archive.org to suggest that it was ever used for anything other than parking or had any content at all. The domain is currently registered in 7 extensions and here’s what they do.
MountainBikeStore.com Expired never had content
MountainBikeStore.se Registered doesn’t resolve
MountainBikeStore.be Registered doesn’t resolve
MountainBikeStore.online German, “configuration error”
MountainBikeStore.eu Registered doesn’t resolve
MountainBikeStore.co.uk Registered doesn’t resolve
MountainBikeStore.nl Redirects to a Dutch outdoor store
These were once registered but are now deleted.
MountainBikeStore.net Deleted
MountainBikeStore.org Deleted
MountainBikeStore.biz Deleted
MountainBikeStore.it Deleted
You might make the argument that they’re buying it for “traffic”. Godaddy tracks and publishes those numbers and it’s showing none, no traffic at all. Let’s be honest with ourselves, most domains have little value for type in traffic, it just doesn’t work that way anymore, especially with longtails. Certain domains will provide diminishing traffic from old links, but no one is typing this name into the browser. I’m sure there are some short, common words or known brands that get type in traffic.
It all comes back to the domains ability to be used as a brand or an easy to remember website. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be an actual store, just someone’s idea or their dream of building a business, for it to work as far as we’re concerned. No one is dreaming about this name.
So unless you like collecting things that won’t sell, like a hoarder, or you think I’m being ridiculous and possibly bidding on the name myself, you should avoid bidding on names that won’t sell.
I reiterate my point that new domainers and also those who have trouble picking good names from the ocean of bad, probably shouldn’t be bidding just because others are bidding.
If your perception of a good domain is out of whack at the lower end it won’t suddenly improve by paying $200-$500.
Learn to recognize value, ask someone their opinion, or do something else.
- Main List NameJet Flippa/Sedo
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Your LLLL.coms of The Day
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Brandables
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Have a name at auction and need more exposure? Send me an email. We Charge $10 per name per day. We may be able to help. If you have an auction you want to promote, email us for details.*All names chosen by us, Shane and Josh . (ie you click through and purchase a name you like) or an occasional paid listing. Everything we say is based on our own research or is opinion. Do your own due diligence. That means look it up yourself if you don’t think the stats or our opinion is correct. We hand choose the names but we are paid to make this list by both the auction houses, individuals that are auctioning names, and Godaddy affiliate links. Keep that in mind and only buy names that YOU think are good
This is one of the best posts that have ever been written in this industry. Excellent example of how to analyze a domain and your thought process was well laid out.
Respect.
Thank you Michael
Great post Josh.
Thank you Doron
Nice post Josh – well thought out explanation here.
Thank you Tom, I appreciate it
Ummm… I sold MyBikeShop.com for 5 figures and it’s a successful mountain bike site.
Not sure what your local bike stores have to do with e-commerce. Online brands are different from local brands, as local brands don’t depend upon search engines and internet advertising. Keyword domains more relevant online. It’s not rocket science.
Nice sale, buy this one then too. I was talking about long tail keywords that make the name so specific not a modifier that makes it more of a brand. BikeShop.com would be a great domain, MyBikeShop is way different than MountainBikeShop. You sold a brandable not a longtail. Maybe I’m wrong, long tails Keywords do make sense, but I can’t ignore the fact no one “locally” any location in the world, or online are using it.
Kind of getting into technicals, the domains are very similar. Both contain the keywords “bike” & “shop”. To you brandable to me keyword domain.
I’ve never bought an expired domain before in auction, not my business. More into development but will sell domain inventory I won’t be using.
I developed CollegeFootballStore.com into multi million site and sold it to $4.5B unicorn Fanatics, where I was SVP marketing for 10 years. Seems like very similar domain to me.
I don’t thing you’re wrong, it’s your strategy that works for you. Merely pointing out history says you might not be right here. I see domain world very different from investors who are not involved in ecommerce.
My is much less limiting than Mountain. It looks like they sell more than mountain bikes. 5 figures for the name was a nice sale – congrats. As for a local bike shop, I doubt there are many that would pay up for a domain. Most of them aren’t around that long for a reason.
R P,
Clarification on my definition of terms, the differences between keyword domains and brandables made up of keywords: The longtail domains are nothing more than an attempt to mimic search terms while the keyword brandables take a root keyword and develop a feeling or image around that word making it unique or memorable. In this case, the modifier “My” adds a short term with a feeling of personal ownership. I imagine its a good word to help develop brand loyalty. We could add any color, animal, or adjective to BikeShop and come up with a keyword brand that creates an image, feeling or message. These, in my opinion, would be better than targeting a specific niche part of the overall market.
–
The use of local bike shop names in my post didn’t have to be specific to any location, it’s simply to show what those selling these things might be thinking as they develop their business. I would assume that anyone making a brick and mortar business these days would have aspirations for some sort of online presence, and they probably dream of being a global brand.
–
Just a quick look into the usage of MyBikeShop and I found that there are numerous local businesses with the name across the world.
all of these cctld’s are being used as active business websites, independent of the .com,
MyBikeShop.com.au
MyBikeShop.com.sg
MyBikeShop.pl
MyBikeShop.it
MyBikeShop.ca
There are 20 extentions registered, 6 deleted and 3 available.
R P
I appreciate your feedback, you have valuable insight from another perspective. As far as getting too technical on the specific words, I think of the old saying, “Close only counts in Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades.” 🙂
Larger ecommerce companies often operate multiple websites to generate revenue. It’s very difficult to make a material impact selling online when you only have one site in paid ads and serps. Need to own more real estate on search page.
From my experience targeted keyword domains have higher click thru rates (CTR) and conversions in paid search. SERPS also have a CTR component.
It’s a very different game from domaining. You’re buying a domain in hopes of reselling to somebody else. I’m accustomed to having to rank and advertise several sites on the same keyword.