Morning Folks!!
Do I think the domain sex.com is cursed? Serge says it is so
that gives me pause. The evidence keeps mounting up and so that also gives me
pause. But let me tell you what Sex.com really is. Sex.com is going to tell a
lot about the state of the domain industry for better or for worse and whether you like it or not.
First, no domainer is going to buy this domain for $14 Million. Ain’t
gonna happen. I don’t know a single domainer that would risk $14 million on a
domain that has failed over and over again. As for an adult site buying it, that is a possibility, but not a great
one or it would have already been sold.
I have said for years that the domain business is an incestuous
industry. Interesting that it will be Sex.com that either proves we are still
one or have broken out beyond that in a real burst. Like you, I could easily name a
dozen companies or more that could have an interest in this domain. I could
also see a dozen companies with some very colorful Board Meetings. So will the
end user be in this equation? Yes, in the form of adult interest, but I
certainly would like to see it go well beyond that. As I stated in my last
post……if and when sex.com sells, it will be a bell weather transaction. No
other sale since Men.com in 2003/2004 will give us more of an indication of where we are and
where we are going from here then this sale. As folks trip over themselves trying to get a .whatever registry and looking for the 'Second coming', the most famous .com is now available. But let's be honest, even I would say that buying a SMART .whatever has a better upside than Sex.com for a fraction of the cost and risk. Don't faint! Even I am surprised by that. But I am a numbers guy and I would rather have 50 or 100 .whatever's than one Sex.com. I think the upside on sex.com is limited.
The legal wrangling we are seeing and are about to see should be a
lesson to everyone about controlling the domain AFTER the sale if the deal is
not all cash. More folks lose their most valuable domains via bad contracts.
MANY of these contracts have the INTENT to eventually get your domain without
paying for it. I have rejected more contracts on domains for this very reason
than most people ever sign. I can name folks in this business that basically
did this for a living over the years. They get mighty angry when you figure out
what they are up to. Better for them to get angry then lose your asset. If you sign a contract on a domain and the return of that domain is not spelled out in great detail in case of default, you are going to lose that domain or it will be tied up in litigation and the costs will just mount and mount and you still may lose the domain.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Recent Comments