As written before, back in the day (1996/1997) I registered a bunch of generic domains, that are pretty valuable.
The last few weeks a company chased me down for one of the domains. The domain is a generic .de domain (Germany) and ranks in the top 3 in the SERPs in a very competitive niche.
Unfortunately for the last 24 months I could not motivate myself working on the project/domain. I was just too busy and had no interest in working in this field
Here are my pros and cons:
I. Pros
- $40k for a German .de domain is pretty good
- I have absolutely no time or interest to keep on working in this niche.
- The company, who is interested in buying, would definitely offer better content than I will ever be able to do (unless I hire a bunch of writers, who are educated in this niche).
- In the near future sold domains might not transfer any SEO value (-> domain value will go down).
- It’s recession and the BMW dealer down the road needs some business
II. Cons:
- I don’t really need the money, b/c I live pretty cheap and drive a 12 years old car
- The monthly income is nice, especially that I do absolutely nothing for it and will probably keep on coming in for years.
- The domain would go in the US ( english content and .com) for a 6 or low 7-digit amount.
- Probably biggest con: My beautiful wife saw the offer and loves to feed her low-interest savings account 
Would you sell a domain for the sake of the web …or just because it makes financial sense?
January 27th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
sell it
January 28th, 2008 at 8:36 am
It’s a boring answer, but since it sounds like actively developing on the domain isn’t particularly interesting to you, I’d go with the math:
1. What’s the monthly income coming from the domain right now?
2. What % return would you need to get on investing $40k to match that amount? *
* Remembering to factor in any tax implications on the sale…
If the answer to #2 is in the low to middling single digits, I’d almost definitely sell.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Try to sell it and keep a percentage. How long would it take right now to make 40k with that site? How much development would it take to increse the income? Is it currently parked or slightly developed? Maybe a partner or an affiliate program could be all you need to boost the income.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Thanks for all the input!
I made the calculation many times and there is no right answer. Still I tend to sell. Also the buyer increased the offer for a substantial amount.
Last but not least I think a top level domain with mediocre content is something that nobody wants. Especially in the domain’s niche people expect quality content and I believe that I have the responsibility to give this domain in the hands of a professional organization/company.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Hi, came across your blog from BlogRush.
Have you thought about leasing the domain to the company for a monthly fee? You would remain in control of your domain but they got use of it.
Alternatively you could sell the domain but have a contract whereby you earn a monthly revenue from the domain for the next 5 years maybe?
Just ideas to think about.
Khalid.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Great idea Khalid. I thought about leasing it, but the interested buyer doesn’t want to lease (which is understandable).
I kind of go back and forth…….but it makes sense to sell. It’s just stupid to keep a domain with not very good content up when somebody else can build a nice platform on it.
I myself tried to buy a pretty good domain recently, but the owner prefers to play games and keeps it parked. Maybe this is a little strange opinion of myself, but top-level domains should be loaded with quality content and not just sit around for years and be a pain for 1000s of people.
So. I guess I will sell it and will be excited to see someone build a great business on “my” domain
January 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I say keep it & use the money earned monthly to hire someone to build content into the site for you. This method will grow your monthly income. There is absolutely no reason you cannot earn $40,000 monthly. Make the decision & then take action.
We have been focusing on passive & residual income for years. In my humble opinion, it is the best money earned!
DREAM BIG!!!
Michael
March 11th, 2008 at 8:21 am
[...] for all the readers who were curious what happened to the top-level domain that I recently wanted to sell. Here the final result: I sold it for [...]