As we all know timing is everything, luck isn’t too bad either. I have always said domainers underestimate how much luck plays into things. And no I don’t mean you make your own luck, I mean you got lucky, like hitting a winning lottery ticket, nothing about your breeding, your work ethic, just luck, some disguise it by telling the world they hit a triple when they were born on third base.
How.tv is one such story of luck, good for one registrant and bad for two other.
Originally registered in 2003, The domain was purchased by a Swiss registrant in 2011 for $11,000 at Sedo. They must have given up on the name, let it expire.
Here is how it looked in 2007:
So now there is a post on Namepros a domainer who thought GoDaddy stole their name. This seems impossible because How.tv is a premium name and GoDaddy does not offer premium .tv registrations.
After a bunch of posts, Rob Monster of Epik enters the thread explains that it was a premium, and that the thread starter now owns the domain name at Epik, who does offer premium .tv registrations.
Then on Sunday, Rob posted:
We have a confirmed buyer for How.TV closing at $75,000 *. For those who are new to the story, this was a new hand registration on Friday. The transaction is currently in escrow at Epik. Congratulations in advance to the registrant for some outrageous ROI. Love that. I hope the registrant consolidates all their domains at Epik so we can keep closing big exits for them for many years to come.
* Note: Traditionally, Epik does not disclose customer domain sales. This is in line with our positioning as the Swiss Bank of Domains. However, because this is such a “David vs. Goliath” story, it had to be shared. The Domaining industry is alive and well. I think the key in this sale negotiation was that instead of saying “make offer”, the prospects were invited to either (1) lease the domain, or (2) pay the full asking price. The buyer choose option 2.
That is one hell of a sale if it goes through.
*We have not verified the sale and are only reporting on public information made on Namepros.
Do you think it is a real sale?
Look I totally agree with you this seems nuts, I would hope Rob would not be in on anything crazy, Epik has a pretty good rep which I think gets trashed. The sale really needs to be transparently disclosed in my opinion. Sending Ron at DNJournal proper info.
USA.tv sold for 125k. This is not a crazy price for a great video-centric short dot tv domain so i can believe it.
I do have respect for Rob Monster too so i am more likely to believe this is legit too.
I am just surprised that there was any announcement previous to sale being closed. I would never do that because i would feel i would jinx it by announcing it pre close.
This is why i believe it. I doubt Rob would announce it w/out damn good proof this is legit.
Will be a fun one to watch.
GoDaddy offer premium .tv . Test GD search: fitness dot tv , jogging dot tv , yog dot tv etc
btw. How dot tv is still on GD for sale
previous comment correction: GD search via Afternic listing etc offer premium TV
There were actually multiple 5 figure bidders for this domain that surfaced within 48 hours of the registration. The $75K price was the price to end the bidding. The buyer is arranging their payment at Epik. I expect it closes this week. Some very nice ROI for the registrant.
As for NamePros, I recently began spending more time there now that I am down to running 1 company instead of two. I am also scheduled to join for ICANN in Barcelona this month and look forward to spending more time with industry colleagues as we chart the next phase for Epik.
The domain industry still has plenty of legs.
Thanks for replying Rob. Great job, why did all the interest come from nowhere did you actively shop it?
Pear.tv,Perfect fruit domain.
That’s incredible, 75k, Rob Monster you are a monster salesman.
I made an error, I was looking at a whois history that I thought dated back to 2004 not 2014 when the Swiss registrant had the name. So it was regged in 2003 it looks like sold in 2011 for $11,000 dropped and now sold for $75,000.
What do you guys think of this ?
he.art
I was thinking,
and thought
There’s is only one
he.art
and 1
web.site
and 1
inter.net
So there’s only Two !!
#domains
Wow! I saw it available for $1,800 on DynaDot after it dropped. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough funds at the moment to purchase it. I asked a friend (another domain investor) to purchase it for me and I’ll pay him within a week. He refused because he was afraid to be stuck with the domain!
Lesson learned: Do whatever it takes to keep your cash flow running all the time. Buy the best of the best and wait for the best opportunities instead of going after every good opportunity.
I’m so happy for the seller because he was more prepared and he jumped right away.