Do You Have $180,000? Well Then You Can Own Surveillance.Com

JH
John Honovich
May 24, 2016
IPVM

A guy reached out to us today about buying surveillance.com

It's not our thing but I thought some of you would find it interesting.

The owner's current asking price is $180,000. However I will present all offers for consideration as you never know where this will end up.

Interested?

Chris Waters

Digital Asset Broker

Domain Holdings Group, Inc.

777 East Atlantic Ave. #301, Delray Beach, FL 33483

Phone: 561-703-6620

Skype: chris.waters8888

Note: We declined any payment or commission for posting this, just thought the price point and domain name would make an interesting discussion.

JH
John Honovich
May 24, 2016
IPVM

As a point of reference, we paid $4,300 for IPVM.com in December 2011. We were ipvideomarket.info before that. Funny, a lot of people now don't remember that at all.

I do think spending $4,300 was a great investment going from ipvideomarket.info to ipvm.com, especially with trade mags with domains like securityinfowatch.com or securitysystemsnews.com, etc.

I am curious what type of business would value 'surveillance.com' at the $100,000+ level. It's a well known word but it's long and not simple to spell.

U
Undisclosed #1
May 24, 2016
IPVMU Certified

It's not worth $180,000, but I'm buying it. :)

(1)
Avatar
Brian Karas
May 24, 2016
IPVM

I think a lot of domains are still way overvalued by/from people who still think of the Internet as pre-Google.

At one time common words were seen as highly valuable, on the logic people would go there because it was somewhat difficult to find good resources through search engines (I remember submitting my first site to Yahoo, when you had to *ask* them to index sites, it wasn't automatic or guaranteed).

Now I hear stories about how some less tech-savvy people hardly ever go to URLs directly. Google (or Bing, or whatever) is their homepage, and they'll "search" for facebook via Google to get to Facebook.

What would you do with surveillance.com? (serious question). It's really not ideal for any kind of CCTV business (IMO, it's not really what people think of when they think "I need some cameras"). Maybe if you wanted to setup a Private Eye for hire site? Combine that with the fiverr.com concept and maybe Lyft and you could create an on-demand business to hire stalkers delivered to your target's door?

(2)
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
May 24, 2016

I ran it though several domain name valuation web sites and got valuations ranging from $54 to $675,000 USD :-). Not that any one should take those sites seriously. Realistically, it is probably with about $1500 at most. I wouldn't pay anything for it. Terms like security, safety, are positive terms, but surveillance, (which I just discovered I can not spell without a spell checker...) is a term that invokes images of Big brother state, stalking, crime, and strong political views...

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
May 24, 2016
IPVMU Certified

It's a well known word but it's not simple to spell...

Customer Service: We have received your payment of $180,000 and have completed your registration for "surveillance.com", is there anything else we can help you with?

Customer: Great! Now that that's out of the way I need to register a few misspellings, let's start with "surviellance.com".

Customer Service: Ok, now this one is a bit cheaper, only $90,000, should I register it now?

Customer: That's impossible! Just this morning it was showing as $19.99!

Customer Service: Yes, then it was worthless, but now that it's a variant of a bona-fide high $ domain, our dynamic pricing algorithm automatically adjusts to the market. Certainly, you more than anyone, see the value here, no?

(click)

(2)
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
May 24, 2016

This confirms my experience, that when you deal with domain name speculators, you're dealing with a bunch of scoundrels :-).

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
May 25, 2016

I was approached by this same broker as well. Just can't see how this would be the best way for any company to spend $180,000. Does anyone even use the term surveillance when looking for security cameras Online?

JH
John Honovich
May 25, 2016
IPVM

3, I agree, though they literally only need one company to want it bad enough. Maybe someone does a move titled 'Surveillance', maybe a different industry, etc.

Also, I am pretty sure $180,000 is not the real number and it is being done for framing, such that when an agreement is done at $80,000 or $50,000 or whatever, the buyer can feel like they got a bargain.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
May 25, 2016

John, the broker stated he was already taking offers from some pretty big names in security:

"we are getting offers from companies like Tyco, Hitachi, Honeywell etc...I figured I would also bring this opportunity to a few entrepreneurs like you"

Will be curious to see what the final price will be. I'll bet the under at $25,000.00

JH
John Honovich
May 25, 2016
IPVM

3, that's interesting. I wonder how much they would offer, though. If Tyco puts in offer in at $100,000 that's saying something, if they put in an offer at $10,000 not so much. I am with you on the under.

U
Undisclosed #1
May 25, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Will be curious to see what the final price will be. I'll bet the under at $25,000.00.

I bet we never find out.

Avatar
Sean Nelson
May 25, 2016
Nelly's Security

domain names are of little value today. Look at the most popular names of company's and/or websites and often the names have very little connection with what they do. Uber.Com Airbnb.Com Amazon.Com, etc.

I'd pay $1000 for it just for the heck, but nothing over that. I would rather use $180,000 in marketing costs to build up my website as opposed to paying for a name.

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
May 25, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Then again what do you think VacationRentals.com is worth?

35 million in 2007.

Still a better deal than $180,000 for a word that few use and few less can spell.

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