“How Can I Sell My Domains?” Chris Jager Article Earns Response

 

George Pongas, the general manager of Naming Services at AusRegistry, was inspired by the “How Can I Sell My Domains?” article. The article was written last week by Chris Jager, and is posted on LifeHacker Australia’s website. You can find it HERE, or on Lifehacker’s website under the Work heading on the Small Business blog. Furthermore, you can find George’s Response HERE, or on AusRegistry’s website under the News heading.

Chris’s article has been share from his post a total of 4 times, and sparked some discussion within the comments on Lifehacker Australia. The debate stems around the different perspectives of the individuals in regard to the current Australian market for domain name sales. The article was an Advice piece, in the style of a Dear Abby Letter.

“In an era where Facebook is the most common Google search, people clearly aren’t
bothering to memorise URLs anymore. This has significantly decreased
their perceived value, even among customer-facing companies that used to
highly covet an exact .com brand name.” –Chris Jager

However, prospectively he makes a valid point from the business standpoint, and in what smaller businesses have the financial means of doing, in order to compete with the “pocketbooks” of the large companies that can afford auctions or even high dollar private sales.

George’s reply came in the form of a public business letter, in the News section, I’m not sure if it’s news or personal, that Chris wouldn’t publish your reply on his site. It could just be business, after all, most competitors don’t air their competitor’s views on their site. The purpose of having your website is to show people what you can offer them, not to show up for your big meeting with no makeup and all your blemishes on display.

And George, it does appear that you are in competition with each other, on some level. Critical, even constructive criticism or difference of opinion, tends to lead right into a defensive stance, or one being offended.

“Clearly, there is significant money to be made from selling domain names.
Let’s not forget that sex.com sold for $13 million in 2010, ig.com for $4.7 million in 2013
and whiskey.com for $3.1 million in January this year.” –George Pongas

He does make some valid points in regards to the industry thriving and provides monetary figures to back up his claims, and keeps the exchange in a professional demeanor. But it just may not have been enough to keep Chris from feeling attacked. (At this point though, he is being attacked, since he opted to keep your opinion in private, it became News for you…. you drama queen you!)

The difference of opinion, included much detail, many valid points, and even Flippa and Sedo, which is perfectly fine, but can we expect anything further from the debate?? Will other domain name sellers or brokers chime in? How will this whole thing effect blog readers on either side, that’s the biggest question to come of this, and will it potentially tarnish either company with public conflict? Either way it could simply raise awareness in domain sales which is great for the industry!