Is there evidence to support the position that a generic domain
name that defines an entire industry, and that has remained
undeveloped for many years, risks loss of it's asset value by being
developed and/or monetized?

Background: Traffic and revenues are commonly used as indicators for
premium domain name acquisition and valuation purposes. Certain
premium generic domain names, however, possess extremely high value
due to pre-existing name recognition. Some one-word generics, for
example "autos.com", "airlines.com" or "games.com", are comparable to
the domain in question, and have demonstrated these high values.

I would like to know if a "virgin" one-word generic domain name, one
that has never been developed or exploited via pay-per-click
advertising/parking, has any extra value simply because it has never
been used, and has no previous history or associations.

I am looking for evidence-based answers only please, as there are many
opinions on this.

Assumptions: The development/monetization/site-history is assumed to
be mainstream/generic in nature, and would not be flawed technically
or in it's design. Also, any content would not be malicious,
irresponsible, or illegal in nature.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 18 May 2006 17:14 PDT

domainanalysis-ga,

Interesting question.  

While I have some opinions on the topic, you've made clear that it's
not opinions you're looking for.

As for facts, though, there's a limit to what's out there.

I did come across a good deal of data on the actual prices being paid
for some of the types of names you asked about.

The all time record-holder seems to be sex.com, which went for more
than $10 million.  There are a few other million-plus sales as well,
like diamond.com, and creditcards.com, though these are often for
functional businesses, in addition to the name.

Other high-ticket sales included mortgage.com for around $200,000, and
dirtbike.com for $75,000.


These are mostly recent sales, and show that the market for some of
the categorical domain names is still pretty robust, even given the
over-hyped, boom-and-bust character of the business during the glory
days of the dot-com explosion.


HOWEVER, as to your specific question, I've found very little factual
information.  There is not, as far as I can see, an example of any
'virgin' names that have recently become available, and no
evidence-based way to evaluate the impact on value that developing
such a name would have.

Can you tell me a bit more about the type of information you were
hoping to get as an answer to your question.  Perhaps with a more
focused search, I may be able to uncover the information you need.

Thanks a lot,

pafalafa-ga