On fishing trips and among friends, the words “got away” can mean nearly almost anything, from the ever common “I thought maybe I had a nibble…pass me another beer,” to the rarer epic battle between man and beast, from which man emerges triumphant, admiring the prize in the boat beside him among shouts of, “Look at the size of that thing!” only to have the moment shattered with a sudden twist, leap and flip as the fish winks and gives you the fin before disappearing silently into the depths below.
By way of background, and as a backdrop to the story I am about to tell you, in December of 2010 I took an interest in a series of blog posts on ElliotsBlog.com where Elliot Silver invited his readers to participate in an opinion survey for the value of SlipperyElm.com, a domain he purchased on the domain aftermarket.
Taking several posts to do so, Elliot discussed why he decided to develop a mini-site on the domain and shared strategies and details about how he went about doing it. He gave readers access to his decision making processes and included some transaction specifics such as where he bought the domain, how much he paid for it and even the vendor he hired to write all the original content for SlipperyElm.com. He spoke freely about how he would monetize it, what he expected to earn from it monthly, and his price expectation for a future sale.
Everything needed to replicate his efforts was mapped out in an easy to follow format. Still, as straight-forward as he made the process sound, there was one thing that Elliot wrote that struck a chord with me more than anything else. He described that it was just a few years back that he first spent $1000 on a single domain and that it made him nervous. I could definitely relate. I spend most of my domain prospecting in the realm of manual registrations, domain drops and sub $100 domain auctions. In my world $1000 buys a lot of domains. Occasionally I step out of that zone, but I am the first to admit it’s where I feel most comfortable. And if it’s not broken don’t fix it. My methods work for me.
Nonetheless, I decided right then and there that one of my projects for 2011 would be to find a rough domain name gem in the $1000 – $2000 range, develop it, and set a goal to sell it for $10,000 or more. At the time I made this decision I didn’t have a domain in mind, but I put the wheels in motion and started looking for one that fit the bill.
On February 5th 2011 my diligence paid off. I was using DropDay.com at the time to scan for keyword domains exclusively from the sub-set of GoDaddy Domain Auctions. I was immediately interested when CastileSoap.com appeared in the DropDay list. Heck, didn’t my wife just buy some of that stuff? I quickly ran some numbers and used the Google Keyword Tool to find out that over 12,000 global exact searches take place monthly for the exact phrase, “castile soap.” This confirmed my initial hunch that castile soap would be a highly searched product.
What I had found at auction was an exact match generic keyword domain for a popular product within the very profitable and competitive health and beauty niche. Soap. Go figure. A very specific type of soap (due to its olive oil base) but still a completely generic product, associated with and made a house-hold item by such brands as Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. It fit my criteria perfectly. I felt confident that I could build out the site, earn along the way, and later resell the domain once traffic and revenue justified the $10,000 minimum price I had in mind.
I decided to put my money where my brain was. At the time I entered the bidding fray there were only 4 minutes and 6 seconds remaining in the expired domain auction. The current price was $506 when I submitted my proxy bid of $798, hoping I would catch a break and not have to go any higher. No break. $798 was immediately surpassed and I watched for the next brief minute or so as two bidders kept pushing it up higher and higher. I didn’t bid again until it was over $1300, and then tit-for-tat, me and bidder #7 went at it in $5 increments until the auction closed at $1505. I had won the auction and step 1 of my plan to secure an undervalued domain asset was accomplished.
What a feeling! I was like the guy in the boat with that trophy fish, grinning ear to ear and savoring the feeling of successfully putting a plan into action. I immediately paid for the domain and started putting together the keywords and article titles for contracting out the content. I must say I was pleased. I had broken through a mental barrier, elevated my domain purchases to a new level, followed through on a plan and indeed I was quite happy to spend $1505 for a domain.
Unfortunately my celebratory mood didn’t last long, but I’ll get to that in a second. First, take a look at a screen shot from my GoDaddy account showing my winning bid on the closed auction. By following the green arrows you can see that the winning bid was indeed $1505, it was mine, I was willing to go higher (final bid amount kept confidential) and the auction was “closed” when this screen shot was taken.
So what happened? How come you don’t see an awesome little mini-site about castile soap when you go to CastileSoap.com? Um, because it got away silly. I had it in the boat and all of a sudden the *&#^@% was gone!
As many an angler has done before me, days later I still contemplated in silence how my catch had managed to slip through my hands through no fault of my own. How could I legitimately win a domain auction with one of the largest registrars in the world, submit payment, have my credit card charged successfully, receive an email receipt from GoDaddy for the purchase, and STILL be left wondering what the hell happened?
Why am I not the current and legitimate owner of CastileSoap.com? More questions and answers on the way in part 2 of this article (coming soon), although I think some of you will figure it out before I get it written.
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