My premium generic one-word dot-com domain names:  bar.com, grill.com, pub.com, shelter.com, cafes.com

Before the web happened, there was FTP and email and Gopher. In those days, I was entranced by how much domain-names resembled the call-letters I used to get for radio stations — very cool way to “name” things. So, long before the domain-name land-rush, I got a handful of generic domain names. The list includes bar.com, grill.com, pub.com, shelter.com, cafes.com, and a few that got sold — corp.com, place.com, haven.com, ing.com and company.com.

Mike’s Pretty Good Domain FAQ

In an effort to reduce my email load and save you time, here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions about these domains of mine.

Is this domain for sale?

I’m not actively marketing these domains.   On the other hand, everything’s for sale if the right offer comes along.  I’m just not a terribly motivated seller.

How much do you think the domains are worth?

Without going into a huge long rant, my belief is that these “generic” dot-com domain names were (and are) pretty valuable.  One way to get a feel for this is to get a valuation from Estibot, which will give you a sense of how much a domain-name investor might pay for the name right now.

But I’m more interested in selling the names to organizations that will actually use the name as a way to catapult their operations, outreach, marketing and sales to the next level.  Here’s a story I told at TRAFFIC-NYC in 2007 that breaks down my reasoning by business function.  I think these words are still true today.  Click here for the PDF.  This is why I think these domains are worth A LOT to the right buyer.

Do you have any tips as to how I get your attention?

I get between 50 and 200 “inquiries” a week.  The vast majority are either robots with generic text or “consultants” that make silly-low offers.  I no longer respond to those.  At.  All.

Send an actual hand-crafted note.

Include enough information that I can research you and your company.  I ignore email from people and organizations that don’t turn up in search.

Where can I go to sell a domain? Are you a broker? Will you do it for me?

Click here for a good list of domain-name brokers maintained by a person I trust.  Pay attention to the listings that call out the name of a person and start by contacting them.  I’m not a broker.