Domain Value

So, I've got a bad habit of thinking a domain name is valuable only to later realize that it isn't.

When it comes to analyzing sites with actual metrics like DA, PA, CF, TF, etc... I get it.

When it comes to a fresh, or not really ever-developed domain, I lose my grasp.

For instance,

lets take a really popular site like foxnews.com.

It's got the super popular brand name, as well as "news".

Would there be any value in a domain like foxnews.net, or foxnews.org, or foxnews.* ?

Assuming the backlink/authority for the site is either bad, or non-existent.

Any opinions with experience?

I've googled around, plugged some stuff into estibot, etc.. but everything says they are pretty much worthless.

foxnews.net or foxnews.org would certainly make the Fox News lawyers happy. Stay away from brand names in domains, best case you'll just get a C&D letter. Value of these kinds of domains is zero because noone with a sane mind would take the risk.

That makes a lot of sense.

I guess the best case scenario you could hope for would be for the brand to respond to an offer to purchase, which likely wouldn't be worth-while b/c they are probably aware of the owner's inability to do anything with it right?

Those woudlnt have any seo value, and if you build upon them, you risk losing them when FoxNews or whoever sends you a C&D.

If you are looking for domains with value only because of the name, look for 4 letter .com's, one word or possibly two word domains that have very high commercial intent. Start with why someone would pay top dollar for a domain and you'll figure out what kind of domains usually sell for xxx-xx,xxx.

As long as you are in a country with no copyright enforcement and the TLD (no .net or .org) and registrar are "offshore" / bulletproofed you will be able to keep the domain quite long time to be honest.

Galleta said:

As long as you are in a country with no copyright enforcement and the TLD (no .net or .org) and registrar are "offshore" / bulletproofed you will be able to keep the domain quite long time to be honest.

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Yep, depends on the TLD. It may take longer, but ICANN (for most gTLDs) and most of the national NICs (for ccTLDs) won't ignore legal action/disputes by the trademark owner. Even an offshore registrar won't ignore them, because they would risk their own business. Depends on luck, too, there are companies that barely care for usage of their trademarks in domain names, other will send you a C&D if it's just a subdomain.

starki said:

Yep, depends on the TLD. It may take longer, but ICANN (for most gTLDs) and most of the national NICs (for ccTLDs) won't ignore legal action/disputes by the trademark owner. Even an offshore registrar won't ignore them, because they would risk their own business. Depends on luck, too, there are companies that barely care for usage of their trademarks in domain names, other will send you a C&D if it's just a subdomain.

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But you should consider that in some countries US-Copyright laws or trademark laws are just not valid / existing. And there is no way that they can legally enforce them (even ICANN not). Basically you can be protected by others countries laws in this case.
Russian registrars, malaysian ones and maybe some chinese or Hong kong ones (among others of course), should have no problem with someone, who is not under "copyright legislation" (US, Europe etc) to own a domain that is similar to the name of the trademark/company.
In many countries there are even laws, that a Trademark or Business (or even a patent) registered in another country (for example USA), is not considered a valid trademark/business/patent in that country until it is registered also in that specific country (which then can be even done by a third person who is not related at all to the company/trademark of USA in this case). In that example the "real" copyright owner would have to fight for more than 2-3 years in that national court, with lawyers from there of course, and pay much much corruption money to authorities to get "his" trademark, because by that nations national law the trademark belongs to the person that registered it in their country and not in USA. Same if you "copy" a domain name there, they just give a f*** if its not a trademark/company in their country, but n USA.

So more practical:
I could register "Foxnews" in some country (mexico, malaysia, russia whatever) on my name, if it does not exist there yet (costs less than 100$ in many countries), and then register foxnews.ru or foxnews.my and I would be the rightful owner. Also to take the domain away from me, if the trademark is not registered in that country (as long as they don't have contracts with US-government about this), the owner from USA would have to register his trademark first in that country.

foxnews.my etc... are all totally worthless. About 180 countries signed the Berne convention. It doesn't matter if you've registered a domain in Iran or North Korea. Who are the buyers going to be? Almost no one. All registrars follow the UDRP from ICANN.

Buying any trademark domain is dumb. You won't ever sell them to the trademark owner, if they want it, they will get it from you for free. Estibot also sucks and cannot accurately price domains. I have sold domains for high $xxxx that estibot said were worth 10$. Only a human with reasoning skills can fairly accurately put a price on a domain.

nes22 said:

foxnews.my etc... are all totally worthless. About 180 countries signed the Berne convention. It doesn't matter if you've registered a domain in Iran or North Korea. Who are the buyers going to be? Almost no one. All registrars follow the UDRP from ICANN.

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Under the policy, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar will cancel, suspend, or transfer a domain name.

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That is exactly what I was talking about, basically.

Why going with the domain with brand name?Theres no benefit of it,better search what yours decision and then make it popular by your work.