Mark,

I don't fully agree.  In essence you are saying that all 'names' (albeit
offline or online) cost the same and it is what you do with the 'names' that
counts.  To a degree yes, however some names do have an automatic degree of
inherent value as they ultimately cost less to gain recall, ie travel.com.au
versus onesongtours.com.au

Whilst all things had an inflated tag during the heady days, I still believe
that (say) wines.com (as I recall was approx $6m) will regain its value many
times over if used correctly.  Over 10 years, the owners will save that and
more on marketing costs.

In rough terms, a generic name (being the global language) is 5+ times
easier to gain User recall than a non-generic name.  One might pay what
seems a big upfront price but one recovers with reduced promotional costs
along the way.

Names like pets.com went belly up because of poor business practice - not
the name.  I think I recall that an 'offline' group have recently offered
US$3million for the domain name.  Great buy at that price if they use the
name for its true use.

Not a bad return if one had been the original owner.  I think I would prefer
to have a portfolio of generic versus non generic names!

Kerry Henry
Clickon.au.com