Seeing interest in Hebrew domains

[Lmg67]

(I don't know if I'm putting this in the correct IDN Forum category...)

I received this email yesterday:


To whom it may concern:

Please advise if there is any interest in selling the Hebrew domain names...

mitzvah.com
barmitzvah.com
batmitzvah.com

Sincerely,


I wrote him back that yes I am selling them. He then wrote back that he found another name he wants (a town in Israel) and are there others I am willing to sell. He said he found me by typing in words in WHOIS. Either this is a one-off thing, or it signals that IDNs are starting to become known in Israel.

(I hope it's the second!)

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by Lmg67

(I don't know if I'm putting this in the correct IDN Forum category...)

I received this email yesterday:


To whom it may concern:

Please advise if there is any interest in selling the Hebrew domain names...

mitzvah.com
barmitzvah.com
batmitzvah.com

Sincerely,

I wrote him back that yes I am selling them. He then wrote back that he found another name he wants (a town in Israel) and are there others I am willing to sell. He said he found me by typing in words in WHOIS. Either this is a one-off thing, or it signals that IDNs are starting to become known in Israel.

(I hope it's the second!)

I think you will find that the word is on the street. Don't sell too cheapily.

[thefabfive]

It's about time.

Great names btw! I agree, don't sell too cheaply.

[Drewbert]

So he found another name he wants so he's no longer interested in yours but wants to know what other ones you have for sale?

Sounds like a tyre kicker.

He contacted me about on of my Hebrews as well, I think. I told him I hadn't been motivated to sell anything so far.

Haven't heard back since.

He's probably lurking here.

[261275]

is the 1st name kevin?

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by 261275

is the 1st name kevin?

What Kevin of Big Ticket Domains, Rick's erstwhile side kick?

[Lmg67]

No it's not Kevin. It's David. I told him I have several hundred Hebrew domains (actually probably more, i never counted) and he asked to see my list so he can evaluate them and then he'll make an offer.

Is it a mistake to email him my list? If it is, what should I tell him is the reason I won't share my list with him?

Also, RD and fab (or anyone else), what is "too cheaply" for a premium .com Hebrew name? (including a city) I really don't know what is a fair price.

I do want to sell some to pay for renewals and a few other things, so i hope he's for real.

Thanks in advance for advice.

[Rubber Duck]

There are rumours of a very bid deal in Hebrew going down. Nothing concrete, but there are a lot of people taking it fairly seriously.

If I were you, I would stimulate his interest further. Tell him to beat it! That should do the trick

Originally Posted by Lmg67

No it's not Kevin. It's David. I told him I have several hundred Hebrew domains (actually probably more, i never counted) and he asked to see my list so he can evaluate them and then he'll make an offer.

Is it a mistake to email him my list? If it is, what should I tell him is the reason I won't share my list with him?

Also, RD and fab (or anyone else), what is "too cheaply" for a premium .com Hebrew name? (including a city) I really don't know what is a fair price.

I do want to sell some to pay for renewals and a few other things, so i hope he's for real.

Thanks in advance for advice.

[seamo]

Originally Posted by Lmg67

Is it a mistake to email him my list? If it is, what should I tell him is the reason I won't share my list with him?

I wouldn't feel too comfortable about sharing your list.

If he can track down your Hebrew domains so easily with WHOIS, let him tell you what's in your portfolio

[Drewbert]

Don't do any deals until the rumoured deal is revealed. You might be selling yourself short, maybe to the same guyy doing the big deal!

[Lmg67]

so you all are saying that if this big deal happens, hebrew domain prices will increase, so i should wait until the deal is announced...and IF by chance it's the same guy, then he could take advantage of me both by paying me much less, and by comparing my portfolio to the other, etc. Right?

I really appreciate the advice. I am not a business person (I'm a schoolteacher) and I also tend to be very trusting. I just expect people to be honest and fair and ethical and do the right thing.

Anyway I'll probably come back for advice here and there until i get the hang of how it works to negotiate fairly for myself. (though i am VERY good at bargaining in the Israeli marketplaces!...where the stakes are a pound of apricots or a t-shirt!)

I'll keep you updated...
Laurie

[Rubber Duck]

Look, when your friends in this business try to rip you off, you have to see it as a compliment!

Those market traders in Israel will have nothing on these guys. A respected Domainer will complete the deal as agreed. Few will go to great lengths to ensure that you got a fair deal.

[touchring]

Originally Posted by Drewbert

Don't do any deals until the rumoured deal is revealed. You might be selling yourself short, maybe to the same guyy doing the big deal!

Wat if rumors remain as rumors?

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by touchring

Wat if rumors remain as rumors?

Comment copied across from DNL:

The biggest and fastest surprise will be the first portfolio megadeal.

I think Edwin was anticipating this last year and trying to tease it out.

Monte Cahn in his interview this week made some rather vague references to a 7 figure deal in Hebrew. Were these comments credible?

Well, the obvious answer is that this is Monte Cahn we are talking about. He is not going to squander his massive reputation in the ASCII market, just to hype some deal that was never going to fly anyway.

The second point is that things are not alway the way they seem. Has somebody approached Monte with an IDN portfolio and asked him to find a seven figure buyer? If they had, woud he have listened? I would have laughed outloud, but who knows?

So what is going on there? Well in my humble opinion, there must be some fire behind the smoke, but I rather suspect that Monte was approached by a Buyer, rather than a Seller. If he had been approached by a buyer then he would definitely gone for the deal, and would probably have had no difficulty in identifying potential sellers.

The reason I feel that the deal would have formed this way around is that there is little incentive in my opinion to lump you portfolio together and try to sell the lot together. If you are having problems placing individual names, why would you try to dump the lot in that way. If you can sell individual names, then as the market develops you are going to get progressively more for each sale. Unless, you have been diagnosed with three months to live, what would be the motivation?

However, look at it hypothetically from an investors point of view. They are going to want to get in as cheapily and easily as possible. If they are a big time investor they are going to want to use all the leverage they possibly can. They are certainly going to want to make the most of first mover advantage. Say for expample you have $1 Million dollars you want to invest and you are hoping to gain 500 names at an average price of $2,000, I have no idea what the real figures would be perhaps it would be 200 names at $5,000. Anyway, you have to two options. To fish around and buy selectively in the market with small deals of 1 to 10 names, or go for the big contract?

Imagine somebody like Rick Schwartz suddenly wised, up. Ok, I said it was hypothetical! How many names could he reasonably buy at sensible prices before he blew the gaff? Even if nobody bubbled him, it wouldn't take many sales in a stagnant market to get prices moving ahead rapidly. The alternative is to take the whole thing underground and nail somebody down for a big deal, without the market getting wind of it.

The other thing about Monte's statements which were surprising to many was the language involved. Why Hebrew? I was astonished. I think many were, but we should perhaps not have been. We were probably looking at things from a sellers perspective. If you look at it from a prospective buyers perspective, it makes an awful lot more sense. It is not difficult to imagine that a significant proportion of the ASCII crowd are familiar with Hebrew, and Hebrew probably more than any other language. This means it would not only be easy for them to understand the value of the potential purchase, but it would probably make it much easier for them to develop, monetise or resell.

Is such a deal going down? Well, I don't know and I won't be the first to know either.
The only observation I would make is, if Monte is relying an element of surprise, why would he blow the gaff publicly?

Does it matter? Yes, very much so, because if it were to go through, nothing would ever be the same again. Many will say Thank God, even more will say Oh Shit!

Anyway, if the Tyre Kickers are around, you know what the scenario is.

[261275]

Israel where Hebrew is spoken is a small country..smaller then new jersey in geo. size actually with just over 7million people living in it when more then 1million are originally from Russia...also many Arabic people but not sure of the number.

The economy if you look at all that's going with terror etc is suprisingly good even with all these unfortunate problems.

Many in Israel live day to day and don't make alot of money..avg salary would be in the 1200-1300 usd range...

Don't ask me why as this is unanswered to me as well..but some how even with this avg salary people live nice life..drive new cars mostly..travel more then many other countries..etc (ask an Indian guy how many Israelis are and they usually think there are 7 million in India alone...i prefer not to go into why...)

Another interesting fact...Companies traded @ NYSE are from us,Canada..and then Israel...(in that order)

Internet penetration is huge and israel holds the world record to length of usage per user.

many high tech companies call it home and things are happening.

[bramiozo]

Many will say Thank God, even more will say Oh Shit!

Quote of the month !

[Lmg67]

"It is not difficult to imagine that a significant proportion of the ASCII crowd are familiar with Hebrew, and Hebrew probably more than any other language."

If you meant what I think you did, then I can tell you that maybe
.0000000000000000001% of American Jews know how to speak Hebrew! They are familiar with what it looks like, and might be able to read it a little bit from their Bar/Bat Mitzvah lessons years ago, but they won't have any idea what they are reading (what the words mean) and they definitely don't speak it. I don't think ASCII American Jews are very involved in Hebrew IDNs or a potential market for them, either buying or selling. I am a teeny tiny minority as an American Jew who does speak Hebrew.

I think Hebrew is the first deal b/c of what was said above. People underestimate Israel ecomically/in business because it's a small population. But it's a giant. Every business person who goes there wants to invest in Israel (like when Bill Gates went). Israel ranks 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the world in so many areas it's amazing, especially given its size.

anyway that's my 2 cents.

[yanni]

I'll have to agree with LMG 67.

I haven't met one American-Jew that speaks Hebrew, let alone write it.

But this wouldn't exclude an American-Jewish-ACIIer form being the allaged portfolio buyer.

[Lmg67]

"But this wouldn't exclude an American-Jewish-ACIIer form being the allaged portfolio buyer."

Yes I agree with you and with RD. It would make sense that it would be someone Jewish making this deal, b/c despite what I said above, Hebrew would be the language they would feel the strongest connection with. or it could be a Jewish businessman or philanthropist who travels to Israel a lot even though he/she doesn't speak Hebrew.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[burnsinternet]

I hope it's not a tire-kicker.

Also, does anyone have any credible news on IDN.il?