Fifty-two Internet domain names with relevance to financial services are available from Supernames.com, a company formed in July by a European businessman who has accumulated about 3,500 domain names since 1997.
Of the 52, e-Payment.com is commanding the highest asking price: $5 million.
I think it could actually sell for much more, said Claude Levy, president of Supernames.com, in Dover, Del. A Japanese investor group offered him $1.7 million for e-Payment.com in April 1999, Mr. Levy said, but he turned it down. Im happy we didnt sell it, because its worth much more today, he said.
Peter Goldberg, a senior vice president with Ohio Savings Bank, has registered about 100 banking-related Web sites including checking.com, homequity.com, and corporatebanking.com. He said Supernames will likely get the $5 million it is seeking for e-payments.com, even though his own experience shows that making such a sale is not a slam-dunk.
The Cleveland bank has backed off its plan to auction off its names because we didnt feel that we would get enough for them, Mr. Goldberg said.
Octavio Marenzi, managing director of Celent Communications in Cambridge, Mass., called $5 million for a domain name an egregious amount.
This is a business model that worked fine when there was a lot of easy cash going around, but those days are over.
| Pricey Domains Names available and asking prices | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain Name | Price | ||
| e-payment.com | $5,000,000 | ||
| e-cashtrust.com | $850,000 | ||
| swissbankco.com | $250,000 | ||
| 25bestbanks.com | $40,000 | ||
| e-banksoffshore.com | $40,000 | ||
| banksheaven.com | $35,000 | ||
| Source: Supernames.com | |||
