Value of URLs

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Purupuss

12 posts

Geek

#173892 9-Jun-2015 21:57

I belong to the committee of an society that is going to be taken over by another organisation. Our society has a URL and web site that scores highly in Google searches and we believe the URL should be purchased by the other organisation. The question is: how do we decide what is a fair price?

Any advice of where to look for further information or how to work it out would be appreciated.

Thank you.

wellygary

8345 posts

Uber Geek

#1320733 9-Jun-2015 22:01

Is it listed on the books as an asset?, or simply part of the goodwill?

If they are taking you over , why would they not get the name as part of the deal anyway?

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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Geekzone

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#1320734 9-Jun-2015 22:01

I would say if the domain name is your organisation's property and the organisation is being sold then the domain is part of the transaction, as an any other properties and assets.

If you think it's valuable enough to make a significant difference in the total transaction then it should be explicitly done in the contract. Once your organisation is sold the domain name goes with it.

If you were selling a domain name only with advertising revenues then some might say three years of revenue. But Google ranking is not a significant factor on a domain name.

Unless you have a domain name that is much more valuable than the organisation itself then I wouldn't bother.

Also, I would consider asking a lawyer with experience in technology.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1320929 10-Jun-2015 09:54

Who actually owns/controlls the 'URL' . Dont assume :-)

Whatever happens , the owner/contact/admin/Registrant details of that URL (domain) & website will need to be changed before the takeover. It may be a bit hard to organize afterwards.

in general....
A price might be part of the cost to have the website designed & setup, or a % of the income that website generates. Assuming the buyer actually wants it.
If the website/URL doesnt generate any actual income, then the fair price is really $0 . Perhaps you may be able to negotiate a price for the website design, based on what it cost you .

cyberhub

224 posts

Master Geek

#1320948 10-Jun-2015 10:15

A domain name is just a name, although it is commonly believed that you can get some benefit in Google ranking by having keywords in the domain it is only a small part of ranking well with Google. How the website is made and the speed of the site is a much bigger factor in how you rank with Google plus backlinks.

As anyone knows that has done anything to do with SEO Google does not tell how their search algorithm works otherwise people will game the system.

A domain name in my opinion is not worth much in itself, as you can get a variation on the domain name and achieve much the same result. For example if mydomain.co.nz is the domain name in question someone might get mydomain.nz, mydomain.net, mydomain.kiwi.nz etc

So if you ask too much for the domain the party that you are selling too may just say don't worry about it and get a similar domain, then wait for the domain to expire and purchase it then.

So yes if it is a good domain that is .co.nz or .nz and ranks well naturally then it will be worth a bit in my opinion but if you ask too much they will just get another one.

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sep11guy

660 posts

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#1321957 10-Jun-2015 11:04

if its being overtaken by the other company, i belive everything lock stock barell is now the property of this new company, so the website is included.

If the accusation is more like father - son relationship, you can go back and demand the relevant $$ but then if you are being bought out by a competition / completely diff entity they may bring in the lawyers and say deal is a deal and it includes everything.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1322690 11-Jun-2015 10:23

This is relevant info...

Q. What rights do I have when I register a .nz domain name?
A. Registering a domain name is akin to obtaining a licence. As long as the domain name is kept current, you can continue to use it. Domain names are not able to be "owned" by any party.

http://dnc.org.nz/story/faq-registrants?m=324#transfer

Also, should you decide to keep the domain name, yet have no future association with the company it relates to, you could be accused of cyber-squating & forced to
release it (unlikely though, it would be a messy process)

frankv

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#1322715 11-Jun-2015 11:07

I don't see the point of fighting about this.

You say that you're a "society", which I assume means an Incorporated Society. It's going to be taken over by another organisation (I assume another Incorporated Society... I think anything else would be illegal?), which I read as "wound up, and the assets transferred to".

You cannot distribute the assets of an Incorporated Society to members at (or prior to) winding up anyway. So, if you sell the domain to the acquirer (or anyone else), then the acquirer will get the cash back when they take over.

IANAL.