First a story...Our organization owns a rare .edu domain since mid-90s. We never got to develop it, and finally decided to put it on the market, but...there are several nuances to this situation. 1). .edu domains themselves cannot be sold or transferred. We can, however, sell an organization, which owns the name (there seems to be a benefit to this restriction: a lower tax rate on the sale - i.e. capital gains vs. income). 2). Since ~ 1999, .edu domains can only be registered by accredited universities. And each university is allowed only 1 domain. 3). Because of this restriction, Google and other SEs typically rank .edu ( and .mil, .gov) domains higher. The question(s): A. What could be a price for something like history.edu (just an example), assuming for a second that the organization behind it is worth $0, vs. history.com? Theoretically, which is more valuable: .com or .edu? B. Aside from contacting similar organizations, how would you go about listing the domain / soliciting offers? I don't think Sedo, TDNam and other domain auctions would appropriate as they're designed for pure domain sales. Any thoughts? Thank you for your advice
If you can show that the domain won't be taken away any time soon, which I assume means the organization will be considered a legit accredited college for years to come, I would think the minimum would be around $20,000. If the name is a profitable phrase it's worth even more. That's a real rough estimate, I'm trying to think how much I would be willing to pay. I have been trying to get my college to let me use a subdomain just to see how much it would really cut marketing costs, if only they would ever get back to me...
Personally, I think that's a modern day urban legend that's been beat to death, and regardless of how many times Matt Cutts or others debunk the hypothesis, the theory thrives. However, there is a whole other issue of trust rank which is almost as mysterious as the Google algos ... Onto the issue at hand though, due to the registrar restrictions of an .edu selling an organization and attaching the .edu domain to the sale will not guarantee the new organization owner will be entitled to keep the domain.
Many thanks for your replies. With regards to Five539, Wormser's and Wrminoe's comments - .edu was originally administered by NetworkSolutions. They had somewhat different rules back then. When they transferred the administration to a new registrar, part of the deal with the US Department of Commerce was to allow grandfathered names to continue as is. I assume that's because the law cannot be applied retroactively; also many well-known schools would fight back (or fight with each other) as some own more than 1 domain. For example, Harvard owns at least harvard.edu and hbs.edu, whereas MIT cannot register sloan.edu. Furthermore, there are a number of large academic associations, which own a .edu name since mid-90s, but currently would not qualify. So I think the chances of this occuring are slim to nothing.
Interesting. Of course, it depends on the strength of the name and the applicability of the term to any commercial purpose. If you were merely attempting to sell dweezeldefunk.edu that would be great for novelty purposes, and could fetch a few thousand just for someone to be able to claim a .edu domain. However, if it was airlinemechanic.edu (or similar idea) then you would be better served contacting end users directly. Sedo.com and/or afternic would both love the opportunity, I'm sure, but might be hesitant due to the somewhat "shifty" nature of the sale (The eBay "bic pen" , if you will.). If you are truely looking to part with the domain, I would suggest checking on forums that domain name buyers typically lurk, such as NP or DNF or SP , and offering it for sale there. Best of luck; you have a true novelty there
If it's a common one word, and is used in a test-prep industry (e.g. mba.edu, chemistry.edu, math.edu), you should easily get $50K-$90K. If I were Princeton Review or Kaplan, I would not think twice about investing in the edu name or the company, which owns it. As long as the transaction is within the current legal frame, you and the new owner will be OK. That's what you have lawyers for. Also try University of Phoenix (or any other big online schools) - these guys spend upward of $300M a year on marketing. Good luck.
I am also interested. Let me know which domain it is. But I doubt it will stay in my hands. I think the edu organization will block it off.
Is there Escrow.com equivalent for selling corporations? We contacted them last week to help us with the transaction, but they could not do it because we're not selling a domain, but rather a company, which holds rights to the name. Does anyone have recommendations? Thank you.
Yeah use a real escrow company for selling businesses. You really need to hire a lawyer for this or you are asking for all kinds of headaches.