# The first million dollar .ca sale



## MapleDots__ (Jan 6, 2021)

A question to all the members.


Is there a domain in your possession that you think could be the first million dollar .ca domain sale?

If so could you share the domain and the reasoning thereof?


I recently made a topic explaining why I consider one of my domains to be worth a million.
Not only did I say why I thought it was worth a million but I actually listed it at that.

You can see the domain at Pure.ca

PS. It is also the domain I get the most inquiries on, probably 2-3 per week and I pointed the domain to a million dollar lander to stop all the I am poor or a student inquiries.


*What do you have that you think could carry a similar million dollar valuation?*


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## domains (Jan 6, 2021)

I think anyone who has a generic 'one word' domain that might match a .com of a big worldwide corporation (today, or in the future as many good .com's are still not developed) would have a chance at a million dollar sale, especially if that company also operates in Canada.  An example would be if someone still owned apple.ca, it would likely be very valuable to a certain tech company, but it's a generic word with a lot of potential uses.  Side story, I think around when Twitter just started I was able to register twitter.ca but didn't because I didn't realize it was a dictionary word, for the life of me I don't know why.  My recollection a bit fuzzy but I do think it was available.  This is back in 2007, you could also get almost any Twitter username you wanted, it was still pretty small and I got ones like @toronto - kind of felt like a domain landrush but I only got a few because I thought it would attract too much attention, and you needed a separate email to get each username.  Needless to say twitter usernames can be quite sought after these days.

One of the great things I've always thought about domains is that a word or term you register can always become very valuable in the future with some fateful turn of events.


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 24, 2021)

Negotiations on pure just ended with the final offer at 219k

The offer was made by food company that is getting more and more into organics.

They said that was their last and final offer and I simply responded that it might be their final offer but is definitely is not THE final offer on pure.ca.

Like I said back in January, it is my most requested domain and will not change hands for under one million.


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## Nafti (Feb 24, 2021)

Definitely takes a lot to turn down a $219K offer but the name is obviously one of the better (if not the best) name that you own. 

Dare to share how negotiations started and what was their original offer?


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 24, 2021)

Nafti said:
			
		

> Dare to share how negotiations started and what was their original offer?




*Here is how it went down...*


*1.* Generic email to sales@mapledots.ca


*2.* I responded and said all inquiries start at contact.mapledots.ca


*3.* Offer came in at $1000 which is the minimum accepted per the contact form.


*4.* I ignored the offer and did not respond


*5. *Six days later the form came in again at same price with a note as to why I did not respond.


*6.* Again I ignored the offer


*7.* Received another email to sales@mapledots.ca telling me my form is broken because they did not get a response.


*8.* Again I ignored the email


*9.* Received an email from the ceo of the company asking me how they could proceed with getting the domain.


*10.* I responded that all contact starts with a reasonable offer via contact.mapledots.ca


*11.* The next day I received a 25k offer via my contact form.


*12.* I opened communications with the ceo via email telling him thank you for the offer but the domain has one of the highest values of any .ca domains because it has broad use and could be used in most any industry.


*13.* CEO asked how I would feel if he doubled the offer and I responded by saying they should consider adding a second word behind pure and using the funds to purchase it if it was taken.


*14.* CEO said what is your bottom line so I can discuss it with my team.


*15.* I said 1.2 million


*16.* CEO said that is beyond their budget but he will go to 150k final offer


*17.* I did not respond to this email


*18.* A few days later the ceo's secretary emailed asking me why I did not respond.


*19. *I told her the email said final offer and since it did not meet my expectations for the domain I had no need to respond.


*20.* The ceo responded with a 200k offer about 4 days later


*21*. I responded within 15 minutes thanking him for the offer but there are additional expenses for my portfolio to be considered so I politely declined.


*22.* His secretary responded by offering another 19k to cover incidental costs so that I had 200k in my pocket.


*23.* I responded by saying I was amused at the 19k incidental increase but my terms had not changed and I might be able to decrease my asking price from 1.2 million down to 1 million if he kept on the 19k incidental price.


*24.* CEO responded he has spent enough time on this and I should take it or leave it.


*25.* I responded by asking him how much his company is worth and if I could offer him 1/6 of the value for it.


*26.* He responded with the word Touché and nothing else.


*27.* Two days later his secretary emailed and asked if negotiations had concluded and I responded with 1 sentence...


*28.* Please contact *info@pure.ca* when you are ready to reopen negations based upon the value of a brand.


*29.* ceo responded back this was the final offer 


*30*. I responded back it might be their final offer but is definitely is not THE final offer on pure.ca.


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 24, 2021)

I used the email address at pure to make him envious of how his companies email address could look.  \m/


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## Eby__ (Feb 24, 2021)

Absolutely. That must have been very hard to say.


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 24, 2021)

Eby said:
			
		

> Absolutely. That must have been very hard to say.



Actually not, I truly think they did not fully understand the value of this domain as a brand.


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## domains (Feb 24, 2021)

Savage



			
				MapleDots said:
			
		

> I used the email address at pure to make him envious of how his companies email address could look.  \m/


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## Nafti (Feb 24, 2021)

Thank you for the very detailed process. I have a feeling that they will be back.


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## DomainRecap (Feb 24, 2021)

Nafti said:
			
		

> Thank you for the very detailed process. I have a feeling that they will be back.



Not at a million, but I could see a $300-$450K offer in the near future. 

Right now they have Oliver the Pencil-Necked Geek running a cost-benefit analysis on buying Pure.ca at various price levels.


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 24, 2021)

I am not too worried, I am getting constant 25k hits on this domain, it is only a question of time before a larger company pulls the trigger and offers what it is worth.


I get many similar to this and usually ignore them until the amount gets higher


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## aactive (Feb 24, 2021)

I'm guessing it gets the traffic for something like the TV show or cosmetics company?


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## domains (Feb 24, 2021)

I am assuming the offer at 219k is in Canadian dollars?

Maybe send him the link to the guy who bought Hush.ca and said he would have paid 10x what he did, lol.  From one CEO to another.


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 24, 2021)

The offer was in CAD

So far there seems to be no pattern, there are a number of different businesses that have bid on the domain.
That is exactly why it is one of my best domains, it has a vast appeal in many industries.


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## Esdiel (Feb 24, 2021)

Make it happen [notify]MapleDots[/notify].

It's time to step our game up, and to stop selling premium domains for peanuts compared to what they're potentially worth. Canada is waking up.


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 24, 2021)

Esdiel said:
			
		

> It's time to step our game up, and to stop selling premium domains for peanuts compared to what they're potentially worth.



90% of the truly premium domains are owned by domainers and if they stopped caving and giving them away the value would go up exponentially. 

I picked up a truly premium domain not that long ago, have been hounding the owner for years with 1-2 emails annually. Eventually I got the email (like I always do) telling me I could have the domain for the amount I offered. They face renewal time and it gets too much for them and they have to sell for quick cash. What sells? The super premium of course.

That is why what [notify]dancarls[/notify] is doing is actually a good move. He is culling the heard and keeping only his babies. He will have no issues with renewals moving forward and he can wait until he gets the right amount for his cherry domains.

Others like me could care less about renewals, they are a straight business deduction and I can afford to hang on to my domains for a long time. I will not be selling my premiums for cheap.

That is the difference between a part time and full time domainer. If you set it up as a business and collect sales tax the renewals are totally deductible and should not become an issue.


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## rlm__ (Feb 25, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> 90% of the truly premium domains are owned by domainers and if they stopped caving and giving them away the value would go up exponentially.



It would probably help if the bigger sales were actually reported, the ones that are almost always under a sales agreement including an NDA.  I've never thought about it really, but if you simply refused to sign any agreement that didn't allow the sale to be publicly reported, do you think they'd actually refuse to proceed with the purchase?

[notify]AdamDicker[/notify] - have you thought about asking Scotia for permission to release the sale price on MD?


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## rlm__ (Feb 25, 2021)

domains said:
			
		

> I think around when Twitter just started I was able to register twitter.ca but didn't because I didn't realize it was a dictionary word, for the life of me I don't know why.



I remember on one of the forums, some guy offered to sell me twitter.ca - and I was like, wtf is a twitter and passed it up too...

That where its smart to stay abreast of the trends.  This is where the young kids have an advantage...


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## rlm__ (Feb 25, 2021)

domains said:
			
		

> I think anyone who has a generic 'one word' domain that might match a .com of a big worldwide corporation



Or possibly a Canadian only corporation that will never get the .com due to another company already using it.


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## rlm__ (Feb 25, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> Negotiations on pure just ended with the final offer at 219k
> 
> The offer was made by food company that is getting more and more into organics.



Please tell them that PureOrganic.ca is available, the price just happens to be in their budget too, $219K. lol. That'll still be a pretty good commission for you


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 25, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> Please tell them that PureOrganic.ca is available, the price just happens to be in their budget too, $219K. lol. That'll still be a pretty good commission for you




That is just it, the company has both organics and not organics. If they put organics in the name they would be flogged for lying but having pure as the name just implies it and they can still do anything they want.

There is no business name like pure, the uses are endless. Somebody just has to stand firm and say NO, eventually the big sale will come.


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## Nafti (Feb 25, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> [notify]AdamDicker[/notify] - have you thought about asking Scotia for permission to release the sale price on MD?



[notify]AdamDicker[/notify] also sold a 2 L .ca in January of this year for $200,000K USD that has yet to be reported. That would also be a huge boost for .ca’s. And some people have a valid interest in 2 L .ca’s.


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## AdamDicker (Feb 25, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> It would probably help if the bigger sales were actually reported, the ones that are almost always under a sales agreement including an NDA.  I've never thought about it really, but if you simply refused to sign any agreement that didn't allow the sale to be publicly reported, do you think they'd actually refuse to proceed with the purchase?
> 
> @AdamDicker - have you thought about asking Scotia for permission to release the sale price on MD?



No, not really.
I signed an agreement and will stick to it, maybe next time I won't sign the agreement to keep the price confidential.
Adam


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## AdamDicker (Feb 25, 2021)

I think one of the best, with the most potential down the road, is podcasts.ca

Great job handling that negotiation of pure.ca and very well documented as others have stated.

Adam


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## Eby__ (Feb 25, 2021)

Nafti said:
			
		

> sold a 2 L .ca in January of this year for $200,000K USD that has yet to be reported. That would also be a huge boost for .ca’s. And some people have a valid interest in 2 L .ca’s.



Of course. That would be nice.


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## DomainRecap (Feb 25, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> Please tell them that PureOrganic.ca is available, the price just happens to be in their budget too, $219K. lol. That'll still be a pretty good commission for you




This comment is pure RLM.



P.S. Hope it wasn't you I bitch-slapped in the recent Siber auctions.

No, I do wish it was you. LOL


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## MapleDots__ (Feb 25, 2021)

Talking about the word organic

There is a company that called themselves organika

Now you would think everything is organic right?

Nope it makes you think it is, it is legal deception because the companies name sounds like organic.


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## rlm__ (Feb 25, 2021)

DomainRecap said:
			
		

> P.S. Hope it wasn't you I bitch-slapped in the recent Siber auctions.
> 
> No, I do wish it was you. LOL



Definitely wasn't me, I didn't get bitch-slapped.  I think you got your euphemisms mixed up and you meant to say you were spanking the monkey after winning an auction for once! lol

I really didn't think there was anything worth chasing in TBR... I picked up a handful of domains @ min costs.  I was only in two auctions at siber.  I won one cheap (under $50) and didn't even bother bidding in the other because it wasn't really something I _wanted_ anyway.  Of course myid saw some silly bidding, including secretary (at least IMO) - but it wasn't me.


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## DomainRecap (Feb 26, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> Definitely wasn't me, I didn't get bitch-slapped.  I think you got your euphemisms mixed up and you meant to say you were spanking the monkey after winning an auction for once! lol



It was a bad-to-mediocre week overall, but I actually got the top-ranked auction on my list outright, and picked up a couple of others (both auction and min bid) at various registrars. All pretty cheap, but being flush with TBR cash, I was prepared to go higher to get at least one of them. 

Plus, this week looks like a mountain of turds as far as the eye can see, and at this point I am not bidding on any of them. I discount Chemical because it'll be out of my price range. 



> I really didn't think there was anything worth chasing in TBR... I picked up a handful of domains @ min costs.  I was only in two auctions at siber.  I won one cheap (under $50) and didn't even bother bidding in the other because it wasn't really something I _wanted_ anyway.  Of course myid saw some silly bidding, including secretary (at least IMO) - but it wasn't me.



Secretary.ca was a definite surprise, as it came pretty close to the end price of Wanted.ca, which is a far better option if you want to blow some cash. Secretary is an archaic term and is not used very much in branding, but what do I know? I was the lone bidder on my top-rated pick.


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## rlm__ (Feb 26, 2021)

I agree, I had no desire to move on secretary and also agree that wanted was better for a similar price.
I missed out on millstone - I kinda liked it but got distracted and missed the end of the auction, I think it went for a reasonable price.

Now you're making me wonder what you got for an initial bid that was at the top of your list.


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## rlm__ (Feb 26, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> Nope it makes you think it is, it is legal deception because the companies name sounds like organic.



a.k.a. marketing...


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## DomainRecap (Feb 26, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> I missed out on millstone - I kinda liked it but got distracted and missed the end of the auction, I think it went for a reasonable price.



Millstone and Prominence were 2 and 3 on my list, but MyID scooped them up - otherwise I would have been in there bidding. 



> Now you're making me wonder what you got for an initial bid that was at the top of your list.



And it was the third week in a row that I managed that feat - if any sell, I'll let you know the names, but the less spotlight on me online the better.

And I thought I was misremembering things, but I confirmed that *Wanted.ca sold for LESS than Secretary.ca* at auction, which is pretty insane to me.


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## rlm__ (Feb 27, 2021)

DomainRecap said:
			
		

> but the less spotlight on me online the better.



Are you on a wanted poster or something??


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