# Seller of Masks.com drops asking price



## MapleDots__ (Jan 17, 2021)

Last month I wrote about the website Masks.com going up for sale on Flippa. The starting price was $975,000 and the other part of the equation was that the ownership of Masks.com did not come in the deal.


Read more:
https://tldinvestors.com/2021/01/masks-dot-com-price-drop.html



Article by my friend Raymond Hackney at TLD investors.com


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## Nafti (Jan 17, 2021)

It’s interesting that you’re not actually buying the domain name. Also,

“The lease is currently $499 a month, in 2021 it will go to $1k a month, in 2022 $2,500 a month, in 2023 $4,000 a month then it will increase 4% annually.”

Some may find it pricey to be paying $4000/month just for the domain alone but I believe if you have a business plan in place where the masks are drop shipped, it could work. No inventory. Mind you, you would have to sell a lot of masks but the domain would sell itself.


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## Esdiel (Jan 17, 2021)

It's not the kind of set up I would want but 4000/month is more than reasonable when compared to what businesses pay for their storefront rent.

I can't help wonder about mask.com, the singular version, and what the price for that is.

Apparently it was last listed on Brand Bucket for 2 million usd, according to this August 2020 article (note: it was also the highest priced domain on BB at the time): https://www.thedomains.com/2020/08/13/mask-dot-com-brand-bucket/

If you visit the domain today it still points to brand bucket but says: "MASK.COM IS NO LONGER FOR SALE ON BRANDBUCKET". 

Maybe it sold recently?


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## MapleDots__ (Jan 17, 2021)

So easy to make a domain similar for free, just imply a better mask like maskplus.com and get creative. Then invest the 4k monthly (48k yearly) into some advertising and chanced are you will make a good living.

All that said, masks are a poor example, there really is no more money to be made there by a single company. They are giveaway and throwaway at this point.


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## DomainTrader (Jan 17, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> So easy to make a domain similar for free, just imply a better mask like maskplus.com and get creative. Then invest the 4k monthly (48k yearly) into some advertising and chanced are you will make a good living.
> 
> All that said, masks are a poor example, there really is no more money to be made there by a single company. They are giveaway and throwaway at this point.



I agree 100%


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## DomainTrader (Jan 17, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> Last month I wrote about the website Masks.com going up for sale on Flippa. The starting price was $975,000 and the other part of the equation was that the ownership of Masks.com did not come in the deal.
> 
> 
> Read more:
> ...




Leasing is a marginal area of the domain space as it is and a NEVER ending lease just seems like a bad bad idea
Almost like hitching your sales wagon to Twitter 
Bad idea


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## DomainRecap (Jan 17, 2021)

As they say in the artiicle:

"With those terms you are acquiring a liability more than an asset."


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## rlm__ (Jan 17, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> They are giveaway and throwaway at this point.



Kinda like razor blades, right?  That's just a $10B USD market.

With all of the covid variants and no idea if vaccinations are going to wipe out some or all of them, I think masks may certainly be here to stay in some form or another.  And lets face it, masks suck, so there's lots of room for improvement, customization, personalization, etc...  Sure, quick money might be gone, but for someone taking a true long term business approach, there is a **** load of money to be made.


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## MapleDots__ (Jan 17, 2021)

Razors...

There are a handful of manufacturers capable of producing quality ones. 

Masks are home made, china, boxes of 100 for 24.95 and arts and craft projects etc.

I predict masks.com is going to struggle, who on gods green earth is going to masks.com instead of picking them up at their local Walmart?

Razors are different, they can be highly specialized.


In my hometown region of Waterloo two shops specializing in masks have already gone bankrupt. They did well for a while and then fizzled as masks became commonplace.

It is no different from socks.com, theoretically it should be a thriving website because everyone wears socks right?
When is the last time anyone went to socks.com to order socks? SO much so that socks.com has had to spread to undergarments to survive.

I will stick by my mask prediction and state unequivocally that the site is going to fold. Having to pay 4k a month as overhead plus server costs etc is not enough to keep them afloat now that mask are everywhere.


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## rlm__ (Jan 17, 2021)

Razors are equally ubiquitous, yes, they can be specialized, but they can also be cheapo plain jane style bought by the bag full at walmart or amazon or anywhere.  Or by the box of just basic blades, almost like a commodity.

There is an advantage that masks have over razors. They are highly visible, so people are wanting to personalize them.  Many businesses are now buying personalized facemasks for employees.  My fire hall is buying disposable surgical masks, the n95's as well as washable ones customized with our logo, and others customized with our firefighter numbers so we don't get them mixed up.

Facemasks can also be highly specialized or a basic commodity.  There are disposables, washables, ones with replaceable filters, multiple levels of protection, different material types, etc...

There are also issues with comfort, fogging glasses, proper sizing, etc, so I see lots of room for improvement and innovation.

If I wanted to make a run at selling masks, I would definitely focus on the customizations and innovations, obviously the commodity style disposables are going to be dominated by walmart/costco/amazon.

I'm not saying I think masks.com is worth the cost at $4000/mo, but maybe.  And I'm sure the owner of masks.com is going to be willing to negotiate at some point.  If masks.com says look, here's our financials, we can pay you $2000/mo, but not $4000, I'd bet masks.com would be willing to consider options, such as partnering up or negotiating that price.  After all, there is some potential competition from Mask.com, Facemask.com, Facemasks.com, etc...  All they'd have to do is tell their existing customers we've moved to a new domain.

So while masks.com may certainly fold, I think there is definitely money to be made by someone.


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## FM__ (Jan 18, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> I'm not saying I think masks.com is worth the cost at $4000/mo, but maybe.  And I'm sure the owner of masks.com is going to be willing to negotiate at some point.  If masks.com says look, here's our financials, we can pay you $2000/mo, but not $4000, I'd bet masks.com would be willing to consider options, such as partnering up or negotiating that price.  After all, there is some potential competition from Mask.com, Facemask.com, Facemasks.com, etc...  All they'd have to do is tell their existing customers we've moved to a new domain.



The platform this runs through is https://venture.com/ by Dr. Kevin Ham's reinvent. It is an interesting model. 

Obviously, the current operator thinks that they are close to the peak and it's time to sell. I do believe they publish their sales/revenue someplace.


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## Spex (Jan 18, 2021)

rlm said:
			
		

> If I wanted to make a run at selling masks, I would definitely focus on the customizations and innovations, obviously the commodity style disposables are going to be dominated by walmart/costco/amazon.



I agree. Someone with some capital and entrepreneurial skill could do like what Warren Royal is doing with Bobbleheads.com

Play this from the custom and specialized angle and there may be a big market for it


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## Esdiel (Jan 23, 2021)

Esdiel said:
			
		

> I can't help wonder about mask.com, the singular version, and what the price for that is.
> 
> Apparently it was last listed on Brand Bucket for 2 million usd, according to this August 2020 article (note: it was also the highest priced domain on BB at the time): https://www.thedomains.com/2020/08/13/mask-dot-com-brand-bucket/
> 
> ...




Mask.com did indeed sell. The price hasn't been dislcosed (yet) but it should be the first 7-figure sale of the year:





https://www.jamesnames.com/2021/01/mask-com-domain-name-sells-at-brandbucket/


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## MapleDots__ (Jan 23, 2021)

I wonder if it will be used to sell masks?

In todays world with all the privacy concerns I am almost betting on "mask my identity" or similar.


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## Nafti (Jan 23, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> In todays world with all the privacy concerns I am almost betting on "mask my identity" or similar.



I have never thought of mask.com for that. That could be very well the case. They would also capitalize nicely on free traffic from users looking for masks.


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## Esdiel (Jan 23, 2021)

I wondered the same, since it's a nice/short/brandable single-word .COM that could essentially be used for anything, if you really wanted it to. 

Even the name Amazon doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Bezos just picked out the name while going through a dictionary, and came up with his own random rational for choosing the name. Amazon is indeed a great name/domain but I don't think anyone could have guessed this name would become what it is today:  



> * Amazon was incorporated on July 5, 1995.
> 
> * The company was originally called "Cadabra," as in "abracadabra," according to Brad Stone's book "The Everything Store."
> 
> ...



https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-jeff-bezos-chose-company-name-2018-5#:~:text=But%20CEO%20Jeff%20Bezos'%20lawyer,building%20the%20world's%20largest%20bookstore.


With all that said, the main motivation behind the purchase must be because of face masks given the significance of them at the moment.


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## jaydub__ (Jan 23, 2021)

Great name for VPN..


			
				MapleDots said:
			
		

> I wonder if it will be used to sell masks?
> 
> In todays world with all the privacy concerns I am almost betting on "mask my identity" or similar.


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## Esdiel (Jan 23, 2021)

While we're on the subject, I thought you guys might find this CBC Marketplace article interesting: 





https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-masks-test-1.5795481


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## Esdiel (Jan 23, 2021)

@Nafti, sorry my last post wasn't from Rebel News... I couldn't find anything similar on their website for some reason...  

I did find this though lol:

https://youtu.be/EyvIJ4UIg_I


If you watch the video you'll learn that Rebel News also owns *MaskExemption.ca* lol.


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## Nafti (Jan 23, 2021)

[notify]Esdiel[/notify] I don’t mind “other news”. lol But if I want the truth when it comes real news, Rebel news is my goto...

I did notice from the video that Rebel News also owns unmask.ca as they stated. I’m pro mask so that name doesn’t affect me.  They appear to own a lot of domain names. Both .ca and .com.


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