It’s official. Google has acquired Like.com. In a post on Like.com’s homepage, the company’s CEO and Founder Munjal Shah writes that the visual search engine has been bought by Google. We originally reported the acquisition last weekend. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, we’ve heard it’s valued at upwards of $100 million.

Shah’s message doesn’t really give us any hints as to what Google will be doing with Like.com but he alludes to the fact that he (and his team) will continue to work on visual search and cross-matching in e-commerce for the search giant.

The history behind Like.com and Google is complicated. In late 2005 Google was on the verge of acquiring a company called Riya, which was Shah’s first attempt at image facial recognition and tagging for consumers. Google eventually walked away from Riya.

In 2009, Riya was shut down, but the company had already refocused its efforts on ecommerce – using the Riya core technology to let people search visually by seeing images that are similar to other images. Like.com was born. And the company raised nearly $50 million in venture capital since 2006 and has revenue in the $50 million/year range.

From the product standpoint, Like.com operated its visual search engine and then went on to launch a number of smaller sites devotes to fashion and e-commerce. The company launched shopping personalization engine Covet.com; acquired street style social network Weardrobe, and rolled out visual styling tool Couturious. Most recently, Like.com launched a fashion Q&A site, What To Wear, which takes on a model similar to Q&A site Quora.

But there was a question as to what these verticals did for Like.com. The site’s traffic seemed to stagnate over the past few months. And the other sites in the family don’t have nearly as much traffic as Like.com

I doubt that Google wants to become a mini-fashion e-commerce empire so it’s unclear what Google wants with Like.com. It could be that Google, which has experimented with visual search, likes what it sees.

In the end, it seems like one thing stands clear. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

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Internet retailer snaps up one character .co domains for big bucks.

On the eve of the .co general availability launch comes news that Overstock.com purchased the o.co domain name for a whopping $350,000. This must be the sale that Michael Berkens alluded to.

From the press release:

Many visionary companies see the new .CO domains as an opportunity to extend their brand or expand their online offerings in a way that was not previously possible due to limited availability of .com domains. Recently, the e-commerce powerhouse Overstock.com announced it paid $350,000.00 USD to acquire ‘O.CO’ to target new audiences and expand its global brand.

“The O.CO domain presented us with an unprecedented opportunity to add a meaningful online presence that will enhance recognition for the “O” brand, align with current marketing initiatives, and make it easier for shoppers to find our products and services online,” said Overstock.com Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne. “Dollar for dollar, it’s a homerun and well worth the investment because it reinforces among consumers that ‘O’ is synonymous with ‘Overstock’.”

Overstock.com has been big on going after any single letter ‘o’ domain it can get, including a deal to get o.biz.

Resellers

You require an account for each.

DomainSpeed

EZHome

IPNic

Godaddy Reseller

GoDaddy, 500 names

OnlineAccess, upto 120 names

000Domains, upto 50 names

Misk, upto 50 names

NameCheap, upto 30 names. You require an account

Name, upto 20 names

Register, upto 10 names

DynaDot

DomainTools

StartName

PCNames

Register

DomainSite

10Dollar, you need an account

GKG

StarGate

Whois.hm

NamesBeyond

Enom

The real value of a domain is what it sells for. If you think that someone else may pay $250 (low $xxx) for a domain, but you’re a frequent domain buyer and you’re only willing to pay $25, then you should state that in the post. Tell the owner what you would pay, even if it’s only $5. Here’s why: if 5-15 appraisers are only willing to pay $5, the domain is likely worth $5 in the reseller market.

Example: if your domain recieves 10 appraisals, and 8 people say that it’s only worth $10 because they aren’t looking to develop a website around such a topic, then it gives the owner a good idea of what the domain is actually worth to domain resellers.

However, if the two remaining appraisers would pay $xxx because they plan to develop a website around that topic or may be interested in or capable of doing so, then the owner has an idea of approximately what percentage of the domain/website development market his or her domain name is marketable to.

Summary: in addition to reseller & development value estimations, tell the owner of a domain what you personally would pay for the domain, no matter how low, because a domain is only worth what it sells for.

~ Example: ~

Sports.us is the domain being appraised. You’d go to Overture and find that many people searched for “sports”. You realize that sports are played in the United States, so the extension is relevant. The domain is short and sweet, adding to its value. Also, there are tons of results on Google for “sports”. So you’d say:

“Since ’sports’ had X searches this January on Overture and since it’s very short and memorable, I’d say you could sell it for [price] to an end user and [price] to a domain investor. The extension doesn’t hurt if you can find a user with a sports site targeting the United States market.”

~ Example #2: ~

MarketForums.net is the domain being appraised (using this one b/c I own it). I’m the appraiser. I go to Overture and find high results for ‘market’ and ‘forums’, but not ‘market forums’. On Google, however, there are surprisingly many results for “market forums”, probably meaning that there’s a large interest in the subject. So, search results are OK for this domain. The extension would be better in .com; however, .net does not bring the value down too much considering that many .net is often used for forums.

For an international market forum, this domain is good. To a developer wanting to start up a United States stock market forum, however, MarketForums.us may be better. To a domain investor, MarketForums.net would be the pick over MarketForums.us.

~ Example #3: Country Code Extensions ~

Beaches.sc (also mine) is the domain up for appraisal. On first sight, you might say “Registration fee; the extension hurts it.” However, upon using your friend Google to research the .sc extension, you find that the ext. was created for the Seychelles, a beautiful French archipelago and a great tourist/vacation destination. In your appraisal, you should include that because the U.S. market for tourism to French lands is down at the moment because we’re munching on freedom fries, beaches.sc could be used as .South Carolina.

Overture tells you that there are hundreds of thousands of results for beaches in South Carolina like Myrtle Beach. Enlighten the domain owner to the fact that with a good amount of development as a South Carolina beach information site, beaches.sc is an excellent keyword domain and would be worth [price]. However, to a domain investor, .sc may mean “source” (like whois.sc); “beaches source” makes no sense and wouldn’t be worth much at all.

~ Example #4: 3-Letter Domains ~
When your appraise three-letter domains, take two main things into consideration: if the letters mean anything or are an acronym and the quality of the extension. FYI.co.in is likely worth more that QYX.com because FYI means “For Your Information”, whereas QYX does not have a widely known meaning. 3-letter domains (LLL – Letter Letter Letter) are typically more valuble than LNL (Letter Number Letter) or NNL or NLN names because they’re easier to pronounce.

~ Helping the domain owner: ~

Tell the person who posted the domain all of this info, including what market(s) the domain would be most valuble in and why. It helps him/her get a better feel for the value of the domain in different situations with different buyers. You should also get a feel for the value of certain extensions and for whether the market is “bull” or “bear”. To keep up with the market, frequent sites such at DNJournal.com and the NamePros sales forums to see how much names are going for.

If you enjoyed my article and think other NP’ers could benefit from it, please send some $NP this way so I can sticky the thread.

Happy appraising!

The basic concept of these scam sites requires an “interested buyer” and a naïve domain seller. In the case of the AllForDomains.com scam, the seller receives a promotional email for a one-time free trial advertisement in order to sell their domains. Soon after posting the advertisement an interested buyer contacts the seller and requests an appraisal. The seller is then offered several appraisers including AllForDomains.com which also happens to be the cheapest option. The seller pays to get the domain appraised and attempts to reply to the prospective buyer but never gets a response.

Similarly, EveryDayIncome.com requires the seller to promote their domain names through their advertisements. The seller will receive three or more responses from interested buyers. A clever domain seller was able to catch that although the emails appeared to be coming from three separate domainers the incoming mail header signified that they had all come from the same mail server.

To the untrained eye these sites may appear to be legitimate. However, domainers should exercise caution when appraising their domains by only using trustworthy sites or services that have been recommended by others who have had positive experiences. Thanks to those who have spread the news about such bogus sites and it appears that EveryDayIncome.com and Domains.Profit.com are no longer in operation.

Create an informative web site to warn others of domain scams and shed light on the domain industry with domains such as InternetAdvisors.org, FraudExaminers.com, InternetFraudWatch.com and InteractiveConsultants.com. Achieve your entrepreneurial goals and establish your online business with memorable and marketable domains such as ChatHelp.net, EducatorSite.com, HelpfulWebsites.com, and CyberSpeak.com.

2. Go to Google.com and search for the keywords contained in your domain. Make a list of all the paying advertisers that appear in the “Sponsored Links”.

3. Go to Overture.com and search for the keywords contained in your domain. Make a list of all the paying advertisers. (Click “View Advertisers’ Max Bids”)

These three steps will usually produce a decent sized list of potential buyers for your name. From there you can contact the companies and see if there’s any interest in aquiring your name.

DO NOT SPAM! Mass mailing all these companies with a single spam email is a bad idea! Any time you do this you should be contacting these companies indivudually by email, snail mail or phone. Figure out how these companies can benefit by owning your domain and approach them with this information.

luulook.com  Estibot Value: $1200

offershotel  Estibot Value: $1100

anmobile.com Estibot Value: $580