Bitbay.com - speculate on the domains worth

[Dargumin]

I posted this in the marketplace forum earlier, given the lack of replies I'm guessing that was the wrong forum.  Since I'm asking people to speculate on the value of something bitcoin related maybe it belongs here?

I'm in a private auction for the bitbay.com domain name.  Its pretty much the dream bitcoin domain I think! As well as the obvious "ebay for bitcoin" option it could have other uses, currency exchange for example, If I win it then these are the choices I'd have to consider...

HOWEVER I have today found out there are 48 bidders in total (I've had my eye on it dropping for a few weeks now, I'd hoped no-one else had noticed!), does anyone know what kind of price it could go for when the auction ends on Friday? I fear with this number of bidders it could be up into the $10,000s and then I simply won't have the cash to win it.

How much do you guys reckon it could be worth?

[bitleif]

Might be worth less than you think because of obvious trademark issues for an ebay-like service. Not guaranteed to be a problem, but a risk.

[samson]

It's worthless, $10 registration fee for a couple of years.

If anyone ever used it for an auction site ebay will simply file some paperwork with the WIPO and it will be theirs within about 60 days.

They could probably take it based on existing trademarks even if it's never used for anything.

[Dargumin]

Might be worth less than you think because of obvious trademark issues for an ebay-like service. Not guaranteed to be a problem, but a risk.

Its a valid point, and I did a bit of homework before I got involved in bidding for this.

See on valuate.com I searched "freebay.com"  and it gave it a value of $0 because of the risk associated with trademark infringement with ebay. (That said the site is online and hasn't been taken down...the comments at the top of the page are quite amusing).  However for bitbay.com it estimates a value of $770 based on the traffic of the website back in its former life (pre bitcoin) and doesn't mention a risk of trademark infringement, its not like ebay can take issue with every website that uses the word "bay" in the title.

Also as I mentioned in my original post, the website wouldn't have to be an online marketplace, it could for example be a currency exchange and then I don't see how ebay would have a leg to stand on.

[Dargumin]

It's worthless, $10 registration fee for a couple of years.

If anyone ever used it for an auction site ebay will simply file some paperwork with the WIPO and it will be theirs within about 60 days.

They could probably take it based on existing trademarks even if it's never used for anything.

The domain has existed now for over 10 years and hasn't been "taken" by ebay.  I don't see why they're just gonna start demanding it now.  They weren't even able to take freebay.com  lol.

[keatonatron]

If you use a design that looks like eBay's, or feature a large tagline that calls your site "The eBay of Bitcoin!" then you will run into problems.

But I don't think an auction site that doesn't resemble ebay in any way and simply has "bay" in the title would cause a problem.

Still... I don't think you'd get much selling it to a bitcoin entrepreneur. Most of them hope to make something for nothing (cheap domain name and programming is all you need!) and would rather just come up with an unrelated URL that can be had for cheap.

[keatonatron]

But I don't think an auction site that doesn't resemble ebay in any way and simply has "bay" in the title would cause a problem.

Probably not.  $30K - $100K in legal fees and you can find out for sure.

No need. When the first "cease and desist" letter comes, you just shut down. Easy.

They have to prove that you confused or at least attempted to confuse users into thinking you were the real eBay. A rinky-dink site that agrees to immediately bow out when confronted won't be worth their time.

[keatonatron]

www.auction-bay.com and www.p-bay.be are doing fine.

(pigeon auction = super win!)

[l3sny]

is bitbay.com for sale?