In the last several months, I’ve picked up a new hobby – biking. Although it’s not easy biking around New York City (except in Central Park, which can also be a nightmare), I have enjoyed taking my bike out for long rides. As a result of this newish hobby, I’ve rented bikes on recent vacations as a way to explore a city.
After my last trip, I did a few searches for city-specific biking domain names, and I saw BikeAmsterdam.com had expired and was set to go to auction. I backordered it, and after a short three-day auction, I won the domain name. I don’t plan to develop it, but with biking being such a popular thing in Amsterdam, I think the name is valuable to any company that rents bikes or gives bike tours.
I sent out a number of emails to bike tour companies in Amsterdam last night, and I already received a couple of inquiries in response, so now it’s just about making a deal that works for both parties. I made a special offer to the bike companies who presumably have the ability to purchase bikes at their wholesale price:
BikeAmsterdam.com will either cost $3,000 USD or I will trade the domain name for a new road bike. The three choices are:
- Trek Madone 4.7
- Cannondale Synapse Carbon 4
- Specialized Tarmac Comp Double Rival
You may notice the MSRP is actually less than the $3,000 price for all three bikes. I know this, and it’s intentional. I want to see if I can trade a bike for a domain name. If anyone is interested in this opportunity, the domain name is still available until a deal is worked out.
Great buy Elliot!
Amsterdam is wonderful city and cycling is a wonderful pastime. Very interested in the outcome of this, love the idea.
Such a creative deal-maker you are LOL 😀
Not only the deal is creative, the domain makes a lot of sense. Amsterdam is packed with bikes all around. Great catch there.
Interestingly, I also find great domain while searching self-interest keywords for a few weeks with no idea if I will develop them.
Congrats, Elliot.
Interesting to see you take my cycling table scrap and hopefully get a bike from it! Maybe next time I let a domain name drop I should talk to you first 🙂 Cheers, Frank
Historical footnote: BikeAmsterdam.com was registered for $7.97 on May 12, 2009; submitted one week later to TRAFFIC Amsterdam for auction (at no reserve); rejected for auction, both live and silent – and then not renewed by the owner who, for fun and by instinct, still likes to register the occasional name; is focused more on extracting value from his circa 1996 hand-registered generic domains; and owns more than enough bikes.
For those who want to follow Elliot’s lead in creative deal makingm I know for a fact that CycleSwitzerland.com and CycloTourism.com are available from the same ex-owner of BikeAmsterdam.com. Happy cycling, and creative deal making, to all.
Hey Elliot,
Just wanted to give you props for picking up cycling. It’s a wonderful hobby and boy is it addicting. As for those three bikes you’re looking at, I’d say the Specialized is the sexiest. 🙂
Cheers,
Lesley
Bartering: an old idea with fresh life.
I’ve bartered products and services for advertisements in my (60,000 parents) newsletter- it’s a win/win for both parties.
Elliot, do let us know how this turns out!
Ellen