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Dec
2
Online Opportunities For Those Who Don’t Use The Dollar
December 2, 2007
OK. I’ve seen a recent trend: Those who aren’t living within the United States (and/or not using the dollar as a main currency) are taking advantage of the decrease in value of the dollar compared to other currencies (such as the Euro) and buying stuff like php scripts, development, and my favorite… domains. I’ve been watching the marketplaces and noticed a lot of people from Europe quickly snatch up domains, like LLLL.com, that are priced $15 BIN for example. Why? Well, LLLL.com ran out sometime in the last 2 months and they are a decent investment… and $15 isn’t as much as it used to be for them. I MAY be using a REALLY stupid example, but I’m trying to make a point. We’ve been so accustomed to using the dollar as the internet currency between one another, no one has been realizing that you are actually LOSING money now. What do I mean by this? I’m going to stick with $15 LLLL.coms as a good example. Before LLLL.coms ran out, $15 would’ve been a decent price to sell them at, lets just say. So, you buy as many as you can for reg fee and flip them for $15. Now that they have all been snatched up, there are still people pricing them at $15, and they are selling quick (This is just an EXAMPLE! I’m trying to make a point!). When sold at $15, and $15 is the average price even lower quality LLLL.coms are being sold for EASILY, no one is taking into consideration that $15 today isn’t the same as $15 last year. On December 1, 2006, $1 was equivalent to €0.75 (x-rates.com). So, a $15 LLLL.com would have been 11.25. Today, $1 is about €0.68… which makes a $15 LLLL.com €10.20. For something that ran out, you’d expect something to be worth more. I’m really not sure if people are understanding where I’m going with this (it’s 12:06AM and I really wanted to start the draft of this post), but I’m trying to say: People NOT using the dollar are at an advantage. In my opinion, it’s WISE for those people to start investing in domains if they can from people living in the United States. With the dollar’s value dropping, this will probably work across other currencies as well. Let’s say you want to buy a really nice LLL.com, it might be cheaper to buy them now even with their value increasing then in the future if the dollar starts catching up with the euro again.
Looking at the way things are going, I’m sure the dollar MAY fall a little bit more. I haven’t kept up with the drops or economic trends, but I assume the dollar will eventually go back up. This may be a good chance for those who would like to get some high quality services from the United States and are living outside the U.S to start with your projects. Hire that person living in Missouri to develop your site. Buy those domains from that guy living in Wyoming. I personally live in California and use the dollar everyday. I make my money in dollars, and I sell domains in dollars. If I were living outside the United States, I would DEFINITELY be heavily investing more money in buying up internet real estate from those who are stuck on using the dollar as their standard currency. Maybe it’s time for us to use the Euro? I don’t know, nor am I suggesting it. But for those who want to make money, you may need to spend money. Now is the time to take those chances.
I know that Google AdWords takes the same amount of dollars in euros for those living outside the United States and that isn’t fair. Check out OTHER advertising companies. Don’t use AdWords. Use companies like AdBrite (I assume) accept only dollars. It’s cheaper for those outside the United States to buy more traffic/get better domains/start more projects… so start.
I’m not going to re-run through this post, since I pretty much got what I needed to say out the first time. Sometimes others are given the opportunities others cannot. Those living in the United Kingdom right now are at a huge advantage. Hell, has anyone read the articles/watched the news about people from London flocking over to New York to buy their clothes and stuff? They say it’s cheaper here with the weak dollar and it’s worth the $400 plane ticket. That was what first opened my eyes to what people in Britain/France/Italy/Etc. can do online. These people have the chance, and I might sound redundant right about now, to purchase these services/assets from us for prices that we want to sell them for at bargain prices for them.
We end up at crossroads as United States webmasters:
1) Change our internet currency
2) Raise our prices
3) Hold out until the dollar gets stronger
In the end, it’s whatever is in OUR best interest to make the most amount of money, for United States webmasters and others. It may be a win-win situation, but at the same time those selling domains might not realize that they may be underpricing their domains. I say everyone goes through projects put on hold (for those living outside the United States) and see what you can get done for cheap. Those people have a chance to start making more money at a cheaper price. Those who DO use the dollar, you have a chance now to offer services since they may be in demand now that services are cheaper for others outside the United States. Offer articles, web design, logo creation, etc. Like I said: It may be a win-win situation.
So, hopefully I made my point. With the dollar being so weak, we need to open up our eyes everywhere. There might be money that could potentially be slipping through our fingers because of this. It all comes down to what you’re comfortable with. Some don’t care about potentially earning more for doing the same exact thing, but others might. For me, I like to make sure I try to squeeze out as much as I can since I’m already putting in the effort for whatever it is I’m doing.
K. I’m going to end this. I really don’t know if I made any sense, but I’m sure my point was made. Any comments would be awesome. If someone has any suggestions to the post, let me know. I’d be happy to edit things and add new information/delete what I’ve written.
EDIT: I’d like to also add the weakened dollar might in fact HURT you if you are being paid in dollars. Then you have an opposite effect, which is NOT good. If you are being paid with dollars, look around. Maybe you have a local advertising company that provides PPC feeds who pays in your currency. It may not be an option for some, but for those that feel they are being affected with this should explore other revenue means that pay in other currencies.
Comments
5 Comments so far
That too simple ) bucks go down, and dont up…
I am very concerned about EUR/USD change rates and more when +95% of time we are paid in USD (this is due because we mainly target USA through our services, so we have no choice).
…
I must admit I did not understood your post…
I think when you started to speak about $15 the cost of a domain I started to be completely lost.
$15 is the registration cost?
Yup, I’ve switched all my parking feeds to Euro… $$$
or rather €€€!
Noo… Francois I was talking about purchasing on the secondary market. I was doing a comparison about how we take a $15 standard price and compare between the two currencies. $15 stays the same for people using the dollar, but due to the fluctuations in the currency over the past year, $15 is not the same for people using the euro. In fact, they have an advantage because $15 is now cheaper than it was a year ago. I tried hard not to get readers confused. Hope I cleared things up.
Jason, I think that’s a smart idea. I’m in dollars right now, so I’d rather just stick to dollars, but I’m thinking about starting sales threads in euros actually. Maybe just for fun :), to see the users responses.
Using dollar still remains the ultimate option although the rewards of switching to Euro are huge.