I bought ajar.org for ~$4K USD in 2015. Now wish I'd purchased ajar.net instead, but Uniregistry is asking $8-9K, down from ~$20K, down from around ~$30K. My max offer would have to be a trade of ajar.org plus maybe a thousand bucks... My perception has changed a bit since my purchase in 2015, as I struggle to see a domain name valued higher than my car.
That said, it was the perfect domain in 2015: I had just started the AJAr Foundation and was very deep into related software projects at the time. How much would you spend on a domain in 2019? It seems like the landscape has changed quite a bit in the past 5 years, perhaps due to the rollout of new TLDs. Still, for a nonprofit .org seems "optimal," .net for networks, and .com still holds the title (would think) of what the average person expects.
What's the motive of buying domains at this price? I'll never buy a domain which is greater than $20 for an year
I guess I'd have to estimate how much extra income the domain would generate.
Like, is the company name already fixed? Is it for a big business? Is it the kind of thing people have to remember?
For a big hobby project (no income) maybe at most 300, if there are no cheap names that could also work, though I've never spent more than standard registry fees so far.
If it is a personal project, then less than $100. If it is for a serious business, I am open to spending up to $5k. :)
Jason Knight
The less code you use, the less there is to break
IMHO people get too obsessed with the domain part of things. Whilst sure, branding is important, look at the sheer number of success stories where the name is utter and complete gibberish. Woot? Yahoo? Google? eBay? They're all gibberish. They have little to do with what the company actually does. Instead they offer a consistent usable distribution of content and services people want.
Which is why unless you're a fortune 500 where you have an established brand you need to defend, it's silly to waste more than $20/year on a domain. Focus on the content, the usability, the accessibility, and the domain shouldn't really matter so long as it's unique and memorable.