How much does a dash impact the value of a two-word .COM?

An interesting question came up this weekend when I was talking to someone about domains – it’s a given that a dash decreases the value of the domain, but by how much? While I personally haven’t invested in domains with dashes in them, I know people who have and still do, and they do just fine, but they all agreed, the price takes a hit when compared to the same domain but without a dash.

I was thinking of putting together a report comparing two-word .COMs where both the dashed and normal form sold but realized this will probably take a while to compile. So instead I thought the next best thing would be to “ask the audience” as they do in “Who wants to be a millionaire” – the results look something like this:

Fun fact, the question above was actually the million dollar question, and it’s pretty clear here the audience likely helped out a lot. The tv show provided four options so I’ll do the same, how much do you think a dash decreases the value of a two-word .COM (compared to the domain without it):

A) It decreases the value by 25%

B) It decreases the value by 50%

C) It decreases the value by 75%

D) It decreases the value by 90% or more

Of course as usual, I don’t think it’s fair to ask all of you a question without me answering it myself so I’ll share my answer. I’d pick option D – I think the dash really hurts the value and you’ll be lucky to get 10% of the non-dashed version. That’s just my two cents and like I said, I don’t even lightly dabble in dashed domains so what the heck do I know!

Now it’s your turn, what do you think?

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton