How much should a startup be willing to pay for a .com address? I'm currently bootstrapping a project that's entering private beta. The domain I'd like to get is currently owned by a "domainer" who is asking for way more than I'd like to pay.
I'm thinking <$1000 is reasonable for a pretty good domain that has no natural traffic flow. (think snapchat.com in 2010.) Am I way out of line? Should I be willing to pay more? If it matters, the domain I'm seeking has no existing trademarks.
If you're going for something a bit more brandable, there are plenty of domains in the sub-$2k range which are at least as good as, say, Dropbox, Kabbage, Snapchat, etc etc, and probably many more which are not obviously attractive names but won't hurt your company at all (Twilio, Airbnb, etc).
There's also a virtually infinite number of NAMEapp, getNAME, NAMEnow, etc etc available on any TLD you care to name available for the registration fee. Many startups start that way.