20 big end user domain sales courtesy of Marchex.
Marchex’ release of a list of its top 500 domain names sales of all time last week gave data junkies like me fresh data to sort through.
I do a weekly end user sales report, and I thought it would be interesting to check which of Marchex’ sales were to end users.
I checked all 500 domains and found close to 70 with end users. I suspect the total number of end user purchases was much higher, but I ignored ones I couldn’t verify (such as non-U.S. entities) and lead gen companies. A lot of the domains it sold are also protected by whois privacy services.
As I went through the list I ran into a couple challenges. The key one is that just because a company owns the domain today doesn’t mean it was the one that bought it from Marchex.
For example, I was surprised to see the Federal Bureau of Investigation as owner of MegaWorld.com, which Marchex sold for $15,385. It turns out it’s a domain name the FBI seized.
To rectify this, I used DomainTools’ historical whois records to try to pin down when the domain was sold and verify that the purchaser is the current owner. As a caveat, it’s possible some changed hands quickly and I missed them.
Also, a handful of domains on the list still show Marchex as the owner, including SeeLasVegas.com, HarpGuitars.com, BlackDiamonds.com.
Without further ado, here are the first twenty end user domain sales from Marchex’ sales. You can see Part 2 with more sales here.
AtlanTech Resellers, Inc. sells networking equipment and invested $30,000 in PatchCable.com in 2009. Interestingly, it still hasn’t changed the nameservers from Marchex’ UltSearch.com.
AutoForums.com, Inc. bought RVGuide.com for $40,000 in 2009.
MetroTex Association of REALTORS picked up DFWRealEstate.com in 2010 for $50,000.
SPORTRX, LLC owns SportsRX.com, but bought SportRX.com (singular ‘sport’) for $10,000 in 2011.
Pharma giant Abbott Laboratories paid $25,000 for Abound.net in 2008.
About.com forked over $250,000 for CalorieCount.com in 2009.
B2B marketplace Alibaba bought Etao.com for $50,000 in 2010.
Youth marketing company Alloy Digital bought Tween.com for $40,000 in 2008.
This one is kind of interesting. AllState currently owned DiscountAutoInsurance.com. It was purchased for $75,000 by someone who appears to be an AllState agent and later transferred to AllState itself. It’s not clear if he was acting as an agent for the insurance company.
American Express charged $50,000 for TakeCharge.com in 2009. It forwards to an American Express Entertainment page.
Ancestry.com bought AncestryDNA.com for $30,000 in 2011.
Insurance marketing system Astonish Records paid $24,500 for Astonish.com in 2006 or 2007. This one is confusing because it showed Moniker escrow in 2006 and then went into privacy until 2007.
Online gambling company Bet Construct bought vBet.com in 2011 for $30,000.
Blue Company Casuals B.V. paid $25,000 for JeansOnline.com in 2010. It owns JeansOnline.nl.
BowlersParadise.com bought BowlingBags.com for $44,000 this year. The name was familiar to me, and then I remember it is the company that bought BowlingBalls.com from Garry Chernoff for $225,000.
CareerBuilder, LLC bought MoneyJobs.com for $20,000 this year.
Chevron paid $100,000 for HumanEnergy.com in 2010.
Collegebound Network, LLC paid a whopping $200,000 for MyEducation.com in 2009.
This is an interesting buy. The t-shirt printing company CustomInk, which owns CustomInk.com, bought CustomLink.com for $30,000 in 2009. I bet there was confusion.
Dealer Tire, LLC bought RightTurn.com for $50,000 in 2011.
rob sequin says
Great work.
This type of article is a real contribution to our industry.
Adrian Keys says
Agreed Rob…I totally agree!