Joseph Peterson takes a deep dive into sales at NameJet and SnapNames last month.
Domain auctions at NameJet and SnapNames during July were neither record-shattering nor sluggish. And that alone is significant during a pandemic that has hobbled the worldwide economy. By some measures, July’s performance was weak: Only 2 domains surpassed $20k; and the high was $38.3k, which is lower than we’ve seen in other months. But twice as many domains sold for 5-figure prices in July compared to June – 10 in all. Altogether, the 2 auction houses racked up 91 new sales above $2000. That’s on par with 89 during June.
I think the overall volume of sales is a better indicator of market strength than a few high prices. Those fluctuate from month to month – not only due to chance but also based on the decisions of particular sellers to entrust their premium assets to the auction process. During times of economic uncertainty, reluctant domain owners might prefer to hold and wait. Arguably, the very best indicator of domain market health would come from expired auctions rather than seller listings. But I don’t think anybody has continued reporting that data once I stopped writing weekly articles on the topic several years ago.
Let’s dive in! Last month’s top seller was a numerical .NET: 5555.net ($38.3k). DNW readers will know by now that China loves numerical domains and repeating patterns. Even so, this .NET sale is striking, given the price, because .NET has never been China’s favorite. But this wasn’t alone: AX.net ($16.5k) was the 5th-highest sale in June. Click here to continue reading…