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End user domain sale bonanza!

by — Domain Sales 8 Comments

20 end user domain sales including three for $100k+

graphic of briefcase full of money related to end user domain name sales

Sedo had a very strong week for end user domain name sales. It’s not just the number of domains I uncovered (20) but also dollar amounts. Three end user sales went for six figures. Salesforce bought a .ai domain for $50,000. And a so-so .net domain sold for $48,216!

Here’s the list of end user domain name sales that just completed at Sedo. You can view previous lists like this here.

Links.com €700,000 – As I reported earlier this week, it appears that AllMyLinks acquired the domain.

Casinos.org $400,000 – I don’t know who bought it, but given recent end-user purchases of casino domains and the price, I’m going to call it an end user.

Auer.com $100,000 – AUER Packaging is a plastic storage container company in Germany.

21.de €79,730 – This top ccTLD sale forwards to Einundzwanzig.de, which is operated by the German company DSW21 (Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG). The site brands as 21, so this is a nice pickup.

Analytics.ai – $50,000 – Salesforce bought this domain for its Einstein Analytics product.

Tomorrow.net $48,216 – TeamWork Management SA is a technology company that uses TeamWork.net. Not to be confused with TeamWork.com.

ForSchool.com $42,000 – Red Jumper Limited offers Book Creator, an app for building digital books in the classroom.

MedicareBenefits.com $25,000 – National General Insurance bought this great keyword generic name.

RentJerseyShore.com $10,000 – An apartment listings site for Jersey Shore, New Jersey.

Accelerate.ai €8,500 – The buyer is an artificial intelligence company. It’s an interesting left-right of dot play here, as they promise to help you accelerate your AI.

Screenless.com €8,000 – Screenless Technologies Pty Ltd is an Australian company formed last month.

Adivo.com $5,000 – Forwards to i-pos.nl, a point of sale transaction service provider out of France. I’m not sure what they want the domain for.

PetsForum.com €4,195 – An exact match domain, the buyer appears to be setting up forums to discuss pets.

Joinly.com €4,000 – E-Cotiz is a French company that provides online tools for managing membership-based organizations. A rebrand in the works or just a new service brand?

Contact.Agency €4,000 – The Contact Agency Limited is a UK company formed last year.

OJO.ca $4,000 – OJO is a Canadian property listing company that alerts users to homes based on specific requirements. It uses the domain OJOhome.ca.

Temsa.de €3,500 – Temsa is a luxury bus manufacturing company operating out of Turkey that uses the domain Temsa.com.

Code.in $3,500 – Forwards to TheHackingSchool.com, a computer boot camp program for students in India.

Podpal.com $3,350 – Pod Pal LLC is a company in Atlanta formed last year. I believe it’s the company that owns PodPal.io, a podcasting service.

GoodnessMe.com $2,500 – This catchy name was purchased by Godrej Consumer Products Limited, an Indian consumer goods company. Its products include soap, toiletries and liquid detergents.

AllMyLinks buys Links.com for €700,000

by — Domain Sales 9 Comments

Company upgrades domain with big purchase.

The word "Sold" in big letters in quote on red background

AllMyLinks, a service that helps followers find all of your social media accounts, has acquired the domain name Links.com for €700,000.

Broker Dave Evanson reported the sale today on social media, while reporting that he is brokering Link.com (singular).

The domain name now forwards to AllMyLinks.com. In addition to making it easy for people to follow you, there’s also a mechanism for supporting creators.

The Whois is under privacy.

Donuts has generated $53 million in premium domain revenue

by — Domain Sales 6 Comments

Domain Registry reveals some premium domain sales data.

Picture of a stack of donuts in various colors including yellow, pink, and green.New top level domain name company Donuts has generated $53 million on premium domain registration and renewal fees so far, the company disclosed yesterday. The total doesn’t include Early Access fees and the most expensive premium domains called Platinums.

More than 100 channel partners have sold over 250,000 premium domains total. For comparison, there were 72,000 premium domains registered across its portfolio as of May 2016.

Its TLD portfolio has expanded substantially since then due to new launches and the acquisition of Rightside. It now has 240 top level domains, so its average premium revenue per TLD is about $220,000.

The company has been testing lower price points for its premium domains and has observed price elasticity of demand. Lower prices have pushed the needle on premium domain purchases by end users, increasing the share of premium purchases by end users to 50%. (The rest are domain investor sales).

Yes, Voice.com is the most expensive (publicly announced) domain ever sold

by — Domain Sales, Uncategorized 38 Comments

Some domain sales lists include domains that shouldn’t be on them.

Megaphone with the words Record Breaker

When MicroStrategy announced this week that it sold Voice.com for $30 million, I noted: “This is a record–by a large margin–for a public domain-only sale.”

Some people took issue with this. What about CarInsurance.com? VacationRentals.com? Each of these has been reported as a domain sale for more than $30 million.

Yes, each of these has been reported. And misreported. Sometimes by domain investors who want numbers to seem bigger and often by press making domain stories. Even GoDaddy’s own site lists these domains above its Voice.com sale.

The problem with these other sales is that they were full web businesses, not just domain names.

Another domain often on the list is PrivateJet.com at just over $30 million. Right now that domain forwards to FlyVictor.com. So you’re telling me someone paid $30 million for that domain to forward it?

PrivateJet.com was a cash and stock deal. Equity in private companies is easy to manipulate.

Let’s say Andrew Rosener of Media Options decides he wants to buy Domain Name Wire to add to his domain media properties. Instead of paying cash, he buys it with equity from a company he just set up. He and I agree the equity is worth $50 million and he gives me half of the company. Wallah, he just bought Domain Name Wire for $25 million! But we all know that’s not really the case.

If a public company buys a domain with stock and there’s no lock up and it’s liquid at that price (e.g., not a penny stock or OTC), then it’s as good as cash. But equity in a private company is not.

The best list of true domain sales is at DNJournal. There is one on the list that I have an issue with (Fund.com) due to some weird stuff with the company, but I understand why Ron Jackson included it after much questioning.

So $30 million for a domain? Yep, that’s a record by a long shot, topped only by Sex.com for $13 million. It was actually more than $30 million because the buyer, block.one, paid a commission to GoDaddy.

Of course, these are just the public sales. Most big domain sales are never made public.

NamesCon Europe auction with 100 domains starts this morning

by — Domain Sales 3 Comments

RightOfTheDot and NameJet hold live domain auction during NamesCon Europe.

People holding bid cards in an auctionIt’s the afternoon in Europe, and NamesCon Europe’s live domain auction in conjunction with RightOfTheDot and NameJet is about to begin. It starts at 9 am PDT.

There are 100 domains in the auction, which you can see here. The list isn’t as stacked as you’ll find at the U.S. auction but has some good domains.

Here are some of the names that I like at the reserve ranges:

  • Bed.org <$500
  • Width.com < $500
  • 18holes.com $2500-$5,000
  • Lend.com >$1M
  • Though.com <$500
  • Hippy.com $25k-$50k

The live auction takes place at the Pestana Cidadela Cascais in Cascais, Portuga. Online participation is available on NameJet’s website.