Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News & Website Stuff

Domain Name Industry News and Website Stuff

Featured Domains

12 end user domain name sales this week

by — Domain Sales 2 Comments

A German telecom company, scientific staffing company and a group that creates museum exhibits bought domain names.

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

Sedo’s top public sale this past week was FreeEnglish.com. It also had a .mobi sale. Yes, a .mobi: BTC.mobi sold for $4,995. But neither of these are easily identifiable as end user sales yet, so they don’t make the chart.

As for the end user purchases I could undover, here’s the list. You can view previous lists like this here.

Cuboid.com €10,115 – DPG Deutsche Parken GmbH is a real estate firm in Germany. Maybe Cuboid is a modular housing brand?

Portable.tv $9,999 – This domain name might have been purchased by the Russian propaganda arm RT America. It forwards to the group’s YouTube page.

Bomia.com$9,995 – Bo & Mia is a German telecommunications service provider that uses the domain bo-mia.com. The hyphenless domain forwards to the hyphenated one.

AdvancedInstruments.com $7,995 – Advanced Instruments makes biotech equipment. It uses the domain AIcompanies.com.

Dentinet.com $7,700 – Dental website company Denti.net bought the domain and forwards it to its domain hack .net domain.

Versorgt.de €5,007 – This term translates to “provided” and the domain currently forwards to Priority.de – a German startup consulting firm, Priority AG.

Biofond.com $4,900 – MouseHouse is an advertising firm in the Czech Repubic. This could be for a client.

Scientists.org $4,000 – AmeriCareers guides people through their post-graduate education and then to jobs in science.

BoxFort.com $3,000 – 5 Wits Productions changed its name to Box Fort. It designs cool intallations for museums and amusement parks.

Genom.de €2,350 – This bio-related term is now forwarding to Bundesgesundheitsministerium.de, the Germany Ministry of Health.

Autocartel.com €2,272 – Autocartel is a car photography business based in Texas.

Kumhwa.com $2,000 – Kumhwa.co., Ltd is a construction materials company.

Notable Web.com aftermarket domain sales from August

by — Domain Sales 1 Comment

A previously-used .org domain leads the way.

Image that says Top Domain Sales with NameJet and SnapNames logos

Web.com has reported its public aftermarket sales of $2,000 or more for August. Between NameJet and SnapNames, the company sold 76 domains for $2,000 or more, totalling just over $400,000.

The top sale of the month was GrowingPower.org at a whopping $45,999. The price was obviously based on the site’s prior use rather than the domain itself.

Other notable sales include:

Volunteer.org $15,000 – A powerful .org domain but a high price for an investment.

Apatments.com $7,500 – I wonder how much traffic this typo of Apartments gets.

BlueSteel.com $6,750 – A key term from the best modern comedy ever made.

StartAPodcast.com $3,895 – There are a lot of services/courses out there to help people start a podcast.

Here’s the full list:

Domain NameSale PricePlatform
growingpower.org45999SnapNames
jru.com23100NameJet
dr.net21100NameJet
fup.com20455NameJet
megi.com20000SnapNames
volunteer.org15000NameJet
betcity.com13907NameJet
electrode.com12000NameJet
bopo.com10100NameJet
scroller.com8766NameJet
apatments.com7500NameJet
theisozone.com7500NameJet
roce.com7250NameJet
loansmart.com7150SnapNames
techacademy.com6755NameJet
bluesteel.com6750SnapNames
ztex.com5410NameJet
bisous.com5112NameJet
inshore.com5020NameJet
mercenaries.com4999SnapNames
clairmont.com4850NameJet
elephant.net4505NameJet
thelinks.com4288NameJet
musicpublishing.com4129NameJet
collegecampus.com4005SnapNames
duats.com4000NameJet
nextcart.com3933SnapNames
startapodcast.com3895SnapNames
move.uk3679SnapNames
swimnetwork.com3500NameJet
italianfoods.com3468NameJet
courriel.com3280NameJet
webrealty.com3228NameJet
appco.com3178NameJet
tays.com3150NameJet
archerysupplies.com3020NameJet
visionworld.com3000NameJet
wonderstate.com2895SnapNames
37066.com2822SnapNames
prodeathpenalty.com2800NameJet
commonsensesolar.com2795SnapNames
aleader.com2701NameJet
interbev.com2700NameJet
onlinerecharge.com2601NameJet
worldaffairsjournal.org2600NameJet
entelos.com2600NameJet
vinhomesreal.com2595SnapNames
netscore.com2501NameJet
4media.com2500NameJet
neighborhoodkid.com2495SnapNames
kgex.com2455SnapNames
fashionlabs.com2455NameJet
cilio.com2400NameJet
15857.com2300NameJet
carsmagazine.com2300NameJet
idla.com2260NameJet
datametrix.com2222NameJet
shenhe.com2210NameJet
82939.com2200NameJet
19975.com2200NameJet
babycatalog.com2200NameJet
bridgecom.com2109NameJet
islandireland.com2100NameJet
mermicorn.com2095SnapNames
itpays.com2088NameJet
betgroup.com2052SnapNames
vipeo.com2051NameJet
aquasplash.com2050SnapNames
xn--p3t50i.com2050SnapNames
supergrow.com2016NameJet
17339.com2000NameJet
65337.com2000NameJet
79225.com2000NameJet
69337.com2000NameJet
83229.com2000NameJet
79985.com2000NameJet

How Woven.com got its domain name

by — Domain Sales 2 Comments

How Woven acquired Woven.com⁠—and why CEO Tim Campos thought it was so important.

Screenshot of homepage for Woven, which uses the domain Woven.com

Woven was able to acquire Woven.com to launch is calendar technology.

When it came time to name his new company, former Facebook CIO Tim Campos knew he had to pick the right name. He knew the company needed a name that would help it scale through word-of-mouth, so his preference for the company name was an English word.

He settled on Woven but, of course, Woven.com was taken. The company decided to launch as Woven.app still wanted to acquire the .com. It set up an alert that would let it know if Woven.com was ever listed for sale. As luck would have it, that alert was triggered.

After receiving the alert, Campos considered negotiating directly to acquire the domain name. After all, this wasn’t his first rodeo. He was the CIO of Facebook when the company acquired FB.com for millions of dollars.

Campos knew that hiring a broker could help acquire the domain at a fair price.

“For us to go in and say ‘Hey, the former CIO of Facebook, backed by Battery Ventures, is interested in buying your domain,’ you’re going to get a much different outcome,” he said.

He also knew that a good broker walk the company through the process of securely paying for and getting control of the domain.

Campos talked to Woven’s law firm, Wilson Sonsini, which recommended Woven hire domain broker Marksmen.

When Campos met with Marksmen for the first time, he was impressed with the homework Marksmen did before the meeting. He hired them to go after the domain and they successfully procured the domain for a lot less than the asking price.

Campos justified the domain purchase in a couple of ways. One is that he knew that the domain had value merely as an asset.

“I really had to start thinking about this as an asset,” Campos said. “It’s like I’m buying a house or I’m buying real estate. I’m buying something that will have residual value. In my business, I may create additional value for it. There may be brand recognition and other things that I’m going to put into it. But that’s just like putting improvements on your home.”

A soon as he got in this mindset, it allowed Campos to think differently about the domain’s cost and how to finance it. He ended up paying cash, but he realized he could even take out a loan for the domain because it has value on its own. It would also be easy to justified the cost to his investors.

Woven was able to go to market with Woven.com as its domain rather than Woven.app or an alternative. Campos said this is critical to the company’s success as it grows its userbase organically.

“We grow through word-of-mouth, through people tweeting about us and talking about us, so the address matters,” he explained.

When people hear about the product from someone else, they ask for the product name and go check it out.

“As soon as you start to introduce a trick for the user, like, ‘Oh, it’s getwoven not just woven,’ or its woven.app, or its woven.io, you’re going to lose a percentage of those [prospective users]”, Campos said.

“.Com is where people default,” he added.

Campos believes that if the company were to have used Woven. app, its conversion rates would have be affected.

“But more importantly, traffic would be affected,” he said. “People are much less likely to find us.”

Listen to the complete story on DNW Podcast #252.

Lots of action in GreatDomains auction ending today

by — Domain Sales 0 Comments

Bidding is heating up for short domains in Sedo auction.

People holding bid cards in an auctionAt least six domains in the current GreatDomains auction ending today will sell for five figures.

DNE.com is the top domain to hit its reserve so far and bidding is at $24,000.

Other domains that have hit reserve and are at least $10,000 are Upgrades.com, HVW.com, IYW.com, Cafe.tw and Movie.tw. .TW is the country code for Taiwan.

The top bid overall is €66,666 for UHR.de, but that domain has a reserve of at least €100,000.

It will be interesting to see if someone bites at NorthDakota.com, which has a reserve somewhere between $50,000-$100,000. North Dakota is the fourth-least-populated state in the United States with fewer than one million people.

The auction ends at noon EDT.

A dozen end user domain name sales

by — Domain Sales 1 Comment

A bankruptcy law practice, accounting firm and VoIP company bought domain names this past week.

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

The “slow” days of late summer are almost over and I expect to see more end user domain sales in September. For this past week, I dug up a dozen sales at Sedo.

Here’s the list. You can view previous lists like this here.

CrosswordSolver.com $18,000 – This domain is used for a website offering free help for word riddles and quiz questions. There was previously a site on this domain and I’m not sure if the new site is a total re-write. The website’s owner is listed as 1337 UGC GmbH on the site.

Contabilidade.com $12,500 – This word translates to Accounting in Portuguese. The buyer works for an accounting firm.

Famille.fr €10,000 – A French website with a message saying, “Launched in September 2019, here is the new forum on the family…”

InsideDigital.de €5,000 – Forwards to Netzwelt.de – Netzwelt translates to “Net World”. This German site features an online magazine focused on the tech world.

FlowTrader.com $5,000 – Has a holding soon page that says something “really cool” is coming. The Whois is blocked by GDPR.

PaniniBakery.com $3,888 – Panini Bakery & Cakes in Dallas. The domain forwards to PaniniCakes.com.

Electrotecnica.com $4,500 – Groupo Electrotecnica is a technology firm with offices in several Central American countries.

SmallBusinessBankruptcy.com $3,750 – Purchased by the law offices of Andrew Moher, a law office in California that focuses (among other practice areas) in business bankruptcy. The main website for the practice is Moherlaw.com.

ZCRM.com $3,000 – Zadarma is a VoIP company with integrations into CRM systems. Its website is Zadarma.com.

TalentTransformation.com $2,888 – Eric Shepherd‘s LinkedIn profile says he enables “Talent Transformation”. Nice domain.

RaleighRealty.com $2,750 – Forwards to RaleighRealtyHomes.com, a residential property listing site for Raleigh, NC.

Plannerly.com $2,195 – Plannerly is a BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology company.

Costa-Brava.com €2,000 – A German travel blog about destinations in Spain.