Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News & Website Stuff
Domain Name Industry News and Website Stuff
A pet products company, ceramic coatings manufacturer and truck enthusiast website bought domain names this past week.
This week we have end user sales from both Sedo and PerfectName.com. I’ve denoted the PerfectName sales; all others are at Sedo.
The beginning of the year is usually a good time for domain sales so I look forward to seeing a bunch of good end user sales soon.
Let’s get to the list, and you can view previous lists like this here. Click here to see the list…
A tax service provider, a video game company and soccer forum all bought domain names recently.
Sedo published a new sales list that covers a few weeks of sales over the holidays, so we have a bonanza of end user sales to report this week.
Let’s get right to it, and if you like this list, you can view previous lists like this here.
Taxes.com $250,000 – Sedo sold this high value generic key term to the international tax services and consulting firm Ryan, which is headquartered in Dallas. They currently utilize Ryan.com as their main site but with this purchase, they will certainly receive more traffic.
FinalGoal.com $68,000 – This domain is being used for a soccer forum.
Zuj.com €10,099 – This valuable 3L .com was purchased by Redfox Ventures, a branding agency, presumably for one of its clients.
Eat.fr €7,000 – A food takeout and delivery service bought this French ccTLD.
EliteDerm.com $7,000 – Forwards to EliteDermatology.com, a Houston-based dermatology practice.
Keramik.com €6,500 – This is German for ceramics. A “coming soon” message on the domain points to eQuarz, a granite, quartz and ceramic countertop seller.
Küchenheld.de €5,950 – A German construction company specializing in kitchen renovations.
Data4life.de €5,900 – Redirects to GesundheitsCloud.de, a German service provider that lets you manage personal medical information such as healthcare providers, medical institutions, etc.
Flaitz to be replaced by 1&1 veteran.
Matthias Conrad, new CEO of Sedo
Tobia Flaitz has left his post as CEO of domain name marketplace and parking platform Sedo after seven years in the role. He will be replaced by Matthias Conrad, who has held several VP positions at 1&1 Internet. 1&1 is part of United Internet, which also owns Sedo.
Flaitz has been CEO of Sedo since 2012 when he took over for co-founder Tim Schumacher. Flaitz steered the company through challenging times as the domain parking market continued to struggle and GoDaddy consolidated power in the domain aftermarket. He brought a unique perspective to the market because he came from outside the industry.
An investment firm, betting tool and crypto-mining browser bought domain names last week.
We now know who bought Files.com for $750,000, the top reported sale last week. Details are below.
This is Sedo’s last sales list until the second week of January, so the end user sales list on DNW will be on a short hiatus. Check out previous lists if you go through withdrawal.
Files.com $750,000 – Action Verb, LLC is launching “powerful file management for businesses of every size” at Files.com next year. Action Verb develops platforms for enterprises to manage their organizations.
Lofis.com €55,000 – Lofis Hungary Investment Kft
SocialBetting.com €9,000 – This domain forwards to CopyBet.com, a platform for copying sports bets.
FSJI.com $6,400 – This is a much shorter domain for Florida Spine and Joint. It forwards to FloridaSpineAndJoint.com.
CryptoTab.com $3,595 – CryptoTab is a web browser that mines bitcoin.
StoryQ.com €3,000 – Rick Stevenson is launching a new website in February, and this is likely the domain name for it. On his personal website, he states “I have conducted over 5,500 deeply personal interviews with kids and teens from 12 countries using my own brand of inquiry that is dedicated to raising childhood emotional intelligence. I believe that teaching young people to tell the most difficult story they’ll ever tell—their own—unlocks their potential from within.”
Empfohlen.com €2,500 – Empfohlen means recommended in German. Right now the site has animal recommendations.
Zume.in $2,500 – Forwards to Zume.com, a food delivery platform.
Fabaz.com $2,499 – Fabaz is short for Fabulous Arizona. The domain forwards to FabulousArizona.com.
TCDD.com $2,000 – Taha Company. I suspect this is an acronym for Taha Company and then something DD.
It makes sense only in limited circumstances.
One of the more interesting features of domain marketplace Sedo is the ability to push a domain name to an auction if you receive an offer on the domain.
Let’s say you’re negotiating with someone for example.com. They offered $100 and you asked for $2,000. You negotiate until they get to $1,000. You decide you’ll sell it for that much but want to see if there are other interested parties. By pushing it to auction, it will be listed in Sedo’s auctions with a starting bid of $1,000. If no one else bids then it will sell to the person you were originally negotiating with.
This is a somewhat controversial mechanism. If an end user negotiates to buy a domain, they will probably be surprised if they are suddenly in a public auction.
Nevertheless, this can be an effective way to extract more money out of liquid domains. It might make sense when you’re selling a domain that could be purchased by a domain investor (and the price is a domain investor price). It also makes sense if you’re received prior offers on the domain; Sedo will notify the inquirers that it’s now on auction. But it doesn’t make much sense for domains that lack broad appeal that have end user bids.
Reviewing Sedo auctions this morning, there are a couple where I don’t think the owner should have pushed them to auction: Kanabi.com at $10,000 and PetClassifieds.com at $12,000.
While it’s possible someone could swoop in and bid, I doubt any domain investors will. Maybe, just maybe, someone interested in the domain will type it in, see it’s on auction, and place a bid. But if I were the domain seller, I would have just accepted the offer and closed the deal before adding friction to the process.
