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the current economic
downturn. However the article also quotes Nora as saying
small to medium sized business end users are buying more
domains than ever. "Sales have tripled as
businesses see the value in having a presence
online," she said, according to this report.
I was also
quoted extensively in this article and I suspect that
the reference to .co.uk prices being cut in half was a misunderstanding
by the reporter of median and average sales
prices. I was misquoted myself as saying the average
price of the domain sales reported to us was virtually unchanged
from the |
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same quarter a year ago, when I
actually said (in writing) that the median price
reported was essentially unchanged. The median is the
price at which half of all sales are higher and half are
lower. The median tends to provide a more accurate
picture because it throws out outlliers at the high
and low ends of the market. By contrast, the average
price can by heavily impacted by a few
blockbuster sales.
I told the reporter that
there have been fewer sales at the high end of the
market in this recession but that small to medium sized
businesses were as active as ever (the same thing Nora
reported seeing). I have not seen any huge plunge in the
.co.uk prices that Sedo sends us, so while fewer high
end sales may have driven the .co.uk average
price down considerably, I would bet the median price,
as with other extensions, is holding up just fine
for the popular .co.uk TLD.
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While sales at the
high end have been slower, they have certainly
not disappeared. In addition to the Toys.com
sale, a report
out today says Vancouver, Canada
based Live Current has sold two
unidentified domains at a total price of $1.65
million (last month they announced the sale
of another unnamed domain, believed to have been
Malaysia.com, for $400,000). Live
Current |
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Chairman and CEO Geoff
Hampson said, “We believe the recent sales of three of Live Current’s non-core domain names for a total of over
US $2 million is a testament to the inherent value of our domain name assets, especially in this challenging economic
climate." |
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Finally today,
veteran domainer Michael Berkens, who
writes an excellent blog at TheDomains.com,
will be the special guest on DomainSuccess.com's
live web broadcast tonight at 8pm (U.S.
Eastern time). Michael is one of the most
knowledgeable people in the industry, but aside
from those who follow his blog, a lot of people,
especially newcomers to this business, don't
realize the depth of his knowledge and the
degree of success he has attained. I think that
is because the soft spoken Floridian has never
been one to toot his own horn.
Having been active
in the business since 1997, Berkens has gained a
lot of experience along the way (along with 75,000
domains, many of them prime generics). I
have no doubt that anyone who listens in tonight
will pick up more than a few bits of information
that will help them boost their own business as
well. |
Michael
Berkens |
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(Posted March
4, 2009) |
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