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As
of Wednesday
when our latest weekly
domain sales report was released,
three seven-figure domain sales had been
completed so far in 2010, but all of those were
at or just above the $1 million mark (Photo.com
at $1.25 million, Flying.com
at $1.1 million and Poker.org at
an even $1 million). In the past couple
of days there are indications that high ticket
domain sales are heating up along with the
temperature as summer approaches. |
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Moniker.com
says they have brokered a deal to sell Slots.com
for $5.5 million and they expect that
sale to close next week. As I write this,
Moniker's live domain auction at the DOMAINfest
Ft. Lauderdale conference is underway and
another domain, Dating.com, has gone for
seven figures there - $1.75 million to be
exact. Another name, BoardGames.com, went
just shy of the half million dollar mark at
$450,000.
Moniker's
Ft. Lauderdale sale attracted mainstream media
attention from one of Florida's major
newspapers, the Sun Sentinel. An article
by Arlene Satchell about the auction and
the aftermarket in general was published last
night. Though blockbuster sales have always been
a rarity compared to the overall market (where
hundreds of domains change hands every week at
the four and five figure levels) they are very
beneficial to the industry at large because
nothing draws the general public's attention
like a seven-figure domain sale.
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Seven-figure
domain sales are starting to
re-appear. Is this a sign that the domain
aftermarket is ready to take off again?
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Those
who have been around for a few years will
remember that the news of Rick Schwartz's
$1.3 million sale of Men.com in late
2003 triggered a turnaround in the domain
aftermarket which had been in a tailspin since
the 2000 .com bust. A powerful five year market
expansion followed the Men.com sale before the
global recession applied the brakes again in
2008. The sales we're hearing about this week
could be just what the doctor ordered to rev
things up once again.
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One
other note today - Francois Carrillo
(founder of Domaining.com,
Valuate.com,
BargainDomains.com,
and a number of useful sites) has rolled
out yet another valuable free service
with a ClosingAuctions
feature at Domaining.com (this section
has its own tab on the Domaining.com
home page). |
The
free service shows you domains that will be
closing within 24 hours at almost all of the
major auction services including Afternic.com,
Sedo.com, GoDaddy.com, Latonas.com
and BargainDomains.com. Carrillo said AuctionPus.com
will be added in the next day or two with SnapNames.com
scheduled to come onboard in another week or two.
You can sort and filter domains to meet your
personal criteria and the service is a great
time saver because now you can keep track of
what is about to close across the industry's
main sales venues in one convenient
spot.
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