Misspelled Domain Attracts 6-Figure Bid at SnapNames To Seal A Superb Week There

by Ron Jackson
  

We do not list domains on our Top Ten chart until they have been paid for, but this is such a significant sale we wanted to put the news front and center. Especially since we understand that the high bidder is a trusted customer at SnapNames. That being the case, there seems to be little doubt that we will be charting this domain in the next week or two. Even without this domain on the Big Board, SnapNames still turned in a sensational week, taking an unprecedented 7 of 10 positions on our chart. The other three went to perennial powerhouse Sedo.com. This is also the first time the ten spots have been swept by just two sales venues. 

Of the domains that are eligible for the chart this week, SnapNames had the number one entry - Beam.com which went for an even $25,100. Sedo took positions 2 & 3 with Avandamet.de at $15,045 and Eintrittskarten.com at $14,918. Avandamet is a prescription drug while eintrittskarten is the German word for "tickets". Sedo complete it's trio of chart hits with #8 HotelsEurope.com at $7,207.

SnapNames stole the rest of the show, sweeping 6 of the final 7 positions including #4 BroadbandPhones.com at $12,100 and #5 ProstateSurgery.com at $9,100. The German country code domain from Sedo at #2 was the only one preventing a .com sweep of the Top Ten. Let's take a look at the complete list, then we'll continue our rundown of the week's best sales: 

SnapNames completed their record run with #6 Callejeros.com (Callejeros is the name of a popular Spanish band) at $8,989, #7 EasyTrip.com ($8,275), #9 eProperty.com ($7,500) and #10 DungeonsAndDragons.com at $6,700. Of that group I particularly like the potential of eProperty.com, especially in view of what Rick Schwartz has done with eRealEstate.com, making it a portal for both real world and virtual real estate. 

The SnapNames juggernaut cointinued to roll just off the big board with EntryDoors.com leaving $6,600 in the foyer, CyberLoan.com chalking up $6,050 and ProWeb.com adding $5,400. A strong .org auction also just ended today (Jan. 25) with ASA.org going for $1,750 to a reliable customer (so there is little doubt that will be paid for).

Sedo also enjoyed smooth sailing this week with Yachten.com ("yachts" in German) docking with �5,000 ($6,485) to complement their three chart entries. They also deposited �4,640 ($6,019) for Vonderbank.com and $5,000 each for PowerEditor.com and TenSquare.com. ScriptSearch.de found another �3,000 ($3,893), MM4U.com added $3,500 and ProgramasGratis.com ("free programs" in Spanish) chipped in with �2,500 ($3,244). Sedo also scored with a pair of .co.uk's; ERP.co.uk at �2,490 ($3,231) and Primacy.co.uk at �2,400 ($3,114). NanoEurope.com contributed another �2,300 ($2,984). Sedo showed up in a big way on our New TLD chart as well landing the #1 domain there (along with 5 others). We'll get to that a bit later in this report. 

At Afternic.com, Spyhaus.com landed top honors at $4,000, followed by the week's best .net, CheapHomes.net at $3,400 and QQ10.com at $3,000. AmericanMoving.com and Petsurance.com added $2,888 each and DesignerDecor.com spruced up the bottom line with another $2,688. Afternic also had one of three minor country code sales worth reporting this week. O2.cc at $850 (that is the letter "O" and O2 is the symbol for oxygen). Sedo had the other two in that category, Billigreisen.tv ("cheap travel" in German) at �700 ($908) and Ringtone.ws at �300 ($389).

The only completed sale above 2K at Enom's Club Drop this week was WeLiveHere.com at $2,130. Pool.com remains missing in action and appears to have driven off a cliff in recent weeks. One has to wonder how long they will stick with the unpopular two-stage blind auction format that appears to have been a major factor in toppling them from the dominant position they held just 6 months ago. 

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Our 2005 Year-To-Date Top Sellers chart gets 4 new entries this week, upping the number of sales above $10,000 to 27 as we near the end of the opening month of the New Year.  That is well ahead of last year's pace for sales at this level. Here is the complete rundown:

New TLD Section

Without question .biz has been the big surprise of the New Year in New TLD land. In 2004, .info was the dominant extension, claiming 72% of all sales above $1,000. .Biz had only 17% of sales at that level. However, in the first four weeks of 2005, .biz has jumped to the top of the pack taking 50% of sales above 1K. .Biz did it again this week, soaring to the top of our Great 8 with the $5,189 sale of Safe.biz at Sedo. Sedo wound up taking 6 of 8 positions on our new list.

A very nice state domain, Oregon.info, went to a lucky buyer at Ebay for just $2,500 to claim the #2 position. .Biz and .info continued to trade places over the next four positions. MPM.biz was #3 at $1,350 and Hotels-England.info #4 at $1,297 with both of those sales coming from Sedo. Afternic grabbed the #5 slot with Lending.biz at $1,250 before Sedo answered with #6 Hyip.info (an acronym for High Yield Investment Programs) at an even $1,000. 

We have a number of other new extension sales to tell you about but first let's take a look at the complete New TLD Great 8 for the week ending Jan. 23:

As you can see, Sedo anchored the chart with England-Hotels.info ($778) and the IDN Schwarzw�lder.info at $726. Line.info was just a half-step back at �550 ($714), also at Sedo. My personal new extension sales this week included BGR.biz at $500. Stuart Smith's sales list included Fimo.us at $400. In some other sales from Sedo, Beautiful.us sold for �395 ($512) and, of all things, a double hyphenated .biz went for �250 ($324). That strange beast was Credit-Loans-UK.biz! Sedo also sold NewYorkNY.info for the same price. 

In an auction at Ebay, conducted by Gary Kirk of Rating Room Ltd. to raise money for Asian tsunami victims, Building.biz closed at �920 ($1,717). The domain can be charted after it is paid for and transferred to the new owner. Kirk's company will channel the relief funds through UKRadioAid.com which has raised over �3,200,000 for the stricken areas.

Our Year-To-Date New TLD list grows to 18 this week with half a dozen new entries cracking the 4-figure mark. As I noted earlier, .biz is dominating the early 2005 action, taking 9 of the 18 available positions. Here is how they stand through Jan. 23:

As always, we welcome all verifiable sales reports from companies, private sellers or individuals with knowledge of an important sale made through any channel. To contribute information and help make this column better,  just drop a note to [email protected].

We truly appreciate the industry leading companies represented on our charts who share their sales information with us to help everyone in the business get a handle on current domain values. Individuals like Richard Meyer of the American Marketing Corporation also provide invaluable help by sending us data for these sales reports each week.

Every Tuesday we publish the highest reported domain name sales for the previous week. On Monday our contributors send us their sales data for the previous 7 days. We then compile that information and write this report for Tuesday publication to give you the freshest sales report in the industry. 

We will close with this standard caution. These are not average selling prices - these are top selling domains. One of the biggest impediments to making sales is pricing domains at unrealistic levels. For most of us, pricing domains at the levels achieved on the Top Ten chart will leave us waiting a long time to make a sale! We hope you will use the information presented here as a measuring stick that will help you price your domains at levels that will put more money in your pocket more often!

Editor's Note: If you wish to review previous Domain Sales columns, they are available in our Archive.

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