Experte.de Delivers $25,000 While Bigger Deals Are Closed Backstage  

by Ron Jackson
  

Even so, we know of at least three solid 6-figure deals that were concluded under non-disclosure agreements. The seller of one those told us he was allowed to release the domain name, OfficeSupply.com, but not the exact selling price. Brian Null of BeachFarmNine.com sent that domain to Internet REIT, a new company headed by Marc Ostrofsky (known for his famous sale of Business.com) and Bob Martin. Null told us he reluctantly let the domain go so he could concentrate on his passion - domains related to golf and golf properties (he owns GolfCourses.com among others).

Ostrofsky was a featured speaker at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West domain conference in May. Since then Internet REIT has quietly been acquiring a portfolio of blue chip domains. Null told us "as I understand it they are not venture capitalists, but are well funded and very flexible. They pay well and, for the right properties, are willing to structure deals for domainers who want cash up front while still retaining a share in the upside potential of the domain or portfolio. With me they were easy to deal with and very fast."

You may have seen a press release on the web announcing a $133,000 sale of Photographer.com this week, however at this writing the seller who issued the release was still listed as the registrant and administrative contact in the public WhoIs record. A transfer may still take place, but the party negotiating for the domain indicated that the information released is not accurate and that specifics of the deal will not be made public if and when a transaction is completed.

Even with the biggest deals being kept under wraps, eight of the top ten reported sales cracked the five-figure mark. Experte.de was the best of those, landing on top of the Big Board after going for �21,000 ($25,607) at Sedo.com. Sedo CEO Matthew Bentley told us they had an even bigger .de (German country code) sale (�29,000 to be exact) that could not be disclosed. 

Moniker.com/DomainSystems.com nailed down the #2 spot with the first of their three Top Ten entries, RealityTV.com at $15,550. Pool.com followed with a back to back splash, selling #3 Amateurs.net for $15,500 and #4 GoldMarket.com for $15,100. Moniker came right back with #5 HealthyAdvantage.com at $13,500.

Spanish keywords have enjoyed a very strong year. The latest to change hands in that category was #6 Comidas.com ("meals" or "foods") which went for �10,000 ($12,194) at Sedo. Let's take a look at the complete new leader board for the week ending July 31 then we'll continue with our detailed rundown of the week that was:

Moniker completed their trio of charted domains with #8 HauserHomes.com at $10,265. The three remaining positions on this week's list all went to SnapNames.com. Their leader, #7 SI.net, was picked up by Thunayan K. AL-Ghanim (Elequa) for $11,361. Elequa also acquired Arabs.com in a private transaction this week - another major deal governed by an NDA that prevented release of the details. SnapNames anchored the chart with #9 RadTech.com ($9,922) and #10 Burma.net ($9,800). It was quite a nice week for .net which placed three domains on the Big Board.

As always, the action was hot and heavy below the chart. At SnapNames VehicleLoans.com landed $8,188, Paltak.com popped for $6,548 and EducationLottery.com cashed a $6,501 ticket. IMZA.com added $6,050, WholesaleLaptops.com retailed for $5,756 and JobsChina.com provided a $5,300 payday. BookOfJohn.com commanded $4,899, LocateMe.com found $4,326 and TeeBox.com hit a $4,100 drive. Another step back were InfantDeath.com at $3,800 and a pair at $3,500 each; Marketmakers.com and ClaremontHotel.com.

Some of the other winners on the SnapNames list were Pregaming.com ($2,976), GamesArena.com ($2,800) and OuterBanksVacation.com ($2,800). Atenda.com attracted $2,600, Seagal.com swooped down with $2,538 and Resource.net returned $2,510. WirelessEmail.com arrived with $2,272 attached while HighSchoolHub.com and NuevaVidaFM.com transmitted $2,250 each. KZS.com sold for $2,214, RestaurantUniform.com netted $2,155 and WhiteBrilliance.com brought $2,146. Ken Cunliffe of TopNames.com snapped up BattleBall.com for $2,100, Atiendes.com added $2,080 and WLD.org went for $1,400.

At Afternic.com, 2Z.com was a lucky combination, ringing up $7,777. Krumble.com followed at $5,000 and GCast.com drew $4,000. The matching pair of Aside.com and Aside.net went for $3,988 and $3,188 respectively, while USVS.com collected $3,450 and PoppySeeds.com sprouted $2,688.

Back at Sedo, country codes domains ruled the roost. BOD.nl (Netherlands ccTLD) ogled �6,000 ($7,316), CapitalSource.co.uk raised �4,500 ($5,486) and EventAgentur.de delivered �4,300 ($5,242). TestBox.ch (Swiss country code) contained �4,000, Personal-Fitness.de flexed �3,999 ($4,875) and Navionics.fr (French ccTLD) notched �3,000 ($3,657). Sedo didn't exactly slack off on .coms either. Autofit.com found a buyer at $7,000, TheHuntingShow.com bagged $3,501 and D6D.com proved to be a hot 3-character combination at $3,333. Made-In.com chipped in another $3,300 and RZH.com contributed $3,250.

The water was fine at Pool as well. InsuranceBrokerage.com soaked up $6,900, Keukens.com surfaced with $5,700 and TeenyTop.com toweled off $4,472. KidsWebsite.com ($4,088), WeddingRegister.com ($3,605) and KidsDesignerClothes.com ($3,250) also enjoyed sunny skies. Other winners included SweetBasil.com ($2,800), Darfur.com ($2,600) and ExpertFind.com ($2,200). HmongChat.com added $2,003, TheAutoTrader.com turned $2,000 and CarVinyls.com recovered $1,850.

In addition to their three Top Ten domains, Moniker/DomainSystems moved HealthCall.com at $5,300. In a private sale, Josip Hendekovic received $3,600 for EatBest.com.

****

It currently takes $35,000 to make our Year-To-Date Top Sellers Chart so there were no new entries this week. That's a rare occurrence and one we may not see again this year, especially since we are about to head into the busy fall season. Here are the sales leaders so far in 2005: 

New TLD Section

The slowdown in publicly reported sales hit the new TLD's this week as well (and hit them even harder than the old line extensions). The two biggest sales we know of can't be released because of non-disclosure agreements. One was a $3,250 .us domain while the other was a .info at �2,500 ($3,048). Both of those changed hands at Sedo. Sedo also had the only two new extension sales that were reported to us this week; Gruppenreisen.info ("party tours" in German) at �1,401 ($1,708) and Online-Casino.biz at $750. 

With only those two on the toteboard, there is no need for our usual 8-position chart this week. Incidentally, 2005 will be the last year for our New TLD chart. Starting in January 2006 we plan to add a Country Code chart that .us will migrate to. At that point in time, .info and .biz will both be entering their 5th year as global domains, so the term "new" is obviously becoming a bit dated for them as well. It's time to push them out of the nest and let them compete head to head with their older siblings, .net and .org. We are considering some other new chart grouping ideas to accommodate the changes we will be making. 

With an entry price currently set at $2,400, our New TLD Year-To-Date chart remains unchanged this week. Here are the highest reported New TLD sales through July 31:

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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