No Filet Mignon But Heaps of Hearty Domain Sales Help Market Keep Packing on the Pounds (Dollars and Euros Too)! 

by Ron Jackson
  

SnapNames.com and Sedo.com crowded just about everyone else off the Big Board this week as SnapNames racked up 10 of the 20 chart entries while Sedo snared 8. Only Pool.com and Moniker.com/DomainSystems.com broke through the SnapNames/Sedo line and they each did it with a Top 5 domain. In fact Pool's premier name, Registro.com hit the top of the chart after going for $38,000.

The hot streak at SnapNames started with #2 DenverHomes.com at $35,500. That was one of three names Snap placed on the top half of the leader board. They also scored with #6 Patients.com at $16,250 and #7 BritishIsles.com at $15,500. Sedo marshaled their forces for an assault on the upper reaches of our new list and succeeded in capturing 5 of the first 10 entries. #3 CheapGames.com led the charge for them at $30,000, with #4 Jew.us just a half step behind at $29,500. 

Jew.us, sold by Chris Zouzas, is the highest .us sale ever reported (though we know of a few higher ones that were not released due to non disclosure agreements). It is also the highest New TLD sale ever reported, eclipsing the previous leader, New York.info, a domain that changed hands for $28,086 in 2004.

Moniker/DomainSystems took their turn in the spotlight with #5 Hoopla.com at $26,900. Moniker.com CEO Monte Cahn told us his company also sold a portfolio of 22 prime adult domains for $720,000 this week. The names can't be disclosed due to an NDA, but with an average sales price of $32,727 per domain, that transaction is worth noting.

Sedo placed three more domains in the first 10, including #8 YAZ.com at €12,500 ($15,163), #9 HomeTrader.com at $15,000 and #10 Cancionero.com ("song book" in Spanish) at $13,900. Cancionero.com looks like an especially good buy. It currently scores 751 with the extension in Overture and the buyer, a senior member at the DomainState.com forum, told us the domain has 4,000 back links and is producing four figures a month in PPC revenue.

Last week, only one non .com domain made the Top 20, but it was a different story this time out with four ccTLD's and a .net cracking the elite list. Let's take a look at how they stack up then we'll continue our run down of the very busy sales week that ended January 15:

As you can see, Sedo accounted for all four of the country code domains that crashed the .com party on the Big Board. They did it with that big .us sale, a pair of .co.uk's and a .de (the German ccTLD that is the world's second most popular extension, trailing only .com in total registrations). #11 eGay.co.uk (sold for $12,130) may ring a bell. Just last week Sedo sold the .com version of that domain for $49,999.

#18 Promotion.net gave the Global Contenders (.net, .org, .biz and .info) their only representative on this week's leader board. The $10,255 price paid at SnapNames also makes that the top sale in the GC category this year. This is a good place to remind you that our Year-To-Date Sales Charts have moved to a new page of their own. That page features all three of our YTD charts and accompanying commentary on the top 2006 sales in all extensions. You can always find a link to the YTD Charts on our Main Menu as well as at the bottom of each of the three weekly charts on this page.

.Com Supporting Cast

Now let's take a look at the week's other notable .com sales. KuwaitNet.net sold 94.com and 940.com for a nice package price of $19,600. They were unable to break out the individual prices for the domains, otherwise 94.com would have taken a spot on the Big Board. 3-number .coms also have a significant value, however the 2-number domain would clearly be more valuable, making it impractical to assign an equal value to each domain for charting purposes.

The SnapNames juggernaut was not confined to the Top 20 list. They harvested dozens of additional solid four figure sales including SameDayCashLoans.com ($8,988), Wasco.com ($8,599) and CookingWorld.com ($8,100). PortableComputer.com dialed up another $7,100, ComputingWorld.com kicked in $6,600 and two others; Soldering.com and BodyJewellery.com (British spelling) contributed $6,100 each. 

SlimForLife.com trimmed off $5,988, PrintingEquipment.com provided $5,785 and VirtualTraining.com tacked on $5,700. FemaleDesperation.com found $5,600 while IKT.com and Rufus.com rounded up $5,400 each. Rebo.com returned $5,300, KraigsList.com landed $5,100 and another pair; MaternityLingerie.com and MoneyBank.com deposited $4,600 each. 

Also at SnapNames, InflationRate.com rose to $4,544, AutoCollection.com rolled up $4,426 and ICMS.com went for $4,315. Niugini.com netted $4,211 and SnapAJob.com earned $4,100. SnapNames had 40 more .com sales between $2,000 and $4,000. You can check those out in the table below: 

Back at Sedo, MagCity.com made $6,000 and three others; PetIns.com, LiquidAsphalt.com and GourmetWorld.com sold for $5,000 each. eBoatDeal.com floated $4,500, EESA.com sewed up $4,000 and Global-Capital.com raised €2,750 ($3,336). Purcon.com posted $3,000, 3Design.com drew $2,800, Discographies.com collected £1,500 ($2,655) and FunUpload.com fetched $2,500. 

By the way, Sedo reached a major milestone with the New Year when the number of domains listed for sale on their site hit 3 million, by far the highest number in the world. They predict they will hit 10 million listings in two to three years. We'll be posting more on that story in our Lowdown section Wednesday.

Continuing our .com roundup, NexusDirect.com went for $6,500 at Moniker/DomainSystems and Clemente.com attracted $4,500 at Enom's Club Drop. At Afternic.com, DesignReview.com returned $4,000, SinglesConnect.com hooked up with $2,300, BikiniPosters.com flashed $2,088 and RevolutionCheats.com revealed $2,000. 

In addition to having the week's top domain, Pool picked up $3,700 for MobileSmarts.com and $3,601 for Mag4U.com. AnimalAid.com scratched out $3,400, SDRealEstate.com closed at $3,100 and CatholicCross.com put $2,059 in the collection plate.

Global Contenders

The Global Contenders turned in a much better performance in their second trip around the track. In our inaugural GC report last week, prices on the Top 20 ranged from $650-$4,750. This week every domain on the chart hit at least four figures and the leader, Promotion.net, was more than twice as high as last week's top domain. 

With respect to extensions, .net was the clear winner this week (after splitting evenly with .org last week when each took 8 chart positions). No contest this time around. .Net racked up 13 entries with .org limited to 5 and .biz taking the other two. .Info was shut out. In the competition between the two gTLD's we categorized as "new extensions" prior to this year, .biz has outperformed .info in the early going. .Biz has had four charted domains in two weeks (all in four figures). .Info has been held to a pair of three-figure entries at the bottom of last week's chart.

It was also no contest among venues. SnapNames did even better on this chart than they did on the mainstream Top 20 (where they walked off with half of the chart). Snap snagged 12 of 20 entries on this list including the chart topper. Sedo had four while Enom's Club Drop and Moniker/DomainSystems took home two trophies each. 

Moniker made theirs count with #2 HealthCareers.net at $9,000 and #3 Latino.org at $6,220. SnapNames then took off on their first multi-domain run with #4 CableModem.net ($5,211), #5 Mechanics.net ($4,100) and #6 CampusWomenLead.org ($3,601). Sedo's quartet was led by #8 FirstVirtual.net and #11 eBooks.biz at €1,760 ($2,135).

Three-letter domains, as usual, made a good showing with five of the popular acronyms on the new leader board. The top name in that category was #9 PRC.net at $2,400. NOS.net and ADR.biz tied for the 13th spot at $1,900 each, #17 PNH.net went for $1,669 and #18 EUA.org added $1,361. Here's a look at the complete Global Contenders Top 20 for the week ending Jan. 15:

Three other four figure domains, all sold at SnapNames, finished just off the chart. USCTransplant.org sewed up $1,161, BCT.net brought $1,150 and OKU.net collared $1,050. Afternic had the week's best .info, MerryChristmas.info at $950. 

Sedo's roster included Cynergy.net at €800 ($970), Anpfiff.info at €700 ($849) and Avisos.org at €625 ($758). DomeCQ.net added €600 ($728) and JEE.org pitched in €450 ($546). In a private sale, Seal.biz brought €600 ($728).

Country Codes

When we retired our New TLD chart and sent .us off to compete against the world's more established country codes like .de and .co.uk, we knew the American extension was moving up several weight classes. Still, just two weeks into the fray, .us answered the bell and landed a big blow with this week's #1 ccTLD domain, Jew.us, going for $29,500 (the highest .us price reported to date).

The United Kingdom's .co.uk won the overall numbers battle, taking 5 of 10 chart positions. Germany's powerhouse .de extension claimed three and the final slot went to Canada's .ca. Among the sales venues, Sedo owned this chart again, accounting for all but one entry. 

The .co.uk onslaught was led by #2 eGay.co.uk at €10,000 ($12,130) and #3 Motoring.co.uk at £6,500 ($11,504). .De made its first appearance with #4 Gase.de at €9,280 ($11,257) and #5 RealTone.de at €5,000 ($6,065). The Canadian entry was #8 LakeLouise.ca at 4,000 Canadian dollars ($3,436). Another nice .ca sold for $4,950 but is subject to a non-disclosure agreement.

Here's a look at the complete Country Code Top 10 for the week ending Jan. 15:

All of this week's entries hit at least four figures and three more were sold in that range at Sedo where SoftwareAnbieter.de went for €2,000 ($2,426), Lehrling.de delivered €1,400 ($1,698) and Messer.dk (Denmark ccTLD) drew €1,000 ($1,213). 

Also at Sedo, Games.li (Liechtenstein ccTLD) scored €750 ($910) and, in a private sale, OnlineMovies.ca added 1,000 Canadian dollars ($859). 

*****

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 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 DotCom Group, LLC also provide invaluable help in collecting 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 night publication to give you the freshest sales report in the industry. 

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