$185,000 Sale of Slimming.com Fattens Up Bottom Line at DotcomAgency.com and Prices Revealed for Two Huge .EU Deals 

by Ron Jackson
  

The prices from two even bigger deals that were completed earlier this summer were also just revealed today. In a article at CNN.com by Business 2.0 Magazine's Paul Sloan, Sedo.com confirmed that Hotels.eu and Shopping.eu were purchased by the same buyers in a pair of six-figure deals. 

In following up on that report we learned that the new owners are partners Louis Klarevas and Michael Bahlitzanakis who each hold dual citizenships in the U.S. and Europe and operate businesses on both continents. They paid €257,000 ($329,509 at today's exchange rate) for Hotels.eu and €153,500 ($196,803) for Shopping.eu. Those are the two highest prices ever reported for domains in the new .eu (European Union) extension. The WhoIs record shows Shopping.eu is currently on Hold status. Bahlitzanakis told us that was the result of a frivolous ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution) case that the partners had won and the domain is in the process of being returned to active status. 

To be eligible for our weekly chart, sales have to have been reported for the first time within the past 7 days and the transfers completed within the past 30 days. Release of the prices paid for Hotels.eu and Shopping.eu fall outside the 30-day window, but we have added them in the proper positions on our Year-To-Date Sales Chart. Hotels.eu now ranks as the #10 reported sale of 2006 while Shopping.eu is at #23 (one notch ahead of our new weekly chart leader, Slimming.com). 

Incidently, in addition to insuring that the weekly data reflects fresh sales, the 30-day rule is meant to prevent a company from stockpiling a long list of major sales, then releasing them all at once the week of a major industry event (such as a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. or Domain Roundtable conference) in order to make a a big splash in this report at an artificially orchestrated time. That was not the case here, of course, but the rule has to be applied uniformly.

This week's #2 domain just missed giving the Big Board another six-figure deal. CityIndex.com went for €75,000 ($96,186) at Sedo. SnapNames.com followed with #3 CoolRides.com at $24,750. SnapNames was the leading venue in total number of sales this week, racking up 13 of the 20 spots on the leader board. They would have had even more, but three of their five-figure sales were adult domains with off-color names that we cannot print here.

GreatDomains got on board in a tie for 4th with Drill.com at $15,000 while Afternic.com scored with #7 XJT.com at $12,360. An IDN domain also cracked the Top Ten this week with 翻訳.com (puny code = xn--pw0a62s.com) going for £4,686 ($8,897) in a private sale to claim the #10 slot. That means "translation" in Japanese. 

.Com dominated the action this week with 17 chart entries. The other 3 positions went to .nets in the second ten.  Here's a look at the complete Top 20 list for the week ending Sunday, August 27:

.Com Supporting Cast

Sedo supplemented their big week (three Top 20 entries and those two monster .eu sales) with some nice four-figure deals. ChoiceMarket.com and ANUA.com added $5,000 each while WorldCupSouthAfrica.com and Websourcing.com went for €3,000 ($3,847) each. Another trio, TopSubmit.com, IYK.com and DTS-HD.com delivered $3,000 apiece.

Songs2Play.com drummed up $5,000 at Enom's Club Drop. Meanwhile, back at SnapNames, OldiesButGoodies.com brought back $4,655 worth of memories. ScrapbookIdeas.com pasted another $4,000 in the ledger, while OceanaCruises.com contributed $3,755 and ArtistSchool.com drew $3,633.

SnapNames also booked $3,500 for CinderellaWeddings.com, $3,499 for Concha.com ("conch" in Spanish), $3,333 for Firewoman.com and $3,300 for NewAsia.com. SnapNames had 14 more sales ranging from $2,000 to $3,200. You can check those out in the table below:

Back at Afternic, SBHotel.com registered $3,000, WebPad.com posted $2,625 and JobDoctors.com earned $3,500. Afternic had three more at $2,000 each; InfusiumTea.com, C-Concepts.com and AmeriSavings.com. 

Global Contenders (.biz, .info, .net & .org)

Poker.pr, sold for $1,500 through the NamePros.com forum to tie Spain-Travel-Guide.de for the 7th spot. The latter domain demonstrates the strength of the .de extension (the world's second most popular TLD, behind only .com). Seeing a double-hyphenated domain, referencing a country that doesn't match the extension, sell for this kind of price is surely puzzling to Americans! In a smaller ccTLD sale, PersonalInjury.ws went for $600 in a private transaction.