$3 Million Sale of Vodka.com and Two Huge .Org Deals Assure Merry Christmas for Domain Market 

by Ron Jackson
  

Roy Messer's sale of Vodka.com to Russian Standard Co. (the makers of Imperia brand vodka) made headlines around the world and the deal,  brokered by Sedo.com, should draw additional corporate attention to the value of great generic domain names.

Russian Standard is run by billionaire entrepreneur Roustam Tariko who invited Messer and Sedo's Director of Brokerage, Christian Kalled, to come to St. Petersburg, Russia to meet face to face with him in an effort to hammer out a deal for Vodka.com. Messer, a veteran domain investor from Tallahassee, Florida, told us he first heard of Tariko in November 2005 when he read an article about the Russian tycoon in Business Week magazine. Three months later Messer signed an agreement with Sedo to market Vodka.com and suggested they contact Tariko to see if he would be interested in the domain.

Sedo did just that and in their first call to Tariko in April, he offered $1 million for the domain, but Messer was not interested at that price and immediately turned it down. Fast forward six months to October 2006 when Russian Standard was getting ready to open a new distillery, giving them a renewed desire to acquire Vodka.com. They again called Sedo and told Kalled and Messer they had one week to come to Russia if they wanted to make a deal!

Messer and Kalled rushed to get visas then took off for St. Petersburg where they sat down in person with Tariko for the first time. "I was very impressed by him," Messer told us. "He spoke excellent English and was just a very nice, down to earth guy." Tariko also had an understanding of the domain market and the relative value of various keywords. When Messer and Kalled told him they wanted $5 million for Vodka.com he challenged Kalled to convince him the domain was worth that much. 

Messer said Kalled launched into a remarkable off-the-cuff, non-stop presentation that after a few minutes prompted Tariko to declare "Time Out! I Get It!!". He then said, "I am prepared to offer you $3 million for the domain." Messer and Kalled asked for a moment and stepped outside the room to discuss it. Messer gave the proposal his approval and they walked back in and sealed the deal with a handshake.   

Roy Messer is a real gentleman who is widely admired in the domain business. Everyone who knows him is delighted for him as well as for the industry as a whole, as this transaction is another giant step forward in corporate recognition of the inherent value in category-killing domains. 

If it weren't for Vodka.com, the .orgs would have reigned supreme this week. SnapNames.com sold Date.org for $150,349 in the highest .org sale reported since we started tracking domain sales in the fall of 2003 and they rang up another $105,500 for Loan.org! To complete a six-figure trifecta, the popular expired domain auction house also sold AddictedGames.com for $135,350. Overall, SnapNames swept 10 of the 20 spots on the Big Board. Sedo racked up half-a-dozen chart entries while BuyDomains.com bagged the remaining four. 

In the race among the various extensions, .com dominated by taking 16 slots. .Org claimed two, with .info and .de (German ccTLD) getting one each. .Info scored big with #5 Credit.info, sold for $36,000 at Sedo in the year's second biggest .info sale (the leaders can be seen on our Year-To-Date sales charts). Sedo also sold #10 Konsolen.de ("console" in German) for €20,000 ($26,388). Here's a look at the complete leader board for the week ending Sunday, Dec. 17:

.Com Supporting Cast

In still another five-figure sale just off the chart, SnapNames sold ManLift.com for $10,500. They also had their usual boat load of solid four figure sales including Gigaweb.com at $8,700, CrownPrincess.com at $8,600 and Wateverlife.com at $8,544. B0.com (B - zero) brought $7,500, Inchworm.com went for $7,200 and OverFifty.com fetched $6,988. LoyolaUniversity.com booked $6,800, SpecialtyInsurance.com secured $6,600 and Cerveau.com sold for $5,655.

Also at SnapNames, FurnitureCloseouts.com delivered $5,550, FoldingBeds.com found $5,400 and NetVault.com locked up $5,201. TaxLine.com took in $5,105 while AmetureMatch.com and PrinterInkRefill.com returned $5,100 each. MusicSelection.com drummed up $5,099, Bulkhead.com bagged $5,009 and Quizila.com captured $4,667. SnapNames had 35 more sales ranging from $2,000 to $4,300. You can see those out in the table below.

Back at Sedo, Genomica.com generated $9,000, Fyreball.com lit up $8,000 and ActiveGuy.com cornered $7,500. 

BuyDomains piled up an enormous number of strong four figure sales this week, including DeferredAnnuities.com ($8,000), GeneticTests.com ($7,000) and DigitalHuman.com ($6,000). UsedMac.com and Samma.com served up $5,000 each while BachelorWorld.com connected for $4,488. Vibez.com clicked for $4,000, LiveStreaming.com downloaded $3,888 and StayDry.com soaked up $3,500.

Other winners at BuyDomains included FindDoctors.com and FinanciallyFree.com at $3,400 each and HomeTheatreSystems.com at $3,300. PerfumeBottle.com sprayed $3,200, FishingBaits.com hooked $3,100 and LoanGroup.com deposited $3,088. Buy Domains had 57 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 that are listed in the table below:

In addition to all of those, BuyDomains racked up almost 200 more .com sales ranging from just under $2,000 down to the $388 each paid for RulesOfEngagement.com and TheWiseMen.com.

At Enom's Club Drop, BTOnline.com banked $4,600 and Starret.com discovered $2,500. 

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