High End of the Market Missing This Week But Low to Mid Range Marches On

The price tag on this week's #1 domain is the lowest I recall for a chart topper in a very long time. A British ccTLD, GGG.co.uk, leads the pack after selling at Sedo.com for £17,700 ($26,904). Another Sedo sale, B4.com at $26,002 was right behind. While the high end of the market was missing in action, the low to mid range (favored by small to medium sized businesses) continues along its merry way. Median prices have remained almost unchanged over the past year despite the severe recession. 

There was one larger documented sale we saw this week, but it is subject to a non disclosure agreement so I can't publish the name. I can tell you that it was a one word .com.br (Brazilian ccTLD) domain that went for $50,000, one of the highest prices we have seen for that extension. The price looked reasonable though because the name is one of the best keywords in any language. 

The ccTLDs continued to show exceptional strength this week, claiming seven positions on the all extension Top 20 leader board. Another top sale in the country code category was #3 Baza.pl ("base" in Polish) a  ccTLD representing Poland that changed hands for $22,320 in a private sale. 

By Ron Jackson

I learned something about ccTLDs that I never knew before during the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley conference that ended a couple of weeks ago in Santa Clara, California (you can read our comprehensive show review here). Dr. Paul Mockapetris, the man who designed the domain name system itself was one of the speakers and he said that at the beginning the plan for the Internet was to have ccTLDs only. He said those who wanted a gTLD called .com (a name that was chosen by committee) only got their way because government officials said, "Go ahead and let them have it because no one is ever going to use .com anyway!"  

.Com of course remains the world's dominant extension and it continued to rule this week, sweeping 11 chart entries. The last two openings went to a pair of .nets. In the race among venues, Sedo won going away, occupying 15 of the 20 chart positions. Moniker was the only other venue with multiple entries, hitting the daily double with #5 CyberSports.com ($18,300) and #17 GardenOfEden.com ($17,000). 

Here is how all of the leaders stack up for the week ending Sunday, May 10:

There was two more five-figure sale just off the chart. Allegro.pl sold Konie.pl (Polish country code, konie is "horses" in Polish) for 33,100 PLN ($10,261) and AppleCore.com commanded $10,000 at the AfternicDLS.

.Com Supporting Cast

The AfternicDLS also led the .com supporting cast with LaserCopier.com at $9,500. Their roster also included TropicalAquarium.com ($8,500), FloorHeating.com ($6,500) and a quartet at $5,000 each that included Crosshead.com, OnlineHomeSchooling.com, PhoneGuard.com and Visol.com. 

CrowdStar.com cornered $4,997, BoldSoft.com brought $4,888 and EquityProtection.com produced $4,200. Cymo.com secured $3,800, GreenChurch.com chalked up $3,788 and PerfectOnline.com posted $3,576. The AfternicDLS had 62 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $3,500. You can check those out in the table below:

SnapNames.com notched some nice four-figure sales as well, led by DrillPress.com ($9,420), StopSuffering.com ($9,265), Graders.com ($8,830) and Sealant.com ($8,794). PQF.com pitched in $5,819, Comptroller.com drew $5,250 and AirShipping.com delivered $4,950. 

VacationGold.com chipped in $3,900, BuyPosters.com bagged $3,855 and Whippets.com chewed up $3,500. Lessee.com landed $3,420, Squatter.com claimed $3,400 and BoondocksNet.com notched $2,700. AmericanAntiques.com attracted $2,360, Twistis.com untangled $2,300 and Aching.com applied $2,240. 

At NameJet.com, Amenity.com contributed $7,100, Compendium.com assembled $5,655 and KPH.com paid $5,316. FreeSubscriptions.com added $5,301, KidsGolf.com holed out at $5,200 and AutoWax.com polished off $5,044. JJT.com tacked on $4,422, USAPaydayLoans.com ladled out $4,221 and CapitalLoans.com corralled $3,910.

NameJet had 19 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $3,600 that are listed in the table below.

Sedo's supplemental roster was led by Fly24.com and VDownloader.com at $6,800 each and BTOE.com at $6,000. Preciodolar.com provided $5,910, Sirt1.com sold for $5,500 and Cheche.com checked in at $5,400. NFund.com found $5,300 and Restorica.com returned $5,032. 

Sedo had 23 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 that are listed in the table below:

In additional sales from their GreatDomains.com premium auction site, Sedo sold WJA.com ($4,352), Basset.com ($4,216) and two others at $4,199 each; GJR.com and KTJ.com.

Elsewhere, RickLatona.com sold JamesIsland.com ($8,000) and DentistNetwork.com ($3,913) while Moniker moved GroupM-Search.com ($4,681) and RadioSun.com ($2,413). Also, GoDaddyAuctions scored with BSLHome.com ($4.805).

Elsewhere, RW.pl went for $3,100 at DI.pl, Gralnia.pl sold for $2,790 at Aftermarket.pl and Degree.us drew $1,264 at Bido.com. The AfternicDLS banked $1,250 for Truck.ws and NameJet nabbed $1,010 for FutbolAmericano.tv.