Wan More Time! For the 2nd Week in a Row the Three Biggest Domain Sales Total Over $1.3 Million

Last week's sales chart was led by a trio of 6-figure sales totaling more than $1.3 million. As legendary linguist Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vu all over again!"  Once more this week, the top three on our latest all extension Top 20 Sales Chart weigh in at over $1.3 million. All three reached six figures, two contain the same Chinese keyword and one now ranks as the biggest sale reported so far in 2014. 

The headliner at a hefty $800,000 is Wan.com ("wan" is a word that has several meanings in Chinese, the most important being "play" or "playing games"). Changyou, a major Chinese online game maker that is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange (CYOU), bought the domain in a private transaction first reported by ScreenDigest.com in an article written by respected analyst Chenyu Cui.

Another member of this week's power trio is #3 Wan.cn, a Chinese ccTLD that was sold for $247,830 (at today's exchange rate) in a .CN Registry auction staged by eName.com. Since both the Wan.com and Wan.cn sales came to light in the same week, you might think Changyou bought both, but the WhoIs record indicates a different party (also form China) acquired the ccTLD version. (Thanks to my Chinese speaking friend George Hong from Guta.com for helping me vet Chinese sales and sources again this week). (Update: since this article was written the WhoIs record on Wan.cn has changed and it now appears that both Wan.com and Wan.cn were purchased by the same buyer).

By Ron Jackson

Sandwiched in between the two Wan sales is a big sale at Sedo that would have led the chart most other weeks. #2 True.com sold for $350,000 there is a deal co-brokered by Negar Hajikhani and Dave Evanson (who have both won T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Broker of the Year awards, Negar in 2013 and Dave in 2012). The buyer was TrueCar, a company that provides automobile sales data and obviously recognizes the value of a great generic domain name.

ICM Registry, the operator of the .xxx TLD reported signing contracts for two other six-figure sales this week. Tube.xxx at $500,000 and Tubes.xxx at $250,000 both went to Really Useful, a company that has reported success developing some of their previous .xxx pruchases. While the registry has already transferred the domains to Really Useful, ICM CEO Stuart Lawley told me the names are being paid for in a series of payments (and that over two thirds of the purchase price has already been received). Our policy has always been not to chart sales until a domain has been both fully paid for and transferred to the new owner. so we won't chart Tube.xxx and Tubes.xxx until the payment schedule is completed. These sales will follow three other six-figure .xxx sales reported over the past two years (all of which were completed and are listed on our annual Top 100 charts for 2012 or 2013).

By the way, this points up an interesting change in the sales landscape that has accompanied the arrival of  new gTLDs. Operators of new registries can make direct sales to buyers that would have gone through independent registrars in the past. You used to be able to confirm a deal had been completed by simply checking the WhoIs record to confirm a change to the new registrant. No one was going to transfer ownership of a name until it was fully paid for because a registrar is not going to help get a name back once you transfer it away. Now, if you own the registry you can easily take back a domain yourself if a buyer fails to meet their contractual obligations.  (Another thank you to George Kirikos for some valuable background information this week). 

Getting back to this week's sales, Sedo rounded out the first five with #4 TeamShirts.com and #5 Offer.net at $50,000 (the latter was the only non .com gTLD to qualify for this week's leader board - it is also the year's biggest sale in that category). The ccTLDs earned four spots on the elite list (all in the top ten) with #7 Kingdom.com ($31,534 at BuyDomainNames.co.uk), #8 FYI.tv ($30,000 in a private transaction) and Lotterie.at ($20,550 at Sedo) joining Wan.cn on the Big Board. The .coms swept everything else, taking 15 of 20 positions overall. 

Here is how all of the sales leaders stacked up for the week ending Sunday, Jan. 26:

.Com Supporting Cast

Sedo led the .com supporting cast of four-figure sales with MilitaryMall.com at $9,999 and BlackPornTube.com at $9,259. Telsar.com tallied $8,232, Namei.com notched $7,000 and LCMD.com drew $6,500.

FaireParts.com posted $6,165, HomeStorage.com put away $6,077 and MintX.com coined $6,000. SongFlex.com drummed up $5,499 and DRVE.com clicked for $5,480. Sedo had 39 more four-figure .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 that are listed in the table below:

Sedo also teamed up with Go Daddy/Afternic to sell Zitan.com for $8,000.

Go Daddy/Afternic supplemented the five sales they had on the Top 20 Chart with nearly a hundred solid four-figure sales. MJColorado.com commanded $8,650, MyGolfRewards.com holed out at $8,400 and AcneCenter.com sold for $7,495. 

OutletClub.com attracted $6,500, MyBlogs.com made $6,077 and GoldBoutique.com banked $5,995. YourWishIsMyCommand.com captured $5,600 while CarbonXT.com and LBQ.com corralled $5,500 each. CompSoft.com added another $5,050.

Go Daddy/Afternic had 87 more four-figure .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 that are listed in the table below:

Elsewhere Flippa.com sold YouAreHere.com ($6,801), Chromosome.com ($6,150) and 0il.com ($3,500) and HuntingMoon.com added to their two Top 20 sales with SexyMom.com ($7,500), MatureMoms.com ($4,000) and BrutalPorn.com ($2,000). 

Country Codes

There were several additional four-figure sales off the chart. Sedo sold Kasino.org ($1,781), Compre.net ($1,700) and OpenWork.org ($1,500). They also scored with Biohanf.info ($1,336), PetroleumEngineers.net ($1,300) and Evolver.org ($1,200). CCI.biz added $1,088, Earchive.net corralled $1,050, Billetes.net booked $1,028 and Matrix.net drew $1,000. 

Go Daddy/Afternic deposited $1,725 for Droo.net while eCigaretteReviews.net and iList.org added $1,500 apiece. EnerconIndia.net nabbed $1,477, OpenNetwork.net connected for $1,429 and SocialPresence.net produced $1,377.

The Go Daddy/Afternic hit list also included Meet.net ($1,277) and three others at $1,200 each - Coin.biz, MyGrade.org and LifeChangeChurch.org. GoodFortune.org fetched another $1,188 and Freessh.org found $1,000.

Now that you're up to date on what happened over the past week, check out how the leaders stand year to date in all categories by visiting our Year To Date Charts page.