|
That
$24,361,644 for 3Q-2009 is almost identical to the total
for 3Q-2008 which came in at $24,542,784, a year
over year decline of less than 1%. While we would
always like to see growth from one year top the next, one
has to remember that most of last year's third quarter
played out before news hit in late September 2008
that the world was facing a historic financial crisis. The
domain market (as has been the case with just about all
markets) has been trying to overcome a reluctance on the
part of consumers to spend money ever since. Even though
the market is still well below its historic highs the fact
that it was been able to climb back to the pre-crash level
of a year ago is encouraging.
That
is not to say that things are completely back to normal of
course. While the total sales volume for 3Q-2009 equaled
the same quarter in 2008, we did see a slight slippage in
the median price paid for domains (the median is
the point at which half of all reported sales were higher
and half were lower). In 2Q-2008, the median price is our
database was $2,788. In 3Q-2009, the median was down
8% to $2,563. That indicates that overall,
buyers are paying a bit less per domain than a year ago.
(Editor's note: since we don't track sales below four
figures the median prices in our database are higher than
they would be if we included sales at the very low end of
the market).
|
The
recently revealed sales of Clothes.com and Shopping.de
added over $7.7 million to the 2008 total.
|
In
comparing the first three quarters of this year
against the first three quarters of last year, it
is not surprising that the 2009 year-to-date
numbers are down considerably. In the opening nine
months of last year, consumer confidence was
considerably higher that it has been in 2009. In
addition, the 1Q-2Q-3Q total for 2008 got a
significant boost when two blockbuster sales from
that time frame were just recently revealed. Those
were Clothes.com at $4.9 million and
Shopping.de at €1,960,000 ($2,858,945).
When those sales came to light over the past six
weeks, we added them to the 2008 numbers in our
database. That helped boost the 1Q-2Q-3Q-2008
total to $93,215,174. The total for the
same three quarters this year is down 17.7%
to $76,710,544.
We should make up
some ground in the fourth quarter of this year
since it will be compared to the extremely weak
fourth quarter of 2008 when fear was running
rampant. However, it is highly unlikely that
we can make up the current $16.5 million
year over year deficit, unless we see several more
seven-figure blockbusters like the $5.1 million
Toys.com deal from last March. Even so,
if the upward trend from the latest quarter can be
maintained we will be back on track and headed
in the right direction and that alone would
warrant a big sigh of relief after what the world
has gone through over the past 12 months. |
Domain
Conference Activity Rekindled After Summer Hiatus
As
I write this I am preparing to head down to Key West,
Florida for the Sedo
Pro Partner Forum that will be held at the Casa
Marina Resort Wednesday through Friday (October 7-9).
Sedo invited me to speak at the event and I am very much
looking forward to seeing some fellow domain investors in
person again after spending most of the past three months cooped
up in the office. This year's conference schedule was
exceptionally unbalanced with six major conferences crammed
into the first six months of the year, then no large scale
events over the next three months.
| Things
have started stirring again with the Euro-centric MeetDomainers
conference in Warsaw, Poland at the end of
September. Now comes Sedo's always highly
anticipated corporate event (the last
one in the U.S. at New York
state's Mohonk Mountain Resort in 2007
remains one of the most memorable domain meetings
I've ever attended). Then we have the next general
interest globally oriented mega conference - T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York - coming up the 26th through
the 29th of this month at the Brooklyn Bridge
Marriott (you can read our review of last year's
event at the same venue here).
We plan to publish an extensive preview of that
event within the next week and look forward to
seeing many of you there.
After T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York there will be plenty of time to recuperate
in November and December before the 2010 schedule
begins with a bang with back to back shows in
January; T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Las Vegas and DOMAINfest
Global in Santa Monica, California.
Domainer
Mardi Gras will follow in New Orleans
February |
|
| 11-13.
Those 2010 events may still seem like a long way off
but they will be here before you know it. If you are
thinking about attending one or more of those shows,
you can save a lot of money by acting now to take
advantage of early bird registration fees and
discounted hotel rooms reserved by conference
organizers for their registrants. |
ICA
Legal Counsel Phil Corwin Working Overtime on Behalf of
Domain Investors
|
Phil
Corwin
ICA Legal Counsel |
In
closing I want to extend a thank you to the Internet
Commerce Assocation Legal Counsel Phil Corwin
who continues to do a great job on behalf of the
domain community. Phil has been posting frequent
updates on key industry issues on the ICA
website that will give you unparalleled
insight into key developments impacting your
business. Just today (Oct. 5) he posted an analysis
of ICANN's third version of its Draft
Applicant Guidebook (DAG) for those interested
in the possible introduction of new gTLDs.
Last Thursday he explained
what the new Agreement of Commitments between
the U.S. Government and ICANN means for
domain owners, then on Friday he detailed
an ICANN technical study that indicates the rollout
of new gTLDs could be delayed for two to three
years.
Corwin looks out
for domain owner interests on Capitol Hill
and before ICANN and having him on the job has
helped to keep a lot of anti domain owner policies
and laws from being enacted. The ICA can only retain
his services if it receives enough support from the
domain community through memberships or donations.
You can help by becoming
an ICA member today. |
|
