| The 2012
domain sales season is now in the books. We just
finished crunching the numbers for the final quarter of
the year and for 2012 as a whole to see how they stacked
up against the corresponding periods a year ago. We
found a definite divide in the marketplace with
very few sales at the ultra high end in 2012
(only two reached seven figures) but vigorous
activity in the rest of the market where we
saw an increase in median sales prices.
We will start with the
full year results, then take a look at how things
went down the final stretch in the just completed
4th quarter of 2012. The total dollar volume of
all domain sales reported to us in 2012 came to $90.4
million, a 4% decline from the $94.5
million in sales reported in 2011. Most of the year
to year difference can be seen in just the top |
The
domain market had its
pluses and its minuses in 2012
Split
decision image from Bigstock |
| 20
sales of each year. In 2011,
the 20 biggest sales totaled over $12.6 million.
In 2012,
the total for the top 20 alone slipped nearly $3 million
to a little over $9.7 million. |
While people seemed to be reluctant to
pull the trigger on high dollar sales in 2012, they were willing
to ante up a bit more at other price levels. In 2012 we saw the median
sales price (the price at which half of all sales were
higher and half were lower) for all extensions rise 3%
from $2,612 in 2011 to $2,688 in 2012.
Keep in mind that we do
not track sales below four figures (to be
specific we track .com sales of $2,000 and up
and all other extensions from $1,000 or more). As
a result our median figures are higher than they would
be if we tracked the entire universe of domain sales and
conversely, total dollar volume reported to us is less
than it would be if we tracked sales at the lowest end
of the market.
|
.Com
rainbow image from Bigstock |
.Com
fared better by all metrics than non .com TLDs
did in 2012. While total $ volume dropped for all
extensions added together, the .coms alone wound up at exactly
the same figure they reached in 2011 with $67.2
million in .com sales reported to us each year. In
contrast, total $ volume for reported ccTLD sales slipped
over 13% from $17 million in 2011 to $14.7
million in 2012. Non .com gTLDs were off even
more, sliding nearly 17% from $10.2 million
to $8.5 million.
The number of .com transactions
reported also rose while the number of ccTLD and
non .com gTLD sales reported both fell. 10,038
.com sales were reported to us in 2012, a 6% jump |
| over
the 9,449 reported in 2011. The ccTLDs went the
opposite direction with transactions reported falling
over 11% from 4,228 in 2011 to 3,739 in
2012. It was the same story for the non .com gTLDs where
transactions dropped over 9% from 3,054 to 2,770. |
When we looked at the median
sales prices for each category from 2011 to 2012 those also
varied. The .coms had a 3.3% increase in median price
from $3,000 to $3,100 while the ccTLDs saw their
median price slip 3.6% from $2,000 to $1,928.
The non .com gTLDs managed to hold the fort on the median price
front maintaining the same $1,800 price they registered
in 2011 again in 2012.
Things can change quickly in this
business with trends sometimes shifting dramatically over the
course of just a few months. Now that was have compared all of
2012 against the preceding year, let's take a look at how things
went in the most recent quarter - 4Q-2012. There were
some encouraging numbers here, especially for the .coms.
Across all extensions, the total $ volume of 4Q-2012 sales was $26.1
milliion, a 10% jump over the $23.7 million
reported in the same quarter a year ago and an even more
impressive 24% surge from the $21 million reported
in the previous quarter (3Q-2012). If that trend can be
sustained it will be a very good thing for domain sales
in 2013.
|
| For the .coms
only, the $20.5 million in total $ volume reported
4Q-2012 sales is a 17% rise from the same quarter a
year ago ($17 million then) and a 27% bound
above the $16.1 million reported in 3Q-2012. For
the ccTLDs and the non .com gTLDs the quarterly results
were more of a mixed bag. The country codes booked $3.6
million in reported 4Q-2012 sales, a 10% dip
from the same quarter a year ago but a 20% jump
from the $3 million reported in the previous
quarter - another positive sign heading into the new year.
Likewise the non .com gTLDs saw 4Q-2012 sales slide 9% from
the same quarter a year ago, but they too saw a boost from
the previous quarter, rising 5% from $1.9
million in 3Q-2012 to $2 million in
4Q-2012.
In an interesting anomaly
the median sales price across all extensions in
4Q-2012 |
Ups
and downs image from Bigstock |
| behaved
in a completely different way. In this case, the 4Q-2012
median price of $2,750 was over 15% better
than the $2,379 logged in the same quarter a year
ago. However, even though total $ volume was way up from
the previous quarter, the median sales price was down
11% from $3,103 in the previous quarter
(3Q-2012). |
When you break the 4Q results
out by category you see the .coms enjoyed median price increases
against both the previous quarter and the same quarter a
year ago. The $3,200 .com median price in 4Q-2012 edged
up a hair from $3,188 in 4Q-2011 and pushed nearly 7%
higher that the 3Q-12 median of $3,000. The ccTLD's
4Q-2012 median price was $1,935, down 3% from $2,000
in the same quarter a year ago but up 6% from $1,830
in the previous quarter (3Q-2012). With a 4Q-2012 median price
of $1,888 the non .com gTLDs held their ground from the
previous quarter when the median wax exactly the same and
the group beat the same quarter a year ago (when it was $1,788)
by more than 5%.
So, while 2012 overall was a mixed
bag compared to 2011, the solid increase we saw in most
metrics in the closing quarter of the year give us some reason
for optimism as we now head deeper into the 2013 domain
sales season.
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