Domain Names

What’s in a Name?

In the new age of failing banks and lending institutions, foreclosures, repossessions, bankruptcies and socialized car companies, it seems that the good old days of the .com are way behind us. I admit that the idea of rampant IPOs happening again is probably a fantasy but unlike soil, online real estate is still selling for amazing prices. I thought it might be fun to take a look this high end side of the industry and see how the management of these super-domains is going.

Domain Name Registrations For Sale

First, here are some domains that have sold previously this year, even in this economy:

candy.com sold for $3,000,000
fly.com sold for $1,800,000
ad.com sold for $1,400,000
webcam.com sold for $1,020,000

Those numbers are definitely encouraging for the year, especially considering that the following domain names were sold in 2008 during the economic crisis:

Fund.com at $9,999,950
freeporn.com at $4,000,000
clothes.com at $4,900,000
pizza.com at $2,600,000
Fund.com at $9,999,950

Domain Name Registration Pitfalls

Business.com originally sold for $7,500,000, then in 2007, it was resold for $345,000,000. As an unfortunate sign of the times, however, in 2009 the new owner filed for Bankruptcy. The whois still shows business.com as the owner until 2018. Anyone want to put a snap on this one?  Thankfully the owner had the foresight to register this domain out until 2018. This site is live, and it has a nice long registration; this is good domain management, despite the domain’s irony. On the other side of the domain coin are some high profile domains with one or more issues in my opinion.

For example:  Beauty.cc expires October 7th of this year! Seeing that the current owner paid approximately $1,000,000 for it, this short of an expiration is not really recommended from a domain management standpoint. There is a DNS issue that exists and it re-directs to a live gift site, using a different domain. I could make a few recommendations here, but that is for another time.

Having said that, Vip.com expires soon after on October 23rd, after being purchased for a $1.4 Million price tag. I suppose that since it is a sports betting site, gambling with a close expiration date is to be expected, however I do not recommend it. I will bet that the owner does renew it in the end.

Domain Name Registration Searches

Consider the following situations:

fund.com expires next September and given that it cost nearly $10 Million in 2008, I would maybe spend a couple of bucks on a longer registration, to be sure. The site is functional and current, and it would be a shame to see it down due to an oversight.

Moving on to Marketingtoday.com, it is up in April and it was purchased for $1.5 Million. The site looks good, so throw a long renewal on it and you have your bases covered.

The pay-per-click site, Celebrities.com expires in March after a $2 Million purchase price.

In June, cameras.com could be yours, if it drops, after being sold for $1.5 million, and promptly set up as a pay-per-click.

If you wait until February, creditcheck.com will be up for renewal and was originally purchased for $3 Million.  The site is live and if they only did an expiration check, they would be protected. The same goes for cruises.co.uk, having a purchase price of about $1.1 Million and a renewal date of February 25th.

If those dates are still too far off, then in January, mortgage.com is up for renewal after being sold for $1.8 Million, and dotnology.com, bought for $2.5 Million will both need renewed. The sites look right, but the expiration is just too close for comfort in my opinion.

Registered Domain Names

For your enjoyment I have listed the past big sales which date between the 1999 bubble and 2006:

altavista.com at $3,300,000

Asseenontv.com at $5,100,000 in 2000

autos.com at $2,200,000

Beauty.cc – $1.0 million

Beer.com at $7,000,000

Bingo.com – $1,100,000

Branson.com – $1,600,000

Britain.com – $1,000,000

cameras.com at $1,500,000

Casino.com at $5,500,000 in 2003

Celebrities.com – $2.0 million (1999)

Chinese.com – $1,090,504 – Sold July 2007

Computer.com – $2,200,000

computers.com at $2,100,000

Coupons.com – $2,200,000

creditcards.com at $2,750,000

creditcheck.com at $3,000,000 in 2007

Cruises.co.uk – $1,099,798 Sold in 2008

CyberWorks.com – $1.0 million

datarecovery.com at $1,660,000

Deposit.com – $1,500,000

Diamonds.com at $7,500,000

Dotnology.com – $2.5 million (2000)

eFlowers.com – $1.0 million

England.com – $2,000,000

Express.com for $1.8M

Feedback.com – $1,230,000

Find.com – $1,200,000

Fish.com – $1,000,000

Fly.com – $1,500,000 – RESOLD FOR $1,800,000 (January 2009)

If.com – $1,000,000

Invest.com – $1,015,000  Sold in 2008

iPhone.com – $1.0 million (2007)

Korea.com at $5,000,000 in 2000

Kredit.de – $1,169,175

loans.com at $3,000,000

MarketingToday.com – $1,500,000

Men.com for $1.3M

Mercury.com – $1,100,000

Mortgage.com – $1,800,000

Phone.com – $1,200,000

Porn.com at $9,500,000 in 2007.

Rock.com for $1M

Savings.com – $1,900,000

Scores.com – $1.2 million (2007)

seniors.com at $1,800,000

SEO.com at $5,000,000 in 2007

Sex.com at $14 Million in 2006.

shop.com at $3,500,00 in 2001

shop.com at $3,500,000 in 2001

Sky.com – $1,000,000

software.com at $3,200,000

SolarEnergy.com – $1,600,000

tandberg.com at $1,500,000

Telephone.com for $2M

tom.com at $2,500,000

Topix.com – $1,000,000

toys.com at $5,100,000

Vibrators.com – $1,000,000 Sold in 2008

vip.com at $1,400,000

Vista.com – $1,250,000

vodka.com at $3,000,000 in 2006

WallStreet.com for $1M

WhiteHouseCrisis.com – $1.0 million

wine.com at $2,900,000 in 1999

wines.com at $2,900,000

yp.com at $3,800,000