I have only sold 35 of my 6500 domains.
Porno.com $8,888,888.88
This was the 4th largest recorded cash domain sale ever!
(Purchased for $42,000 in 1997) It is important to note that this domain had career earnings in excess of $15 Million via pay per click earnings and never had adult content)
989.com $818,181.81 (registered for $100 in 1997)
899.com $801,000 (registered for $100 in 1997)
9595.com $180,000 (registered for $100 in 1998)
Teem.com Total $972.000 after Equity payout
Earlier sales….
Men.com $1,320,000 (bought from 3rd party for $15,000 in 1997)
eBet.com $1,350,000 (registered for $100 in 1997)
Property.com/Properties.com $4MM + Equity Stake
(Bought from 3rd party for $750,000 in 2005)
Candy.com $3MM + Royalties + 10% Ownership +++
(Bought via broker for about $100,000 in 2005)
iReport.com to CNN for $750K
Meet.me $450,000
The following were early sales to establish domain value. Registered between 1996 and 1999 for $35-$100 each.
TokyoHotels.com $200k++
ChinaTours.com $200,000
RockStars.com $180,000
FreeSexCams.com $150,000
GayEscorts.com $121,550
PartnerCash.com $110,000
eCruise.com $100,000 & Stock
235.com for $100,000
SydneyHotels.com $100,000
eScore.com $100,000
RoomDividers.com $75,000
273.com $50,000
PunchBowl.com Cash/Stock
236.com to IAC (Undisclosed)
OnlineCasinos.com (undisclosed)
Ariyas
If you own a 4 letter cvcv.com and lets say the .net and .org is available. Would you register them as well?
Domains for Sale
Thanks for a link and your pov.
Regards,
Igor
UFO
No.
Seriously, there is little value and only a few occassions where buying all the sub domains is worthwhile. Generally in branding situations.
Google doesn’t index crap the way it used to.
UFO
Agreed that the sweetspot is in the middle ground.
Once it was 3 char .com and 4 & 5 word .com domains
Now its back to the lower end but not the trash.
If I had 80k to put on a name. I’d prob go hunting in the 5k to 20k .com range.
Most of the 5-10k range I picked up 8! years ago now must be around the 50k mark in value per domain.
Dan
Rick,
nice list.. something EVERYONE should ponder.
Thanks for sharing the knowledge :)
Sri
Yes, of course! And the .info and .biz as well. Not only for branding but for resale value addition too. The more scarce it is, the more valuable it becomes.
And, rather than parking them I would also put up a nice business model/network on the whole.
And, this applies to good keyword/generic names too :)
Chadi
Hey Rick,
Went back and read the List, its a timeless post.
Most of the questions make prefect sense. However, I wonder
how many people actually think before they register domains that
pop through their head.
Also, there is the issue of long keyword rich domain names which receive exact search with low competition. Those domains are not memorable, yet some people swear by them. Do you believe its a trend on its way up or down?
Also, there are the short 4 to 5 letter meaningless genericless domains that however are highly brandable. What do you think of
this category as well? Some online domain vendors base their business around making sense of meaningless domains (through exposing the sonic quality of those domains and their brandability) i.e. domains like domo.com, lima.com, epach.com etc… (not sure who own those domains – just came to mind)…
Gino Orlandi
Great post, it’s so essential to ask yourself questions like this. I find buying domains can be rather addicting and I always ask myself similar questions before making a purchase.