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Despite
the Recession, Third Quarter Domain Sales Equal Year Ago
Levels and Rise 15% From the Previous Quarter I've
been scrambling today,
getting the decks cleared before heading out in the
morning for Key West, Florida where the SedoPro
Parner Forum will be held later this week at
the Casa Marina Resort. The event, that runs
Wednesday through Friday, returns to the U.S. for the
first time since the summer of 2007 when it was held at
the Mohonk Mountain Resort in New York state.
People who were there still buzz about that
event and I'm sure this one will be
something special as well. The meeting begins Wednesday
evening and I'll have daily highlights for you in this
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Before
leaving I had to put the finishing touches on our latest
free monthly newsletter that goes out to opt-in
subscribers (it is also available online
now). The lead item in the newsletter is a breakdown of
domain sales for the just concluded 3rd quarter of 2009.
As we went through the summer months that comprised the
third quarter, I had the feeling that despite the
obstacles presented by the current recession, aftermarket
sales (unlike PPC revenue streams) was managing to hold
their own. When I ran the numbers today they confirmed
that gut feeling.
In
addition to matching reporting sales from the same quarter
a year ago, 3Q sales enjoyed a double digit rise from the
previous quarter this year. In the 2nd
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The
domain aftermarket overcame recession obstacles in 3Q-2009
to match last year's 3Q performance.
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quarter
of 2009 a total of $21,108,655 in domain sales were
reported to us. In the just concluded 3rd quarter, that
number rose to $24,361,644 - an increase of 15.4%.
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%. Keep in mind
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. Just about all
markets have been trying to overcome a reluctance on the
part of consumers to spend money ever since so I believe
that equalling the '08 figure in today's environment is a
positive sign.
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.
You
can see more sales data details in our newsletter
including a year-to-date comparison of sales for the first
three quarters of this years versus the first three of
2008.
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