Poker.de Rakes in Massive Pot in the Year's Biggest ccTLD Sale

It took a while to complete, but the €695,000 ($957,937) sale of Poker.de was wrapped up this week, finalizing the biggest country code sale of 2007. The domain, which was auctioned off by NICIT.com at the DOMAINfest Amsterdam conference in May, went for $800,000 more than the previous 2007 ccTLD leader, Connected.co.uk, a name that changed hands for $157,931 in a private sale last month.  

It looks like online gaming powerhouse PartyPoker.com is the new owner of Poker.de as the domain now redirects to their site and they share common WhoIs information.

By Ron Jackson

The next eight sales on our new leader board and 10 of the next 11 are all newly completed transactions from last months Moniker.com/T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction in New York City. To make room for all of those special event sales we again expanded our usual Top 20 chart to 30 positions. #2 CarSales.com commanded $400,000 in that auction and is now tied with Iran.com as the year's 10th highest sale. You can check out all of the Year-to-Date leaders on our YTD sales page.

An IDN (International Domain Name) sale in Germany's .de extension accounted for the largest non-auction sale on the Big Board this week. #10 Ernährung.de ("nutrition" in German) attracted €24,660 ($33,992) in a private transaction between seller Jens Mechelke and buyer Nico Zeifang of Zeifang.com. A second IDN, Aşk.com (puny code xn--ak-fta.com), also made the chart at #23 after selling for $14,101 at SnapNames.com.

Poker.de and Ernährung.de were among five country code domains that earned spots on the elite all-extension list this week. Canada scored twice with #14 (tie) Theaters.ca at $25,000 and #24 HomeTheaters.ca ($12,500). Both of those sales were made by Drop Wizard Domains Inc. The two names went to Robert Montgomery of Calgary based Bonfire Development Inc. America's .US ccTLD also earned a spot among the big boys with the sale of #16 Nashville.us for $23,000.

It was a rough week for the Global Contenders, as only one domain from that category, Surgeon.net, made the chart. That name, from the Moniker/T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction, sold for $21,000. .Com corralled all of the other positions.

Among the venues, Sedo.com and Afternic.com/BuyDomains.com led the way as each had a hand in six sales. They actually shared credit for the #26 (tie) sale of Yabb.com ($10,000) as the owner listed that name through Afternic's Domain Listing Service which uses multiple venues, including Sedo, to market domains.

 Here is how all of the top sellers stacked up for the week ending Sunday, July 15:

.Com Supporting Cast

Two other just completed Moniker/T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction sales; Election2008.com ($9,906) and GroupRate.com ($9,420) just missed making the chart. Another auction sale, VintageAirplanes.com, was completed at $5,700.

At Sedo, FreeTVDownload.com tuned in €6,500 ($8,960), BXC.com brought €6,100 ($8,409) and HXS.com drew $7,600. ShareNow.com delivered $6,893, YKJ.com kicked in $6,650 and Videogamer.com racked up $6,000. Sedo also sold SportsOne.com ($5,600) and EOQ.com ($5,520).

Back at SnapNames, there was the usual boatload of solid sales, but the really big news was the birth of Kjel Holmberg's new son, Anders Kjel Holmberg, on Thursday (July 12). Anders weighed in at nearly 9 pounds and joins older brother Soren who was born on New Year's Day 2005. Mother Kristin is doing fine but will have her hands full with three men in the house now! Kjel has been our sales data contact at SnapNames for nearly four years now and is one of the industry's nicest guys.

On the business front at SnapNames, the four-figure roster was headed by AllHotGirls.com ($8,260), BadJoke.com ($8,099) and SkinProtection.com ($7,200). WordOfFaith.com welcomed $6,666, Pusher.com posted $6,100 and Sockeye.com sold for $5,878. Zank.com zipped to $5,778, OpenShare.com downloaded $5,515 and BugOut.com bagged $5,200.

Galleta.com and BurgundyFrance.com each contributed $5,099 and SpaceFleet.com lifted off with $4,803. ITOP.com tallied $4,600, TexasMardiGras.com grabbed $4,400 and Rentabiliser.com rounded up $4,200. SnapNames had 20 more four-figure .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $3,800. You can check those out in the table below. 

Interesting note on that last IDN name on the chart above - xn--hz2b13s8pc.com. The new owner is Amazon.com and a friend who is fluent in Korean told us "The domain is a transliteration of the English word 'Amazon'. Phonetically, it literally sounds like the English word 'Amazon' and this is often the case when US brands are popular in Korea."

NameMedia's twin towers, Afternic/BuyDomains, had another big week with MRSP.com ($7,500), Humain.com ($7,000) and a pair at $6,000 each; Protesto.com and EarthExplorer.com adding solid numbers to the bottom line. Two others, SummerSports.com and WaitingRoom.com, returned $5,500 each. Those were followed by a seven-name logjam at $5,000 apiece that included Quanto.com, MiddleGround.com, InteractiveLearning.com, HealthTesting.com, FutureWeb.com, CityScope.com and AllSoft.com.

HomeExpressions.com clicked for $4,800 while SilentMajority.com, Noveltees.com, MunicpalLaw.com and ComingEvents.com booked $4,500 each. Tinhoctre.com tacked on $4,488 and IslandWear.com sported $4,400. Afternic/BuyDomains had 125 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $4,200 You can review those in the table below.

And if that wasn't enough, Afternic/BuyDomains had over 300 more .com sales below $2,000!

At TDNAM.com, BringItOnGirls.com brought $6,595, ClickClick.com claimed $3,971 and Mortgage-Mart.com managed $3,505. HotelzAustralia.com registered $3,125, FacesBook.com found $3,005 and Elrath.com rustled up $2,525. 

At Pool.com, MSNNews.com reported $4,700, Victoriasecreat.com revealed $3,360 and FordTorino.com turned in $2,700. NortanAntivirus.com caught $2,250, I-Bet.com paid $2,150, PS2CheatCodes.com cracked $2,100 and JetKing.com took off with $2,050.

Elsewhere, 247Guru.com changed hands for $2,470 in a private sale and at Enom's Club Drop, Minibarn.com and RBCBank.com deposited $2,000 each.