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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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Go
Daddy Joins SedoMLS Network,
Doors Open at DOMAINfest
Global Today & DomainAdvisors Racking Up Big
Sales Off the Radar
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The
SedoMLS
Network
announced
a major expansion this morning -
a new partnership with the world's
leading registrar, Go
Daddy. Domains
that are listed at Sedo with Buy Now
prices are now available to Go Daddy
customers, many of them end users who
can now purchase |
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premium
names directly from within their Go
Daddy account. With no need to leave
GoDaddy, or even create a Sedo account
before buying, the
rate of sales conversions is expected to
take a significant jump.
Paul
Nicks, Go Daddy's Director of
Product Development for the Aftermarket,
said “Go
Daddy wants to help small businesses
grow |
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larger,
and finding the right domain name is
the place to start. Giving customers access
to many premium domain names, including
Sedo's Buy Now domain names, ensures our
customers get the best domain name for
their website or business.” |
With
the addition of Go Daddy to the SedoMLS Network,
domain investors now benefit from the huge
number of additional end users who search for
names at the dominant registrar. Conversely, as Tim
Schumacher, CEO of Sedo, said “The SedoMLS
Network provides registrar partners like Go
Daddy with access to premium domains that are
listed at Sedo, which in turn provides their
customers with more purchase choices than ever.
For any domain seller, we provide the reach that
connects their domain listings to the greatest
number of potential buyers across the globe.”
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The DOMAINfest
Global conference at the Fairmont
Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, California
officially opens tomorrow morning (Tuesday,
January 31), but the doors will actually open for
registration this afternoon at 2pm local
time and remain open until 9pm. Also today, from
4-8pm exhibitors will be able to get their booths
set up in the Exhibit Hall. There will also be
several private affairs around town tonight,
as well as a 7:30pm meeting of the Southern
California Domainers Group at the Shore
Hotel.
Tomorrow morning the
registration desk re-opens at 7 o'clock and the
Exhibit Hall opens at 8. The show's first session
will be a 9:30am workshop on a very timely topic -
new gTLDs. The week's highlights will
include Moniker's Live Domain Auction
Thursday afternoon from 4:30-6:00pm (PST). You can
see the full auction catalog here.
You can also check out the agenda for the entire
week here.
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I'll
be arriving in Santa Monica this evening and
will have daily DOMAINfest Photos and
Highlights for you in this column starting
tomorrow.
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One
other note today. Our January
newsletter went out to opt-in
subscribers Sunday. In it we break
down our 2011 domain sales data and show
you how 2011 stacked up against the previous
year (we also compare 4Q-2011 results vs. the
previous quarter and the same quarter a year
ago). In addition to overall market numbers, we looks at how well the individual categories,
.coms, ccTLDs and non .com
gTLDs, performed in 2011. You can read
the full report here.
The
total dollar volume for publicly reported sales
slipped in 2011 but that is just the tip
of the aftermarket iceberg. We don't track sales
sales below four figures and there are hundreds
of sales in that category every week. In
fact, aftermarket giants Sedo
and the AfternicDLS
commonly report total sales of $1 million
to $2 million a week. The vast majority
of sales, including many at the highest end of
the market, are never reported due to non
disclosure agreements.
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Anecdotally,
officials from a number of sales venues,
brokers and private sellers have told us
that 2011 was a very good year for them.
Those include DomainAdvisors.com,
the newest division of PPX
International. In the last 30 days of 2011 this new business,
headed by President Jeff Gabriel
(well-known as the broker behind the
all-time record sale of Sex.com
for $13 million) settled more than
$7 million in sales, including super premiums and diverse portfolios.
Almost all
DomainAdvisors sales are kept private, a requirement most
of their buyers and sellers prefer or insist upon and for which DA does not charge a premium.
The sales business does seem to be
booming there as Gabriel and CEO Tessa Holcomb
(both former senior brokers with Sedo),
have assembled a team of
eight Advisors to handle the
demand for professional brokerage
services. They have |
DomainAdvisors.com
President Jeff Gabriel
(right) and I at at the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Fort
Lauderdale Beach conference in October
2011. |
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brokers
manning an 800 number 8am-8pm EST seven days a week, taking and making calls to relevant
buyers and sellers.
So while
reported sales are a very useful tool to
learn more about what kinds of domains
are selling and how much specific names
are bringing, we will never really know
exactly how much of the domain sales
iceberg lies below the surface and out
of view.
By the way
- while we are on the subject of domain
sales, congratulations to industry
pioneer Gary Chernoff who dropped
me a note Sunday evening to let me know
he just sold BowlingBalls.com for
$225,000 in a deal brokered by Andrew
Hunovice. The buyer was
former pro bowler Nick
Melnikoff who know sells bowling
balls and other gear through his
ecommerce site at BowlersParadise.com.
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(Posted Jan.
30, 2012)
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For
all current Lowdown posts - Go
Here
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We need your help to keep giving
domainers The
Lowdown, so please email [email protected]
with any interesting information you might have. If possible,
include the source of your information so we can check it out (for
example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
elsewhere).
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