NamePros Blog

Domain blog covering the latest domain news, domain sales, reports, analysis, advice, interviews, strategy, and more.
Namecheap AuctionsNamecheap Auctions
SpaceshipSpaceship
SpaceshipSpaceship
Subscribe to blog

opinion Why You Can't Let Social Media Control Your Brand

Recently, a prospective client told me that a domain name is "not that important in comparison to our social handles". This CEO owned a company offering a valuable, physical product. To someone involved with domain names, this came as a shock but upon closer inspection, it shouldn't be a...
 
29
•••

information Top Topics: Abstract Buys Abstract.com; Should I Accept This $5,250 Offer?...

During some research this week, I came across a one-word .COM domain sale that I don't think has been reported before. The domain Abstract.com looks to have sold to workflow platform Abstract as a direct upgrade from GoAbstract.com. Abstract recently raised a total of $30 million in Series C...
 
4
•••

data Domain Data: $9.48 Million of Sales in Q1 of 2019

The prestigious DNJournal has been collecting data since 2003 and compiling it in a weekly sales report. Operated by Ron Jackson, DNJournal is one of the most credible sources for the domain name industry and has been referenced in outlets such as Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Bloomberg.

Now...
 
9
•••

information Top Topics: The Story of Onions.com; Will There Be a 9 Figure Sale?...

Over the last couple of days, I've taken part in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on NamePros. It's been an interesting experience that has produced a couple of challenging questions as well as a few fun ones! One of the main talking points seems to have been my prediction that rental names (with...
 
5
•••

advice 10 Tips for New Domain Investors

In a new industry, it's often difficult to know where to start. Coming in with an abundance of enthusiasm and a desire to make money quickly, it may be hard to resist the urge to start acquiring new domain names immediately with the hope of selling them within days or weeks.

It's been well...
 
41
•••

information Top Topics: How Would You Invest $10,000?; GoDaddy Auctions Is a Whole Lot Better...

This week, we released the final installment of our four-part series teaching you how to perform outbound sales. Mike Robertson, Director of Business Development at Fabulous.com, contributed a phenomenal amount of information to this series, and I truly believe that it's a valuable...
 
5
•••

advice How to Perform Outbound Sales with Mike Robertson - Part 4: Negotiating and Closing

In this fourth and final edition of our outbound sales series, we have possibly some of the best negotiation advice possible. Over the past three installments of "How to Perform Outbound Sales", we have teamed up with domain name broker and Director of Business Development at Fabulous.com...
 
42
•••

sales Joe Uddeme Brokers the Sale of Storm.com

On this blog, one-word domain names are highly covered thanks to a large number of premium, single-word names that trade on a regular basis. These highly desirable assets are snapped up by investors and end users alike, often in deals facilitated by brokers.

Today, domain broker @Joe...
 
23
•••

information Top Topics: Voice.tv Sold for $8,600; Brand Switches from .COM to .APP...

In this week's Top Topics, an investor shares some information about a one-word .TV sale, and domainers debate after brand switches from a two-word .COM domain name to a one-word .APP name. Elsewhere, we discuss why networking is beneficial to domainers and our featured poll asks whether you...
 
3
•••

domains 8 Top Domains Owned by Disney: Go.com, ABC.com, Video.com...

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, had humble beginnings in 1923, with Walt Disney moving to Hollywood after the bankruptcy of his previous firm. Along with his brother Roy, the pair built the now world-famous company.

With over 200,000 employees and an annual revenue of over...
 
31
•••

information Top Topics: Getting Eyes on Auctions; Should Offers Be Reported?...

I had planned a full article about this subject, but I think my point can be summed up here. With ZenSourcer’s recent rebrand to Gem.com, the crypto marketplace Gem (operating on Gem.co) have lost much of the Gem brand control and power that they may previously have had.

The company operating...
 
Last edited:
5
•••

interviews Inside Interview: Why Packet Paid $350,000 for Packet.com

Inside Interview is a series in which we talk to buyers of high-value domain names to discover why they purchased these names, and what they’re doing with them. In this edition, we’re speaking with Jacob Smith, CMO of Packet, a cloud computing company based in New York.

In 2018, Packet made the...
 
31
•••

information Top Topics: A Gem.com Update; I Sold Playground.tv...

We have been following the progress of the gem.com domain name after reporting on a transaction involving the domain recently. This week, the name has started to resolve to ZenSourcer, a talent CRM co-founded by Nick Bushak, a former Facebook employee. Will ZenSourcer be rebranding as Gem?

Here...
 
9
•••

advice How to Perform Outbound Sales with Mike Robertson - Part 3: Contacting Prospective Buyers

When contacting a prospective buyer via an outbound email, what exactly do you say? That is one of the many questions we're going to attempt to answer in the third installment of our outbound sales series. This series is being compiled with the generous help of @Mike Robertson, the...
 
58
•••

information Top Topics: Have You Ever Seen an Auction Like This?; Getting Rid of a Trademarked Domain...

In case you missed it, we broke the news that the highly valuable Gem.com domain name moved into Escrow this week in a reported seven-figure deal. Domain brokerage company Lumis followed our story by posting a tweet, confirming that they were involved with the sale. As of publishing, the...
 
7
•••

sales Gem.com Moves Into Escrow in a Deal Likely Worth 7 Figures

The domain name Gem.com has moved into Escrow.com's holding account today, signaling that a deal involving this three-letter .COM domain has been agreed. Registered in 1992, Gem.com has been owned by the Roglenn Inc since at least the late 1990s, based on archival copies of the...
 
Last edited:
26
•••

sales 6 Domain Deals You May Not Know About: Currency.com, Step.com and More

Every week, we get to hear about some of the domain industry's largest recent sales thanks to DNJournal's highly respected weekly sales chart. However, most sales do not get reported for one reason or another. Experts such as Jamie Zoch (@Yofie) regularly post domain name movements, but...
 
35
•••

information Top Topics: From $17 to $1,000; Can You Explain Cybersquatting?...

Yesterday, Elliot Silver (@EJS) reported on Jamie Zoch's (@Yofie) discovery that the domain name Medicine.com had been sold recently. Not much is known about the purchase, but the new WHOIS showed Hampstead Trust of Auckland, New Zealand as the buyer.

This trust has a...
 
7
•••

report Top 10 Domains Owned by Future Media Architects: Media.com, AI.com, Cool.com…

Founded in 2002 by Thunayan Al-Ghanim, Future Media Architects (FMA) has amassed a portfolio spanning thousands of premium domain names. Historically, FMA has been known to rarely sell their domains. However, since transferring over 100,000 domain names to Uniregistry in 2014, the company...
 
Last edited:
34
•••

information Top Topics: Your Regrettable Purchase; Working With Another Domainer to Make a Sale...

In this week’s Top Topics, a four-figure domain sale is revealed, a domainer shares their journey of how they became an investor and we read the interesting story of someone that teamed up with another investor to produce a sale.

Elsewhere, an innovative outbound idea sees the community...
 
6
•••

advice How to Perform Outbound Sales with Mike Robertson - Part 2: Finding Your Buyer

In the first of our four-part series on outbound domain sales, we learned about some of the basic steps that you should consider taking before sending any outbound emails. With the help of @Mike Robertson, Director of Business Development at Fabulous.com, our sales expert for this...
 
56
•••

sales Ultra-Premium KOS.com Acquired by KOS Naturals

Three-letter .COM domain names are highly sought after by investors and end users alike. In the past twelve months alone, ICE.com, DXL.com, and EEN.com have all sold for six and seven-figure fees to end users. The KOS.com domain name now joins the ranks, as it has been acquired by KOS Naturals...
 
12
•••

information Top Topics: Should I Accept This Offer?; A Russian Broker Contacted Me...

One of the largest sales of the recent NamesCon 2019 auction was that of DomainNames.com for $370,000. The name was purchased by @Frank.Schilling's Uniregistry, which left a lot of investors speculating on what Frank might do with the domain. According to WHOIS, DomainNames.com has now...
 
6
•••

analysis 8 Companies That Started Using One Word .COM's in Q4 of 2018

Single-word .COM domain names are some of the most sought after digital assets for both investors and end users. Thanks to their desirability, many of these one-word domains can fetch six or seven-figure sales prices to the right buyer. Often, the right buyer is a venture-capital backed company...
 
21
•••

information Top Topics: Smartphone.com for $100,000, Is It Cheap?; Performing Outbound Sales on LinkedIn...

This week was the final NamesCon in Las Vegas before it heads to Austin next year. Whilst it was the last Las Vegas NamesCon, 2019 also my first. I would like to publicly thank the NamePros staff and members for making me feel very welcome. If you are in two minds about going to the NamesCon...
 
3
•••

auctions The NamesCon 2019 Live Auction Results - Including OL.com for $900,000

The Live NamesCon auction in Las Vegas has just finished with some impressive domain name sales posted. Here are the auction results, as recorded live at the event. I believe these listings are correct, but there may be discrepancies. If there are, please add a comment, and the list will be...
 
51
•••

information Top Topics: February's Hand Registration Contest; What Makes an Effective Domain?...

This is the first Top Topics written at 38,000 feet over the Atlantic! I’m heading to Las Vegas because NamesCon starts this weekend, and if you're going, I hope to see you there! There is a planned meetup at 5pm on Sunday 27th January at the 9 Fine Irishmen across the street from the Tropicana...
 
8
•••

advice How to Perform Outbound Sales with Mike Robertson - Part 1: The Basics

Outbound domain sales can be an effective means of producing cash flow for your domain portfolio. Rather than simply relying on buyers to come to you, outbound marketing relies on contacting specific potential buyers to try and secure a deal.

When it’s performed properly, outbound sales can...
 
80
•••

information Top Topics: Major DNS Changes on February 1st; Help Me Improve My Portfolio - $50 Reward...

Earlier this week, I came across Trig, a design an innovation firm. Usually, this would not be newsworthy at all, but what I found interesting was at the top of their homepage, there is a banner notifying users that "Trig Acquires Trig.com". In the subsequent press release posted in May...
 
8
•••

sales After a $95,378 Sale, Handle.com Looks to Have Sold Again

In March 2018, Sedo sold the domain Handle.com for $95,378. At the time, there was a lot of speculation regarding the buyer of the name, and whether an end user had got a bargain buy. However, the name's buyer wasn't an end user, but rather an investor.

DomainIQ's WHOIS shows that...
 
18
•••

data Domain Data: Just 66% of YCombinator's Class of 2018 Use .COM

It’s very rare that a brand new startup with minimal funds would initially create their online presence on a premium .COM domain. Bootstrapped businesses may, therefore, opt to go with an alternative extension, create a brandable name or use a subsequent imperative word such as “Get” or “Buy”...
 
34
•••

information Top Topics: Planned NamesCon Meetup; I Sold Square.tv for $9,000...

In this week's Top Topics, we have a number of featured discussions relating to sales and potential sales of domain names. First, we have the news of a $9,000 .TV sale that took place on the Afternic platform, then a domain investor reveals a recently rejected $95,000 offer to purchase their...
 
5
•••

interviews Ask The Experts: Are You Bullish or Bearish on Domains?

With 2019 just beginning, it’s an opportune time to theorize on the current state of the domain name market and speculate on what might happen in the coming twelve months. To do this, we contacted nine domain industry experts who have a vast amount of data available to form a valid opinion on...
 

Attachments

  • Rick-Schwartz.txt
    5.8 KB · Views: 364
26
•••

information Top Topics: 2018 Reported Outbound Sales Analysis; Your Realistic Goals for This Year...

In our first Top Topics of 2019, we take a look at an in-depth analysis of reported outbound sales from 2018, and a domainer asks other investors to share their realistic domaining goals for 2019. Elsewhere, someone asks for feedback on some advice they dispensed and our featured poll asks for...
 
4
•••

information A Year in Review: Our Top Stories From 2018

With the end of 2018 upon us, it’s an opportune time to reflect on the year. As usual, domain names have had an interesting year, and NamePros has covered some of the most popular news items and features from the past twelve months.

In this handy recap, we relive the best moments of the year...
 
12
•••

information Top Topics: My First $1 Million Offer; Should I Contact This Owner?...

For those who missed it, on Christmas Eve, we published an interview with HostGator founder Brent Oxley, who has amassed a domain portfolio worth around $10 million. The majority of Brent’s portfolio has been listed in the NamesCon auction, and Brent explained his reasoning for doing this...
 
4
•••

interviews Brent Oxley on His $10 Million Portfolio, and Why He's Selling His Domains at NamesCon

Brent Oxley is an important part of the Internet's history. Back in 2002, Brent founded HostGator, a hosting company that quickly became one of the most popular hosting services in the world with Inc. Magazine ranking HostGator as 21st on its list of fastest growing companies in 2008. By 2012...
 

Attachments

  • Brent Oxley - NamesCon.txt
    762 bytes · Views: 380
Last edited:
37
•••

information Top Topics: A Shift Away from .COM?; Your Predictions for 2019...

This is the final edition of Top Topics before Christmas, so I want to take a second to wish a Happy Christmas to all readers who celebrate the occasion. Whilst the festive period tends to be a quiet time in domaining, it can be an opportunity to acquire expiring domains at auction with a little...
 
5
•••

interviews Why This Company Paid $150,000 for User.com

In October 2018, UserEngage made the monumental decision to pay $150,000 to acquire the domain User.com in a transaction brokered by Sedo. Since then, UserEngage has rebranded to User.com, putting the memorable four-letter domain to use almost immediately.

In this Inside Interview, we’re going...
 
35
•••

information Top Topics: How Do I Stop These Calls?; A List of the Top 1,000 US Cities...

This week, we confirmed the news that Duck.com had been transferred into DuckDuckGo’s possession. Following that news release, the article was referenced and mentioned in major news outlets such as TechCrunch, The Verge, and Gizmodo, resulting in over seventy thousand extra visitors to the...
 
6
•••

news Confirmed: Duck.com Transfers to DuckDuckGo

Recently, Jamie Zoch (@Yofie) questioned whether search engine DuckDuckGo had acquired the Duck.com domain name from Google.

Search giant Google acquired the Duck.com domain name in 2010 with the acquisition of On2, a video codec company.

Today, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg...
 
Last edited:
35
•••

information Top Topics: I Sold Tutorial.app for €5,000; Who Do You Contact for Outbound Sales?...

In this week's edition of Top Topics, an investor tells the community about their latest .APP sale, we take a look at the potential correlation between .COM, .NET and .ORG sales and a domainer looks for a little bit of outbound advice. Elsewhere, a question of strategy is addressed.


I...
 
8
•••

data Domain Data: Analyzing $10.7 Million Worth of 3 Letter .COM Sales at NameJet - Part 2

Last week, we released the first of our two-part series looking at $10.7 million worth of three-letter .COM sales that took place on the NameJet platform since 2011. We looked at establishing domain name and pricing data, showing statistics such as the average sales price.

In this second...
 
12
•••

information Top Topics: My Experience With Numerics; What Happened to Emoji Domains?...

In this week’s Top Topics, investor AbdulBasit Makrani shares his experience with numeric domain names, domainers discuss the recent $853,000 sale of Translate.com and we ask, what ever happened to emoji domain names?


My Experience With Numeric Domains

Veteran domain name investor...
 
3
•••

data Domain Data: Analyzing $10.7 Million Worth of 3 Letter .COM Sales at NameJet - Part 1

Every month, domain auction house NameJet sends out a report of all domain sales from that month. Each report also contains a log of every month’s sales from June 2011 to the present day. All data from NameJet is publicly available via NameBio, where all purchases of $100 or more are tracked...
 
15
•••

information Top Topics: Your Best Month of 2018; If You Owned Ethereum.com...

In this week's Top Topics, an investor asks what you would do if you were the owner of Ethereum.com, would you sell it or keep it? Elsewhere, domainers disclose their best month of 2018 for sales and this week's featured poll asks whether .CO or .IO would be better for investment for one-word...
 
4
•••

analysis Top 6 Domains Owned by MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy may not be one of the world’s most instantly recognisable brands, but they have amassed a portfolio of highly valuable domains. Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy has offered business intelligence and analytical services ever since. The company has also amassed a portfolio of one-word...
 
30
•••

information Top Topics: Trainings.com $30,000 Sale Revealed; All Black Friday Deals...

This afternoon, I was informed by Sedo that the domain Trainings.com sold on its platform for $30,000 in September 2017. The details haven’t been made public until now. Trainings.com, registered in 2009, looks to have been previously owned by Domain Developers Fund, according to DomainIQ’s WHOIS...
 
7
•••

sales Dave Evanson Announces the Sale of Kush.com for $500,000

Sedo domain broker @Dave Evanson announced his latest six-figure sale this afternoon, confirming on social media that he had brokered the sale of Kush.com for $500,000. The sale is among the top ten four-letter .COM sales of the past five years, joining the likes of Give.com...
 
Last edited:
25
•••

analysis What's the Deal with Christmas.com?

With Christmas in just forty-one days, consumer activity in preparation for the big day is increasing day by day. Estimates show that spending in the USA for Christmas tops $1 trillion, with much of that spending taking place online. One of the most obvious type-in destinations for...
 
7
•••
Appraise.net

We're social

Escrow.com
Spaceship
Domain Recover
CryptoExchange.com
Catchy
DomDB
NameFit
  • The sidebar remains visible by scrolling at a speed relative to the page’s height.
Back