IT.COM

sales Recent New-Extension Sales: Outliers or Trends?

Spaceship Spaceship
Impressive recent new-extension domain sales have been widely discussed on NamePros. Not only are the five-figure sales noteworthy on their own, they may also represent new ways to use domain names. While it is natural to be excited about high-value sales, it is important to keep in mind that the rate of disclosed new-extension domain name sales remains low. Just 743 new-extension sales, accounting for $2.9 million in sales volume, have been listed on NameBio so far in 2019. By comparison, that volume of .com domain name sales happen in just over a week. Unless there is a turnaround, it looks like 2019 will be slower than the previous two years in terms of new global top level domain (new gTLD) sales.

Major New-Extension Sales
Domain Investor @New.Life released information on two previously unreported new-extension sales from earlier in 2019.

new.work sold for $38,000 via the Uniregistry market. This is not the highest-value sale ever reported in the .work extension, since in 2015 net.work sold for $100,000 according to NameBio records. This is the largest .work extension sale since that time, however.

all.life sold for $25,000 on Afternic. This is the highest reported sale in the extension, beating out the $20,000 sale of simple.life by WebQuest in summer 2019. It is perhaps significant that the two largest .life extension sales have both occurred in the past half-year.
Additional details of the new.work and all.life sales are revealed in the thread, including the European corporate purchasers. In the case of all.life, the company also secured a number of other new-extension domains for the same word. The two sales by @New.Life were from a portfolio of about 400 names, 98% in new extensions. Interestingly, the date of sale was identical for both domains, even though clearly the sales are unrelated.

Another 5-figure sale,CBD.world at a price of $20,000, had been announced earlier in the month. This sale was by Booth Domains who confirmed that the end user was UK company Haze Organics. The transaction took place on Afternic. In this case, over a rather short period of time, the domain name changed hands multiple times, with several domain investors each making a tidy profit. The process started with a hand-registration by @Grego85 not all that long ago.
Note that while documentation in support of the above sales was provided, they were not yet in the NameBio database at the time of writing.

In their weekly sales report, Uniregistry announced another 5-figure sale, diabetes.help sold for $15,000. The site has an under construction message in German.
While deservedly the 5-figure sales received most of the attention, there were also a number of 4-figure new-extension sales announced within the last month including:
  • hey.money $8888
  • investors.club $7000
  • SampleDoc.xyz $4100
  • counter.app $3625
  • bonus.club $2794
With HeyMoney.com selling at the same time as Hey.money, this sale was interesting for reasons beyond the prices paid. The idea of a business holding both a matching .com and new-extension domain name was debated by NamePros members. The associated trademark was filed in August by Advanced Planning Solutions, the apparent user for these domains, although no website is yet operational.

The SampleDoc.xyz sale is the highest-value two-word domain name sale ever in that extension, at least for sales recorded in the NameBio database.

While not a sale with released details, there was NamePros discussion on the decision by My.com to use the domain name My.games for their game division. If more companies follow this model, it will offer additional possibilities for new-extension domain sales. Almost certainly this name would have been a six-figure sale.

Top 10 New-Extension Sales in 2019
The top NameBio listed new extension sales so far in 2019 are listed below.
  1. free.games $335,000
  2. business.club $60,936
  3. support.app $30,000
  4. buy.game $29,999
  5. radio.cloud $28,000
  6. smart.bio $27,685
  7. UI.dev $25,000
  8. T.win $22,500
  9. simple.life $20,000
  10. DX.media $20,000
In compiling the above list, a few things stood out for me. The first is there are ten different extensions in the list.

In new extension domain investing, it is the match and word quality, not the extension, that mainly determine value.

It appears that at least 9 of the 10 top sales were by domain investors. It is not that the registries are not selling premium domain names, but rather that most of those registry sales are not being reported to NameBio.

Compared to the last few years, it is surprising .top is not on the list, although eleventh place is a .top extension sale. The last .top sale listed on NameBio was in early August. I am not sure if this is a change in reporting policy, or if sales in the extension have truly waned. Since .top accounted for so many of the high-value new gTLD sales over the last few years, much of the drop in new-extension sales activity is due to the drop in .top sales.

There is only one NameBio-listed six-figure sale so far in 2019, whereas there were six in 2018. Three of those six were in the .top extension.

Reflections
Congratulations to the sellers and buyers involved in these transactions. The experience of @New.Life in seeing potential in quality names and holding them for years, then rewarded with high-value sales at buy-it-now prices, is motivational.

I am also encouraged by the sequence of sales in the domain name CBD.world. I think this demonstrates the role of buying and selling to domainers, and NamePros offer us effective ways to do that.

I know that not all agree, but I am intrigued by the paired sales of a .com and matching new-extension domain name, and see potential for similar sales.

It is also significant that a successful company invests in a quality new-extension to use for one portion of their service, even though they already had a superb two-letter .com. When companies try out new ways to use domain names, it is positive for our community.

I personally have never seen domains as a competition between .com/.net/.org and other extensions, but rather each have their own roles, and can complement each other.

While I do see positive messages in the recent major sales, nevertheless it is always important to look at the big picture of sales using resources such as NameBio. To me those statistics do not signal an uptick in new-extension domain sales overall.

What Do You Think?
I would love to hear your reflections on any ideas related to this post. In particular:
  • Are things looking up, or down, for new-extension domain investing?
  • Do you see any trends or insights from these particular sales?
  • Do you see more companies using both a .com plus a new-extension domain in the future?
  • Do you plan to retain, liquidate, or increase your new-extension portfolio, or do you not own any currently?
  • Do you see legacy and new-extension domains as in competition or complementary?

 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
This was an interesting piece...
Lot's of useful information...
Thanks for sharing...

~Patricia
 
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When viewing new gTLDs, I would use a similar example, only this time the cream of the cream of the cream of the crop, like less than 1% of the top domains.
I had not thought about it as precisely as this, but I think your model is really helpful @DomainRecap! In .com there are 135 million odd registrations, but maybe 20 million odd names for sale of which maybe 5 million should be for sale (some would argue this fraction). Anyway using your argument I would agree that in a typical new extension maybe 1% of that 5 million will be quality names holding potential value, something like 50,000 names per new TLD. The trick is to find those 50,000 best, great names and great matches across the dot, that carry reasonable renewal fees. And due to various reasons some TLDs will not be investment worthy at all, and others will be so specialized the ratio of desired names will be much smaller.

I would imagine at one point someone was asking the same questions about .com sales decades ago. The big issue for many nTLDs is renewal cost. (Sharastar points out above) Can you hold on to a name long enough to have a shot at a good sale?
Thanks for your comments which are spot on. i think in many ways the new extension market is where legacy was in early days, significantly higher risk but also potentially higher rewards (I am not saying the biggest sales will be in new extensions, just that if you invest say $50 in a new domain domain extension today, and the same $50 in the best legacy you can find at that price, your odds of selling it are probably higher in legacy, but odds of a more significant return ratio if it does sell probably better in new. In an ideal world, new investors need a reasonable horizon, but renewal costs in many extensions make it hard for the numbers to work. Thanks again.

I do not think it is really possible to increase much my new gTLD portfolio now, as even wholesale prices here at Namepros for good new gTLD names are now getting really high, and math does not hold for some of those acquisition costs. Unfortunatelly this is not 2016 anymore. I really like when some legacy investors say that they will invest in new gTLDs, but only once "they are fully proven and established among end users". All I think when I hear that is: good luck with that
You make a good point that the opportunity window for new domain acquisitions is, somewhat, closing. Just as in conventional investment it is expected that higher reward is linked to higher risk, I see that in new extensions. Personally, I think one opportunity, but also a high risk one, is to get standard fee registrations shortly after a TLD launches, scooping up names that the registry have missed in their premium level, or if they offer inexpensive premium levels without premium renewal. The risk though is you really have little idea if that extension will become accepted. Another opportunity is to effectively catch expiring new extensions. @Grego85 and a few others are doing that effectively, but if you compare to the number of people doing it in legacy it is still largely untapped. Anyway, in short, I agree that if you wait until a TLD is well established with an aftermarket sales record, it is probably too late.

Always unbiased.
Thank you. That is my one main goal. I understand that an advocacy voice, where one pushes one side of an argument, is often more fun and engaging, and our industry certainly has a number who do that role well, but for me I have set my goal to try to present with the best current evidence and as balanced as possible. People should hold me to task when I fail that standard, since we all fail sometimes (ok well maybe not everyone but I do). Thank you for your kind comments.

I think one of the biggest unresolved (in my mind) questions is whether a single domainer should specialize in one or the other, or hold a mix. I respect those who hold only .com and those who choose to hold only new. I do see, however, an argument for holding a mix. Both for long term diversification, but also (if one has a domain website) in showing through your offerings that there can be a role in both for many businesses - they may want a .com for their main site but a number of new gTLD for marketing campaigns, for example.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. i hope that others will join the discussion.

Bob
 
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online.casino 510000 USD 2018-06-30 Donuts
vacation.rentals
500300 USD 2017-12-04 Donuts Registry Sale
home.loans
500000 USD 2017-12-31 Registry sale
Free.games
335000 USD 2019-05-26 WebQuest
the.club
300000 USD 2017-12-12 brandaisy.com
casino.online
201250 USD 2017-03-20 Sedo
video.games
183000 USD 2017-02-28 Rightside
1.xyz
182971 USD 2016-03-31 West.cn
88.xin
180000 USD 2015-11-19 Registry Sale
9.xyz
175166 USD 2015-12-21 west.cn
tube.webcam
175000 USD 2014-06-09 Hunting Moon/Sedo
Sex.LIVE
160000 USD 2016-07-13 Rightside
Wine.Club
140000 USD 2015-01-13 NamesCon 2015/RightOfTheDot
6.xyz
125000 USD 2015-11-22 FindYourDomain
Porn.LIVE
120000 USD 2016-07-14 Rightside
co.ltd
115000 USD 2016-08-15 Donuts
i.vip
100667 USD 2016-12-15 190.com
3d.software
100001 USD 2015-05-08 Rightside
dui.attorney
100001 USD 2015-06-01 Private
Undisclosed
100000 USD 2014-12-31 Sedo
 
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And how many years they will be marked as "New"???
5+ years behind already...

New York is still being called New York. After almost 400 years ))
 
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Thanks for the wonderful article
 
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