Over the past 12 months, we have covered a number of high profile and high value domain name sales on the NamePros blog, varying from multi-million dollar sales of two-number .COMs down to five-figure brandable sales. I thought it would be interesting to see exactly what these domain names are being used for now, and whether they have been resold since we wrote about them initially.
Below is a selection of the sales we've covered in chronological order with updates on what they're used for now.
AUX.com
Mike Mann announced the $100,000 sale of aux.com in October of last year. At the time, he described the name as being sold "way too cheap". The domain is still owned by the investor that originally acquired the domain, and it remains parked.
QJS.com
On the same day, Mike Berkens announced that he had sold QJS.com for $150,000. This was sold to a Chinese buyer, and the domain was transferred under privacy to eName, China's most popular domain registrar.
There's a possibility that this domain may have been resold in September 2016 according to my contacts, but the domain remains under privacy. If it was resold, it's likely that the original buyer lost quite a bit of money, since the three-letter .COM market has dipped as of late.
XA.com
Thanks to James Booth (@BoothDomains), we learned that XA.com had been sold for $850,000, with that figure coming directly from the buyer. The name has now been placed under WHOIS privacy at GoDaddy and has been put up for sale at China's popular 4.CN marketplace with a "Buy Now" price of around $1.5 million.
Daikuan.com
John Xu, the former owner of 4.CN, told us that he sold Daikuan.com in December 2015. Although the exact price wasn't revealed, we were told it was acquired for over $1.5 million.
The domain now houses the website for a Chinese auto loan company. The company behind Daikuan.com received $550 million in funding in August 2016.
1998.com
Sold for $190,000, this numeric domain was one of the largest four-number .COM sales of 2015. According to WHOIS, the name may have been sold again in early 2016 when it was transferred under privacy to China's eName registrar.
77.com
We uncovered the huge sale of 77.com, with the name allegedly being sold for over $5 million. It was acquired by @DomainEmpire.com, and still remains in their possession.
It looks like James Booth is the current broker for this name as it's listed on James' website BQDN.com with an asking price of $6 million.
Estera.com
In February 2016, Mike Mann confirmed the $41,000 sale of Estera.com. At the time, the new owners were not known, but a fully developed site is now live on Estera.com.
According to the website, a company called Appleby Fiduciary Business rebranded as Estera in 2016. Estera has 350 employees in 10 offices, so a sales price of $41,000 may have been considered fairly small for this British company.
MZ.com
Gaming company Machine Zone bought MZ.com in March 2016. Since then, the company looks to have fully adopted the MZ theme, having now forwarded MachineZone.com to MZ.com. Machine Zone also makes several references to MZ throughout their website.
In April 2016, Machine Zone filed a federal trademark registration with the USPTO for the term "MZ". From the trademark description, it looks as if they're moving into more than gaming.
PersonalPlanner.com
Another Mike Mann sale that we covered was that of PersonalPlanner.com. The domain was sold for $43,000 via Sedo. At the time, I speculated that the domain may have been sold to Swedish company Personlig Almanacka.
I was proven right, as the domain is now in the hands of Personlig Almanacka, and is forwarding to their existing Personal-Planner.com website.
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As I said, we have covered more sales over the past twelve months, but these are some of the more noteable or interesting domains that I was curious to see how they're being used after the sales.
Below is a selection of the sales we've covered in chronological order with updates on what they're used for now.
AUX.com
Mike Mann announced the $100,000 sale of aux.com in October of last year. At the time, he described the name as being sold "way too cheap". The domain is still owned by the investor that originally acquired the domain, and it remains parked.
QJS.com
On the same day, Mike Berkens announced that he had sold QJS.com for $150,000. This was sold to a Chinese buyer, and the domain was transferred under privacy to eName, China's most popular domain registrar.
There's a possibility that this domain may have been resold in September 2016 according to my contacts, but the domain remains under privacy. If it was resold, it's likely that the original buyer lost quite a bit of money, since the three-letter .COM market has dipped as of late.
XA.com
Thanks to James Booth (@BoothDomains), we learned that XA.com had been sold for $850,000, with that figure coming directly from the buyer. The name has now been placed under WHOIS privacy at GoDaddy and has been put up for sale at China's popular 4.CN marketplace with a "Buy Now" price of around $1.5 million.
Daikuan.com
John Xu, the former owner of 4.CN, told us that he sold Daikuan.com in December 2015. Although the exact price wasn't revealed, we were told it was acquired for over $1.5 million.
The domain now houses the website for a Chinese auto loan company. The company behind Daikuan.com received $550 million in funding in August 2016.
1998.com
Sold for $190,000, this numeric domain was one of the largest four-number .COM sales of 2015. According to WHOIS, the name may have been sold again in early 2016 when it was transferred under privacy to China's eName registrar.
77.com
We uncovered the huge sale of 77.com, with the name allegedly being sold for over $5 million. It was acquired by @DomainEmpire.com, and still remains in their possession.
It looks like James Booth is the current broker for this name as it's listed on James' website BQDN.com with an asking price of $6 million.
Estera.com
In February 2016, Mike Mann confirmed the $41,000 sale of Estera.com. At the time, the new owners were not known, but a fully developed site is now live on Estera.com.
According to the website, a company called Appleby Fiduciary Business rebranded as Estera in 2016. Estera has 350 employees in 10 offices, so a sales price of $41,000 may have been considered fairly small for this British company.
MZ.com
Gaming company Machine Zone bought MZ.com in March 2016. Since then, the company looks to have fully adopted the MZ theme, having now forwarded MachineZone.com to MZ.com. Machine Zone also makes several references to MZ throughout their website.
In April 2016, Machine Zone filed a federal trademark registration with the USPTO for the term "MZ". From the trademark description, it looks as if they're moving into more than gaming.
PersonalPlanner.com
Another Mike Mann sale that we covered was that of PersonalPlanner.com. The domain was sold for $43,000 via Sedo. At the time, I speculated that the domain may have been sold to Swedish company Personlig Almanacka.
I was proven right, as the domain is now in the hands of Personlig Almanacka, and is forwarding to their existing Personal-Planner.com website.
--
As I said, we have covered more sales over the past twelve months, but these are some of the more noteable or interesting domains that I was curious to see how they're being used after the sales.
