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 domainer Michael Bilde (@Embrand) bought the name and swiftly put it up for sale at BrandBucket. According to archival records, the domain held a $180,000 "buy now" price at BrandBucket.
That $180,000 "buy now" price stayed until November 2018 when the domain moved into WHOIS privacy protection, and also changed nameservers. The domain is now being used by Handle, an invoicing startup founded in September 2018. The company started off on Handle.us, before moving to Handle.com.
Interestingly, the @Handle Twitter account is owned and operated by another company called Handle, who has raised $22 million in funding since 2011. They are currently operating on the handle.today domain name, although archival records show that they used to operate on Handle.com. It's unclear as to why the previous occupants of the domain moved from Handle.com to Handle.today.
It's unclear as to whether this new deal was an outright purchase or a lease-to-own deal. After reaching out to former owner Michael Bilde, he was unable to confirm whether the domain name was bought outright. We also reached out to Handle, but have not received a response to our inquiries.
Whether it was an outright purchase or a lease-to-own deal, Handle made a very positive strategic move in securing the Handle.com domain name so early in their journey.
DomainIQ's WHOIS shows that domainer Michael Bilde (@Embrand) bought the name and swiftly put it up for sale at BrandBucket. According to archival records, the domain held a $180,000 "buy now" price at BrandBucket.
That $180,000 "buy now" price stayed until November 2018 when the domain moved into WHOIS privacy protection, and also changed nameservers. The domain is now being used by Handle, an invoicing startup founded in September 2018. The company started off on Handle.us, before moving to Handle.com.
Interestingly, the @Handle Twitter account is owned and operated by another company called Handle, who has raised $22 million in funding since 2011. They are currently operating on the handle.today domain name, although archival records show that they used to operate on Handle.com. It's unclear as to why the previous occupants of the domain moved from Handle.com to Handle.today.
It's unclear as to whether this new deal was an outright purchase or a lease-to-own deal. After reaching out to former owner Michael Bilde, he was unable to confirm whether the domain name was bought outright. We also reached out to Handle, but have not received a response to our inquiries.
Whether it was an outright purchase or a lease-to-own deal, Handle made a very positive strategic move in securing the Handle.com domain name so early in their journey.
