Last week @Soofi shared an article by @Ron Jackson announcing the brokered sale of Poker.net for $750,000. The sale was not listed on NameBio when I checked, but it would become the highest-value sale in the extension. The previous high was the $500,000 sale of mobile.net.
There have been a number of discussions on NamePros around how the
So what do the numbers tell us about the
NET Continues To Sell
While the view that
To separate retail
The total sales dollar volume is probably the best single measure for an extension. Note that the following only includes $500+ sales, and only venues that are reported in NameBio.
One thing to keep in mind as a possibility, is that if domain name investors lower prices to decrease their holdings in an extension, it can result in sustaining volume even if interest is lagging.
NET Retail Prices
When we exclude the sales below $500, the average prices are quite solid in
The average price is heavily influenced by the highest value sales. I show below the single highest NameBio-recorded
If the recently announced $750,000 sale is added to NameBio, then 2021 will have by far the highest price in recent years.
By comparison, over the past 5 years the average price, when sales of $500 plus only are included, in
As Old As COM
The
The oldest
Big NET Sales Last Five Years
For a 5 year period up to today, I looked at NameBio-recorded sales in
When I look at the list of recent major sales, I don’t see any significant trend over time, certainly not a downward one, since 8 of the 22 high-value
A variety of types of
No particular sectors seem to dominate.
Popular Keywords
In terms of registrations, the most popular keywords in
Sell-Through Rate
While the number of sales, or sales dollar volume, are important, the probability of a sale, along with price, is directly related to domainer profitability. It is impossible to precisely predict your personal probability for selling domain names in an extension. However, it is possible to calculate the apparent domain name sell-through rate in an extension across the entire aftermarket.
I applied a $500 minimum sales price to emphasize retail sales rather than domainer wholesale acquisitions. NameBio show 5909
Dofo Advanced Search allows one to find the number of domain names for sale. Currently there are just over 813,000
If we do a similar sell-through rate for
Therefore, while there are many more sales in
Website Use Of NET
According to one measure of web use, Cisco Umbrella data, at time of writing
The most used
Overall, DomainNameStats show that almost 26,000
Domain investors regularly use a few
The NET End User Pool
While the
I had a look at OpenCorporates, and there are 126,990 active businesses and organizations including the word network. The word net appears in the name of 54,097 active businesses and organizations. Therefore the potential pool of end users for the
NET Use By Startups
In a study Which Extensions Are Startups Using in 2020, @James Iles found that 12 of the 991 startup set used a
Dofo looked at Domain Names of Fortune 500 companies, finding that almost all used
Final Thoughts
Thanks to NameBio, OpenCorporates, Dofo, DomainNameStats and JamesNames for data used for this article.
There have been a number of discussions on NamePros around how the
.net extension compares to other TLDs. For example, @acs6656 asked .co vs .net?. Recently @ReallyBigIdea.com started a discussion around net domains in 2021. Back in 2008, @dnyellow asked Which has more value? .net or .info, while in 2014 @bretttina asked What is better biz or net?So what do the numbers tell us about the
.net domain extension?NET Continues To Sell
While the view that
.net is in decline has been expressed, the aftermarket sales record, at least as recorded in NameBio, does not suggest a significant downturn.To separate retail
.net sales, I considered only sales at $500 or more. Any dividing price is not perfect, of course. Shown below are the statistics for $500 plus .net sales reported in NameBio from 2014 to 2020.The total sales dollar volume is probably the best single measure for an extension. Note that the following only includes $500+ sales, and only venues that are reported in NameBio.
One thing to keep in mind as a possibility, is that if domain name investors lower prices to decrease their holdings in an extension, it can result in sustaining volume even if interest is lagging.
NET Retail Prices
When we exclude the sales below $500, the average prices are quite solid in
.net.The average price is heavily influenced by the highest value sales. I show below the single highest NameBio-recorded
.net sale for each year.If the recently announced $750,000 sale is added to NameBio, then 2021 will have by far the highest price in recent years.
By comparison, over the past 5 years the average price, when sales of $500 plus only are included, in
.com was $3600, and the .org average was $2359. Note that the $30 million sale of voice.com heavily impacts the .com average.As Old As COM
The
.netextension was introduced in1985, the same year as .com, .edu, .org, .mil and .gov.The oldest
.net domain registration is nordu.net, still in use by a nordic nations networking consortium. The second .net domain name to be registered is broken.net, registered in 1986. It is currently in used, but in an underwhelming way!Big NET Sales Last Five Years
For a 5 year period up to today, I looked at NameBio-recorded sales in
.net. There were 22 sales at $35,000 or more shown below.co.net, $100,000 (2017)08.net, $87,000 (2018)arc.net, $80,000 (2018)FM.net, $70,000 (2020)app.net, $70,000 (2020)odds.net, $70,000 (2017)oge.net, $62,000 (2019)HorseRacing.net, $60,000 (2019)16.net, $60,000 (2017)juegos.net, $60,000 (2017)Sudoku.net, $52,863 (2019)esports.net, $50,000 (2017)tomorrow.net, $50,000 (2017)movies.net, $45,000 (2020)sleep.net, $44,494 (2021)memories.net, $41,000 (2020)TL.net, $40,000 (2018)juice.net, $40,000 (2017)gravity.net, $38,500 (2020)Madrid.net, $38,412 (2019)5555.net, $38,286 (2020)founders.net, $37,500 (2020)
.arc.net, which redirects to TheBrowser.company, a new web browser it seems. I had wondered whether the great name FM.net would be a radio station, but it is a site to help churches, organizations and businesses with audio, video, lighting, IT and other services. I really like the name gravity.net, sold by @Braden Pollock. It is in use by a cyber security company. The domain app.net is in use by an app development service.When I look at the list of recent major sales, I don’t see any significant trend over time, certainly not a downward one, since 8 of the 22 high-value
.netsales are in 2020 or early 2021.A variety of types of
.net domain names sell for high amounts: short acronyms, dictionary word, numeric, and alphanumeric.No particular sectors seem to dominate.
Popular Keywords
In terms of registrations, the most popular keywords in
.net domain names are group, online, bet, VIP, home, tech, life, web, solutions and services, according to the Dofo report on the .NET Domain Extension.Sell-Through Rate
While the number of sales, or sales dollar volume, are important, the probability of a sale, along with price, is directly related to domainer profitability. It is impossible to precisely predict your personal probability for selling domain names in an extension. However, it is possible to calculate the apparent domain name sell-through rate in an extension across the entire aftermarket.
I applied a $500 minimum sales price to emphasize retail sales rather than domainer wholesale acquisitions. NameBio show 5909
.net domain name sales above $500 over the past 5 years, for an average of 1182 per year. Keep in mind that sales from many venues are not reported on NameBio, so the actual number of sales may be 5 times more than this.Dofo Advanced Search allows one to find the number of domain names for sale. Currently there are just over 813,000
.net domain names for sale. Combining these figures suggests an apparent sell-through rate (sales>$500) of 0.145% for .net, or about 0.725% as a probable actual rate accounting for sales not reported in NameBio.If we do a similar sell-through rate for
.com, again considering sales over $500, there were 123,300 sales over a 5 year period, or about 24,660 per year. The number of .com domain names currently for sale is about 19,106,000. The resulting apparent sell-through rate, industry wide, for .com is 0.129%, or about 0.645% as a probable actual rate.Therefore, while there are many more sales in
.com, the sell-through rates are about equal in .com and .net, actually slightly favouring .net. In other words, while many more .com names sell, your names are in competition with many more names in .com.Website Use Of NET
According to one measure of web use, Cisco Umbrella data, at time of writing
.net was the second most used extension, after.com, edging out .org. See The Most Used Domain Extensions - From Under the Cisco Umbrella for details on the methodology.The most used
.net domain name is CSDN.net, the 25th most popular website according to Alexa. The site is a Chinese language code development site.Overall, DomainNameStats show that almost 26,000
.net websites are in the Alexa 1M most popular sites.Domain investors regularly use a few
.net sites, such as ExpiredDomains.net and Gandi.net.The NET End User Pool
While the
.net extension can be used for any sector, it makes particular sense for networks. Traditionally these were digital networks, but increasingly social networks are also rich ground for .net extension use.I had a look at OpenCorporates, and there are 126,990 active businesses and organizations including the word network. The word net appears in the name of 54,097 active businesses and organizations. Therefore the potential pool of end users for the
.net extension is very large.NET Use By Startups
In a study Which Extensions Are Startups Using in 2020, @James Iles found that 12 of the 991 startup set used a
.net domain extension. This is less than .io or .co, and given that many startups are broadly based around the concept of a digital or social network, is somewhat surprising.Dofo looked at Domain Names of Fortune 500 companies, finding that almost all used
.com, with only 3 using a .net. It is not surprising that the largest businesses, most established for some time, would be operating on a .com.Final Thoughts
- The use of
.netfor primary business websites, at least of the largest businesses and recent startups, is not strong. The fact that brandable marketplaces handle few or no.netdomain names is a detriment to getting.netdomain names noticed. - The presence of the
.networknew extension is a possible competitor option in some cases. - Nevertheless, many
.netdomain names do find meaningful use in both businesses and organizations. - Sales of
.netdomain names have been relatively steady. - The sell-through rate of
.comand.netare comparable. - There are a large number of businesses and organizations with net or network in their name, and there are opportunities for
.netsales, even at very strong prices. - I think most agree that the
.comis a better choice in the same word, unless the term is ideally a match with the.netextension. However, the question is not really about the same word in the two extensions, but is a stronger word in.netbetter than a less strong word, or multi-word name, in.comat a similar price. - Even though the
.netextension is heavily registered, it is still possible to obtain relatively strong single word.netdomain names at reasonable prices in the expiry, closeout or drop streams, or occasionally to hand register. - While renewal costs are slightly higher than
.comthey are comparable. The same company, Verisign, manages.comand.net.
.net extension. Please vote in the attached poll. Also, feel free to share a few names from your own portfolio that you consider either particularly valuable or a great match to the .net extension.Thanks to NameBio, OpenCorporates, Dofo, DomainNameStats and JamesNames for data used for this article.
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