Highest domain sales of all time

[aww]

highest (published) domain sales of all time

Can anyone add to this list? $100,000 or above only:

Highest (published) Domain Sales of all time

(I'll add date-of-sale over time)

 

[Freakfer]

hello

if you list iqtest.de you must also list the sale of mobile.de (100 Mio Euros) because both sales are under the same terms

I think in both causes the project is the mainpoint

The same is it with business.com
I think the the sale was including a project...

 

[aww]

added: CreditCards.com $2.75million (July 2004)

 

[ThreeD]

Internet.com is a ripoff for $100K ;( I would've let it go for 2 mill, not a penny less...

 

[jaydub]

Nice ajibra. Must get a few click-thru's on that one.

Best of luck on a sale.
Interesting article AWW.
Thanks
Jim

 

[Badger]

yeah, loved reading the posts. What do you think american airlines paid for AA.com??

 

[Mels]

wow! creditcards.com sold for 2.75

 

[creme]

what about Ty.com not sure what is sold for, some guy had it as a site for is baby named Ty. At the height of the Beanie Baby craze, Ty inc. bought it for a lot. It was something like they paid off his mortgage and paid the college fund of the kid, new car etc...

 

[aww]

Interesting. I will have to try to hunt down a public price for TY.com.

In January 1996, Philip Giacalone registered the domain name ty.com ("Ty" being his son's name) from which to operate a site for his computer consultancy services. After an initial approach and offer by the toymaker Ty Inc to buy the domain name for $1000 was refused, Ty Inc began alleging trade mark infringement and demanding the transfer of the domain name. In response, Giacalone filed a complaint against both Ty Inc and NSI alleging bad faith and colourable tactic on the part of Ty Inc and its lawyers, and seeking declaratory relief 67. The dispute was settled, however, with Ty Inc paying Giacalone an undisclosed sum for the domain name.

An early example of reverse domain name hijacking involved the registration of TY.COM by Philip Giacalone to promote his Tech Yard web design services. The word "Ty" was an acronym for his online business as well as the name of his infant son. It appeared nowhere on the website, except as the Internet address. Ty, as all Beanie Baby™ collectors are aware, is also the name of one of world's largest manufacturers of plush toys. There was no infringement of the registered trademark, no confusion of the source of goods which were so different from that of the toy maker. Yet, Ty, Inc., felt its trademark registration generated an entitlement to the TY.COM domain name. In the description of RFC-3, Giacalone's domain registration of this familiar name would be grounds for cancellation.

 

[aww]

added: MR.com which I missed in July (it was a $125k sale and qualifed for this list)

 

[mole]

Originally posted by aww
added: CreditCards.com $2.75million (July 2004)

That's nothing. A very ordinary business shaped by a simple domain name Advertising.com sold for $450M to AOL.

 

[aww]

This list is for pure domain name sales, not sales attached with a business.

Advertising.com was sold WITH the business, hence it doesn't qualify.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by playa
The term "business" itself is virtually meaningless encompassing almost everything: overused, a mile wide and inch deep. And the site admits as much - it's one of them generic looking (own-label) PPC search pages, LOL.

No doubt SEs like Google affected their orig biz plan.
Wait, why not just use Google instead? LOL.

hmmm... this must certainly be one of the most simple yet enlightening comments I've read in a while on these forums.

Originally posted by aww
This list is for pure domain name sales, not sales attached with a business.

Advertising.com was sold WITH the business, hence it doesn't qualify.

How do you, really, draw that fine line, nick? Did the name Advertising.com (rumored sold at $1m to the owner of the company) make the business, or did the business make Advertising.com?

 

[aww]

Most domains are clearly sold with or without content - or are obvious sales with existing clientel.

For example, men.com had no real content. Neither does candy.com so it will qualify as a pure domain sale when it sells.

However, for example, Lindows.com selling for $20 million to Microsoft is not just a domain sale. It's a buyout of the rights to the "Lindows" name/trademark (basically a settlement done in a legally manipulative way). So it will never be on this list.

 

[xbase234]

creditcards.com was also an existing business - shouldn't count as a pure domain sale.

 

[aww]

Is the same business there that was on creditcards.com before?

 

[xbase234]

It was a money generating cc comparison site prior to the press release - at least 3-6 months prior. I work in the SEO field for a major credit card issuer and visited creditcards.com on several occasions in the last year.

It's different now.

There has been an established money-generator on this site since 1998 - see for yourself:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030618191834/http://www.creditcards.com/

 

[aww]

So you are saying they changed the business that was on there.

Hence the domain was sold for the value of the domain itself. Not for the business which they would have kept if it was making them income and part of the sale.

Going back to my original rule of thumb, if the domain is sold without the existing business (or if it never had an exisiting business) it's a domain sale.

If it's sold with the business (either to remove a competitor/trademark like Lindows.com or to gain the clientel, like Advertising.com) it doesn't count.

I know some sales are not black and white like that so I have to make a decision somewhere. But most are obvious one way or another.

 

[xbase234]

No, that's not what I was saying. The buyer is continuing to monetize a pre-existing entity. Just look at archive.org - this was not just a domain - it was a cash generating website.

I'd also like to add that creditcards.com had a lot of traffic, and many pre-existing top rankings on the major search engines for extremely sought after keywords. Clearly,the value extended way beyond the domain alone.

 

[aww]

I see a login on the old site, indicating membership which is not on the existing site, so old members were cut off after the sale. I also see different partnerships with different credit card companies.

It is entirely possible you are correct as almost $3 million just for traffic sounds a little suspect. I just need to find in print somewhere that the sale carried over part of the business itself and not just the domain/traffic.

 

[aww]

I've discovered a few more gems from a few years ago for the million dollar plus mark (added today).