CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2005--
Consolidated Data From DNJournal, Domain-Spiegel.de and Sedo.com Highlights Strong Growth in Secondary Domain Market; Average Sale Price of .com Domains More than $9,700; .info Domain Rapidly Gaining Acceptance
According to data from three leading independent companies tracking the domain name marketplace, DNJournal, Domain-Spiegel.de and Sedo.com, the secondary domain marketplace--the marketplace where already registered domain names are bought and sold -- experienced strong gains both in terms of the volume of sales and the overall sale prices for domains compared to the previous years. According to Domain-Spiegel.de, a German publication that closely tracks the sale of domain names, the domain name marketplace experienced explosive growth with more than 1,400 transactions reported -- compared to only 500 domain transactions reported in 2003 and with just 400 domains sales reported in 2002. In addition, the average sale price of a .com domain increased more than $1,400 from 2003 to 2004, with the average domain selling for more than $9,700.
"A domain name's importance re-emerged as a valuable element of an organization's brand, and the numbers validate this trend," said Matt Bentley, CEO of Sedo.com. "Though we'll likely never see the sale prices of 1999, when domains like business.com fetched $7.5 Million, valuations for key domains have definitely begun to elevate to demonstrate their importance to business and organizations all over the world."
In 2004, new extensions such as .info, .biz, and .us were more widely adopted. The number of .info sales soared from 27 reported sales and a total volume of $68,571 in 2003, to 149 reported sales and a total volume of $367,045 in 2004. Only three .biz sales were reported in 2003, compared to 45 reported sales in 2004. The .us extension increased from 22 reported sales in 2003, to 60 reported sales in 2004.
"Over the past year, buyers have clearly been open to new extensions. This opens a number of opportunities for those buyers that are dedicated to obtaining the right domain name. Now those buyers are more likely to look beyond the traditional .com extension to improve their chances of securing the domain name that best matches their desired brand," said Daniel Dingeldey, editor of Domain-Spiegel.de
As the domain name market continues to thrive, buyers and sellers are looking to domain marketplaces that provide a central platform for domain transactions, unifying a previously disparate marketplace.
Domain Marketplaces Drive Sales
A prominent force driving domain sales in 2004, domain marketplaces supported a significant number of sales. Sedo, the world's largest domain marketplace, supported 60 percent of all secondary domain sales in 2004, with a total of more than 5,500 transactions throughout the year.
In 2004, Sedo successfully managed the sale of a number of high value transactions, including: Woman.com for $250,000; Commerce.com for $180,000; Net.net for $100,000; Banker.com for $41,000; Cairo.com for $35,000; Actor.com for $30,000; Stereos.com for $30,000, and NewYork.info for $28,086.
Domain marketplaces like Sedo offer a centralized platform to streamline the purchase and sale of domain names though a unified online interface, enabling businesses to find a great name for their new online business or drive a branding initiative, while allowing domain name sellers to get the optimal price for their domain assets. Including all domains available for sale at any given time -- nearly two million domains are currently listed on Sedo -- allows buyers to search for the appropriate name and submit offers all through a single interface.
About Sedo.com LLC
Sedo, an acronym for "Search Engine for Domain Offers," is the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world's largest database of domain names for sale, with more than two million listings. Buyers and sellers are brought together through a searchable online marketplace, and conduct negotiations anonymously using an offer-counteroffer system. To facilitate successful transactions, Sedo has introduced a range of related services, including domain name escrow/transfer services, domain name appraisals, a domain brokerage service and paid domain name parking. The success of Sedo's model has attracted a global membership base of more than 200,000 domain professionals, and helped more than 5,000 businesses start their Web presence off on the right foot with a great new domain name. Sedo offers regional versions of its site for the UK (Sedo.co.uk), France (Sedo.fr), Germany (Sedo.de), and Spain (eSedo.com). For additional information, please visit www.sedo.com.
Contacts
fama PR
Kyla Kenney, 617-758-4153
sedo@famapr.com