Domain name sales for the start of 2014 are starting to rise, and the real winners so far are those that end with the ever-popular .com extension.
Domain name 100.com has jumped to the front of the pack with a sale worth US$950,000 (AUD$1.57 million) in February that takes out top spot for the month and the year to date.
100.com was bought by public company YY inc. and has launched it as a Chinese language online education site. As DNJournal has reported, YY Chairman Jun Lei intends to invest US$163 million building up 100.com over the next 2-3 years.
Lei is also founder, chairman and CEO of another booming Chinese company, Xiamoi, and is quickly making a name for himself as “the Steve Jobs of China”, with DNJournal’s report suggesting he is one to watch in the domain name and business worlds.
But the .com trend continues beyond this massive sale, with the next biggest purchase for February worth US$120,840 for the number-based 0060.com. Rounding out the top three sales is the word-based domain WebMeeting.com, which sold for US$40,000.
In fact, of the top 10 sales for February, only one is not a .com: Dental.ca takes fourth spot with a US$22,600 domain name sale. The rest of the highest domain name sales for the month are all relatively short (ie. single-word) .coms.
This trend suggests that .com will continue to be the most sought after domain name option, even when new options become available. It is also backed up by data for the whole of 2014 so far, with the vast majority of high sales going to domain names ending with this extension.
What’s also interesting about these .com sales – particularly the more recent ones – is that most of them are sold privately. That means the buyers and sellers are working outside of domain name services, relying more on their own skills or those of qualified domain name brokers who can help buyers get the domain names they really want.
While a wide range of new top-level domain names are about to come onto the market, sales for the year so far suggest the .com legacy will continue. But this news is also a reminder that there are a number of ways to get the best domain name for your goals and price range.