Gaming Domain Name Sales in January: $103,129
07, February 2008
The domain industry heads into 2008 with the wind of four straight years of bullish growth at its back. Not too surprisingly, this robust growth has spurred heated competition for domain dollars, as large investors continued to enter the space, rolling up thousands of small to medium sized domain portfolios into huge domain conglomerates.
NameMedia consolidated its acquisitions of Afternic and BuyDomains, as well as several dozen smaller domain-holding and parking companies, to create the most powerful company, to date, in the domain industry, while Oversee.net acquired SnapNames.com and Moniker.com, bolstering its position in the live auction space.
Last year, we reported 234 gaming domain name sales for over $4,000,000, highlighted by two huge sales: Scores.com for $1,180,000 and Poker.de for ~$957,000. Since we started keeping track of reported gaming domain sales in 2003, this figure is nearly twice as many sales as we have seen in any given year. While 2007 was not the biggest year with respect to the cumulative dollar amount of domains sold (over $21,000,000 in gaming domains were sold in 2005, led by the nearly $19,800,000 sale of Gambling.com, and over $6,000,000 in gaming domains were sold in 2003, led by the $5,500,000 sale of Casino.com), this was simply by virtue of fewer blockbuster sales, as opposed to any inherent weakness in this segment of the domain market.
In January, the gaming domain sales market continued along a similar path as last year with a relatively large quantity of low quality sales. There were 19 reported gaming domain sales in January for $103,129 (with no six-figure sales and only two five-figure sales).
SnapNames brokered January's largest gaming domain sale: NoLimitTexasHoldEm.com for $38,742.
In January, AfternicDLS posted six overall sales to the monthly gaming domain big board, including iGuild.com for $4,000; PlayFreeOnline.com for $3,650; IslandGames.com for $3,188; PlayLounge.com for $2,500; Play-Win.com for $2,160; and PartyGames.org for $1,400, while Sedo contributed five overall sales, including Poker.cc for $7,385 (.cc is the extension for the Cocos Islands, an island chain located in the middle of the Indian Ocean); BunnyGames.com for $5,908; MMOWorld.com for $4,200; PaintballGames.net for $1,000; and Cheats.nu for $1,000 (.nu is the extension for Niue, one of the larger islands in Polynesia).
Note: last July, Sedo brokered the sale of Casinos.cc for $3,000, which stacks up pretty comparably, with respect to valuation, to Poker.cc's sale for $7,385 this month.
NameJet, a company which has recently been digging into SnapNames death grip on the expiring domain name market, chipped in two strong sales: AddicttingGames.com ("typo" for AddictingGames.com) for $12,000 and Avatars.net for $9,100 (nice buy!).
For reference, AddicttingGames.com has an Alexa rank of ~1,200,000, which suggests that it gets approximately 50-75 hits per day. If this site efficiently monetizes this traffic (currently, the domain is parked with RevenueDirect), then we believe that it should earn approximately $3-5 dollars per day (this is pretty generous!). Taking the midpoint of this estimate, it will take approximately 8.2 years for the buyer to recoup their investment. Given the risks associated with attracting "typo" traffic and the fact that you can buy triple-A bonds that have a higher internal rate of return than this, we think that this is an attrocious investment.
GoDaddy's TDNAM announced that it sold three, lackluster domains, including FreeGameWorld.net for $1,500; VideoPoker.vg for $1,180 (.vg is the TLD for the British Virgin Islands); and WiiDomain.net for $1,015.
Finally, Pubcon sold SportsbookBets.com for $1,950, and Pool brokered the sale of OfficePools.ca for $1,251.
Interesting tangent: today, we learned that Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame, used to be Pool's CEO and was an advisor at SnapNames until it was acquired.
Steal of the Month: SportsbookBets.com for $1,950. Unlike AddicttingGames.com, this is a domain that you can rapidly monetize. It may get 1/6 as much traffic per day as AddicttingGames.com; however, it should make 6x as much money per click, because it will attract much more valuable traffic. Moreover, the new owner of SportsbookBets.com should be able to immediately resell the domain for a similar purchase price.
Dog of the Month: This month witnessed a host of poor domain-purchasing decisions. For this reason, we are going deviate from our normal monthly analysis format and list multiple "dogs" of the month, from bad to worst: NoLimitTexasHoldem.com for $38,742 (way too much money for an 18-letter domain, even one with a strong keyword combination); AddicttingGames.com (see last month's blog entry); Play-Win.com for $2,160 (worthless keywords separated by a hyphen; PlayWin.com has an Alexa rank of 4,482,000- not great); FreeGameWorld.net for $1,500 (long domain with little brand value and non-.com); VideoPoker.vg for $1,180 (strong keywords, but with an extremely weak extension, which will make it difficult to climb the search engine charts); and WiiDomain.net for $1,015 (terrible brand, non-.com, with a trademarked keyword term- OUCH!).
January Sales Chart:
NoLimitTexasHoldEm.com: $38,742 (SnapNames)
AddicttingGames.com ("typo" for AddictingGames.com): $12,000 (NameJet)
Avatars.net: $9,100 (NameJet)
Poker.cc: $7,385 (Sedo)
BunnyGames.com: $5,908 (Sedo)
MMOWorld.com: $4,200 (Sedo)
iGuild.com: $4,000 (AfternicDLS)
PlayFreeOnline.com: $3,650 (AfternicDLS)
IslandGames.com: $3,188 (AfternicDLS)
PlayLounge.com: $2,500 (AfternicDLS)
Play-Win.com: $2,160 (AfternicDLS)
SportsbookBets.com: $1,950 (Pubcon)
FreeGameWorld.net: $1,500 (TDNAM)
PartyGames.org: $1,400 (AfternicDLS)
OfficePools.ca: $1,251 (Pool)
VideoPoker.vg: $1,180 (TDNAM)
WiiDomain.net: $1,015 (TDNAM)
PaintballGames.net: $1,000 (Sedo)
Cheats.nu: $1,000 (Sedo)
The Top 10 Gaming Domain Sales of 2008:
(1) NoLimitTexasHoldem.com: $38,742 (SnapNames)
(2) AddicttingGames.com: $12,000 (NameJet)
(3) Avatars.net: $9,100 (NameJet)
(4) Poker.cc: $7,385 (Sedo)
(5) BunnyGames.com: $5,908 (Sedo)
(6) MMOWorld.com: $4,200 (Sedo)
(7) iGuild.com: $4,000 (AfternicDLS)
(8) PlayFreeOnline.com: $3,650 (AfternicDLS)
(9) IslandGames.com: $3,188 (AfternicDLS)
(10) PlayLounge.com: $2,500 (AfternicDLS)
Annual Gaming Domain Sales Charts:
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Monthly Gaming Domain Sales Analysis:
December
November
October
September
August
July
Game TLD Editor's Note:
We really appreciate any information with respect to premium gaming domain name sales. If you have recently purchased a gaming domain name or know of someone who has, please let us know at editor@gametld.com. We continually strive to make our sales charts more comprehensive and accurate.
NameMedia consolidated its acquisitions of Afternic and BuyDomains, as well as several dozen smaller domain-holding and parking companies, to create the most powerful company, to date, in the domain industry, while Oversee.net acquired SnapNames.com and Moniker.com, bolstering its position in the live auction space.
Last year, we reported 234 gaming domain name sales for over $4,000,000, highlighted by two huge sales: Scores.com for $1,180,000 and Poker.de for ~$957,000. Since we started keeping track of reported gaming domain sales in 2003, this figure is nearly twice as many sales as we have seen in any given year. While 2007 was not the biggest year with respect to the cumulative dollar amount of domains sold (over $21,000,000 in gaming domains were sold in 2005, led by the nearly $19,800,000 sale of Gambling.com, and over $6,000,000 in gaming domains were sold in 2003, led by the $5,500,000 sale of Casino.com), this was simply by virtue of fewer blockbuster sales, as opposed to any inherent weakness in this segment of the domain market.
In January, the gaming domain sales market continued along a similar path as last year with a relatively large quantity of low quality sales. There were 19 reported gaming domain sales in January for $103,129 (with no six-figure sales and only two five-figure sales).
SnapNames brokered January's largest gaming domain sale: NoLimitTexasHoldEm.com for $38,742.
In January, AfternicDLS posted six overall sales to the monthly gaming domain big board, including iGuild.com for $4,000; PlayFreeOnline.com for $3,650; IslandGames.com for $3,188; PlayLounge.com for $2,500; Play-Win.com for $2,160; and PartyGames.org for $1,400, while Sedo contributed five overall sales, including Poker.cc for $7,385 (.cc is the extension for the Cocos Islands, an island chain located in the middle of the Indian Ocean); BunnyGames.com for $5,908; MMOWorld.com for $4,200; PaintballGames.net for $1,000; and Cheats.nu for $1,000 (.nu is the extension for Niue, one of the larger islands in Polynesia).
Note: last July, Sedo brokered the sale of Casinos.cc for $3,000, which stacks up pretty comparably, with respect to valuation, to Poker.cc's sale for $7,385 this month.
NameJet, a company which has recently been digging into SnapNames death grip on the expiring domain name market, chipped in two strong sales: AddicttingGames.com ("typo" for AddictingGames.com) for $12,000 and Avatars.net for $9,100 (nice buy!).
For reference, AddicttingGames.com has an Alexa rank of ~1,200,000, which suggests that it gets approximately 50-75 hits per day. If this site efficiently monetizes this traffic (currently, the domain is parked with RevenueDirect), then we believe that it should earn approximately $3-5 dollars per day (this is pretty generous!). Taking the midpoint of this estimate, it will take approximately 8.2 years for the buyer to recoup their investment. Given the risks associated with attracting "typo" traffic and the fact that you can buy triple-A bonds that have a higher internal rate of return than this, we think that this is an attrocious investment.
GoDaddy's TDNAM announced that it sold three, lackluster domains, including FreeGameWorld.net for $1,500; VideoPoker.vg for $1,180 (.vg is the TLD for the British Virgin Islands); and WiiDomain.net for $1,015.
Finally, Pubcon sold SportsbookBets.com for $1,950, and Pool brokered the sale of OfficePools.ca for $1,251.
Interesting tangent: today, we learned that Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame, used to be Pool's CEO and was an advisor at SnapNames until it was acquired.
Steal of the Month: SportsbookBets.com for $1,950. Unlike AddicttingGames.com, this is a domain that you can rapidly monetize. It may get 1/6 as much traffic per day as AddicttingGames.com; however, it should make 6x as much money per click, because it will attract much more valuable traffic. Moreover, the new owner of SportsbookBets.com should be able to immediately resell the domain for a similar purchase price.
Dog of the Month: This month witnessed a host of poor domain-purchasing decisions. For this reason, we are going deviate from our normal monthly analysis format and list multiple "dogs" of the month, from bad to worst: NoLimitTexasHoldem.com for $38,742 (way too much money for an 18-letter domain, even one with a strong keyword combination); AddicttingGames.com (see last month's blog entry); Play-Win.com for $2,160 (worthless keywords separated by a hyphen; PlayWin.com has an Alexa rank of 4,482,000- not great); FreeGameWorld.net for $1,500 (long domain with little brand value and non-.com); VideoPoker.vg for $1,180 (strong keywords, but with an extremely weak extension, which will make it difficult to climb the search engine charts); and WiiDomain.net for $1,015 (terrible brand, non-.com, with a trademarked keyword term- OUCH!).
January Sales Chart:
NoLimitTexasHoldEm.com: $38,742 (SnapNames)
AddicttingGames.com ("typo" for AddictingGames.com): $12,000 (NameJet)
Avatars.net: $9,100 (NameJet)
Poker.cc: $7,385 (Sedo)
BunnyGames.com: $5,908 (Sedo)
MMOWorld.com: $4,200 (Sedo)
iGuild.com: $4,000 (AfternicDLS)
PlayFreeOnline.com: $3,650 (AfternicDLS)
IslandGames.com: $3,188 (AfternicDLS)
PlayLounge.com: $2,500 (AfternicDLS)
Play-Win.com: $2,160 (AfternicDLS)
SportsbookBets.com: $1,950 (Pubcon)
FreeGameWorld.net: $1,500 (TDNAM)
PartyGames.org: $1,400 (AfternicDLS)
OfficePools.ca: $1,251 (Pool)
VideoPoker.vg: $1,180 (TDNAM)
WiiDomain.net: $1,015 (TDNAM)
PaintballGames.net: $1,000 (Sedo)
Cheats.nu: $1,000 (Sedo)
The Top 10 Gaming Domain Sales of 2008:
(1) NoLimitTexasHoldem.com: $38,742 (SnapNames)
(2) AddicttingGames.com: $12,000 (NameJet)
(3) Avatars.net: $9,100 (NameJet)
(4) Poker.cc: $7,385 (Sedo)
(5) BunnyGames.com: $5,908 (Sedo)
(6) MMOWorld.com: $4,200 (Sedo)
(7) iGuild.com: $4,000 (AfternicDLS)
(8) PlayFreeOnline.com: $3,650 (AfternicDLS)
(9) IslandGames.com: $3,188 (AfternicDLS)
(10) PlayLounge.com: $2,500 (AfternicDLS)
Annual Gaming Domain Sales Charts:
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Monthly Gaming Domain Sales Analysis:
December
November
October
September
August
July
Game TLD Editor's Note:
We really appreciate any information with respect to premium gaming domain name sales. If you have recently purchased a gaming domain name or know of someone who has, please let us know at editor@gametld.com. We continually strive to make our sales charts more comprehensive and accurate.