Domain Name Sales Numbers Increase, But Values Fall: Sedo Study

Domain name sales numbers have continued to increase Sedo’s Secondary Domain Market Study for Q1 2009 has found, but the average value of domains sold has continued to decline, undoubtedly a symptom of the global financial crisis.

Domain name sales numbers have continued to increase Sedo’s Secondary Domain Market Study for Q1 2009 has found, but the average value of domains sold has continued to decline, undoubtedly a symptom of the global financial crisis.There was a six per cent increase in the number of domains changing hands through the Sedo marketplace in Q1, but a four per cent drop in the total sales value as a result of the average sales price dropping nearly seven per cent from Q4, 2008. A move to online trading by business, probably to defer costs in the current global financial crisis, has meant a 6.4 per cent jump in the number of buyers on the domain marketplace.Overall, the .COM extension remains the most popular top level domain (TLD) and the most popular generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) sold on the Sedo marketplace in the first quarter of 2009 claiming more than 75 per cent of all gTLDs sold. The .NET remains its consistent share of 9% of gTLDs sold in Q1 with the .info and .org trailing behind at seven per cent each.In the ccTLD market, there was a slight growth in the sales volume for many ccTLDs in the first quarter of 2009 in comparison to 2008. The .DE remains the most commonly sold ccTLD on the Sedo marketplace with 60 per cent of all ccTLD sales, while sales of .co.uk domains remained consistent with the results seen in 2008 with 13 per cent of sales. The .EU accounted for nine per cent of sales followed by .ES with seven per cent.Quarter 1 2009 saw an increase in the volume of domain names sold, both on the previous quarter and the same quarter in 2008. Sedo’s figures only go back five quarters, but the 9,326 domain name sales in Q1 2009 compares to the 8,754 sold in Q1 and Q4 2008. However this is significantly behind the 9,727 and 9,649 sold in Q2 and Q3 2008.Top selling country code domain names for the quarter .DE and CO.UK again with average sale prices dropping when compared to 2008, however the decline is not across the board. Sales of .ES, .FR and .EU have all seen higher sales thus far in 2009.Sedo profiles five gTLDs and six ccLTDs. They found that while average sale prices for Q1 2009 increased for three gTLDs when compared to 2008, the average declined for all five when compared to 2007. For example, the average sale price for .COM domains was £2,563 in 2007, £1,282 in 2008 and £1,757 in 2007.However the ccTLD market was different. For example, CO.UK which had the highest average domain sale price in 2007 of the six profiled (3,461) dropped to 1,661 in 2008 and 1,004 in Q1 2009. The .ES also saw a marked decline from £2,363 in 2007 to £1,300 in 2008, but has slightly increased in q! 2009 to £1,320.One ccTLD to go against the trend was .FR, seeing average sale prices rising markedly from 1,301 in 2007 to 2,134 in 2008 to 2,953 in Q1 2009.These were the only ccTLDs that saw average prices above £1,000.Another interesting trend to note are the increase in the number of fixed price domains changing hands.Sedo have also added a most popular category for domain sales in this report with the most popular categories for the latest study being:
1. Business
2. Acronyms and Letters
3. Media
4. Travel and Leisure
5. Shopping
6. Sports
7. Finance and Money
8. Technology
9. Society
10. GamblingThe top ten sales for Q1 2009 were:
1. Top.com – £327,917
2. Body.com – £283,677
3. Forums.com – £275,794
4. Dollars.com – £269,255
5. Flatrate.de – £141,616
6. Motor.es – £78,447
7. Basket.com – £59,460
8. 92.com – £49,710
9. Anwalt.com – £48,630
10. Gonghui.com – £44,734To read the Sedo study in full [PDF – 288K], go to:
www.sedo.co.uk/press/domainmarketstudyQ12009-uk.pdf

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