While Sedo seems to be facing stiffer competition in the domain name aftermarket, they are still the big one. In 2013, Sedo was responsible for 37,241 transactions in its domain marketplace with a mean average price of $1,893 across all sales and a median price of $577. This represented a three percent increase in total transactions over the 36,181 transactions powered in 2012 and an increase in 2012’s mean average price of $1,885.With increased competition from the recently unified GoDaddy/Afternic, and additional players making more headway such as NameJet among others, Sedo is facing increasing competition.The latest figures come from the results of its fiscal year 2013 Annual Domain Market Study that reveals domain industry trends and changes based on transactions in its marketplace.As would be expected, .com retained its position as the most popular TLD in 2013, with just over half of all sales (53 percent) being for a .com domain. This represents a five percent increase from the year prior. In addition, the mean average and median sales prices of .com domains increased during 2013 to $2,235 ($2,148 in 2012) and $650 ($642 in 2012).Sedo claims that as hundreds of new gTLDs begin to launch in 2014, this may be the last year that .com remains on top by such a wide margin. But others are not so sure. The .com TLD continues to grow even among a wide variety of alternatives and strong growth from TLDs such as .co and .me, as well as other ccTLDs.And Verisign, the .com and .net registry provider, believes the growth for .com will continue as brands and individuals continue to seek out .com domains first.Being a global TLD, and the internet being a global medium, registrants will mostly still choose .com domains first, Danny McPherson, CSO at Verisign, told Goldstein Report.But there is a demand for a wide variety of TLDs with market data showing 167 different TLDs were traded on Sedo in 2013, with Sedo believing this shows the market is primed and ready to take advantage of new domains as they are released.”The market reaction so far to the release of new gTLDs has been tremendous – and with 167 different TLDs traded on Sedo last year, we are well-prepared to help our users take full advantage,” said Tobias Flaitz, Sedo’s CEO. “Along with the increase in new domains comes an increased opportunity for businesses to locate and own the memorable domain name they need to be successful. With new gTLDs, the opportunities are endless – and we are looking forward to seeing just how they are used throughout 2014.”The popularity of Buy Now sales, where domain investors, consumers and business owners sell and purchase domains at a set price with no negotiations, continued to increase in 2013. Ultimately, Buy Now accounted for 44 percent of all sales in 2013 (up from 41 percent in 2012), representing a three percent gain over the previous year. As more and more sellers realize that end users want to be able to purchase domains quickly and simply, the number of Buy Now domain listings and sales has steadily increased.Additional highlights of Sedo’s 2013 Domain Market Study include:
- 47 percent of all sales for the year were valued at $500 or less, while domains that sold between $500 and $2,500 accounted for 40 percent of all sales
- the first quarter of 2013 was the year’s strongest in the number of sales, accounting for 10,199 transactions, while the 3rd quarter was the strongest in terms of sales value with $18.8 million
- looking at the traditional alternatives to .com, .net saw a decrease in mean price to $1,384 (down from $1,880 in 2012) and .org saw an increase in mean price to $1,357 (up from $1,315 in 2012)
- the top three public sales for the year were jobs.ca for $450,000, body.com for $380,000 and a tie between yinhang.com and dji.com for $300,000
- more than half of all buyers throughout 2013 originated in Sedo’s two largest markets, the United States (36 percent, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year) and Germany (21 percent).