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Heating up: 3D.com negotiations

3D.com

Months after securing the rights to sell the domain name 3D.com, Sedo broker Ryan Colby is reporting (via Twitter) that negotiations are heating up.

As I reported back in November 2010 on the history of 3D domain sales, some of the top publicly reported sales took place in 2010, with the sale of 3Dtv.co.uk leading the charts at $22,650 in March 2010. 

The current sales record belongs to 3Dprinting.com which sold for $25,500 EURO in early 2011, however the sale of 3D.com should easily shatter that mark.

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News

3D domain names could see strong growth and sales in 2011

3D Porn

Some like Stephen Douglas are for investing in 3D domain names, and others think it’s nothing but a waste of money because it will be years to come before 3D technology takes off. 

No matter how you look at it, long gone are the days that you can wait until a trend begins to pick up steam and still hope to find good domain names in that category.  Investors who spotted the 3D domain trend early on, may be cashing in sooner, than later as the 3D trend sees growth. 

One of the first big sales in 2011 as reported by Sedo’s GreatDomains, was the sale of 3DPrinting.com for $25,500 Euro ($33,017 USD).  That’s right, even 3D Printing is hot.  A recent article in TechCrunch offered eleven predictions in 2011 not for 3D in general, but specifically for 3D printing. 

CES and 3D

Though I didn’t attend the Consumer Electronics Show, many technology blogs and news sites have said 3D was one of hottest topics  at this year’s show – from 3D TV to 3D video, 3D displays to 3D TV glasses, and many more 3D products.

News of Penthouse creating the first 3D porn channel has even been announced.  According to Fox Business, “Friendfinder CEO Marc Bell and porn star Nikki Benz arrived at the Fox Broadcast location at the Consumer Electronics Show armed with the very first shot-in-3D adult film, entitled “Real Porn Stars of Chatsworth.” 

Sony’s CEO Howard Stringer see’s his company’s future in 3D. 
 
In an interview with USAToday,  Stringer said,  “In the digital world, he who hesitates is abandoned. So you have to generate 3-D excitement with as many devices as you can find.” 
 
However you slice it, when 2011 comes to a close, you can bet that there were will be many more high priced 3D domain sales than there has been in previous years.
 
Here’s the video from CES 2011, of Penthouse announcing the first 3D Porn channel.
 

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News Trademarks

A brief history of 3D domain name sales

Avatar 3D

Ever since Stephen Douglas posted an article about 3D Domains as the next big trend for domain buyers and sellers, I’ve been more interested in learning about the space.  Domain investors have also been having a number of online discussions about 3D domains over at DN Forum, Namepros and other forums.

I decided to take a quick look at the sales history of 3D domain names using one of the best resources for domain investors: DomainTools.com – Sales History.

Some of the top publicly reported sales took place in 2010, with the sale of 3Dtv.co.uk leading the charts, selling for $22,650 in March 2010.  A web site is online and blog, run by a small team headed by the founder, Chris Conwell, who has been active on the web since 1995.  Chris Conwell is a big-time domain investor and developer.  According to the web site: ‘Chris also owns the popular gift ideas site Gadgets.co.uk and the domain name site Zycon.co.uk which has a portfolio of almost 8000 domains. He also owned one of the UK’s leading mobile phone sites, Mobiles.co.uk, until its recent sale to The Carphone Warehouse.’

3Dscience.com sold for $4,637 via Afternic in 2005.   3DScience.com is a website operated by Zygote Media Group, Inc.   The company’s mission is: ‘to be the best scientific visualization content provider to professionals and consumers while leading the industry in innovative creative development, artistic quality and service.’

Web3D.com sold in 2009 on the aftermarket site NameJet.  The price: $14,301.  3Dweb.com sold for $8,100 back in September via Sedo.  And that was just the tip of the iceberg for Sedo.

In 2010, Sedo closed several four-figure deals:

3Dweb.net €3,000.00
3D-templates.com $2,789.00
3Dwebcam.com $2,500.00
3Dmovie.com €2,499.00
3D-video.com $2,488.00
3Ddvds.com $2,200.00
3D-animation.com €1,888.00

The list of sales goes on and on.  At the time of this story, 3DPS3.com is in auction with a bid of $100.  As Mike Berkens recently discussed on his blog The Domains, Sedo hasn’t done much to clean up trademark infringing auctions.  Clearly, the auction for 3DPS3.com will draw attention – just this week Sony announced more than 50 3D-enabled games are in development for its PS3 platform.

If you have more information on 3D domain sales or tips on 3D domain names, please leave a comment below or use the Contact Us form.

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News

3D domains becoming a hot trend: Have you started buying?

3D games

Mike Berkens has wrote about it.  Stephen Douglas has wrote about it.  Combined, the number of comments for both stories has reached nearly 1,000.  I even wrote about it this week in a story headlined: 3D.com delivers an amazing pitch for its domain name, after reading Stephen Douglas’ story and stumbling upon the changes to the 3D.com web site that had transformed from a parked page to a web site in recent months.

When it comes to 3D, there is definitely a trend taking off in 2010 with companies and individuals getting into the mix of things by developing 3D movies, computers, televisions, cameras, games and a slew of 3D-enabled products and technologies.

3D Domain Names

With domain names, it’s always a gamble especially if the name isn’t a category-killing name, but as 2010 sees an increase in 3D products, you can bet that most 3D domain names worth buying will be gone soon.  As a matter of fact, if you do spend the time searching for names, you’ll notice that most 3D product domains weren’t registered in the last 12 months, they have been registered for years.

NoktaDomains owns nearly 1,000 domains with the keyword 3D, including 3Ddomains.com.  Even YummyNames owns 3D domains with names like 3Danimations.net listed for sale for $3,277 and 3Dalbums.com listed reasonably at $677.

Mike Berkens owns only a handful of 3D domains among his portfolio of thousands at Most Wanted Domains, but names like 3Dflatscreens.com (which looks to have been registered in August) could be a windfall for the savvy domain investor.  Stephen Douglas landed 3DSLRs.com (referring to single-lens reflex cameras) this past week as a hand-registration. 

Earlier, Sony announced more than fifty 3D games including Killzone 3 a first person shooter (screenshot above), are in development for the PlayStation3 console.  Industry competition for 3D gaming, as with 3D TV is also heating up. 

I’ve gambled on a few ‘3D casual game’ names, putting myself back about $30 – with names like 3DMilitarygames.com and 3DArmygames.  It’s a no-brainer with the best-selling video game of all time already enabled for 3D – Call of Duty: Black Ops.

But it’s worth the risk to wait and see all the 3D developments over the next year.