Tag: domain sales

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Worldwide Media sells nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in domains

VisitBerlin

In total, of the most recent domain name sales which are not subject to a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), Mike Berkens’ Worldwide Media has sold $725,300 worth of domain names.  This is the total for just the publicly reported sales.  Sales are probably much higher for Worldwide Media, because as you may well know, some of the biggest domain sales never get reported due to non-disclosure agreements between the buyer and seller, that protects information one or both of the parties wants to remain secret. 

The website, located at wwmi.com, which launched in Dec. 2010, is the new corporate face for Mike Berkens’ Worldwide Media, which owns and operates over 75,000 domain names.

Operating costs for Worldwide Media

If you recall, back in early January Mike Berkens wrote a story about what it costs to operate such a large portfolio of domains. 

“We own around 75,000 domains and with a carrying cost of lets just call it an average of $10 a year meaning that we will owe $750,000  in registration fees in 2011,” wrote Mike on The Domains.

However, if the numbers are right, Worldwide Media is already off to a good start with the cost of registration fees just about covered based solely on publicly reported sales. 

Worldwide Media’s Recent Sales

The biggest sale to date of the recent domain sales (many of which go back to Dec. 2010), is VisitBerlin.com for $230,000.  Worldwide Media turned down several offers on the name, including offers for $100,000 and $150,000, before agreeing on the price for the domain which was purchased by Germany-based Berlin Tourismus Marketing GmbH.  The name which changed hands earlier this month, now re-directs to VisitBerlin.de.

Other sales included PeacefulProtests.com for $10,000, at a time when protests are spreading across the Middle East world.  Smokebreak.com sold for $20,000 to Dr. Carl E. Olson who is helping to market a quit-smoking device. 

Here’s a complete rundown of sales not subject to a NDA.

VisitBerlin.com $230K
VisitStockholm.com    $77,000
DiscountBags.com $50,000
BornRich.com    $42,000
MyRecovery.com $40,000
ReverseMortgageCalculator.com   $40,000
TheTour.com $34,000
Holland.net  $32,000
TheMeditator.com  $30,000
SmokeBreak.com $20,000
MakeupyourMind.com $17,500
OnlineCollegeRankings.com  $17,500
GotoCanada.com $13,500
BostonLuxuryApartments.com   $11,500
TalkOver.com $10,000
PeacefulProtests.com  $10,000
Tyrian.com  $7,500
KillerPrice.com   $7,500
HornyGoat.com $6,500
ChicagoFuneral.com $6,000
TradeTunes.com $5,500
indianheadpenny.com $5,500
MonsterSquad.com  $5,000
21seconds.com   $3,800
OperationalExcellence.com $3,000

If you think these are interesting sales, check out some of the other sections on Worldwide Media’s website, like Recently Rejected $10K & Above Offers or the Monthly Report – Offers At Or Above Minimum ($2,500).

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News

eGaming Review tells story of how online gambling domains have advantage over offline addresses

gambling

The most recent “domain name” story on Calvin Ayre which discussed the sale of Poker.com.au for $100,000, pointed to an article over at eGaming Review that described how online gambling websites have the definite advantage over offline destinations like Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

All things being equal, when you look at a gambling website with content and games, what gives one online gambling site the advantage over another?

Having the right web adress.

The story titled “It’s all in the name” opens by noting the big-ticket sales in 2010 of Slots.com and Poker.org.  Slots.com sold for $5.5 million, while Poker.org sold for $1 million.

Nora Nanayakkara, the author of the eGaming Review story, digs into gambling.com (which is up for sale at Sedo) and other gambling domains, and makes a number of good points.

From the SEO perspective, she writes: “Our own research shows that one-in-six searches come from direct navigation and that when it comes to Gambling.com the domain offers great SEO benefits. It currently sits at the number one and two spots in Google’s own rankings and since the term “gambling” is searched around 1.1 million times a month, the potential for this to scale even further could be much greater.”

She brings up branding, development, domain sales, visibility, advertising revenues, lead generation, recognition, and several other ways companies are benefiting from going online with category-killing names.

Unlike some stories riddled with errors that are written by people outside of the domain industry, the eGaming Review story is a good, quick read. 

Read more about the rewards of investing in a premium domain name.

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$100MM Dollar Man, Rick Schwartz: Nine-figure domain name deal in the works

candy

Rick Schwartz has inked some lucrative domain name sales, but as he wrote earlier today on his blog: “In the days ahead I will post about the seeds of my first NINE FIGURE deal.   Even 50% of the choir won’t see it or believe it. But at least they know not to laugh.”

Though it can’t be confirmed until the transaction is completed, Rick Schwartz has a reputation of being a straight shooter, and when he says something will happen, people and critics should listen. 

Technology blogs like TechCrunch haven’t picked up the story, but you can bet they’ll be all over the sale when it happens.

Rick Schwartz, who sold Men.com for $1.3 million, Candy.com for $3M+Equity, and iReport.com for $750,000, also shared insight regarding the negotations behind his past dealings (which include just 15 domain name sales).

iReport.com was one of my best sales.  It took about 6 months to complete. Their opening offer was $10,000. I said no to CNN many times on the way to a $750,000 cash sale. The biggest sticking point, making it public. They did not want to be laughed at for spending so much for a domain name. I assured them that would not be the case.

After a few meetings, they gave in as I would not sell without that single concession. It was worth another $750k to me in publicity and to build future sales on. This domain was the epitome of the Internet. A soapbox like no other.  Today, iReport.com is in every country in the world and is one of the most recognized citizen journalist sites ever. The sale that keeps on giving to me and everyone else in the industry.

To put things in perspective, a nine-figure deal means a minimum of $100 million.  Is Rick Schwartz planning to sell one domain, part of his portfolio, or his entire portfolio?  Is he crafting something entirely different? 

There is more to this amazing story and the past sales of Rick Schwartz, so keep reading over at Rick’s Blog as the story develops.

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News Video Games

Cityville at 6MM daily users in 8 days: It’s the kind of thing that makes some domain sellers kick themselves

cityville

You may remember the story I wrote back in November about Zynga ready to break ground with its biggest social game yet: Cityville. 

Well, today TechCrunch is reporting that Cityville, Zynga’s newest game is already at 6,000,000 daily users in just 8 days.

In early November when I wrote about Ville-domains, Cityville.com was parked.   The domain name had been purchased at Moniker in June for $38,225.

Less than a week later after the story ran, Zynga revealed it had plans for another Facebook game and an “Under Construction” page went online. 

Now, just 8 days into its launch, the domain name Cityville.com which now re-directs to its application page on Facebook, is the fastest-growing game in Zynga’s history.

 Do domain name sellers (like the seller of Cityville.com) kick themselves when they see this type of success?

Probably not, considering the seller got a $38,000 pay day for a name that probably only cost registration.  But you have to believe there is some level of regret, wondering if they had just held out a little longer what could’ve been.

In the last few weeks since my story on Ville domains ran, there have been a couple notable sales.

Dreamville.com sold at Sedo for $5,000 on Nov. 15 and SongVille.com sold for $550 a week later.

Neither name is registered to IP Cybercrime LLC, the company who is the registrant of Cityville.com.  IPCybercrime LLC’s slogan is “Your Guys for Undercover Buys”.

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News

DesignContest.com sells for $40,000 at GreatDomains

design contest

The domain name DesignContest.com has sold at Sedo’s GreatDomains for $40,000 USD. 

The DesignContest web site, which is already online but has unfinished business in terms of development and content, plans to run logo, web and other graphic design contests.  The site has a feel of 99designs.com, a popular ‘design contest’ web site that has nearly 60,000 projects completed to date and last month alone paid out almost $1 million to designers ($742,096, to be exact).

In April, 99designs, had nearly half a million people visit its site, according to Compete.

Interestingly enough, DesignContest.net, runs a similar web site and currently owns the #1 spot in Google for the search term: design contest.  In 2010 DesignContest claims to have awarded $42,238 in prizes.

DesignContest.com, which still appears to be in Beta, has a number of test contests online.  But based on the track record of 99designs and other clone sites, the $40,000 investment for the domain name seems like a smart investment.

Last year, Contests.com was acquired by National A-1 from Yahoo! for $380,000.  The Contests site is online, but still under construction.  While not much is known about the plans for Contests.com other than the WordPress site that is online, launching a ‘design contest’ web site might not be such a bad idea.

UPDATE:  DesignContest.net purchased the domain DesignContest.com.  DesignContest.net left a comment on this story: “DesignContest.com has been acquired by DesignContest.net. The new version (V2) of DesignContest.net will be launched on .com in early 2011 to bring new unique functionality and services to it’s customers that look for top results in graphic design.”