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TheDomains.com

Sedo.com 1Q Report: “Strong and Steady Growth Domain Sales, While .Co Becomes the Rising Star”

May 11, 2011 by Michael Berkens 32 Comments

According to a Press Release today by Sedo.com looking at its sales in the 1st Quarter of 2011, they highlighted what they called:

“Strong and Steady Growth in Internet Domain Sales in Q1 2011 with Continued Strength in .com Sales while .co Becomes the Rising Star in the Online Domain Marketplace”

During the first quarter of 2011, 10,608 domains changed hands via Sedo’s marketplace, accounting for $21 million in sales.

“Average sales prices across all Top Level Domains (TLDs) held strong in comparison to previous quarters and for the first time, the .co extension entered the leading sales list with 2% market share, showing its growing popularity as a unique alternative to .com.”

“Overall sales numbers remained consistent and stable with a predictable decline in some figures from the previous quarter due to the record-breaking $13M sale of Sex.com during Q4 2010. The quarter also saw a shake-up in the most active TLD list, with the .co extension making its debut. Notable sales such as music.co for $30,000 reveal the rising value and growing popularity of .co domains, as well as the significant opportunities they provide to entrepreneurs and businesses looking to extend their brand online.”

“Sedo continues to be the superior choice in providing entrepreneurs, SMB’s and seasoned investors the most valuable and distinctive domain names available on the market,” says Jeremiah Johnston, COO and general counsel of Sedo. “With the introduction of new features, including a streamlined buying process, and the rising popularity of .co and other lesser known TLDs, we expect continued growth as we help customers find the best domains for their business or investment portfolio.”

Highlights of Sedo’s Q1 2011 study include:

  • The .com extension continues to be the most popular TLD, accounting for 51% of all Q1 TLD sales. The .net extension comes in a distant 2nd with 7% of the market share.

 

  • Further demonstrating its strength as an investment, the .com extension continues to exhibit steady growth with the average sales price climbing 9% from Q1 2010.

 

  • The .de extension remains the most commonly sold ccTLD domain extension. At 18%, the .de is the second most commonly traded TLD in the Sedo marketplace, beating out gTLDs like .net (7%), .co.uk (6%), .eu (5%) and .org (4%).

 

  • Transaction volume shows a quarter over quarter increase in domains sold

 

  • Sales growth for the quarter met expectations and remained relatively consistent with historical trends, with the exception of record-breaking figures in Q4 2010 due to several high prices sales like sex.com and Poker.org.

 

  • Offer/counter-offer transactions continued to be the most popular sales type, accounting for 43 percent of all transactions, while fixed-price sales accounted for 28 percent, and auctions accounted for 15 percent, which is an increase from Q4 2010.

 

  • Top US sales include gamesforgirls.com ($500,000), action.com ($270,000) and shield.com ($190,000).

 

Filed Under: .CO, Domain Sales

About Michael Berkens

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which sold around 70K domain to Godaddy.com in December 2015 and now owns around 8K domain names . Michael was also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest.

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Comments

  1. RAYY says

    May 11, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    “Strong and Steady Growth in Internet Domain Sales in Q1 2011 with Continued Strength in .com Sales while .co Becomes the Rising Star in the Online Domain Marketplace”

    Good news for .CO owners.

    Reply
  2. Emma says

    May 11, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    .CO is not gonna go anywhere. That is a publicity only

    Reply
  3. Rich says

    May 11, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    Emma@
    you are dead wrong…

    Reply
  4. BullS says

    May 11, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    @Emma— I am with you

    The rest –what the hell are you smoking??

    Reply
  5. Emma says

    May 11, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    prove me ,CO is a rising star extension

    Reply
  6. Joe says

    May 11, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    @Emma

    In less than 10 months .CO reached the sales volume of well established extensions like .ES and .NL

    Reply
  7. Joe says

    May 11, 2011 at 7:31 pm

    Here’s the url of the complete report:

    sedo.com/fileadmin/documents/pressdownload/Q1_2011Market_Study.pdf

    Reply
  8. BullS says

    May 11, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    MHB– why don’t you set up a poll to check the pulse of the co re-registration …

    #1- are you going to renew your co domains?

    #2- why and why not?

    Reply
  9. ED says

    May 11, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    @Joe

    “In less than 10 months .CO reached the sales volume of well established extensions like .ES and .NL”

    The # of registrations means nothing. All it proves is that certain domainers are willing to swipe their credit cards. All of the money from registrations goes into the pockets of the registrars and registry, not domainers. Show me major corporations, social networks, popular web apps, and other large entities using the extension, then it will mean something. IF that ever starts happening I’ll give it another look.

    Sedo also benefits from promoting .co because they have nothing to lose, if people start buying and selling anything they make money. Whether it’s .cc, .ss, .co, .whatever they make money. They, like the registrars, are just looking to make a buck.

    Reply
  10. Robert Cline says

    May 11, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    shake, shake, shake your booty

    “The rising value and growing popularity of .CO domains, as well as the significant opportunities they provide to entrepreneurs and businesses looking to extend their brand online.”

    “.CO domains are a must have.”

    Reply
  11. RAYY says

    May 11, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    To clarify .CO rising stars, please check with SEDO again.

    Reply
  12. Herman says

    May 11, 2011 at 10:45 pm

    Only domain sellers – including those who are content to find the greater fool – care about .co sales.

    Domain buyers should care about .co traffic.

    Any examples of strong .co traffic?

    The decline of parking and the rise of auctions. Sedo prevails either way.

    More power to them.

    Reply
  13. Slate says

    May 11, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    “Any examples of strong .co traffic?”

    I dont know exactly what you consider “Strong Traffic” but if you consider that as per Googles statements, .CO domains will be treated like any other gTLD.
    So that means if you have Gold.CO, you have the same chances of taking the #1 spot on the search engine as the .COM would for that name.

    Now we can argue about the SEO portion of it and how domain age effects your status but SEO is not what is being discussed here.

    Point blank is that with .CO you can get the Search Engine Traffic… What will bone you is the type in traffic.

    **As a side note, its in my opinion that actual type in traffic is minimal now a days so for the most part this will be a level playing field…. again that is my opinion utilizing information gained from friends and associates on their search habits. Nothing official**

    Just wanted to put in my 2 cents.
    Cheers

    Reply
  14. ManydotCo says

    May 11, 2011 at 11:20 pm

    Yes,I also can feel the .CO domain sales’rising,it will be more in the next two years before drop.

    Reply
  15. RAYY says

    May 12, 2011 at 1:01 am

    @Slate

    “…if you have Gold.CO, you have the same chances of taking the #1 spot on the search engine as the .COM would for that name. ”

    It’s so true… Good example is i3dtv.CO
    It’s #1 rank and in page one Google and Bing when typed the word “i3dtv”

    Reply
  16. Robert Cline says

    May 12, 2011 at 1:08 am

    for all practical purposes

    .CO and .COM are the same

    but .CO is slightly better because it is faster and you get there quicker. Hey, it’s one letter less to download.

    Reply
  17. LS Morgan says

    May 12, 2011 at 2:21 am

    It’s so true… Good example is i3dtv.CO
    It’s #1 rank and in page one Google and Bing when typed the word “i3dtv”
    —-

    LOL.
    Just LOL.

    Reply
  18. Joe says

    May 12, 2011 at 4:19 am

    @ED

    “The # of registrations means nothing.”

    When I say .CO reached the sales volume of .ES and .NL, I don’t mean number of handregistrations, which is higher for these two extensions (1.3 and 4.4 million domains respectively), I mean number of sales in the aftermarket. And such a result was achieved in just 10 months, while .ES and .NL markets are way older.

    Reply
  19. Adam says

    May 12, 2011 at 5:24 am

    .co is dead as zed

    Reply
  20. RAYY says

    May 12, 2011 at 7:42 am

    .CO is cool and better good looking than .com

    .com is old and hungry with money & status…

    Reply
  21. I'll die as a hardcore domainer ! says

    May 12, 2011 at 11:50 am

    This whole .co argument smells of the .mobi arguments that were ferocious and full of vitriol.

    Where is .mobi now?

    .

    Reply
  22. MHB says

    May 12, 2011 at 11:52 am

    .Mobi is doing fine, just passed 1,000,000 domain registrations

    http://www.domainnews.com/en/mobi-domain-hits-1-million-registrations-milestone.html

    Reply
  23. Slate says

    May 12, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    “This whole .co argument smells of the .mobi arguments that were ferocious and full of vitriol. ”

    OMG, did that person just bring out “vitriol”….”vitriol”….. Really?
    Next thing you know, out comes the “Rhetoric” and then we will have ourselves a full campaign mode going on.

    Rhetoric and Vitriol for anyone who disagrees with the way you see things.

    LOL…
    Just found it funny

    Cheers

    Reply
  24. ED says

    May 12, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    “.Mobi is doing fine, just passed 1,000,000 domain registrations”

    Again, focusing on REGISTRATIONS. Registrations mean nothing, unless you are a registrar or registry. All it means is a bunch of gambling domainers are willing to swipe their credit cards to register a domain name. Please stop pretending that domainers interests are aligned with those of 1) registrars, 2) registries, or 3) marketplaces.

    Reply
  25. Brad says

    May 12, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    @ ED

    Pretty much everyone here is a domain investor. The registration count only means so much. .MOBI might have 1M+ regs, but premiums are lucky to sell for $XXX range.

    A perfect example of the registration count not meaning much to resale value is .EU. 3M+ regs and limited resale value.

    Brad

    Reply
  26. MHB says

    May 12, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    Ed

    The domain world is vast, and has many business opportunities.

    Why do you only want to look at it from one side and only invest in one part of it?

    Reply
  27. Adam says

    May 13, 2011 at 12:32 am

    It’s not that hard to answer to that argument. .COM is number one, but since most of them are either taken or available for big money, .CO is naturally the best and natural alternatve, therefore a second choice is also usually valuable.

    Reply
  28. Robert Cline says

    May 13, 2011 at 2:50 am

    @Adam

    Congratulations!

    You nailed it right on the dot.

    If Boardwalks taken, you try for Park Ave.

    Reply
  29. .mobi mobile payments services says

    May 13, 2011 at 6:13 am

    .mobi should have a great success with the grow of mobile payments services, that’s why this year I’ve registered some .mobi domains

    Reply
  30. Damon says

    May 13, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Don’t bother with .MOBI. Smartphones and websites are designed to accommodate phone browsers now.
    .MOBI is not required. It’s ship has sailed unfortunately.
    .CO has some sweet potential. In 5 years if people continue to develop I think it has potential to overtake .NET.
    People should not make the mistake and call .CO another .MOBI, .CM or .ME. What chance did those extensions every really have? People who compare these garbage extensions, saying ‘oh it’s the same old thing’ are the ones that got burnt before. Don’t let your mistakes hinder your progress. Only smart investors take continuous risks. Sounds like the people that treat .CO like those failed extensions before are not very intelligent. If they were switched on they would see how it is so much different.
    .CO has massive potential, it just needs very strong marketing and a stronger uptake on a global scale.

    Reply
  31. Kandco says

    May 22, 2011 at 4:44 am

    Hey everyone,

    There is no doubt this is going to a hit! The .COM will be surely affected by this interms of the traffic as typos (missing M) will not be redirect anymore! That means less traffic – less sales!

    In my opinion, if you’re start up online brand (i.e. parentpay.co, kand.co, sportdiscount.co…) and missing .CO – marketing alert! With the .COM boom in the 90s and financial bubble burst in 20xx, I’m sure we’ll see lots of company moving onto pastures new.

    parentpay.co, kand.co, sportdiscount.co…

    Reply
  32. Bibeer says

    December 16, 2011 at 10:06 am

    Maybe .CO will do some confusion on the market but this apply only to the very little margin of the highest quality domains like: travel, sex, woman etc.

    For majority of generic domains like e.g. extensions of visit, trade like visitsavoy.com – sole choice is .COM. Additional .CO domains without heavy investmet will only generate extra traffic for .COM

    Reply

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