A look at domain sales for the first half of 2019

by

Bob Hawkes published a look at the first half of domain sales in 2019. Using data from Namebio Bob gives a detailed look at the first half of reported sales.

I thought there were some interesting takes like the spike up in .me and the numbers for new gtld domains.

Why bid on these domain names?

From the report:

Sales Numbers

I used the NameBio database to look at how the rate of domain sales in the first half of 2019 compares with 2018. There are possible seasonal variations so we would not expect the full year to necessarily follow the trend of the first 6 months.

  • In the first 6 months of 2019, there were about 53,200 NameBio-recorded sales across all extensions, compared to 82,900 in all of 2018. If that rate continues for the rest of 2019, we will see a year-over-year increase of 28%.
  • Since .com dominates the aftermarket, the .com-only numbers are also very healthy: about 46,000 sales in the first half of 2019 compared to 70,000 in all of 2018, or an increase of just over 31%.
  • The number of sales in .net is up almost 22% with 1,482 sales in the first 6 months of 2019 compared to 2,432 for the full year 2018.
  • Sales in .org are up by almost 23% to 2,651 sales in the first half of 2019.
  • Sales in the .info extension are down 5% with just 123 sales in the first 6 months compared to 259 in 2018.
  • Sales across all new domain extensions combined are down 31% in the first half of 2019 with 507 sales in the six month period compared to 1,474 in all of 2018.

Check out the whole report on Namepros as there is a lot more data to review.

Comments

  1. steve says

    A startup in Silicon valley, well-funded, bought a .me from me this week. They’ll never be able to buy the .com, as Jeff Bezos owns it and he’s never done anything with the domain — it’s been redirecting to amazon.com for over 15 years. So, yes, .com domains are the best. But when you’re building a brand with a keyword, maybe an alternative extension is the next best thing —

    • steve says

      Yes, these names are on the way out.
      A party purchased two domains from me 2 weeks ago — same key words in .com and .org. I also owned the two keys words in one of the new TDLDs and offered to provide that one for free. They passed — I couldn’t even give it away for free, and it was one of the better GTLDs.
      I think some of them have value, but very few.

      • Snoopy says

        The numbers are in I’m afraid. Registrations declining, sales declining even faster. Who would have guessed it would end up like this after only 5 years.

        Will you be the one turning out the lights Ethan? How long will you keep denying reality?

      • steve says

        Ethan, I have zero interest in defaming the new GTLDs. In fact, I own some, although I have little hope in selling and/or using them to develop sites. I do feel sorry for the folks, new to domaining, who invested in these extensions.
        I believe it was Rick Schwartz who predicted the gtlds would be bailing water 5 years out of port. Seemed too soon, but his forecast has proven true.

  3. Domo Sapiens says

    Frank Schilling Live From London: “.Com Will Become Like AM Radio”
    SEPTEMBER 26, 2013