Top 10 Domain Sales of 2018 (So Far)

It’s hard to believe that 2018 is halfway over. It’s been an exciting year when it comes to domain names selling on the “aftermarket”.
While only one domain has been publicly disclosed as selling for more than $1 million, the recent sale of Crypto.com was surely for more than that.
As you’ll see below, cryptocurrency companies were behind many of the top purchases on the year-to-date charts.
Whether you’re a domain investor or just thinking about registering your first domain name, it can be interesting and instructive to see how companies brand (or rebrand!) themselves with high-dollar domain purchases.
Here’s a rundown of the top 10 domain name sales of the first half of 2018, as reported by DNJournal.
1. Super.com $1.2 million
Super.com sold in an online auction in February. So far, it hasn’t been put to use. What would you use super.com for?

2. Great.com $900,000

Swedish entrepreneur Erik Bergman bought Great.com in a live auction as the end of January. He plans to use it for a sort of public benefit company that gives all of its proceeds to charitable causes.

3. Liquid.com $750,000

Liquid.com is the first example of a cryptocurrency company spending big bucks for a domain. A company called Quoine bought the domain name for a cryptocurrency exchange.

4. FO.com $510,000

As further proof of the claim about crypto companies, FO.com was acquired to promote a blockchain and token business.

5. Vacation.rentals $500,300

Vacation.rentals is the first non-.com entry on this year’s list. The purchase price is the highest publicly announced price for a domain ending in a “new top level domain name”…ever.

6. DAX.com $500,000 (tie)

The buyer of DAX.com is not yet known and has not launched a site on the domain yet. Usually, when a three letter domain ending in X sells for big money, it’s a good sign that it’s a cryptocurrency exchange (the X stands for exchange). It could stand for Digital Asset Exchange, for example. However, DAX is also the acronym of the German stock market index.

Tokens.com $500,000 (tie)

Tokens.com was purchased by Polymath, a company that plans to “tokenize securities”.

Home.loans $500,000 (tie)

Home.loans sold before vacation.rentals, and that’s why vacation.rentals sold for $300 more. The buyer of Vacation.rentals wanted to be the record-holder for the most expensive top level domain sale to date.

9. Inspection.com  $335,000

Hong Kong supply chain technology company Asia Inspection is now global, servicing more than just Asia. So upgrading from AsiaInspection.com to the more general domain Inspection.com made a lot of sense.

10. The.club $300,000 (tie)

The.Club is a luxury home exchange community. As for TheClub.com, that’s owned by the company that makes the iconic anti-theft device for cars.

EEN.com $300,000 (tie)

This is another example of a company upgrading its domain name. It previously used the domain EagleEyeNetworks.com. That’s memorable but long.

Signet.com $300,000 (tie)

Signet.com sold at the end of June but the buyer remains somewhat of a mystery. While many companies use the name Signet, a jewelry company uses the domain SignetJewelers.com. That company also happen to use the same brand protection company at which the Signet.com domain is now located.
So there you have it… ten (really, 12) big domain name sales that took place in the first half of 2018.
Will cryptocurrency companies continue to snap up valuable domains in the second half of the year? Will more new top level domain names land on the list?
We’ll have to wait and see.