Crazy domain sales in 2021
The year 2021 was a stellar year for aftermarket domain name sales.
DNJournal tracks verified public domain name sales. While most big-ticket domain sales are never disclosed due to non-disclosure agreements, the rest end up in DNJournal’s charts.
Back in 2020, a domain that sold for $306,000 or more would land in the top 10 on the chart. How times have changed. In 2021, that number shot up to a whopping $1,945,000!
And back in 2020, a domain had to sell for $60,000 to make the Top 100 chart in 2020. Last year that number was $114,000, showing the depth of the domain sales boom.
Let’s take a look at the chart-topping sales of 2021.
Seven-figure sales
14 domain names sold for $1 million or more and were made public. Here’s a rundown:
- Hippo.com – $3,300,000) – Insurance company Hippo upgraded its domain from MyHippo.com to Hippo.com in 2019; it appears the sale was completed much later. It was included in an SEC filing in 2021. It’s possible that the company had a lease-to-own or lease with an option to purchase the domain.
- Christmas.com ($3,150,000) – Christmas is year-round for some companies. One of those companies is Gordon Companies in New York. The company imports, wholesales, and retails Christmas merchandise such as ornaments, lights, and wreaths. It acquired this domain under a four-year payment plan but paid it off early.
- Floor.com – $3,144,000) – Floor.com is used for selling rugs.com. Little else is known about the buyer.
- Marketing.com – $2,500,000) – ColorArt LLC, a print, marketing and logistics service provider, bought this domain to host the company’s ordering portal technology. Right now, it resolves to a “coming soon” page.
- Forge.com – $2,202,000) – Forge helps people trade equities in private companies. It forwards the domain to its earlier domain name, ForgeGlobal.com.
- AFS.com ($2,000,000) – International consulting giant Accenture opened its wallet for this domain. It doesn’t use the domain, but it probably stands for Accenture [something] Services. Perhaps financial?
- NFT.com ($2,000,000) – NFT-related domain names flew off the shelves last year, so it makes sense that the most valuable NFT domain made the charts. As of January 2022, The domain resolves to a coming soon page.
- Angel.com ($2,000,000) – Angel Studios is a crowdsourced filmmaking site. For example, it raised $5 million for an animated TV series called The Wingfeather Saga and $1 million for a TV series called Freelancers. It even crowdfunded a $5 million round of funding for its own company, which gave it the money to spend $2 million on a domain.
- IS.com ($1,950,000) – Domain investors pay upwards of $500,000, and sometimes over $1,000,000, for two-letter .com domains. When an end-user comes along to acquire one, it can often sell for more. That’s the case with IS.com. IronSource, an app development platform, picked up this short domain.
- Exodus.com ($1,945,000) – Cryptocurrency investors are awash in cash. These investors have acquired lots of domains, including Exodus.com, which is a bitcoin and crypto wallet.
- EE.com ($1,350,000) – Speaking of domain investors and two-letter domains, it’s possible that an investor acquired this domain, but we don’t know for sure. The buyer is in China, a hotbed for two-letter domain investing. The domain doesn’t resolve to a website yet.
- Meme.com ($1,250,000) – Visit meme.com and you’ll see some of your favorite memes, such as Grumpy Cat and the “distracted boyfriend” image. It will be interesting to see if the buyer has more plans for the site given the high domain price.
- Near.com ($1,150,000) – Near is a data intelligence company that connects physical and digital world data.
- eBike.com ($1,008,900) – eBikes (heck, any kind of bikes) are having a resurgence during the pandemic. Bosch, known for everything from kitchen appliances to eBikes, bought this domain for over $1 million. The seller made a nice return; he bought the domain for about $72,000 in an expired domain auction in 2018.
More in store for 2022?
There’s a new benchmark for top sales and it will be fun to see if 2022 can top 2021. Already, there are signs that big sales are continuing. DNJournal reports that Unlock.com sold for $1,228,200, marking the first entry into the seven-figure club this year.
Hold on to your hats, it’s going to be another wild year!
