Driven.com, shield.com, bluejeans.com and mariage.com made up a quartet of six-figure sales for the week to 27 March according to Domain Name Journal’s weekly listing of top reported sales.

The domains sold for $225,000 (through Castello Brothers), $190,000 (Sedo), $150,000 (private sale) and €92,000 ($129,720 – Sedo) respectively).

Overall Sedo accounted for nine of the top 20 sales, a lower than usual number of the top 20 while .COM names made up the top eight sales and 19 of the top 20 sales. The only exception was sportsbetting.in selling for €30,000.

To see Domain Name Journal’s list of top reported sales to 27 March, go to dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2011/20110406.htm.

As an example to startups especially, I wanted to highlight this recent auction as an example of the kinds of domains that can be acquired for reasonable prices. If you’re getting ready to launch and are facing the difficult task of finding the right name consider enlisting my help. I know where and how to look for great names at reasonable prices.

I recently participated in a domain auction for the domain Penance.com. I actually have content that matches the domain perfectly. Previously … [visit site to read more]

If you take a look at sedo auctions at any given time most of the auction listings only have one bid and the vast majority of them also end up with one single bid - the end user who made a bid and the seller decided to push it to auction.

When you push a domain with a high starting bid (high in relation to its reseller value) to auction one of the following is bound to happen, in this order of likelihood:

1. The domain will get no more bids and the initial bidder will win. However during the 7 days he had plenty of time to (a) find another domain; (b) reconsider his proposal and (c) also saw that no one else was interested in outbidding him - which only tells him that he is overpaying, and no one likes to pay more. The chances of the buyer not following through with the purchase are increasing significantly and we all know how high is the percentage of non paying buyers on Sedo.
2. The domain will receive one more bid from another interested buyer. Strangely enough many sedo auctions end with just two bids (not 3 or 4, but exactly 2) - with the first bidder not getting into a “bidding war”. However in that case the seller only gets an additional $50 for his domain - which usually is not worth the trouble of a 7 day auction.
3. The domain receives many additional bids and ends with a significantly higher price - this is very unlikely if the initial offer was higher than the market price already and is much more likely when the initial auction starting price (which also serves as the reserve in such auctions) is much lower than the market price.

Clearly the third case is the only one that justifies pushing a domain with a high initial offer to a sedo auction. However it’s only likely if there can be many potential end users for the domain, or if the initial price was low.

If the initial bid is higher than the market value don’t auction the domain, instead negotiate the max you can out the buyer and try to close the deal as quick as possible!

Interesting to see the domain market getting some mainstream exposure.

Big electronics UK domain name sells.

Sedo has brokered the sale of TVs.co.uk for 51,000 GBP, or about $75,000 USD at today’s exchange rate, according to the recent sales section on the domain name broker’s web site.

If you visit TVs.co.uk today you’ll see an online store for TVs. A note at the bottom of the page links to PCs.co.uk, as the web sites were both owned by the same UK entity.

The seller purchased the domain name for 1,000 GPB in December 2007.

The Santa Barbara, CA address in whois for the new owner of TVs.co.uk is the same as that of SurfMyAds.com. SurfMyAds.com has a network of sites including Codes.co.uk, PromotionalCodes.com, and MyShoes.com.

Sedo, which has an office in The United Kingdom, has brokered several other .co.uk domain name sales for a comparable price over the past year. According to NameBio, the company brokered gold.co.uk for $63,916, BedroomFurniture.co.uk for $57,500, and FamilyTree.co.uk for $40,000.

© DomainNameWire.com 2010.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. Jets.com Sells for $375,000, One of Three Six Figure Sales at Sedo
2. Sedo Sells LiveStream.com for $100,000
3. Sedo Sells YB.com for $125,000

As part of the Sedo & Adlink integration, Sedo has launched a new portal today allowing advertisers to directly purchase ads on parked Domain Names. The new product under the name of Sedo Domain Name Advertising (SedoDNA) was launched earlier today with a German language press release. The new service was created in order to allow advertisers to directly book domain traffic – more information on their site: SedoDNA. Advertisers select the domains indirectly by booking categories or keywords.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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Upcoming Domain Industry Events, Conferences & Auctions

Certification now required for all auctions.

Domain brokerage Sedo has extended its buyer certification requirement to bidders in all auctions. Previously, only bidders in special auction events (such as GreatDomains) were required to complete certification requirements.

Standard Certification, the lowest level of certification, is easy to obtain. You can provide a credit card, W-9, respond to a text message, or just sign a statement. This will allow you to bid on domain names up to 9,999 USD/EUR/GBP.

Premium Certification allows you to bid on domain names up to 99,999 USD/EUR/GBP. To qualify, you need to submit an application, a utility or similar statement, and a copy of your photo ID.

Big bidders will need to complete the Premium Plus Certification in order to place six figure bids. This requires completing an application, providing a bank statement or utility bill, a photo ID, and a 1,000 USD/EUR/GBP security deposit.

Sedo introduced its certification program back in 2006 after a number of bidders failed to pay. It sure would be nice if expired domain houses such as NameJet and Snapnames had similar programs. It instills confidence.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. Sedo Buyer Certification
2. Sedo Introduces Authentication System
3. Sedo to launch auctions