'Net Features : sedo

SMBs Passing on gTLDs

Amberly Dressler — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:00:00 GMT

New generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are only going to make the Internet more confusing to navigate.

That is according to 52.3 percent of the 600 respondents who were queried via SurveyMonkey as part of the Sedo sponsored gTLD Awareness Report. The goal of the research was to uncover whether small to mid-size businesses (SMBs) are aware of the pending launch of new gTLDs in 2013 and whether they plan to take advantage of them. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed are unaware that new gTLDs will be available in 2013 and many do not understand what the value of these new addresses will be. Nearly half either saw no advantage or were unsure what the advantage of a new gTLD would be.

The findings tend to be particularly useful, because 63.7 percent of the respondents have purchased domain names in the past, and the survey audience understands the importance of the correct domain name to their business’ success. Even so, a resounding 94.1 percent said they were not currently planning to purchase a new gTLD, and there were very mixed results when it came to what would persuade them to purchase one (see image).

So what exactly are new gTLDs? They are brand-new domain extensions that will increase domain name choices to include descriptive strings, such as .blog, .book, .hotel, which can help in brand awareness and general memorability. Major brands, like Amazon, are feverishly applying for new gTLDs with plans to use them, but this research by Sedo makes it clear that a successful rollout of new gTLDs will be dependent on a strong education campaign that highlights why they are valuable to SMBs.

Read Sedo’s full gTLD Awareness Report, here.

Sedo Dot CO Auction Worth a Look

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:30:00 GMT

Domain name marketplace and monetization provider Sedo is auctioning over 150 premium .CO domain names from November 12th through the 19th.

The list of .CO’s in auction is actually quite impressive, including robot.co, gadget.co, hot.co, real.co, among others. Most of the .CO domains in auction have reserve prices starting at $500 but reserve prices for many of the more appealing listings range from $10-25,000. This premium auction is being held in honor of Global Entrepreuership Week. .CO Internet, the registry for the dot CO domain extension, is even auctioning 50 of its own premium reserved .CO domains.

“The global startup community has really embraced .CO domains since they were introduced in 2010, with companies like Twitter, Angel List, Google and 500 Startups helping to drive adoption and consumer awareness,” said Liesbeth Mack-de Boer, Sedo’s Chief Sales Officer. “With such heavyweights paving the way, .CO has become the premier choice for startups who may not be able to register legacy extensions which are often more cost-prohibitive or already registered. For entrepreneurs and start-ups, this premium .CO auction provides a great opportunity to purchase a domain that will help grow their business.”

Sedo Domain Market Study Q2 2012

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:00:00 GMT

The more things change, the more they stay the same – at least as it relates to domain names. Sedo, a domain name marketplace and monetization platform, has released its Domain Market Study for the second quarter of 2012.

While the digital world of domainers are bracing for what many expect to be a upheaval in the industry, rest assure however that domains are still being bought and sold at record pace. Highlights from the study, which looks exclusively at activity at Sedo, include:

- The .COM extension accounted for 48 percent of all domains sold on Sedo (an increase of 3% for .com). Dot .DE, accounted for 15 percent of sales.

- After a strong (and record) start in 2012, domain sales volume cooled off in the second quarter, ending with a total of 9,049 sales taking place. There was also a slight decrease in sales value per quarter.

- The most popular sales channel at Sedo was that of the “Buy Now” variety, accounting for 42 percent of all sales, followed by the “offer/counter-offer” which accounted for 31 percent of all sales. Brokerage and auctions combined accounted for just 20 percent.

- In regards to the price of domains sold in the marketplace, 46 percent were less than $500 U.S., with nearly 39 percent selling for less than $2,500 U.S. Only one percent were sold for an amount over $50,000 U.S.

- The most popular category of names sold at Sedo, which remained similar to previous quarters, is also worthy of note. Computers, Business, Internet, Shopping, Travel, Health, Sport, Society, Finance, and Recreation round out the top 10.

The Real Value of Domain Names

Michael Garrity — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Have you ever wondered just how much that prized domain name of yours is really worth? Well, you may never have to wonder again thanks to Sedo.

The domain name marketplace and monetization platform recently launched a new feature that provides "quantitative analysis" of domains listed for sale in its marketplace, providing buyers with insights into the value of any domain name.

The feature, Domain Value Indicators, offers up statistics on each individual domain name, and even data on how these values compare to other domains listed on the site to put it into context for both buyers and sellers. These statistics are meant to help users make informed decisions before they purchase a domain name, and it also gives sellers an idea of how to set domain prices by giving them the most important value determinants.

Domain name prices will be determined based on the following values:

- Global monthly searches: How many times the domain’s keywords are searched for across the world each month

- Regional monthly searches: How many times the domain’s keywords are searched for based on the regional domain extension each month

- Estimated keyword cost-per-click: The revenue earned when a user clicks on an ad associated with the domain’s keywords

- Registration years for the name among TLDs: The year it was registered as a .com, .net or other generic top-level domain (gTLD)

- Registration of keywords among most popular extensions: How often the domain’s keywords are registered among the TLDs, each weighted by popularity (e.g. .com is worth more than .net)

Domain Value Indicators is based on Sedo’s historical transaction data, and will make use of automated pricing tools and the expertise of its international brokerage team to provide the most accurate assessment of each domain name’s value. This new feature appears on all offer pages.

GoDaddy, Sedo Make Domain Buying Easier

Linc Wonham — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:00 GMT

The world’s largest domain name registrar and the Web’s largest domain name marketplace have announced a partnership that will give users access to more premium domains than ever. When visitors search for domains at GoDaddy.com, matching names from Sedo’s marketplace will now also be displayed for potential buyers to purchase.

Go Daddy is the latest partner to join Sedo’s Multi-Listing Service, SedoMLS. The world’s largest domain name provider can now offer its customers the option to purchase domain names that are already taken as easily as they would register a domain for the first time. Sedo currently has 15 million domains for sale in its marketplace.

SedoMLS allows any domains listed at a “Buy Now” price to be displayed within Go Daddy’s search results, reaching the largest potential audience of domain buyers.

“As one of the most popular places worldwide for small business owners, entrepreneurs or individuals looking for the right domain name, we are thrilled to be partnering with Go Daddy,” says Sedo CEO Tim Schumacher. “Through our SedoMLS partnership, we can offer millions of domain buyers the widest choice of domain names, which will help them make the right decisions for their businesses, and purchase the names they need to find success online.”

Nobody Like .ME (Domains)

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:15:00 GMT

SEDO and the .ME Registry have partnered for an auction of several premium .ME domain names.

The auction, which starts February 2, 2012 (mark your calendars), will feature nearly 180 .me domain names including Wifi.me, 411.me, Bar.me and many others.

The .me top level domain launched in July 2008 but as of July 2011 it had registered only 530,000 domains. While the .me extension never really gained mass appeal as many domain name industry insiders wanted and expected it to, there have been some noteworthy successes.

- The About.me site offers anyone the ability to create a personal splash page complete with social network integration.
- Social sharing and bookmarking service Delicious is using D.me to let users save and email URL links.
- Payment service Visa is planning to use V.me for its digital wallet initiative.
- Social network site Formspring.me is by far the most visited dotME domain.
- Two of the most intriguing .me extensions, Call.me and Connect.me, remain in private beta.

gFlip Enters the Domain Game

Michael Garrity — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Owning a domain name and listing a website online can get pretty expensive, especially when you factor in both listing and success fees, but today sees the rise of a new website marketplace, gFlip, that promises to list your site for free.

gFlip will "allow their users to list and sell there [sic] websites completely free of charge," according to a press release from the company. "Where as [sic] other website marketplaces charge their users fees for using there [sic] services."

This means that you can now list your website on gFlip totally free, and they don't charge success fees, which are the fees charged when a property sells successfully on a website marketplace. gFlip is now the world's first completely free website marketplace.

On average, domain name listings will typically run from about $10-$25 a year to list, although some expert searching can find prices both lower and higher.

If you're willing to shell out a little cash for a more proven website marketplace, however, there are other options out there. These sites all work the same as gFlip, where sellers register (and, in these cases, pay for) a listing and then set a minimum fee. Buyers then come in and bid on the domain, auction-style. There are other buying and selling options available that are specific to each site, but this is the standard method.

Here are three of the most popular website marketplaces:

Sedo
Sedo is one of the most highly-recommended domain name hosting sites on the Web. It is also one of the only companies out there that offers multi-lingual domain specialists who are fluent in over 20 different language. They charge a $69 retainer fee for hiring a Sedo Domain Broker to buy a domain, and take a 15% commission fee of the gross purchase price of a successful sale.

Afternic
This is another proven domain listing site who promise 5% cash back on your domains and offer what they claim are the lowest sales commissions in the industry. They also partner with over twenty other sites around the world, which means you have a much larger buying audience.

Flippa
Flippa is probably the most recognizable name on this list. While Flippa does charge success fees, they also have the option of allowing sellers to play a flat fee when first listing a property, but this is only worth it if you can be confident that your domain will sell at a high value. Like the others, Flippa is auction-based, although it, too, has the option of making private transactions.

Sedo Raises Commission Rate

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:45:00 GMT

Domain name marketplace Sedo notified its users that it is raising the commission rate of broker-free domain sales to 15% from 10%. For those using the fixed price domain sales in the Sedo MLS, the commission rate will rise from 15% to 20%. These changes will be effective August 1st, 2011.

Sedo is seeing a lot of increased pressure to boost revenue with a flood of new domain extensions hitting the market within the next few years and some rather serious competitors including Flippa.

Sedo CEO Tim Schumacher also outlined several improvements to the platform designed to give users/clients “more efficiency, connectivity, and visibility.” Sedo has integrated WhoIs verficiation, provided new certication options, improved its email notifications, and integrated social sharing (Facebook Connect).

Domain Market Analysis from Sedo (Q1 2011)

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:10:00 GMT

Domain marketplace and monetization provider Sedo announced the results of its Q1 2011 Domain Market Study.

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 percent market share, showing its growing popularity as a unique alternative to .com. Highlights of Sedo’s Q1 2011 study include:

• The .com extension continues to be Sedo’s 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. 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 Sedo. 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%).

• 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.

Sedo Domain Market Study – Q4 2010

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:00:00 GMT

Domain marketplace Sedo released its Q4 Domain Market Study today. Sedo now hosts over 18 million domain names and produced over 100 million in total sales for 2010 (the first time it has broken that barrier), providing further proof that the domain name industry is alive and well.

“The growth in Sedo’s marketplace has been consistently on the upswing as more businesses are seeing the value in domain names,” says Jeremiah Johnston, COO and general counsel of Sedo. “While average sales prices are up as a reflection of large sales in 2010, the increase in average median prices is the true indicator of market growth and stability.” Highlights of Sedo’s 2010/Q4 2010 study include:

- The most popular gTLD continues to be .com, accounting for 76% of all Q4 gTLD sales and 75% of all 2010 gTLD sales. The .net comes in a distant 2nd with 11% of the market share.

- All gTLDs increased year over year in median sales prices.

- Transaction volume showed a steady increase with 10,326 in sales during the quarter, a slight 2% percent increase from Q3 2010. Q4 2010 is also up 2% compared to Q4 2009.

- A steady increase in the average sale price across all major gTLDs in 2010 compared with 2009. Specifically, the .com extension witnessed a 74% increase in average sales price year over year.

- Among country code TLDs (ccTLDs) the .de extension remains the most commonly sold ccTLD domain extension, followed by the .eu, which pushed ahead of the .co.uk extension in 2010 for the first time since being introduced to the market in 2005.

The complete Q4 2010 report can be found at Sedo (PDF).

Inside the Sex.com Sale

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:30:00 GMT

Domain marketplace Sedo announced that the private sale period for Sex.com will end on September 28, 2010. Rumor has it that you’ll need to make a one million dollar deposit just to be considered.

The sex.com domain name has a long and interesting history. The last actual sale I am familiar with was back in January 2006 for $14 million. The controversial domain name was unable to turn a profit it seems, and according to the New York Daily News, New Jersey lender DOM Partners set up the sale after Escom defaulted on its loan.

Andrew Alleman at Domain Name Wire breaks out what the sex.com bankruptcy procedure and ultimate sale of the domain looks like. Ultimately, if a public auction is held, bidders will need to meet some financial requirement and make a $1 million deposit.

Sedo clearly has a vested interest in its sale and is actively touting the benefits of the domain. “Sex.com has a proven revenue model that will enable its next owner to quickly build on past success,” said Kathy Nielsen, Director of Sales at Sedo. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a domain that will instantly expand the visibility of a brand, position a company as a leader in its market, and generate tremendous natural traffic.”

Domain Market Shows Steady Growth

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:18:00 GMT

Domain name marketplace and domain monetization platform Sedo announced the results of its quarterly domain market study today.

The report, which reveals trends and changes in the domain industry, is based exclusively on Sedo’s marketplace and provide some rather valuable insights from the over eleven thousand domains sold through Sedo during the quarter.

Highlights from the study include:

Despite the introduction of new extensions, the .com remains the most popular TLD extension, accounting for more than 46 percent of total sales on the Sedo marketplace and 74 percent of all generic TLD sales; The average price of a .com domain was $2,401

Among ccTLDs, the .de extension remained the most popular, accounting for 64 percent of ccTLDs sold. The .co.uk and .eu extensions both took secondplace, each representing 15 percent of sales on the marketplace;

Sedo witnessed solid sales of generic (gTLDs) and country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) this quarter, which could be attributed to the increase in small businesses looking to target more local visitors and to the increase in media coverage surrounding TLDs like .me and .tv, which work well for marketing and branding strategies.

E.CO on the Auction Block for Charity

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:54:00 GMT

Domain name marketplace Sedo is showing its support of the much anticipated introduction of the .CO top level domain by powering a charity auction for E.CO.

I'm always interested in seeing the Internet industry show off their philanthropic power. Auction proceeds will go to the charity of the auctions choice.

The auction runs from June 7 at 12 pm EDT to June 10 at 4pm EDT and will be hosted by .CO INternet S.A.S. at Internet Week in New York. The last hour of bidding will be shown on a live broadcast and simulcast at Internet Retailer and TRAFFIC in Vancouver.

“With the launch of .CO, we are witnessing the introduction of one of the most valuable domain extensions on the market -- one that provides so many unique branding opportunities for Internet users across the globe,” said Kathy Nielsen, director of sales at Sedo.com. “We are excited to be part of this historic event and hope to leverage this unique opportunity to continue educating the market on the critical role a domain name strategy plays in the success of any marketing campaign.”

Sedo Rolls out Domain Advertising

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:16:00 GMT

Domain name market Sedo launched a new service today which will allow advertisers to purchase ads directly on domain names that are parked at Sedo with performance-based pricing.

SedoDNA (short for Sedo Domain Name Advertising) will enable advertisers to display advertising in relevant categories and on geographical domains - but it might just work best on keyword rich domain names. With a network securing over 92 million unique monthly visitors and with 6 million domain names currently parked at Sedo this is a genuine advertising opportunity to consider.

SedoDNA relies on the belief that direct navigation traffic is worthwhile to acquire. I'm not personally a believer yet. There are few details on how the service works (or how well it works) and Sedo is doing nothing more at this point than touting the same benefits that every other advertising network uses; exceptional ROI, targeting traffic, flexible customization, and of course an opportunity to "diversity and support" existing SEM campaigns.

Sedo, Verisign Host .TV Domain Auction

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Domain name marketplace Sedo has teamed with registry operator for the .tv domain VeriSign for an exclusive auction of a catalog of 115 premium .tv domain names at the standard registry renewal fee.

Sedo will be auctioning .tv domains, including Beauty.tv, Bloopers.tv, Business.tv, Cable.tv, Films.tv, Finance.tv, Home.tv, Jobs.tv, Lifestyle.tv, Real.tv, and Vacation.tv. The auction begins on Sedo.com on April 1, 2010 at 12:00 p.m. EDT and ends on April 8, 2010 at 12:00 p.m. EDT. The complete list of .tv domain names available for auction at Sedo can be found at www.sedo.tv.

“VeriSign is pleased to offer these highly desired .tv domain names through auction. These web addresses have tremendous appeal, as they are industry neutral, with a great number of possible applications for each name,” said Tom Correia, VeriSign’s .tv Product Manager. “We selected Sedo, an industry leader with a large global reach, to be the auction platform for our first-ever .tv Registry auction.”

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