2. Q2 2009 Domain Market Study
The internet domain market, as represented by the Sedo marketplace saw consistent
growth in Q2 2009 with 9,403 domains changing hands for more than $15.6 million.
The most notable trends over the last quarter were the significant changes in the
average sales price of the .com domains, which dropped by $759, compared to Q1
2009, the increase in .net sales and the jump in ccTLD sales in Q2 2009 compared to
Q1 2009.
1. Division of Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Sales
The .com extension remains the most commonly sold extension for yet another quarter,
representing more than 76% of all sales on the Sedo marketplace with other generic
top-level domains (gTLD). The .net also saw a growth in popularity this quarter, with
more than 11% of the sales in Q2 compared with just 7% in Q1 of 2009.
3. 2. Number and Price Comparison gTLDs
The average sales price for the majority of gTLDs has dropped in comparison with
Q1. However, the .net extension, which typically serves as an alternative to the .com
extension, has seen the highest averages sales price recorded over the past three years
in Sedo’s marketplace and has surpassed the .com extension in USD. The average
sales price for all domain sales on the Sedo marketplace was $1,467 and the average
sales price for gTLDs was $948 in Q2 2009.
Average sales price Average sales price
gTLD Q1/2009 in $ Q2/2009 in $
.net 1,307 1,775
.com 2,527 1,768
.org 978 1,016
.biz 571 591
.info 598 592
4. 3. Division of Country Code Top-Level
Domain Sales
In looking at the concentration of country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) sales, there
were few changes from Q1 2009. The .de extension remains the most popular ccTLD
sold on the domain market, followed by the .co.uk, and .eu extensions. Some ccTLDs
have seen significant growth, like the .cn extension used by China, for example, saw
31% more domains sold in Q2 compared with Q1 of 2009. Below is a graph of the top
10 most popular ccTLD sales on our marketplace.
5. 4. Number and Price Comparison for ccTLDs
While the majority of ccTLDs have seen a decrease in the average sales price, the .co.
uk extension has seen an increase of $1,112 in the average sales price from Q1. The
average sales price of the .at domain of Austria also saw a significant increase of almost
100%, while the average sales price for .es, .de and .eu extensions have decreased.
Although the .fr extension also saw a decrease and is rated as the lowest selling ccT-
LD, it currently boasts the second highest sales price for a ccTLD in Q2, putting it right
behind the .co.uk extension. The average sales price for all domain sales on the Sedo
marketplace was $1,467 and the average sales price for ccTLDs was $1,503. This shows
how the ccTLD domains are becoming a main contributor to the sales on Sedo.
Average sales price Average sales price
TLD Q1/2009 in $ Q2/2009 in $
.co.uk 1,444 2,556
.at 721 1,427
.es 1899 1115
.de 1,175 897
.fr 4,247 2,227
.eu 1,168 834
6. 5. Division of Sales per Quarter
In Q2, there was a slight increase in domain sales transactions over Q1 2009. With an
average sales volume of 9,365, the first half of 2009 altogether is proving stronger than
the first half of 2008, which resulted in 9,241 in sales volume.
10.000 9.727 9.649 9.326 9.403
8.754 8.754
8.000
6.000
4.000
2.000
0
Q1 2008 Q2 2008 Q3 2008 Q4 2008 Q1 2009 Q2 2009
7. 6. Division of Sales Type
Sedo offers several ways in which domain owners can offer their domains for sale. The
graph below depicts the most commonly used methods in Q2 compared to Q1 2009.
One trend to note is the number of marketplace auctions, which have increased appro-
ximately 3% in Q2 in comparison to Q1. We’ve also seen a slight decrease in the num-
ber of offer-counteroffer sales.
Sales Per Channel
8. 7. Median Sales Prices
The average sales price is a useful reference in pricing your domain, however with some
large keyword domain sales swaying the average upwards, the median sales price is a
more accurate indicator of the value of the majority of the sales. Currently, gTLDs have
an average median sales price around $360.
gTLD Median
gTLD Sales Price in $
.net 520
.com 410
.org 377
.biz 272
.info 219
8. Division of Categories
Q2 saw a few changes to the
popularity of domain sales
Top 10 Categories
categories on the Sedo domain
market in Q1 2009. Below is a list of
1. Business
the 10 top categories for domains
2. Travel and Leisure
sold in Q2 2009.
3. Gambling
4. Acronyms and Letters
5. Society
6. Shopping
7. Adult
8. Sports
9. Automotive
10. Finance and Money
9. 9. Top 10 Domain Sales
Below are lists of the top 10 domain sales overall and the top .com sales in Q2. Please
note that the lists below include only public sales and that the majority of domain sales
on Sedo’s domain market are marked as confidential, at the request of the parties
involved.
Top 10 Sales in $ Top 10 .com Sales in $
Domain Price Domain Price
talk.com 500,000 talk.com 500,000
spel.se 266,000 livestream.com 100,000
horseracing.co.uk 165,000 timemanagement.com 100,000
onlinecasino.co.uk 165,000 90.com 74,480
livestream.com 100,000 concept.com 53,200
timemanagement.com 100,000 foros.com 47,880
90.com 74,480 kosovo.com 43,225
concept.com 53,200 viewit.com 40,000
foros.com 47,880 staysure.com 37,500
Descargas.net 45,936 directories.com 30,000
10. Looking Forward
We expect to see more ccTLD sales and slight increases in the average sales prices
of ccTLDs, as businesses worldwide look to appeal to highly targeted local groups of
potential customers. Looking further ahead into Q4 and the start of 2010, we expect
to see even more buyers in the domain market; increasing the sales volume as a re-
sult of businesses looking to save costs on their SEM and SEO spend.