New Extension Sales Analysis Aug 23 - Sept 22, 2018

This was an unusual month for new extension domain sales with dramatically more sales at the low value end but relatively few high value sales (just 3 above $10,000 and 30 above $1,000). As a result the average sales price was significantly lower ($634).  While the number of sales is almost double the previous month, the dollar volume of sales is down by about a factor of two (although last month was the highest volume of sales since I began these monthly reports.) A very active month at Flippa accounted for much of this change (but see Note 1). The .top extension, mainly registry sales of premium names, dominated sales dollar volume again this month. Many extensions had a significant number of sales, however, with 46 extensions having at least a single sale, and 10 extensions having ten or more sales during the month. Both of these are new records since I began these reports.

Summary

During the monthly period ending Sept 22, 2018 there were

• 313 NameBio recorded ngTLD domain name sales in the 30 day period, with $198,500 total sale volume (Although see Note 1).
• The average sales price was $634. The median price was roughly $198.
• In terms of major sales, 3 were for $10,000 or more 30 were for $1000 or more.
• There were sales during the month in 46 different extensions, the most since I started these reports. Ten different extensions had 10 or more sales in the month.
• The highest sale during the month was AD.top which sold for $32,232. AR.studio at $15,495 and transparency.online at $10,000 took second and third places.
• There were ngTLD domain sales during the month at 10 different venues.  Flippa had the highest number of sales, but Jiangsu Bangning had the highest sales volume. Sedo took third place in sales volume.
• For the 100 highest value sales in the month: 12% were 3 letter (or less), 32% were single word, 36% were two word, 3% were three word,  and 17% were other.
• Registries accounted for just over 40% of the dollar volume of these sales, but less than 10% of the number of sales this month  (Note 3).
• So far in 2018 there have been 1120 ngTLD sales in total listed on NameBio, with an average sales price of $3743, accounting for a total of $4.2 million sales volume. 

Extension Breakdown

I list in the table on the right  (click on table for a higher resolution version) those extensions that had either multiple sales in an extension, or a total monthly sales volume of  $350 or more. They are arranged by decreasing total sales volume, but the number of  sales for each are also listed. The popular extensions  .top, .online, .club, and .site all had a good number of sales in the month.

A  few extensions that are only rarely traded had major sales, including the great domain names smile.direct and Mr.glass.  The .fun extension  had a good month with 20 sales. The first aftermarket sales of the newly released .icu extension came this month.

If you are wondering which other extensions had a single sale, they are accountant, city, download, group, loan, network, pictures, rocks, science and tax.  In total, there were sales during this period in 46 different extensions, a record since I started doing doing monthly analyses of new extension domain name sales. That being said, it still means that about 400 new extensions that are in general availability did not record a single sale during the month (at least on  sites that report to NameBio).

If instead of sales volume you look at the number of sales, we have the results pictured on the left, with 10 different extensions having 10 or more sales during the month. For several of these extensions the sales this month represent a significant portion of their total NameBio sales record. However, see also Note 1 about possible issues in some of the data.

The Highest Value Sales

Below is a list of the major sales for the reporting period. Since there were only 3 sales over $10,000 this month, I decided to list all sales that were $3000 or more.  Unlike  other months, there were no reported sales from the Global registry.  Also, some other registries like Radix only report a couple of times a year. These reports often miss a portion of the .top registry sales that are reported to NameBio for dates within the reporting period but after we publish the analysis. For these reasons, and possibly others, there are fewer large registry sales in this  report than the last few monthly reports.

• AD.top $32,252  Jiangsu Bangning
• AR,studio $15,495  Sedo
• transparency.online  $10,000  Afternic
• wonder.top $7853  Jiangsu Bangning
• mobile.top  $7633  Jiangsu Bangning
• smile.direct  $7018  Sedo
• sanya.top $6585  Jiangsu Bangning
• handan.top $5865  Jiangsu Bangning
• a.company $4000  Sedo
• trt.top  $3907  Alibaba Cloud
• bdd.top $3657 Alibaba Cloud
• Mr.glass $3000  Sedo

I am not absolutely sure whether two of the sales are registry or not (the two at Alibaba Cloud), but I believe that 5 of the sales are directly registry, and the rest are probably not direct sales of premium domain names by a registry.   I only count a sale as a premium registry sale if it is being sold for the first time. For example, if I purchase a premium name from a registry, hold it for some period, and then sell it on Sedo to another user, I would not count it as a registry sale. See Note 3 regarding registry sales classification.

Venues

The graph at the right shows the top 5 venues for the sales when rated according to total dollar volume. The .top registry, Jiangsu Bangning, had the largest volume of sales again this month, although two venues that mainly handle sales from domain investors, took second and third place. It should be noted that although Afternic had a major reported sale, normally sales at that venue doe not report to NameBio and therefore the sales volume indicated does not represent the total sales there.  Also, marketplaces like Undeveloped, and registrar marketplaces at Namecheap and Namesilo are not reported to NameBio.  Venues with a single ngTLD sale during the reporting period include GoDaddy, Key Systems, West, 101 Domains, and NamesThat.win. Sedo is established as a venue for high value ngTLD sales, while Flippa has more sales but predominantly at prices of $500 and less, with some exceptions. While I feel it likely that the registrar marketplaces (probably especially Namecheap who handle so many ngTLD  initial  registrations), Efty sites, Undeveloped and other/private venues are probably handling a good volume of ngTLD sales, but those  are not routinely reported in the NameBio database. 

Names That Span Dot Effectively

Some of the domain names from this reporting period that I personally feel make excellent use of the extension as congruent with the domain name are the following:

• ticket.city
• games.business
• smile.direct
• AR.studio
• a.company
• Mr.glass
• biomedicine.online
• Chelsea.fun
• wonder.top
• Plato.top

Great Value

Interestingly a few of the great names went for value prices.  For example Chelsea.fun was just $199 and ticket.city is in my mind one of the best ngTLD deals ever at just $100. The domain name CA.tax (CA could mean Canada, California or chartered accountant) went for only $120, while e-sports.icu sold for only $128.  These show that, at least sometimes, you can get memorable names in the new extensions at excellent value.

Types of Domains

This month we did an analysis of the type of domain name for the 100 highest value domain names.  The results are shown on the left (click on the chart for a higher resolution view). Very short acronym names remain popular, with 12% of the sales from 1 to 3 letter in length. Most of the more valuable domain names were either short or single word, with 32% of the top 100 sales  single word.  However, there appears to be a trend toward more multiple word new extension domain names, with 36% of the sales two word and 3% were three word. Three word names included LiveWorldCup.online and CaresAndShares.online.  In some cases the domain names were difficult to classify and 17% were placed in an undetermined or other category.

Year to Date 

So far in 2018 there have been 1120 ngTLD sales with an average sales price of $3743. The total value of 2018 reported ngTLD sales up to the day of writing is $4.2 million. For reference last year saw $5.2 million in total new extension sales.

Discussion

This report has mixed news for new domain name investors. While the number of sales, and number of extensions, are both up from previous months, the number of high value sales and the total sales volume are both down.

As indicated in Note 1, there is scepticism among some regarding a portion of the recent sales at one venue.  If we accept that they are all legitimate sales, however, it is encouraging to see that finally a healthy exchange on domain names in the $100 to $400 range is taking place.  The majority of domain name sales (at least on NameBio) in legacy extensions such as .com are in the $250 to $500 range, and in my opinion there is a market for value priced domain names in new extensions. There are indicators in this report that there are beginnings of a market for two word domain names in the new extension domain market.

It is surprising that only a single sale took place on GoDaddy.  This is a major site for sale of legacy extension domain names between domain investors, and it seems surprising that so few sales, at least over $100, are happening there in the new extensions.

Various China based venues continue to sell a healthy number and volume of .top extension domain names, often at significant prices.

While the total number of reported new extension domain sales is fairly limited at Sedo, they sell for very good prices in multiple extensions.  They have done this since the beginning, although the prices seem to be creeping upward.  For ngTLD sales at Sedo the average price 2018 YTD is $4124, vs $3939 last year and $2473 in 2016.  It is likely that next month will take the total volume of ngTLD sales for the year (currently at $544k) to the highest single year ever at that venue (in 2017 $551k were sold at Sedo, the current record for a year).

While tracking past sales in an extension can be valuable domain intelligence, it is important to realize that not infrequently one encounters major sales in an extension  that has not previously had a major sale.  I wrote an earlier post on this topic.

While I show sales by extension, I would caution those investing in new domain extensions that, unlike the com/net/org/info space, it is not primarily the extension that matters, but rather the match between the name and the extension.  As such, high value sales are possible, even if not probable, in almost any extension even those without a sales history.

It is still prudent to be cautious when investing in these extensions, and still true that overall the return on investment seems better in .com. The difference is possibly narrowing, however, and if the comparison is with other legacy extensions, or country code extensions, the case for new extensions could be made (although is still arguable). For those new to this field, my post on 12 reasons why end users (and domain investors) might want to consider new domain extensions may be worthwhile. The health of new extensions, ultimately, depends on the adoption of these extensions in significant websites.

Notes

The NameBio database (or at least the portion publicly reported) does not include sales with value less than $100, nor sales from a number of venues such as Afternic, Undeveloped or Efty (unless buyers or sellers report them individually), nor from most of the ngTLD registries, so it is difficult to estimate how complete a record this is of all ngTLD domain name sales. Sometimes sales are posted on NameBio after their recorded sales date and therefore never appear on the daily report although they do appear in the NameBio database.

Previous Reports

Here are links to the three previous reports in case you want to do monthly comparisons:

• Period ending Aug 22, 2018
• Period ending July 22, 2018
• Period ending June 22, 2018
• Period ending May 22, 2018
• Period ending April 22, 2018
• Period ending March 22, 2018

Next Report and Other News

We will issue our next report in late October, and it will cover ngTLD sales for the period from Sept 23 through Oct 22. This monthly update on publicly reported ngTLD sales is offered as a service to the domain community.  While I strive to be accurate, no implied guarantee or warranty is associated with this report, and readers should independently verify information before using it in any domain investment decisions. This, and all other postings at this site, are offered for educational purposes and should not be interpreted as domain investment advice. You are responsible for your own domain investment decisions.  As always we welcome comments and corrections. We report regularly on domain name news, with a special emphasis on the new extensions, on our Twitter feed.  Why not join the more than 1500 domain investors, venture capitalists, tech experts, startup owners and other great people that already follow us @AGreatName?  If we can be of assistance in helping you find a domain name at a value price, or using a domain name phrase in a marketing campaign, don't hesitate to contact us through our website (or via direct message at Twitter).

Notes and Caveats:

1. As the reader of previous monthly sales analyses will note, there was a significant increase in the number of low value sales at one venue (Flippa) in this report. These had started in the final few days in the previous report, and continued through the first three-quarters of this report. The unexpected number of sales attracted attention and discussion within the domain community, and some are sceptical of at least some of these sales as, to western observers, a number of the names seem of  questionable quality. Most, but not all, share a price in the range $160 to $200, and were from sellers in the same geographical region.  Many of the cases involved similar or identical words being sold in different extensions.  I have spent many hours looking into these, examining sellers, registration dates, names, extensions, prices and more.  While I don't claim to understand a number of the sales.  While the narrow price range seems surprising, I discovered that a significant part of all Flippa sales are in that range and have been for some time.  It should also be stated that the same terms, or very similar ones, sold in a number of other extensions on Flippa, including .pro, .us, .asia and likely .info and.com. Also, in several cases a much higher price similar name also sold.  A number of the domain names (by no means all) are in use already in sites.  I have kept all NameBio listed sales in this report. I felt that there was not compelling evidence that they should not be included. Should I have excluded many of these Flippa sales the total sales dollar volume would not be significantly changed, but the number of extensions and sales would go down significantly (and the average price would go up). 
2. For the first time since I have been  analyzing ngTLD sales there were zero dot Global sales in this reporting period.  I am not sure if that is because they have stopped reporting to NameBio or for some other reason.  That has reduced the number of high value sales, and the number of registry sales.
3. For purposes of estimating registry sales I assume that all sales from Alibaba, Jiangsu Bangning, Global, Uniregistry and registry venues are assumed registry.  I assume that all sales at Affternic, Alibaba Cloud, Flippa, GoDaddy, Namesilo, Sedo, Undeveloped and West are normally not registry.  I realize that occasionally some of the venues in this list do sell registry premium domain names,  and occasionally I count individual names as registry.  In this month the sales at 101 and Key Systems appear non-registry and were classified in that way.  No easy classification system is perfect, and I suspect a few have been misidentified. 
4. The NameBio statistical summary for the month seems slightly higher (~2%) in sales volume than I obtain by adding all of the individual extension data.  I have checked my work several times and can't resolve the difference.  It is possible this analysis is missing about 2% of the sales somehow, and therefore under represents the true sales.
5. As I have noted previously, the TOP sales in particular are periodically reported. It is quite possible, even probable, that some TOP sales will be added to the database for dates covered in this report, but that were not available to be included in this analysis.  Therefore TOP sales are likely under-represented. 
6. Most registries do not report to NameBio.  Also NameBio do not generally include data from major sales venues such as Afternic and Undeveloped (occasionally individual sales are reported, as the case for the $10,000 transparency.online sale reported here.  Nor are sales made from Efty sites and private sales normally reported. 

Original post Sept 23 2018.

Disclosure:  I currently hold a number of  ngTLD domain names. I am  not associated with NameBio, but would like to acknowledge their incredible database and their generosity to make it available to the domain community.