Domain Sales

Domain Valuation Guide – Updated for 2023

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The biggest change in the domain secondary market over the course of the past year has been the meteoric rise in the value of .AI domains. The rest of the market has been fairly strong, but there is definitely not as much heat as there was just back in 2021. Of course, if you need a domain broker, we are happy to help however we can.

Ryan McKegney
CEO, DomainAgents

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Short, one-word .com domains

  • Example: Help.com (sold for $3,00,000 USD), Throne.com (sold for $150,000 USD)
  • Price range: $50,000 – $500,000+
  • Watch out for: Common, brandable, and trendy words as these can increase the value of a domain.
  • There is no upper limit, but sales like Voice.com for $30M are outliers.

.AI Domains

  • Example: Agents.ai (Sold for $125,000), You.ai (Sold for $700,000), Pics.ai ($50,000)
  • Price range: $0 – $1,000,000
  • Watch out for: Industries that are likely to be impacted by Artificial Intelligence, computing terms, first names.
  • Currently the hottest domain extension out there. The domain extension may be a long term trend or a fad.

Longer or Uncommon One-word .com domains

  • Example: Closure.com (sold for $45,000 USD)
  • Price range: $10,000-$50,000+
  • Watch out for: Brandable, trendy words, or variations of more common or shorter words which can increase the value of a domain.

Three-letter .com domains

  • Example: HKL.com (sold for $27,500 USD), NFC.com (sold for $160,000 USD), MAX.com (sold for $1,500,000 USD)
  • Price range: $20,000k -$100,000k+, potentially over 7 figures
  • Watch out for: Trendy abbreviations that can increase value. 

Two-letter .com domains

  • Example: IT.com (sold for $3,800,000 USD)
  • Price range: $500,000 to several million
  • These are extremely rare and don’t sell often.

3-character.com and 2-character.com domains (a mix of numbers and letters)

  • Example: b5d.com (sold for $630 USD), 5f.com (sold for $56,000 USD)
  • Price range: 3-character domains are likely to be in the $500-$3,000 range, while 2-character domains are expected to be $50k+.

Two-word .com domains

  • Example: CloudTech.com (sold for $50,000 USD), ValueMattress.com (sold for $3,888 USD)
  • Price range: $1,500 – $50,000+
  • Watch out for: Brandable or trendy keywords that will increase a domain’s value.
  • The pairing has to make sense.  Two random words together that don’t make sense in the context of each other are worthless.

Non .com suffixes 

  • Country domain suffix
    • Example: .ca .de .uk
    • Price range: 10-25% of .com equivalent
  • Alternate suffix
    • Example: .net .co .io .org
    • Price range: 5-20% of the .com equivalent
    • Watch out for: .io and .ai extensions. Within the tech industry, there is a wide acceptance of .io and .ai domains and prices have been pushing higher and higher in recent years.
  • New domain suffix
    • Example: .xyz .tech .club
    • Price range: 1-10% of the .com equivalent
    • Any investment in new TLDs should focus on the best of the best keywords and pairings that form common phrases. There are too many alternative options for buyers to invest in long tail keywords.

Number .com domains

  • Example: 01.com (sold for $1,820,000 USD), 509.com (sold for $106,000 USD), 6439.com (sold for $25,505 USD)
  • Price range: A NN will likely be in the millions, a NNN is likely to be $100k+, and a NNNN is generally $20k+ 
  • Note that these domains are generally in higher demand in China.

Factors that increase value:

  • Domains that are singular (vs. plural), or are related to current events (i.e. major global and political events), financial services, the auto industry, cryptocurrency, cannabis, or blockchain tend to be higher in value. Currently, domains with NFT/nifty, coin, and crypto are hot.

Factors that decrease value: 

  • Just like there are modifiers that increase value, we’ve found that these modifiers tend to decrease value: porn terms, past tense words, and words or terms with negative connotations.  We also don’t recommend investing in COVID related domains. Many marketplaces have banned them and they have been associated with bad or unethical behavior.

DomainAgents Recognized as a Top Broker of 2022

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This past year was a bit of a hangover after a record 2021 in the domain industry. The combination of inflation, interest rates, and war made for a very unpredictable year. Despite all of that, we have worked hard to help domain buyers and sellers weather through it and today we were proud to be recognized by Escrow.com as one of the highest grossing domain brokers of the year!

We are honored to work with partners across the domain industry. We wouldn’t be here without the registrars, registries, domain investors and buyers, both large and small, that we work with every day. This is the sixth time in a row we’ve won this award and I’m most proud of our consistency across what has been a very turbulent number of years.

I’d like to highlight the great team we’ve built at DomainAgents. The DomainAgents team provides great service to every buyer and seller they work with, whether the deal is for a few hundred dollars or several million. 

2023 looks like it might have a rocky start as the world adjusts to a very different economic environment, but I’m hopeful that by mid-year things will be back on track.

Whatever the case, I hope you have a healthy and prosperous 2023!

-Ryan McKegney
CEO, DomainAgents

Million Dollar Sales Highlight a Hot Domain Market

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Domain sales remain hot as we near the end of the summer. Only time will tell if sales cool down as temperatures do in the fall. 

Here’s our Top 5 Most Noteworthy Domain Name Sales for July and August:

Marketing.com sold for $2,500,000 on 8/18/21

Topping our list is Marketing.com, reportedly selling for $2.5M just over a week ago.  

Currently, the domain points to a simple page that looks to be under construction. 

Marketing.com is a single, English dictionary word .com domain. Despite being a longer single word domain at 9 letters, it still commanded a multimillion dollar figure. Historical records indicate that the domain was originally registered in 1998. In 2015, the domain pointed to a marketing solutions website. 

IS.com sold for $1,950,000 on 8/4/21

Next up, we have IS.com, a 2-letter .com domain selling for just under $2M. 

The domain now points to a website for Iron Source, a platform that helps “turn your app into a business”. Their site indicates that they have solutions for monetization, analytics, creative management, and more. 

Historical records show that the domain was registered in 1992. 2-letter domains often sell at a premium, so the price tag is no surprise. Back in 2017, the domain pointed to a website for “Inside Sales”, which provided solutions to help accelerate sales. 

EE.com sold for $1,350,000 on 7/21/21

Here’s another 2-letter .com domain on the list! Selling for a little less than IS.com, EE.com sold for $1.35M. 

The domain doesn’t point to much at this point and it’s hard to say what might be on the horizon. Might it resolve to a company with the initials “EE”? Extreme Earth? Express Economy? Only time will tell. 

The domain was registered in 1994 and appears to have changed hands over the years. Like IS.com, a premium price tag is expected. Back in early 2008, the domain pointed to a website with resources for electronics engineering. 

Ava.com sold for $792,000 on 8/4/21

Ava.com is a 3-letter .com domain selling for $792K. 

The domain points to an ominous website with the words “Arriving on Planet Earth. January 2022” in bold white font on top of a pitch black background. Scrolling down, it seems some sort of invention can be expected, with little else revealed about the purpose or mission. 

The domain was registered in 1994 and looks to have changed hands over the years. Once upon a time, in 2007, the domain pointed to a website for “Alexander Valley Association” whose mission is to “preserve for posterity the natural, rural and agricultural values of the hills, plains and river which so richly endow the Alexander Valley” according to avassociation.org.

LiveWire.com sold for $632,500 on 8/4/21

Last, and technically least is LiveWire.com which sold for the lowest figure on our list, at just $632.5K. 

The two-word .com domain points to a visually interesting website that displays some cool kids taking their motorcycles out for a spin. The company is all about motorcycles that create a connection between human and technology. 

If the domain rings a bell, the name “Livewire” refers to a fictional DC supervillainess. The domain was also once home to a music downloading site. Historical records show it was originally registered in 1994. 

Also worth mentioning is Better.com and Hippo.com.  Both sales were uncovered by George Kirikos at FreeSpeech.com.  According to SEC filings, Better.com sold for $1.82 million in 2015 and is being used by a mortgage company.  Hippo.com sold in early 2021 for $3.3 million and is a home insurance company.