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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 2023

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For the 7th year in a row, DomainAgents has been recognized by Escrow.com as one of the top 10 grossing brokers in the industry!

I’m proud of our amazing staff and 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. The last few years have been a rollercoaster and I’m especially proud of the consistency that we’ve been able to deliver through it all.

We work with buyers of all budgets, so if there is a domain that your business needs, please reach out to our domain brokers today!

-Ryan McKegney
CEO, DomainAgents

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

5 Things We’re Looking Forward to at NamesCon

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The last in-person NamesCon event took place in January 2020, which honestly seems like a lifetime ago. We’re incredibly excited to be heading to Austin, Texas for NamesCon’s return August 31st to September 3. Tickets are on sale right now if you’re considering coming. Here are five things we’re looking forward to:

Friends – It has been much too long since we’ve had the chance to see our friends in the domain industry in-person! The domain community is not particularly large and many of the participants have known each other for over a decade. While there have been many Zoom calls and online conferences, nothing replaces seeing friends, old and new, in person. NamesCon is by far the biggest domain focused conference and the lack of an in-person event the last 2+ years has been a big hole in the industry. We hope we can grab a coffee/drink/side of ribs with you there!

Sessions – The session lineup this year looks particularly interesting with sessions on negotiation, deal making, and a number of sessions on blockchain domains and NFTs. The full agenda can be found here. If you’re new to the industry, it’s a great chance to gain a lot of knowledge in a short amount of time.

Deals – At every NamesCon we have closed at least one deal just by the random chance of running into a domain broker or investor. Nothing quite compares to the rush of putting together a deal on the floor of a conference. There is also a big domain auction on the Thursday of the show. If you’ve never attended a live auction, it’s definitely an experience you don’t want to miss.

Parties – Our favorite party every NamesCon is the ICA Dinner. It draws out the biggest names in domain investing and is a great time. Tickets are available now. NamesCon is also having a social day on Saturday at Banger’s Sausage House and Beer Garden. While the conference is the main event, a lot of deals happen and relationships are formed at these less formal events.

BBQ – Texas is known for barbecue and you owe it to yourself to venture away from the hotel at some point to experience it first hand. We can honestly say the BBQ we had at Terry Black’s BBQ in 2020 was the best we’ve ever had.

If you’re heading to Austin, be sure to prepare for the heat! Temperatures of 38c/100f are common at this time of year. We hope to see you there!

Terry Black’s BBQ