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Christian.com Finds $600,000 in the Collection Plate, .Mobi Domain Goes for 6 Figures and $2.8 Million ccTLD Sale Comes to Light

The past week has been a very interesting one for the domain aftermarket. Sedo.com and RickLatona.com announced they had worked together to get a $600,000 sale of Christian.com completed. The buyer was Boris Kleiman, the same man who laid out $1.1 million for Call.com last week. Kleiman told Domain Name Wire that he’s going to use the domain name for a Christian social network and Christian encyclopedia. This sale easily tops our new weekly Top 20 Domain Sales chart.

.Mobi also makes a rare appearance near the top of the elite list with an impressive $135,000 sale of Casino.mobi to Infomeda Ltd. that was handled by Moniker.com. Infomeda plans to use the name as an online portal, with location-based information for bricks-and-mortar casino locations, reviews of mobile casinos as well as “fun money” casino-style games and gaming tools. This becomes the highest non com gTLD of the year to date, eclipsing Sedo’s $124,337 sale of Jesus.net last month.

We also learned this week about a huge sale from last year that has just come to light. Dominik Mueller first reported that Unister GmbH paid €1,960,000 ($2,858,945 at today’s exchange rate) to acquire Shopping.de. Unister operates other popular online portals such as News.de, Auto.de, Geld.de (”money” in German) and Kredit.de. We have now added that sale (which was handled by Sedo) to our list of 2008’s Top 100 sales where it ranks at the 3rd biggest sale last year.

By Ron Jackson

Sedo had another outstanding week, having a hand in 8 of the top 10 sales and 16 of 20 overall. Their hit listed included #3 BestPrices.com at $81,000 and #4 WellnessHotels.com at $60,393. Sedo also accounted for all six of the ccTLD sales that earned spots on the all-extension leader board. All six were German .de domains, led by #6 Hotel-Reservierung.de (”hotel reservations” in German) at $34,510.

The only non .com global TLD to make the Big Board, other than Casino.mobi, was #20 Boerse.net (”stock exchange” in German), a name that sold at Sedo for $12,375.

RickLatona.com had multiple chart entries with a trio that included #5 BreastPump.com at $50,000. The AfternicDLS also took a Top 20 bow with #16 (tie) M88.com bringing $15,000.

Here is how all of the leaders stack up for the week ending Sunday, Sept. 6:

The DN Journal Top 20 Reported Domain Sales - Mon. Aug. 31, 2009 - Sun. Sept. 6, 2009 Euro to Dollar Conversion (€ to $) is Based on Rates in Effect Sept. 8, 2009
	Domain	Sold For	Where Sold
1.	Christian.com	$600,000	Sedo/RickLatona.com
2.	Casino.mobi	$135,000	Moniker
3.	BestPrices.com	$81,000	Sedo
4.	WellnessHotels.com	€41,650 = $60,393	Sedo
5.	BreastPump.com	$50,000	RickLatona.com
6.	Hotel-Reservierung.de (”hotel reservations” in German)	€23,800 = $34,510	Sedo
7.	Sued.com	$25,003	Sedo
8.	CharterAuction.com	$25,000	Sedo
9.	Schlafen.de (”sleep” in German)	€17,000 = $24,650	Sedo
10.	DXB.com	$22,500	Sedo
11.	ToasterOvens.com	$20,000	RickLatona.com
12.	Amateure.de (”amateur” in German)	€13,500 = $19,575	Sedo
13.	Kneipen.de (”bars or pubs” in German)	€13,090 = $18,981	Sedo
14.	BFC.com	$18,400	Sedo
15.	Kiss.de	€11,500 = $16,675	Sedo
16. tie	M88.com	$15,000	AfternicDLS
16. tie	Bobbie.com	$15,000	Sedo
18. tie	MHotel.com	€10,000 = $14,500	Sedo
18. tie	DailyFinance.de	€10,000 = $14,500	Sedo
20.	Boerse.net (”stock exchange” in German)	€7,500 = $12,375	Sedo
Keep in mind that these are the highest value sales that have been reported to us in the past week. This column is meant to be an educational tool, not a complete list documenting ALL high value domain sales. Such a list is impossible to produce because many sales are kept private at the insistence of buyers, sellers or both. Our procedure for verifying the accuracy of domain sales reports is available here.
For the many newcomers entering the domain industry we also want to point out that the reasons why a domain name sells for a certain price can be varied and are not always clear to those who are unfamiliar with the domain market. If you do not understand why specific domain names command the prices they do, you are likely to make unwise domain registrations or purchases. We highly recommend that you do some basic research before you buy anything! As a starting point we have built a sister site specifically for you at NameNewbie.com.
CLICK HERE for our Year-To-Date Charts.

There were eight more five-figure sales just off the chart. Sedo had six of those; Shirts.nl ($12,180), E-Buy.com ($12,000), GermanFreeTV.com ($11,528), GameCoins.com ($10,500), EnterprisePlus.com ($10,000) and CountryCode.org ($10,000).

The AfternicDLS got a boost from SteamGenerator.com at $11,600 and LuxuryNames.com landed $10,000 for Private Airplane.com.

.Com Supporting Cast

RickLatona.com led the .com supporting cast with BoatClassifieds.com at $9,500 and they also sold DomainForums.com for $6,500.

Sedo’s supplemental list included Sheen.com at $9,300, InternetRegistry.com at $9,000 and Gafasdesol.com at $8,900. BellyRings.com brought $8,899, TopLife.com lounged at $8,000 and Kreditrechner.com returned $6,090.

Neubox.com contained $6,000, MusicBase.com drummed up $5,600, eChinese.com translated into $5,300 and Bewegtbild.com kicked in $5,075. Sedo had 35 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 that you can check out in the table below.

Back at Moniker, 1Y.com went for $8,600, FXQ.com cornered $4,475, SQN.com added $4,075 and MyBNB.com banked $2,500.

At SnapNames.com, Jifen.com fetched $8,259, OpenNetwork.com connected for $3,801 and two others; DanaAir.com and Shushu.com shucked $2,700 each. AuroraCarInsurance.com covered $2,199 and WebPlaza.com posted $2,050.

The AfternicDLS was busy pumping out dozens of solid four figure sales including Birdies.com and CreativeFactory.com at $7,500 apiece and MuscleSupplements.com at $7,000. TSHP.com tacked on $6,400, Transformar.com found $6,000 and DigitalProductions.com produced $5,800.

Papert.com picked up $5,500, FreeQoutes.com (typo) and MovieCamera.com captured $4,500 each while IRASolutions.com came up with $4,088. The AfternicDLS had 55 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $4,000. Those are listed in the table below:

The AfternicDLS also registered four sales utilizing other venues as part of their expanded promotion platform. Using Sedo, they moved GamingTech.com and GeneralIndex.com at $2,800 each. Using SnapNames they found buyers for OrganicFashions.com at $2,488 and OrganicGrains.com at $2,400.

LuxuryNames.com logged two other four-figure sales, MicroLenders.com at $4,900 and LuxuryHoliday.com at $3,000.

Country Codes

Germany’s .de ran rampant on the County Code Top 20 chart this week, sweeping the first six positions and taking 10 of 20 places overall. Those first six domains all broke the five-figure mark as did #7 Shirts.nl. We covered all of those in the all-extension section at the top of this report. The highest country code sale you haven’t seen yet is #8 Documents.co.uk, sold at Sedo for $8,250.

Great Britain’s .co.uk and the Netherlands’ .nl each had three chart entries. The other countries represented this week were Belgium (.be) and France (.fr).

Sedo continued to dominate the ccTLD category, sweeping 18 of the 20 chart entries. The two places they missed went to a pair of Australian domains sold by NetFleet.com.au; #12 Selby.com.au at 7,000AUD ($6,020) and Brothels.com.au at 6,520AUD ($5,607).

Here is how all of the country code top sellers stacked up for the week ending Sept 6:

There were several dozen additional four-figure ccTLD sales off the chart with Sedo accounting for all but three of those sales. Their roster included Dresses.de ($3,263), Fermier.fr ($2,900) and CodeStudio.co.uk ($2,846).

AAAJobs.de and Optik24.de each drew $2,828, PlatinMedia.de delivered $2,719 and EventSecurity.co.uk kicked in $2,475. Sedo had 32 more ccTLD sales ranging from $1,015 to $2,233 that are listed in the table below:

Elsewhere Netfleet.com.au sold Domestic.com.au ($1,376) and For.com.au ($1,097) while the AfternicDLS moved FuelEfficiency.co.uk for $1,200.

If there are country code extensions in our report that you are not familiar with, you can look up the nation each extension goes with here.

Global Contenders (Non .com gTLDs: .biz, .info, .mobi, .net, .org & .tel)

No doubt about the top gun in the Global Contenders category this week. In addition to heading our weekly Top 20 chart, Casino.mobi, at $135,000 via Moniker.com, is also the highest non .com gTLD sale thus far this year. Two other sales cracked the five-figure mark and we told you about those in the all-extension section at the top of this report.

The highest GC sale you haven’t seen yet is 15.net at $9,999 through Sedo.com. They also sold 2T.net for $6,600 to take four of the top five positions on the leader board.

.Net had the most chart entries with 11, followed by .org with six. .Info also had multiple entries, scoring with #6 Funds.info ($6,500 via GoDaddyAuctions.com) and #12 Assurances.info through Sedo.

Here’s how all of the Global Contenders stacked up for the week ending Sept. 6:

There were several dozen additional four-figure GC sales off the chart. The AfternicDLS led that group with CurrencyRates.org and Schreiben.net (”write” in German) at $2,500 each. They also sold SaferHome.net ($2,488), SPWeb.net ($2,390) and Progreso.net ($2,388).

The Afternic DLS had 18 more four-figure GC sales ranging from $1,000 to $2,000. You can check those out in the table below:

At Sedo, Abilon.org and LCPS.org deposited $2,430 each, FreePoker.info dealt out $2,200 and Trikots.info contributed $1,898. EBT.org generated $1,700, Aequo.net notched $1,650 and Versicherungvergleich.org drew $1,568.

Sedo also scored with PayOnline.org ($1,491), Juegos-Gratis.info ($1,444) and You.info ($1,350). Huisarts.info added $1,238, Doehring.org dispensed $1,235 and Object.net nailed $1,160.

Elsewhere LuxuryNames.com sold DefenseAttorneys.net for $2,000 and two others; LuxuryCruise.net and LuxuryCruises.net for $1,900 apiece. SnapNames.com sold MobileRealEstate.net for $1,820. The AfternicDLS used Sedo’s platform to pick up $1,516 for ChildRescue.org and GoDaddy Auctions rang up $1,005 for Compulsive.org.

Now that you’re up to date on what happened over the past week, check out how the leaders stand year to date in all categories by visiting our Year To Date Charts page.

*****

As always, we welcome all verifiable sales reports from companies, private sellers or individuals with knowledge of an important sale made through any channel. To contribute information and help make this column better,  just drop a note to editor@dnjournal.com.

We truly appreciate the industry leading companies who share their sales information with us to help everyone in the business get a handle on current domain values. Richard Meyer of Domain Sales Center also provides invaluable help in collecting data for these sales reports each week.

Every Tuesday night or Wednesday morning we publish the highest reported domain name sales for the previous week. On Mondays and Tuesdays our contributors send us their sales data for the previous 7 days. We then compile that information and write this article to give you the most comprehensive sales report in the industry.

Editor’s Note: If you wish to review previous Domain Sales columns, they are available in our Archive.

If a buyer junks whatever was previously on a site that makes it obvious they were buying the domain name only. In the case of DropShippers.com, this “added value” issue required some additional thought when both the buyer, Tom Hashem Jr., and the seller, Richard Gabriel (who had a huge sale earlier this year when he sent Auction.com to REDC for $1.7 million) said the existing platform was a free throw-in.

Gabriel described it as an automated system that didn’t require him to run it as a business and said that he added it to the deal at no charge since he would have no use for it after signing an agreement not to compete in the drop shipping business with the buyer. Hashem said he eventually plans to “develop the site with website hosting features for people who need an ecommerce business and supply products to Ebay power sellers.” However, in the meantime, DropShippers.com continues to run the ecommerce platform that has been on it for years and that has to be of some value. Also, Gabriel is still listed as the Admin contact on the WhoIs because the platform runs on his servers. 

In addition, the $1.5 million sale price includes a $500,000 promissory note to be paid off at 5.95% over 10 years. Hashem paid the other $1 million upfront, but the domain, as collateral for the loan, was transferred to the LLC that financed the balance, Gabby Investments, which according to a post on Gabriel’s 50.com website, is solely owned by his daughter Ashley. 

Until the Gabriels receive the balance of the payments due (which could take a decade) we can’t chart the domain as a completed $1.5 million sale, even though the contract is valued at that amount. In a similar situation several years ago, we reported the news when Rick Schwartz struck a deal to sell Men.com for $1.3 million, but we didn’t add the sale to our charts until six months later after the buyer made the last of the six monthly payments that their contract called for (the domain was also transferred to the buyer at that time). 

None of this takes anything away from another major sale for Gabriel. It is just a matter of trying to make sure we compare apples to apples on our sales charts (completed all cash sales of domain names only). Having carefully considered the information I have on this transaction I don’t feel that it currently meets that criteria. 

Now back to this week’s action. .Com dominated the competition with 15 chart entries. The remaining five spots went to two ccTLDs, two .orgs and a .net. One of those county codes crashed the top five. Games.eu generated a €67,500 ($95,850) payday at Sedo. The top non .com gTLD was #11 Aileron.org, which went for $21,000, also at Sedo.

The week’s return on investment winner was #6 Releases.com, a name that changed hands for $47,500 through John Daly’s NameConnect.com. It had been purchased less than a year ago (n October 2008) for just $8,600 through Moniker. 

Here is how all of the leaders stack up for the week ending Sunday, August 30:

There were nine more five-figure sales off the chart. Sedo had the highest of those with KeywordDomainNames.com at $11,240. They also sold BalloonShop.com and JewishCupid.com for $10,000 each. 

In addition to their two charted domains, the AfternicDLS bagged four more five-figure sales; CarInsuranceComparison.com at $10,150 and a trio at $10,000 each that included BavarianMotors.com, BodySystem.com and SportsUnlimited.com. 

SnapNames also has a $10,000 sale with DigitalKamera.com and NameJet hit the same 10K mark with HongKongHotel.com.

.Com Supporting Cast

The AfternicDLS had another very solid week piling up over $880,000 in sales and leading the four-figure .com supporting cast with InsuranceProviders.com at $9,500. Their hit list also included three names at $8,500 each; AutoInsuranceComparison.com, HealthInsuranceProvider.com and TennesseeCarInsurance.com. 

ArizonaCarInsurance.com added $7,940, AutoInsuranceComparisons.com kicked in $7,600 and two others; Economizer.com and Insyt.com secured $7,500 apiece. The AfternicDLS had 96 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $6,000. Those are listed in the table below:

The AfternicDLS also registered four sales utilizing other venues as part of their expanded promotion platform. Sacmautraitim.com went for $5,988 at SnapNames while TecnoWeb.com ($2,100), StampsDirect.com ($2,025) and MomSavvy.com ($2,000) changed hands through Sedo.

Back at Sedo, WAE.com wound up at $8,520, Brands247.com brought $8,500 and Dinos.com delivered $8,000. ChinaWholesalers.com chipped in $7,900, Windmobile.com braked at $7,222 and Erencontre.com contributed $7,100.

OutdoorCushion.com and SavvyMom.com managed $7,000 each while Zonales.com zipped up $5,500 and 0707.com counted out $5,100. Sedo had 25 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 that you can check out in the table below.

At NameJet, Convince.com corralled $7,200, Digicam.com captured $7,100 and Vehics.com hauled in $6,666. VictorianFurniture.com fetched $5,588 and RefinanceMortgages.com returned $5,100.

NameJet had 17 more .com sales ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 that are listed in the table below:

At SnapNames BuyGoldOnline.com landed $6,100, Webcn.com went for $5,750 and FindEvents.com located $4,000. Guangdian.com grossed $3,659, SpyPhones.com spotted $3,402 and Slipped.com fell at $3,400. HandCart.com wheeled in $2,100 and VideoPortal.com posted $2,050. 

Elsewhere RickLatona.com took in $9,200 for TradingStocks.com, Moniker.com made $6,175 from Spymaster.com and $2,625 from MainStreetInvestors.com and DomainAmbition.com sold H2Q.com for $6,000 and GoDaddy Auctions booked

APN: a1.net

Benutzername: ppp@a1plus.at

Kennwort: ppp

Die Gemeinde Welle hat keinen Anspruch gegenüber dem Inhaber der Domain welle.de, der diese durch Sedoparking nutzt und verkaufen will. Das hat das Landgericht Köln mit Urteil vom 08.05.2009 entschieden    (Aktenzeichen 81 O 220/08).

Was war passiert?

Der Kläger hatte die Domain welle.de registriert und bei Sedo zum Verkauf angeboten. Zudem hatte der klagende Domaininhaber die Domain auch bei Sedo geparkt und mit Links zu Wassersportangeboten versehen. Die Gemeinde hat daraufhin den Domaininhaber von welle.de abgemahnt und auch einen Dispute-Eintrag bei der DENIC erwirkt. Der Domaininhaber reichte daraufhin Klage ein, um den Dispute-Eintrag wieder aufheben zu lassen, weil er die Domain im Falle eines Verkaufes so nicht hätte übertragen könne. Die Gemeinde erhob Widerklage und verlangte die Freigabe der Domain. Die Gemeinde unterlag vollständig.

Städte und Gemeinden haben schon häufig vor Gericht um Domains gestritten und sehr oft Recht bekommen (z.B. LG Lüneburg - celle.de; LG Mannheim - heidelberg.de; LG Braunschweig - braunschweig.de;  OLG Karlsruhe - badwildbad.com). Kleine Gemeinden allerdings hatten in der Vergangenheit auch schon das Nachsehen (OLG München - boos.de; OLG Koblenz - vallendar.de), da dort gleichnamige Namensträger Domaininhaber waren, die die Domain zuerst registriert hatten („first come, first served“).

Die Größe von Gemeinden und Städten hat auch das Landgericht Köln hier im Streitfall als Kriterium herangezogen. Das Landgericht Köln nennt exemplarisch die Städte Kiel und Essen. Diese Städtenamen stellen wie das Wort „Welle“ auch eine Gattungszeichnung bzw. einen beschreibenden Begriff da. Die Mehrzahl der Internetnutzer denkt jedoch nach richtiger Auffassung des Landgerichts Köln bei „Welle“ eben nicht an die (fast unbekannte) Gemeinde, sondern an die Sachbezeichnung. Anders hätte es bei Kiel oder Essen ausgesehen.

Praxistipp:
Die Entscheidung ist kein Freifahrtschein, sich jetzt Städte- oder Gemeindedomains zu sichern. Im Fall solingen.info hatte der Domaininhaber, der eine Reiseportal über Solingen aufgebaut hatte, vor dem Bundesgerichtshof das Nachsehen gegenüber der Stadt Solingen. Bei kleineren Gemeinden lohnt es sich jedoch, genauer hinzuschauen.

Der Fall zeigt auch: Wer seinen Anwalt beauftragt, eine Abmahnung zu verschicken, der muss auch mit einem Gegenschlag rechnen. Der Abgemahnte kann - wenn er glaubt, zu Unrecht abgemahnt worden zu sein - negative Feststellungsklage erheben oder auch Klage auf Löschung eines Dispute-Eintrags.

Ulrich Luckhaus ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für Gewerblichen Rechtsschutz bei Greyhills Rechtsanwälte und Spezialist für Domain- und Markenrecht www.greyhills.eu

quelle sedo.de