My First Blog – The High-Price of High-Profile Domains

Posted on January 13, 2007 by Nate Whitehill

I started using MySpace in mid-2004, just before it became huge. I always liked the concept of sharing your life online, but MySpace was simply too juvenile to truly take seriously. After getting sick of the useless e-banter, I deleted my MySpace account a few months ago.

So here I am, a few short months later, ready to get back into the world of blogging. However, this time my attempt at blogging will be much more focused. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Nate Whitehill and I am a 22-year old student and web entrepreneur. I created this blog to act as a resource for those thinking about starting or who already own their web-based business.

My day job and main business is a web marketing and e-commerce company, infinFX. However, recently, I have become very affixed in the field of domaining. Domaining is the act of buying and selling of high-profile domains. For example, vodka.com sold a few months ago for $3 million. It was purchased by Russian Standard Vodka.

Sounds crazy, huh? A simple web address selling for such a huge amount of money. This is not uncommon though. Having a good domain name not only adds credibility to your business, but it allows people to find you easier. When many people search for things on the ‘net, they simply type what they are looking for (in this case, vodka) and then .com.

That sale of Vodka.com was nothing compared to Sex.com, which sold last year for $12 million. This also pales in comparison to Gambling.com, which sold for $20 million. Here is a list of the top 10 domain sales of all time.

10. $3.3M – Wine.com
9. $3.5M – Shop.com
8. $5.0M – AsSeenOnTV.com
7. $5.0M – Korea.com
6. $5.5M – Casino.com
5. $6.0M – Diamond.com
4. $7.0M – Beer.com
3. $7.5M – Business.com
2. $12M – Sex.com
1. $20M – Gambling.com

Source: VIPClub.com

Kinda makes you want to start investing in domain names, huh? My domain brokering business, Dot Com Moguls, currently owns about 140 domains. We are selling a few right now, but I will post more on that later.
This entry was posted in Domain Investing, Life. Bookmark the permalink.
  • http://www.madwhips.com Vinay

    Hi, what an excellent blog – I think you are off to a great start.

    I found this top ten domain sale list, and the Schumacher article especially interesting.

    Would you call yourself an F1 fan, btw?

  • http://natewhitehill.com Nate Whitehill

    Hi Vinjay, thanks for the comments. Yes, I am definitely an F1 fan. I know, I am like everyone else, but I am partial to Ferrari’s race team. Their street cars are alright too.

  • http://www.tongue-swap.org T-S

    Hi Nate!

    Speaking of F1, how risky do you think are the following two domains? TM-wise of course.

    TopFormulaOne/1.com

    Since you are quite experienced, can you also teach us about how you deal with TM issues?

    Several of our volunteers started to raise funds this way and although we are basically giving up domain selling just six weeks later (sponsors still pay faster than bidders), some of us still want to keep trying. Mentors permitting.

    C’mon, being 22yo doesn’t mean you can’t be a wizard, right?

    Great blog!

  • http://www.techified.com Techified

    I get real excited when i see these high profiled domains sell for very big dollars, best site is http://www.dnjournal.com, they have weekly lists of high profile domain sales, a good read if your interested in that stuff.

  • http://dnsaleprice.com BidNo

    Hey Nate, nice job on the blog. I just wanted to pass on another excellent resource for researching domain values, http://DNSalePrice.com It is largest and most accurate database of domain sales anywhere and is fully searchable. Access is free.

  • http://natewhitehill.com/1000-subscribers/ 1000 Subscribers! | Nate Whitehill dot Com

    [...] today, January 10, 2008, my blog finally registered over 1000 RSS subscribers, 1009 to be exact. My first blog post ever was on January 13, 2007. What can I say? It’s been an incredible journey and one that I [...]

  • http://alittlejoyfortoday.blogspot.com/ marie

    Hi Nate,

    FIrst time here and liking what I read.

    But what about Dot Com Moguls? I googled it and there is nothing on the page yet???

    Marie

  • http://natewhitehill.com/my-1-year-blogiversary-my-thoughts/ Why I Started Blogging…From Motivation to Game Plan | Nate Whitehill dot Com

    [...] has been exactly one year now since I wrote my first post. Funny story: Vinay Menon was the first person ever to comment on one of my posts. I became friends [...]