Sedo, the leading online domain marketplace and monetization provider, today announced the results of its Q1 2011 Domain Market Study, which reveals domain industry trends based on transactions in its marketplace. During the first quarter of 2011, 10,608 domains changed hands via Sedo’s marketplace, accounting for $21 million in sales.
Average sales prices across all Top Level Domains (TLDs) held strong in comparison to previous quarters and for the first time, the .co extension entered the leading sales list with 2 percent market share, showing its growing popularity as a unique alternative to .com.
Overall sales numbers remained consistent and stable with a predictable decline in some figures from the previous quarter due to the record-breaking $13M sale of Sex.com during Q4 2010. The quarter also saw a shake-up in the most active TLD list, with the .co extension making its debut. Notable sales such as music.co for $30,000 reveal the rising value and growing popularity of .co domains, as well as the significant opportunities they provide to entrepreneurs and businesses looking to extend their brand online.
“Sedo continues to be the superior choice in providing entrepreneurs, SMB’s and seasoned investors the most valuable and distinctive domain names available on the market,” says Jeremiah Johnston, COO and general counsel of Sedo. “With the introduction of new features, including a streamlined buying process, and the rising popularity of .co and other lesser known TLDs, we expect continued growth as we help customers find the best domains for their business or investment portfolio.”
Highlights of Sedo’s Q1 2011 study include:
- The .com extension continues to be the most popular TLD, accounting for 51% of all Q1 TLD sales. The .net extension comes in a distant 2nd with 7% of the market share.
- Further demonstrating its strength as an investment, the .com extension continues to exhibit steady growth with the average sales price climbing 9% from Q1 2010.
- The .de extension remains the most commonly sold ccTLD domain extension. At 18%, the .de is the second most commonly traded TLD in the Sedo marketplace, beating out gTLDs like .net (7%), .co.uk (6%), .eu (5%) and .org (4%).
- Transaction volume shows a quarter over quarter increase in domains sold
- Sales growth for the quarter met expectations and remained relatively consistent with historical trends, with the exception of record-breaking figures in Q4 2010 due to several high prices sales like sex.com and Poker.org.
- Offer/counter-offer transactions continued to be the most popular sales type, accounting for 43 percent of all transactions, while fixed-price sales accounted for 28 percent, and auctions accounted for 15 percent, which is an increase from Q4 2010.
- Top US sales include gamesforgirls.com ($500,000), action.com ($270,000) and shield.com ($190,000).
You can find Sedo's complete Q1 report here .