I have watched reported domain name sales ever since I started in the domain name industry. I have tried to discover patterns to the "higher" dollar amount sales and I think it is safe to say that there really is no pattern or madness to the action. Almost any domain name can really sell for any price! Yes, even domain names that are not .com! Why?

You always have the WANT factor that can come into play with any purchase no matter what it is. A one of a kind antique can sell for $10 or $1,000,000 no matter what somebody may put a value on it. Domain names are really no different. To most, $1 Million dollars is a lot, some it is not.

I often get frustrated being a domain owner / investor because I can see a domain name that looks and appears to me as a junker, yet the domain can sell for $50K or $20K or really any price. Clearly a lot of things can come into play… the perfect storm can come into effect! A hard nosed seller and a buyer with deep pockets and even a deeper want/need factor is the perfect storm.

The iReport.com domain name sale for $750,000 could fit into this. The past domain owner, the Domain King™ held out for a specific price he wanted. The buyer had already started branding the name but didn’t think of owning the matching domain name but Rick already owned it for several years. It came a time that CNN (the buyer with deep pockets) felt it was worth the price due to the amount of traffic / visitors it was losing, as well as the all important branding to own the matching domain.

Would most domain name owners had the vision to ask for 3/4 of a million dollars for iReport.com and get it? No! Would the majority of buyers even consider paying the amount? No! When the perfect storm is in place, it can and does happen.

Many domain names sell simply because of its keyword(s) and TLD. Often times this converts into existing traffic already in place which can lower advertising cost as well as having real buyers the day the new owner puts the domain name to use. Brand protection, branding or even becoming the king of the mountain for a specific category are other factors that come into play and the price paid for a domain.

Keyword domain names are really a NEED. It can be because of search traffic, direct navigation and advertising savings or a combo of all.

Volume is something to keep in mind. There are some 118+ million .com, .net, .org, .info, .us and .biz domains with .com holding 86+ Million alone. Then add in all the other TLD’s . That is a lot of domain names! If you compare the amount of reported sold to the amount registered, the sales numbers are pretty low. Take a major player like Sedo.com who often reports about 250 domain sales a week and the fact that many domain names get flipped! Clearly a lot of sales go unreported to the public but again, keep in mind of the volume of domain names registered.

Clearly it is still very early in the game. Most people do not even have the slightest clue to the value of a domain name. The importance of keywords on the internet. This is very good for early investors and even those starting now.

The bad apples… with a system (whois, privacy protection, online payments, sister companies etc) like domain names, clearly a domain name can be reported sold and it didn’t even sell. Yes, even the deeply trusted sources that report domain name sales have to put some trust in their sources and when too many irons are in the fire, somebody is likely to get burned. Simple errors take place in the dollar amount reported sold, deals fall through and still get reported as sold, websites are sold and are reported as just domain sales etc.

Nobody is perfect but it should also be kept in your mind that not everything you read is exactly true or correct.

No two domain names should really be compared because they are not the same domain. Just because a domain name is listed for $10,000 doesn’t make it "good" or the proper purchase to get your monies worth out of it. Some domain names for sale are worth every penny the asking price is, yet the right buyer has not come along yet. Pricing a domain name is one of the hardest things, finding the right buyer is right up there with pricing it. Educating the mass public on domain values will always be an uphill battle but we as domain owners are gaining ground based on reported sales.

Although it can be frustrating to see domains like NOINOINON.net sell for $20,000 yet a domain you own and would sell for $5K that would provide somebody a much better value, your time just simply hasn’t come up yet. Your perfect buyer is still trying to figure it out all out yet but you also have to ask for the price!

Domain sales can lift spirits and also make you scratch your head but it is always best to keep in mind that there are many factors in play with every domain name sale.