Despite poor economy, domain prices on the rise
With the economy at rock-bottom, stock prices have fallen dramatically over the last year. One might expect domains to follow a similar trend, however, the average auction price for a name has increased- from £1,282 last year to £1,757!
This year has also seen quite a few high-price domain sales, such as toys.com for £3.11 million ($5.1 million USD) and candy.com for £1.8 million ($3 million USD). The number of domain sales as well as the prices best resemble the 1999 .com boom.
I don’t know if the rise in prices is a sign of investors turning to the Internet in light of the poor stock market, a realization that the web exists and is actually profitable, or both. As I have stated in the past, I think the rampant speculation that is plaguing the domain market will be its downfall. We will see another .com bubble burst similar to what happened in 2001.
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Tag: .com bubble burst, .com era, domain industry, domain market, domain prices, domain speculation, economy, recession
Registrars See Fewer Registrations in Bad Economy
Melbourne IT, an Austrian domain registrar, has reported a 1.6% drop in the number of domains it manages. Less people are renewing their domains this year compared to last.
Is this news surprising at all? With the economy deep in recession, people have less spending money. With £8, you could buy a blanket, food, part of your rent- or a domain.
Registrars and web hosts are in a tight bind because they have been running on razor-thing margins for years due to heavy competition. While brick and mortar stores can lower their prices to keep up with the times, domain names and hosting are both as cheap as they can get.