Sex.com up for sale… finally

Escom, the bankrupt owner of Sex.com, was going to sell the domain in a foreclosure auction to pay back creditors. But after some pleading from the company, an American bankruptcy court has allowed the firm to sell the name on its own– a move that will likely boost the name’s sale price by millions.

So now Sex.com is up for sale again. There is no public auction. Instead, Escom is working with an auction house to broker a private deal. How much the ill-fated domain sells for remains to be seen. We’re still betting on at least $20 million USD.

Source | Tech Crunch
Photo | Flickr

Sex.com up for auction finally

After bankruptcy proceedings look to have been resolved, the sex.com domain is back up for auction by Escom. An agreement was reached between litigating parties by the Central California Bankruptcy Court such that Escom only needs to take the next steps to put it up for auction.

There was a final obstable in the sex.com auction proceedings with a last minute objection from investor Nothin’ But Net (owned by Mike Zapolin). But since then, Nothin’ But Net worked with creditors DOM Partners and Washington Technology Associates to resolve their objection.

We can only imagine that when sex.com does go to auction, it will sell for big bucks. At the last auction of sex.com back in 2006, the domain name apparently sold to Escom for $14 million and we can’t imagine that its value will have depreciated. Perhaps the world’s most valuable domain name, but certainly among the top five, it will be interesting to see in 2010 just what these kind of premium TLDs are worth. We originally bet on $20 million for sex.com and will wait and see!

Photo | Flickr

Sex.com to be put up for auction

Sex.com, which became the most expensive domain ever after allegedly selling for $14 million in 2006, is slated to be put up for sale again as an asset in its owner’s foreclosure auction.

According to ElliotsBlog.com, the auction will be held at Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP, 156 West 56th Street, New York, New York on March 18, 2010 at 11 am. But if you plan on showing up, you’d better have some money to back yourself up. Bidders in the auction will be required to present a $1 million certified bank check payable to “Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP, as escrow agent.”

It will be very interesting to see what happens with this. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the domain surpass the $20 million mark. I guess we’ll see.

Photo | naraosga

Premium .cm names sell at auction for big bucks

It hasn’t even been two months since Cameroon made its .cm domain available for public registration, but premium versions of the extension are selling like wildfire.

The biggest sales so far have been Hotels.cm and Sex.cm for £50,097 ($81,000 USD) and £31,542 ($51,000 USD) respectively. Other notable sales include:

taobao.cm- $35,100

mail.cm- $30,100

porn.cm- $23,050

coupons.cm- $20,100

free.cm- $17,800

pornhub.cm- $15,100

creditreport.cm- $11,100

insurance.cm- $10,200

youporn.cm- $10,100

lawyers.cm- $10,008

domain.cm- $9,580

These names are not necessarily selling as investments, but instead to make money through typosquatting. Hotels.cm, for instance, is a common typo for the popular hotel booking website Hotels.com. No doubt Cameroon is making quite a bit of money from these sales.

Source | The Domains

Adult domains attract hot attention at auction

A large adult domain auction recently ended in which 33 names were sold. The top seller was orgasms.com, which netted £24,987 ($41,180 USD). Coming in at numbers two and three were pleaser.com and gay.info for £7,150 ($11,770.00 USD) and £5,620 ($9,251.00 USD) respectively.

Not all the domains were necessarily adult-related:

• miraclediet.com- £960 ($1580 USD)
• toes.org- £358 ($590 USD)
• prettyfeet.net- £182 ($300 USD)
• yourgirlfriends.com- £182 ($300 USD)
• afterhoursclubs.com- £182 ($300 USD)

Most domain auction houses will not sell adult names, or at least restrict them to certain events. It’s important to remember that although we may not always realize it, the adult industry is very active in the domain name market. After all, the most valuable domain sold to date is sex.com.

Source | The Domains

ILoveYou.com for sale- only £22.7 million

Want to tell someone how much you love them? Willing to spend a lot of money? Then you may want to look into buying ILoveYou.com, which the owner is willing to part with for the small sum of of £22.7 million ($38 million USD).

I’ve seen overpriced domains before, but this one tops the cake. The highest selling domain ever, Sex.com, only saw £8.3 million ($14 million USD) in 2006. Saying “I love you” is great, but many out there would prefer sex instead.

The name has a lot of potential for a dating website, but I don’t see it selling for anywhere near its current price. A more realistic expectation would be around £200,000, or less than 1% of the listed price.

Source | The Domains

Photo | simmbarb