Indigo.com Likely Sold for 7 Figures

Another (likely) seven figure domain name has has been revealed by George Kirikos on Twitter this afternoon. George noted the annual report from Indigo Books & Music stated the company spent roughly $2.7 million USD on domain names in the last year. Included in the company’s purchases is the Indigo.com domain name, which I wrote about in February after I noticed it changed hands. Unless there were other major domain name purchases, I think it is likely that Indigo.com sold for 7 figures.

Indigo.com is yet another color .com domain name that sold for a substantial amount of money.

Here are the tweets about Indigo.com:

George followed this up with a second tweet to provide more commentary on the sale:

Court Documents: Toys.com to be Sold Again (Updated)

Toys.com was one of the most expensive domain names ever sold at $5.1 million. The domain name was sold in a 2009 bankruptcy auction, and Toys R Us was the high bidder. Toys R Us is now in bankruptcy, and it looks like the Toys.com domain name may come up for sale very soon, according to a court document I read.

In the motion (pdf document via Prime Clerk), it states that “the Selling Debtors seek to establish procedures to sell or exclusively license all of the Selling Debtors’ rights, title, and interest in and to” Toys R Us intellectual property assets, including hundreds of domain names. Some of the valuable generic domain names cited in the motion include:

  • Toys.com
  • Geoffrey.com
  • Toys.org
  • TRU.com
  • eToys.com

Other Toys R Us and Babies R Us domain names will also be up for sale in this bankruptcy auction. Bidders will have an opportunity to buy domain names such as ToysRUs.com, BabiesRUs.com, KBToys.com, and hundreds of other domain names related to the brands. Only US registered trademarks related to the retail store and e-commerce businesses (and related domain names) are for sale in this motion. Other assets may become available at a later date.

It appears that bidders will be permitted to

How GDPR Could be Helpful to Some Domain Investors

The upcoming Whois changes due to GDPR compliance will likely have a major impact on the business of domain investing. Although the changes may make investing in domain names more difficult for many reasons, the changes may also make it a bit easier for domain investors to sell their domain names.

Most domain investors who wish to sell their domain names make it clear that their domain names are for sale. From providing links to sales listings on landing pages to hosting a straight inquiry form on the landing pages, most domain investors make it very obvious a domain name is for sale. Additionally, many (if not most) domain investors have their domain names listed for sale on marketplaces such as Afternic and Sedo. Even if public Whois contact information disappears, the majority of domain investors already make it clear that their domain names are available for sale.

When the Whois system changes and contact information is

Using “inurl” Search to Find Prospects

I still occasionally do outbound marketing to sell some of my domain names. When I am having a slow month or made a big purchase and want to drive revenue, I might spend some time looking for buyers for domain names I own.

A Google search is probably the most effective way to find prospective buyers, and I want to share a more specialized search that can be helpful in finding buyers.

When you use Google and search “inurl:[keyword keyword],” the results that are returned all have the keyword(s) in their url. For example, if I wanted to sell DomainInvesting.com and decided good prospects would be those who have “domain investing” within their url, I could search Google with this search term “inurl:domain investing” and any website with “domain-investing” or “domaininvesting” would be returned.

The reason this may be helpful is that

Domain Name Escrow Process

When I am dealing with someone who is unfamiliar with the way escrow works for domain names, they often ask me about the process. In response, I let them know how the entire escrow process works from the beginning until the end. I believe the steps are pretty similar between Escrow.com and Payoneer Escrow, but there would be some differences for a lease to own, payment plan deal, or a deal that is out of the ordinary.

I thought I would share this with you along with some parenthetical notes. This can be shared as a guide a buyer or seller about the escrow process. I invite you to share some comments to make this more clear if you think it is confusing.

When I am the seller:

Great.com: Why Erik Bergman Spent $900,000 to Buy It

The second largest domain name sale of 2018 (to date) is the $900,000 sale of Great.com. The domain name was bought by a tech entrepreneur named Erik Bergman at this year’s NamesCon live domain name auction on NameJet. Erik reached out to me discuss why he spent nearly seven figures on Great.com and to let me know how Great.com will be used by him.

Erik is an online entrepreneur who built a large business with a focus on affiliate marketing. His specialty has been SEO, conversion optimization, and email marketing, all of which help make someone make money through the affiliate channel. He co-founded a company called Catena Media, and Erik told me he and his partner took the company public in 2015. Erik did very well financially from the public offering, and this is what spurred him to think about charity and helping others. It is with this in mind that Erik acquired Great.com.

According to Erik, Great.com will be a commercial endeavor with the goal of giving away all of the proceeds to charitable causes. Here’s what Erik told me about how Great.com will be used: