I have spent more money on non-.com domain names this year than ever before. My perspective is that startups are using them as less expensive alternatives to .com domain names, and the number of companies operating on non-.com domain names continues to grow. This, in my view, has led to more aftermarket sales of non-.com domain names – and for higher prices. That’s why I have been spending more money to opportunistically acquire some non .coms in expiry auctions.

This morning, Atom.com CEO Darpan Munjal shared a couple of graphics detailing the sales distribution of non-.com TLDs on Atom.com from the last three years. Although he did not share actual data, the illustration shows what domain name extensions are the most popular sellers on Atom over the last few years:

Atom.com is promoting a Black Friday sale with a prominent header banner on its home page. Atom CEO Darpan Munjal shared some insight and answered some questions about the sale:

I spent many years in retail, where Black Friday was more than just discounts—it was about creating excitement and connecting with customers.

This year, we are testing that concept in domains and the early response has been🔥. Excited to see how the rest of the week plays out

— Darpan (@darpanmunjal) November 26, 2024

This afternoon, Joshua Schoen reported the $199,995 sale of Fluid.io. The domain name was sold at his BIN price via Afternic, according to a screenshot of the sale email he shared on X:

I woke up to a great email this morning stating that https://t.co/hunpBobiWv sold at my BIN price of $199,995. I’ve had many big .io sales but this one tops them all! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/eHzgQG9WYx

— Joshua Schoen (@jstenn13) November 26, 2024

In looking at NameBio, this is the second largest .IO domain name sale reported publicly. Mint.io is the largest sale at $230,000. That domain name sold in 2021 via Park.io. There are several other .IO domain names that were sold in the low six figure range, according to NameBio. Once Ron Jackson records the sale in DNJournal, it will be just outside of the top 25 publicly reported domain name sales year to date.

Since the domain name was just sold, it is unclear who acquired it.

Congratulations to Josh on an exceptional sale. It’s nice to close a deal like this on a holiday week in the US that tends to be pretty quiet.

Notably, Josh also appears to own Fluid.com, as that domain name forwards to his LinkedIn profile.

The Tennis TV network recently acquired the Tennis.TV domain name with the help of Snagged.com. The tennis network and platform has operated on TennisTV.com, and it was able to acquire the .TV domain name in a deal brokered by Rob Schutz of Snagged.com:

Thanks for the help @SnaggedDomains 👌🎾 https://t.co/AhSvLKdBWp

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 25, 2024

A startup called Aries introduced itself yesterday, and its brand matching Aries.com domain name is was what caught my attention:

Introducing https://t.co/g4JFITQbYE

The first ever open platform for traders, investors, and developers. pic.twitter.com/EBVJn2Ncnh

— Aries (@Aries) November 19, 2024

From what I can tell, it looks like Aries started out on the TradeAries.com domain name. The company appears to have raised more than $1 million in funding via StartEngine in a round that closed earlier this year.