Domain Sales

Icy Studios Upgrades to Icy.com in 7 Figure Acquisition

The valuable Icy.com domain name has reportedly been acquired for a 7 figure sum. Manik Kundra, who founded a company called Icy Studios, announced the acquisition on LinkedIn last night. His company has used IcyStudios.com since its founding, and Icy.com now forwards to the company’s website.

Prior to the acquisition, Icy.com was owned by Brandforce. The archived landing page for Icy.com shows the minimum offer to inquire about Icy.com was $2 million USD. I asked Louis Pickthall, Co-Founder and Vice President of BrandForce, if he could share the sale price for this domain name, but he was unable to do so. He did confirm that he brokered the sale of this domain name.

That Company May Cease to Exist

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I received a strong offer on one of my one word .com domain names last week. I declined, but in the process of doing so, I went back through prior offers to reconnect with those prospects to see if they might be still interested in doing a deal. I don’t do a great job of rekindling old negotiations, but perhaps my domain name dropped off their radar and a quick touchbase will restart a discussion.

One of the previous prospects made an offer in 2021 and we last exchanged emails in 2023. That prospect maxed out at $15,000, but I figured I would reach back to them to see if the brand matching .com might be able to help them grow. This business operated on a non .com domain name, so I figured they would have had a few years to grow into the budget required to secure my domain name.

Get Expiry Reports to Keep Sales Platforms Updated

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For many years, I kept my portfolio at around 500 domain names. It was easy to manage those domain names on the sales platforms I used. During the past several years, I made a conscious effort to grow my portfolio, which gives me more consistent sales. The downside is that it is a bit more work to manage my 2,500-strong portfolio of domain names.

Because many of the inventory-quality domain names I buy are essentially lottery tickets, I have been letting more of these domain names expire. If I have owned a domain name for many years without any inquiries and the metrics don’t look nearly as good as when I bought it, there’s a good chance I will let it expire. Those domain names will be replaced by better domain names.

Following $50k Sale, Surge.xyz Live

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Swetha Yenugula recently reported the $50,000 sale of Surge.xyz. In her post about the sale, Swetha shared a screenshot of the Escrow.com closing statement, likely because of the flack she has received regarding previous .XYZ domain name sales. Swetha also mentioned the transaction was brokered by Domain Agents, a platform that represents buyers who want to acquire domain names anonymously.

Video: Why Nick Huber Paid $400k for Somewhere.com

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Nearly a year and a half ago, I wrote about the $400,000 acquisition of Somewhere.com, which was one of the largest one word .com domain name sales last year. Somewhere.com was acquired by Nick Huber, and the domain name was used to brand Support Shepherd.

In a LinkedIn video posted yesterday, Nick Huber discussed why he bought the domain name. In the video, Nick remarked that he has gotten more value from the domain name than he paid for it. Notably, while the sale was reported at $400,000, the host referenced a $450,000 acquisition price and the acquisition cost is noted as “over $400,000.” I asked Nick why there is a discrepancy on the purchase price, and I will update the sale references if necessary.

Opt-In or Opt-Out for Atom.com Black Friday Sale

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Atom.com is holding its Black Friday sale beginning on November 28th. The deep sale prices may be good for buyers, but they may not be great for sellers who will still have to pay the (relatively high) commission rate on a successful sale.

Sellers are able to opt-in or opt-out of offering Black Friday sale prices for their domain names in their account settings. In fact, there is currently a dashboard-side banner advising sellers about the upcoming sale so they aren’t caught off-guard:

“Atom’s Black Friday Domain Sale is coming! Visit your settings to opt in or out.”

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