One of the neat features of Squadhelp is the naming contests the platform hosts. People seeking a brand and/or domain name can post a contest along with a comprehensive contest brief outlining what they are seeking along with a financial award for the winning entry. Domain name sellers on the platform can submit domain names to the contest.

As each contest goes on, the contest holder can rate domain names submitted as “Love It,” “Like It,” “On Right Track,” or “No Thank You.” At the end of the contest, the contest holder is supposed to choose a winning entry, and the person who submitted the winning entry wins the cash award. The contest holder can then purchase the domain name if desired. If the contest holder does not choose a winner, Squadhelp chooses one on their behalf.

I have one ongoing Lease to Own (LTO) deal at Squadhelp. The total sale price was just shy of $5,000, and the buyer is paying over 12 months. Payments are due on the 26th of each month.

Prior to this weekend, the buyer had made 4 monthly payments, which were disbursed via PayPal the day after being received. For January, this meant the fifth payment was due to be disbursed on a Saturday. Most companies don’t have accounting staff working on the weekend, so it would take a couple of extra days to be paid. Platforms I use that offer LTO (Dan and Squadhelp) don’t notify sellers when the buyer makes a payment, so I would only receive an update once the payment is disbursed.

James Booth shared that he sold BoomBox.ai for $59,995:

People talking about .box while I am blasting beats.

Sold – https://t.co/Pf3kx7pfzD for $59,995

— Domain (@domain) January 25, 2024

That sale is impressive in and of itself. I did a bit of searching via DomainTools, and I found something that took me aback. A screenshot of the previous BoomBox.ai landing page from July of 2023 – just 6 months ago – shows this domain name was previously listed for sale on Squadhelp for $9,995! That means James grossed an extra $50k because he repriced it as interest in .AI domain names grew.

James Booth reported a $150,000 .IO domain name sale on Twitter this morning. James reportedly sold 7.io for $150,000 via Squadhelp. He shared that the domain name was owned with his brother, Andy Booth:

Happy to announce the sale of https://t.co/6poHx2iQ5L for $150,000 via @squadhelp – This is the #3 public .io sale.

Huge thanks to @darpanmunjal and his team for their work on this. Also a huge congrats to the new buyer!

Partnered with @360

Still own https://t.co/3fhhq8Ow33…

— Domain (@domain) January 19, 2024

As the year ended, Escrow.com shared its 2023 Domain Trends report. The report left me with a few questions primarily related to total sales volume compared to the prior year. Now that 2023 has been finalized, my question was answered. Here’s a look at a comparison between 2023 sales volume on Escrow.com vs. 2022 sales volume on Escrow.com: