Over the years, I have received a number of emails about domain names that were (sometimes) allegedly stolen and re-sold on domain name marketplaces and platforms. I have also read forum and blog posts, as well as seen tweets and other complaints regarding the purchase of domain names that were previously stolen. Domain name theft is still a major issue that plagues the business of domain investing.
Taxes.com Acquired by Ryan, LLC
Yesterday morning, Sedo reported the $250,000 sale of Taxes.com. At the time I published an article about the sale, the domain name was registered in the name of Sedo’s escrow account. Since then, the domain name appears to have been transferred to the buyer, and the new registrant is Ryan, LLC. According to its website, Ryan “is a leading global tax services firm, providing a wide range of tax advisory and consulting services.”
Notably, in 2013, I questioned whether Ryan acquired Tax.com, in a deal brokered by Domain Holdings. Following the sale, there was a Ryan-branded landing page appearing on Tax.com. The Whois record for Tax.com is currently private and that domain name does not resolve for me. I am not sure if that is a temporary issue.
Taxes.com is not yet resolving to an operational website that I can see. Because Tax.com does not appear to be used either, I am unsure of Ryan’s game plan for either domain name. Whatever they have planned, it seems pretty smart to own both Tax.com and Taxes.com.
I reached out to Ryan’s CMO to see if he can comment about the acquisition of Taxes.com, and I will share an update if he offers any insight about the acquisition.
Taxes.com Sold for $250k by Sedo’s Derick Clegg
It looks like Sedo is off to a running start in 2019. According to a retweet from Sedo, Taxes.com was sold for $250,000 in a deal that was brokered by Sedo’s Derick Clegg:
2019 sure is off to a great start with a sale like this one: https://t.co/6Qg7u818bp
Congrats to buyer, seller & broker @Derick_Sedo 🍾🤗!
— Sedo (@Sedo) January 2, 2019
I reached out to a representative from Sedo to ask when the domain name was sold, and the company confirmed that this sale will be reported in 2019.
While a $250,000 sale may seem solid, a search of NameBio shows that Taxes.com sold for $750,000 in 2000. I also looked through my email records, and it looks like the domain name was listed for sale via broker or auction at least a couple of times throughout the years. I am unsure if the domain name was sold at any point between the 2000 sale and this most recent sale.
Final 2018 Great Domains Auction Results
Sedo’s final Great Domains auction of 2018 concluded yesterday, and there were quite a few domain names that sold. I am not sure why, but Pain.com was not listed in their sale report. TheDomains.com reported that the name sold for $399,999, but this sale was not included in the report I received.
I reached out to a Sedo representative about the non-disclosure of Pain.com and here’s what I was told:
“Sedo is not disclosing proactively the sale of Pain.com. While we are aware that any auction is always happening publicly, Sedo has an agreement in place with the parties involved in this particular auction not to share any information about the sale proactively. As such, this is why we aren’t commenting on the specifics of this individual case.”
Beyond this, GGN.com was the largest reported sale, closing at
1-800-Flowers Buys Plants.com for $450,000
A Whois record update shows that 1-800-Flowers just acquired the Plants.com domain name. Dave Evanson (Senior Broker at Sedo) had been brokering the domain name this Summer. According to a tweet from Dave this morning, Plants.com was sold via Sedo, and the purchase price was $450,000:
Just sold Plants .com for $450,000!! Congrats to buyer and seller @sedo!!
— dave evanson (@SedoDaveEvanson) December 11, 2018
Prior to the sale, Plants.com appears to have been owned and used by a company called Stokes Tropicals. From what I can see, this company had its web presence on StokesTropicals.Plants.com. At the time of publication, Plants.com
Calculator.com Sells for $250,899 via Sedo Auction
I was following the Sedo auction for Calculator.com when I got distracted just before the auction concluded and did not see it end. It looks like the domain name ended up selling for $250,899, as recorded by NameBio and reported by Sedo this morning on Twitter:
A 6-figure sale is the best way to end the work week🤗🤗🤗: Calculator(.)com sold for nearly $251K!
A big congrats to both buyer & seller of this keyword category killer. We bet you’re calculating 🔢 all of the benefits of this deal right now 😉: https://t.co/9DsILA1Bk8
— Sedo (@Sedo) December 7, 2018
Calculator.com is a fantastic domain name with many uses. In my opinion, the most lucrative way to use Calculator.com, would be something related to the financial field rather than math or science. There seem to be a whole lot of