In January of this year, I won Pinwheel.ai in an auction held at Namecheap. My winning bid was $541, as archived by NameBio. The total cost I paid was $726.96 with the $185.96 renewal fee tacked on to the total. I have been under the assumption that the renewal fee charged for .AI domain names adds two years to the registration.
Beware of Early Renewal Fee for .AI Auction Wins (Updated)
Super.xyz Sold via Atom for $287,607
According to a post on X from Atom.com, Super.xyz sold for $287,607, becoming the largest publicly reported .XYZ domain name sale of all time. The domain name was sold by domain investor Logan Flatt, and it transacted via Atom on September 1, 2025:
Super .xyz just broke the charts as the top .xyz sale ever reported.
Huge congrats to @loganflatt (Media Code LLC) on this super-sized sale 🎉🚀 pic.twitter.com/tM3vIY4RHe
— Atom.com (@atomHQ) September 5, 2025
Great NPR Podcast Explains the Value of Domain Names
Several weeks ago, Rick Schwartz shared that he would be a guest on an upcoming Planet Money podcast on NPR, where he chatted about domain names. The podcast was released yesterday, and it was one of the best podcasts I’ve heard that explains the value of domain names and the role domain investors play in the marketplace.
In addition to having Rick Schwartz as a guest, Snagged Founder Rob Schutz was also a guest. On a related note, I think Rob is able to offer some really good insights about domain name since he has considerable experience in the startup world, and works with numerous founders at various stages of corporate life. Rob was able to offer his insights as a domain broker while sharing some thoughts about the value domain names being to various startups.
GoDaddy “Reputable Search” Tab Addresses Front Running
Since domain names first became commercially available to register, people have accused domain registrars of front running. In short, front running is when a registrar is suspected of using customer search data to preemptively register domain names that someone else searched for, with the intent of reselling them at a higher price. This undermines trust in the registration process.
As the world’s largest registrar, GoDaddy has faced many accusations of front running. The company has repeatedly and emphatically denied that it does this. I’ve published official statements from GoDaddy regarding front running at least three times.
Capturing an Eye Catching Domain Name
Have you ever stopped what you were doing to take a picture of a domain name? Maybe you passed a billboard while driving on the highway and went completely out of your way to pass it again and take a picture. Perhaps you were taking a walk in the city and you saw a domain name that made you stop and whip out your phone.
I probably have dozens of photos of random signs, billboards, and other advertising materials with interesting domain names. Most of these are exceptional domain names that caught my attention, but there are plenty of images of cringy domain names that I don’t understand how any business with common sense would consider using. Sometimes I write about these domain names – like Direct.com – and sometimes I share elsewhere.
Multiples on Domain Investments: 10 Recent Afternic Sales
I would say the two most commonly asked questions I receive about domain name investments are related to the amount of time I hold my domain names and the multiples I get on them.
I think there is a common school of thought that a 10x multiple is what people seek, and I don’t entirely agree. On low cost inventory acquisitions, I might shoot for 20-100x multiples, and on higher valued domain names, I might seek 10x more or less, but I might take 2x depending on how long I’ve held the domain name, how much interest there has been in the domain name, how many prospective buyers I see, and my desire to add cash to the coffers.
I have come across multiple multiple conversations lately, and I thought I would illustrate multiples by sharing my last 10 recent sales made on Afternic along with the price I paid to acquire the domain name.