Dynadot is a domain registrar that operates an aftermarket platform. The platform features expiry auctions as well as domain names listed for sale by customers. I am not super familiar with its Market, but it looks like it has quite a bit of activity.
The company shared a LinkedIn post today to discuss some marketplace updates that will roll out across the platform tomorrow:
Squadhelp Founder Darpan Munjal shared some data that I found interesting and potentially helpful to my business. Darpan shared the sell through rate (STR) for a variety of “brandable” types of domain names listed for sale on Squadhelp. While the typical buyer on Squadhelp may differ from other platforms and from other domain name buyers in general, I think this information is useful:
Brandable domains use several different styles
Alliteration: LuluLemon, Animals: MailChimp
Blends: Groupon, Colors: BlueNile
Made Up: Vimeo, Misspelled: Houzz
Play on Words: Pawfection
This & That: Paper & StichWe analyzed the STR by style and see some interesting correlations pic.twitter.com/jCYYuZhia2
— Darpan (@darpanmunjal) October 12, 2023
I haven’t always loved “brandable” types of domain names beyond empty-vessel one or two word .com domain names that could be used as unrelated brand names. Just one example of a generic but brandable 2 word .com off the top of my head is BaldEagle.com, which I thought could be used by an organization that helps Bald Eagles or it could be used by a brand called Bald Eagle. I sold it, and it is not being used related to its real meaning.
This year has been relatively slow for my business. Year to date, I am on pace to equal the number of domain names I sold last year, but I am trailing substantially on the revenue and profits, year over year. Obviously, the profit is the most important metric to my business.
There are a few reasons for why my business income is down this year. For starters, last year was my company’s best year profit-wise due to some abnormally large domain name sales. Comparing a great year to a pedestrian year isn’t really fair, but I can’t help it. I am always seeking income growth. That said, I expect the year to be slightly below average unless I close a few exceptional deals unexpectedly.
Two factor authentication (2FA) has been available at most domain registrars for quite some time. Domain registrants can enable 2FA on their registrar accounts, and they are usually given different 2FA options like SMS, Authenticator App, or Security keyfob.
While 2FA is an option for domain registrants, it is not a requirement at most registrars. In the case of CSC, a well-known corporate domain name registrar, 2FA has been a requirement for customers since 2017:
Earlier this week, Sedo announced the $700,000 sale of You.ai. As I mentioned, it is the largest publicly reported .ai domain name sale of all time. When I published my article, the buyer of the domain name was unknown. That is no longer the case.
If you visit You.ai, it shows the logo found on Dharmesh.ai. I reached out to Dharmesh Shah, Founder of HubSpot and creator of quite a few other projects, and he confirmed that he acquired the domain name. I asked if he could comment about the acquisition, and he shared this with me:
In August of this year, DomainGang reported that Door.com was likely acquired by Latch, Inc., the company operating on Latch.com. Theo noticed this as a result of a trademark filing in the USPTO. In fact, the domain name was acquired, and Latch was rebranded as Door.com, according to an article in The Verge.
In the DomainGang article, Theo wrote that “[T]he domain was brokered this year by brokerage powerhouse, Lumis. No information was released about the amount involved in this transaction.”
