The prestigious DNJournal has been collecting data since 2003 and compiling it in a weekly sales report. Operated by Ron Jackson, DNJournal is one of the most credible sources for the domain name industry and has been referenced in outlets such as Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Bloomberg.
Now that we have entered the second quarter of 2019, it's an opportune time to take a look back at how domain names fared in the first quarter. A good barometer of the domain industry's state is Ron's weekly sales chart, so we have compiled all available data for domain sales from January 23rd, 2019 to April 3rd, 2019. The data (provided with the consent of DNJournal), covers sales charts totaling two hundred domain names.
We have also compiled data from Q1 of 2018 as a direct comparison. It should be noted that whilst DNJournal is an excellent gauge for the current state of the industry, the majority of larger sales go unreported.
The Extensions
DNJournal lists sales from every extension in its weekly reports, but the charts are usually dominated by .COM. According to my analysis, the .COM dominance has stayed fairly steady, with 75.2% of sales in Q1 2018 being .COM, and 74% of sales in Q1 2019 being .COM.
The next most popular extension in both years is .DE, surprisingly. At 5.94% for 2018 and 6.5% for 2019, the German ccTLD seems to show some consistent sales. In 2019, .CO sales have declined slightly, with 4.45% in Q1 2018 moving down to just 2% of sales in Q1 2019.
Other extensions in both lists are a cluster of other major extensions such as .ORG and some new gTLDs like .GLOBAL.
Total Sales
In Q1 of 2019, DNJournal listed $9,484,540 worth of domain sales in their weekly Top 20 list, which works out at an average of $47,423 per domain across two hundred names. The lowest sales price was $5,130, whilst the largest was $3 million.
The first quarter of 2018 listed two hundred and two names in the compiled data from that quarter's weekly Top 20 lists. The total sales totaled almost $2 million more than 2019, at $11,347,632. The average sales price was higher in Q1 of 2018, too, with $56,176.
A Drop in Six Figure Sales
The total sales data seems to show a wide gap between 2018's total and 2019's. Where does that almost $2 million drop in 2019 come from?
It's interesting to note that both Q1 of 2018 and Q1 of 2019 included one seven-figure sale each. 2018 shows that Super.com sold for $1.2 million, and 2019 lists California.com at $3 million.
One noticeable difference is the decrease in six-figure sales listed in 2019. In 2018, there were eighteen six-figure sales, accounting for almost $6 million, whereas this dropped in 2019 to twelve sales accounting for $3.15 million. The average six-figure sale listed in 2018 was $333,188 versus $262,500 in 2019.
Five-figure sales have dropped in frequency in 2019, too. Last year's Q1 data shows that sales between $10,000 and $99,999 accounted for 81.6% of all sales listed on DNJournal's Top 20 charts. That figure has dropped to 62.5% for 2019.
Unsurprisingly, this means that there are far more sales of $9,999 and under in 2019, with 344% more four-figure sales listed in Q1 of 2019 than Q1 of 2018.
Does this mean that there are just less five and six-figure sales this year, or are less being reported?
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Whilst this is a small data set, the DNJournal sales chart is used as an indicator for the industry. Within this short analysis, we've seen that the overall sales totals are down for Q1 of 2019 compared to last year, with less six-figure sales reported.
Yet, we have details of names such as Gem.com and Chocolate.com being involved in seven-figure sales within 2019. Sales like Streaming.com to Amazon have also occurred during Q1 of 2019 for an undisclosed fee.
Veteran investor @Rick Schwartz called for fewer non-disclosure agreements, to give more transparency to the industry. With fewer high-value sales being reported this year, does he have a point? Please have your say in the comments below.
Now that we have entered the second quarter of 2019, it's an opportune time to take a look back at how domain names fared in the first quarter. A good barometer of the domain industry's state is Ron's weekly sales chart, so we have compiled all available data for domain sales from January 23rd, 2019 to April 3rd, 2019. The data (provided with the consent of DNJournal), covers sales charts totaling two hundred domain names.
We have also compiled data from Q1 of 2018 as a direct comparison. It should be noted that whilst DNJournal is an excellent gauge for the current state of the industry, the majority of larger sales go unreported.
The Extensions
DNJournal lists sales from every extension in its weekly reports, but the charts are usually dominated by .COM. According to my analysis, the .COM dominance has stayed fairly steady, with 75.2% of sales in Q1 2018 being .COM, and 74% of sales in Q1 2019 being .COM.
The next most popular extension in both years is .DE, surprisingly. At 5.94% for 2018 and 6.5% for 2019, the German ccTLD seems to show some consistent sales. In 2019, .CO sales have declined slightly, with 4.45% in Q1 2018 moving down to just 2% of sales in Q1 2019.
Other extensions in both lists are a cluster of other major extensions such as .ORG and some new gTLDs like .GLOBAL.
Total Sales
In Q1 of 2019, DNJournal listed $9,484,540 worth of domain sales in their weekly Top 20 list, which works out at an average of $47,423 per domain across two hundred names. The lowest sales price was $5,130, whilst the largest was $3 million.
The first quarter of 2018 listed two hundred and two names in the compiled data from that quarter's weekly Top 20 lists. The total sales totaled almost $2 million more than 2019, at $11,347,632. The average sales price was higher in Q1 of 2018, too, with $56,176.
A Drop in Six Figure Sales
The total sales data seems to show a wide gap between 2018's total and 2019's. Where does that almost $2 million drop in 2019 come from?
It's interesting to note that both Q1 of 2018 and Q1 of 2019 included one seven-figure sale each. 2018 shows that Super.com sold for $1.2 million, and 2019 lists California.com at $3 million.
One noticeable difference is the decrease in six-figure sales listed in 2019. In 2018, there were eighteen six-figure sales, accounting for almost $6 million, whereas this dropped in 2019 to twelve sales accounting for $3.15 million. The average six-figure sale listed in 2018 was $333,188 versus $262,500 in 2019.
Five-figure sales have dropped in frequency in 2019, too. Last year's Q1 data shows that sales between $10,000 and $99,999 accounted for 81.6% of all sales listed on DNJournal's Top 20 charts. That figure has dropped to 62.5% for 2019.
Unsurprisingly, this means that there are far more sales of $9,999 and under in 2019, with 344% more four-figure sales listed in Q1 of 2019 than Q1 of 2018.
Does this mean that there are just less five and six-figure sales this year, or are less being reported?
--
Whilst this is a small data set, the DNJournal sales chart is used as an indicator for the industry. Within this short analysis, we've seen that the overall sales totals are down for Q1 of 2019 compared to last year, with less six-figure sales reported.
Yet, we have details of names such as Gem.com and Chocolate.com being involved in seven-figure sales within 2019. Sales like Streaming.com to Amazon have also occurred during Q1 of 2019 for an undisclosed fee.
Veteran investor @Rick Schwartz called for fewer non-disclosure agreements, to give more transparency to the industry. With fewer high-value sales being reported this year, does he have a point? Please have your say in the comments below.