Setting up a website is mostly simple for most people. However, the challenge comes when you are picking a domain name for the site. If you are looking for a domain name that is still unused, it may take you a while.
As you would expect, the best domains are already gone. The single word ones are very popular for obvious reasons. Can you guess how much the owners had to pay for them? The following list of the top 10 most expensive domains of all time may surprise you.
Source: Hackinguniversity.in
- Insurance.com – Back in 2010, insurance.com was sold for about 35.6 million dollars making it the most expensive domain to date. Who bought this domain? Well, the same people who acquired insure.com, which is also on this list. QuinStreet was the company behind this outrageous purchase that shook the entire domain market. Although the price tag was also for the content, analysts believe that the main asset was the domain.
- VacationRentals.com – This is easily one of the most expensive domains of all time and it easily makes it to the top ten. This transaction took place in 2007 at a cost of a whooping 35 million dollars. The buyer of this domain was none other than the present owner of HomeAway. His admission was that he bought the domain so that he could prevent Expedia from acquiring it. Expedia is a travel website with its headquarters in Washington.
- PrivateJet.com – Nations Luxury Transportation, LLC (Nations) acquired privatejet.com for a cool 30 million dollars, making this one of the most expensive domain sales ever. Nations bought the domain name from Don’t Look Media.com, which is a private company, in 2012. What motivated this buy? According to a press release at the time, privatejet.com would be a website of choice for pilots, jet travelers, and brokers. The site would be attracting at least 250,000 visitors per month by December 2012.
- Internet.com – Most people would have expected this domain to the priciest; unfortunately, this is not the case. Nevertheless, at 18 million dollars, the domain fetched some good money too. However, the most interesting thing about this domain is the ownership; QuinStreet again! Yet it does not stop there. QuinStreet has gone ahead to acquire JavaScript.com, DatabaseJournal.com, and a host of other popular sites.
- Insure.com – As we noted earlier, insure.com was also bought by QuinStreet. It makes it to the top most expensive domains of all time with a worth of 16 million dollars. As you would guess, insurance.com is for insurance purposes. Having been bought at a little more than 1 million dollars by the original owners, the domain was eventually sold to QuinStreet at 16 million dollars in 2009. This was more than ten times the original cost.
- Sex.com – With the understanding that sex sells, this industry makes to the list as well. Although the domain sex.com is not at the top of this list, it entered into the Guinness Book of records. This is because it was the most expensive domain-only buy at the time. Clover Holdings Ltd bought this domain from Escom LLC for 13 million dollars in 2010.
- Fund.com – Fund.com deals with investment and financial services, just as the name suggests. In a deal brokered in 2008, this domain cost the owner about 9.9 million dollars. Interestingly, the site was still inactive at the time of compiling this list. It is still not yet clear why Clek Media brokered this deal. We can only wait and see what the owner does with this site. Probably it will eventually be sold at an even more staggering price.
- Porn.com – Another spicy site also makes the list of top ten most expensive domains in history. Unlike fund.com, this domain is doing very well. The owner bought the domain for 9.5 million dollars back in May, 2007. If you consider all-cash transactions, this was the biggest sale for a domain by 2007.
- Diamond.com – If you visit diamond.com, you will be taken to what you would expect from such a site-a center for all forms of diamond rings. A click on one link on the site will take you to bluenile.com where you can customize your ring. At 7.5 million dollars asking price in 2006, diamond.com is definitely one of the biggest domain buys in history.
- Beer.com – Beer.com is supposed to be an online marketplace for beer. However, a visit to the site now will show a landing page that is nowhere near to appealing. All the same, beer.com closes the list of 10 most expensive domains courtesy of its 7 million dollars price tag in 2004.
As the amount of money in this list show, the domain name industry is very big. The fact that someone is ready to pay as much as 35.6 million dollars in exchange for a simple name shows how massive the internet is. Considering that billions of people visit these sites daily, the huge prices are somehow justified.
