The live domain auction presented by Moniker at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West Domain Conference and Expo in Las Vegas brought in $4,299,400 million in domain sales, although only a handful of adult domains sold.
Among the few adult sites sold were Boob.com ($80,000), Lesbo.com ($70,000), and Blow.com ($52,500).
The highest winning bids of the auction went to Families.com ($650,000); Greeting.com ($350,000); Blogster.com ($275,000); et.com ($225,000); Settlement.com ($200,000); ol.com ($150,000); PX.com ($120,000); HomeForclosures.com ($90,000); Mozambique ($82,500); RealEstate.mobi ($85,000); Boob.com; Wind.com (also $80,000); qz.com ($76,000); Lesbo.com; Hebrew.com, which tied with Blow.com for $52,500; Casinos.mobi ($52,000); TelevisionShows.com ($45,000); Singles.mobi ($41,000); and NoSmoking.com; Tog.com, and Godfather.com (all of which sold for $40,000).
Several high-profile adult domains, including Porn.com (reserve price $5 million), Naked.com (reserve $1 million), and Housewives.com (reserve $250,001), also were for sale, although bids for the three sites ultimately were rejected. Of particular note, however, was the final bid for Porn.com: $7 million.
Other notable sales that took place during the auction included FamilyPhotos.com ($35,000), ComicStrip.com ($30,000), Martinis.com ($27,500), CollegeBookStore.com ($15,000), FiberglassBoats.com ($14,000), Bathrooms.net ($11,500), DrugOverdose.com ($10,500), VeganDiet.com ($10,000), and Elvis.us ($2,500).
A surprising amount of dot-mobi sites were purchased at the auction, including Pizza.mobi ($21,000), Directions.mobi ($19,000), MusicVideos.mobi ($16,500), Models.mobi ($7,500) and Eat.mobi ($6,700), among others. Bids for dot-mobi sites were so few and far between at the live domain auction during Internext in January that those sites eventually were dropped from the sales roster.
The three-plus-hour auction marked Moniker's first since its Internext debut in January, when several domains—including SheMale.com ($525,000), BDSM.com ($295,000), and InterracialSex.com ($150,000)—sold for a total of nearly $2 million.
"The auction highlighted a lot of value in brand-able domains, which means it wasn't just concentrating on domains that have quick value now," said AVN Online Publisher Farley Cahen, who attended the show. "Good keyword domains are definitely increasing in value, as people see they can create brands and sites around multi-word domains. And that should be an indicator to adult webmasters to look to some of their domains—not just specifically adult domains—to increase the value of their networks."
"The results of this auction and the previous auctions just validate once again how domains are truly assets and they are assets that continue to appreciate in value," said Moniker founder and Chief Executive Officer Monte Cahn, noting that the sell-through rate for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction was 67 percent (vs. 35 percent in recent auctions). "Not only did we almost sell Porn.com, but we sold 155 names in total out of 233 names [listed]. We actually ran out of time due to the number of names that sold."
A silent domain auction connected with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s live auction continues online until March 14.
Additional Moniker auctions will be conducted at the Casino Affiliate Conference in Amsterdam, T.R.A.F.F.I.C New York, Internext, T.R.A.F.F.I.C East, and Webmaster World.
