In the final session from the TRAFFIC Conference some blockbuster statements which indicate a huge amount of big dollar domain sales have gone unreported and the total amount of domain sales are way under-reported.
Andee Hill from Escrow.com had a pretty eye opening statement at the Meeting of the Chiefs. The Must-Attend T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Seminar, that the total dollar volume of domain sales that get processed through Escrow.com, greatly exceed the amount that gets reported saying; “we close in some weeks more dollars in domain sales than what other company’s report in sales for the entire year.’
Ron Jackson of DnJournal.com, reported today that $25 Million in domain sold in the last quarter.
Of course that amount is based on publicly reported sales.
However when asked by Rick Schwartz what percentage sales actually were processed through Escrow.com, compared to the reported amount of $25 Million dollars, Ms. Hill answered after a lot of hesitancy, two to three times that amount.
Gregg McNair of Igloo.com said that the bigger the sale the less likely it is to go through any escrow service.
“Very often when you get into the millions buyers and sellers don’t want another set of eyes looking at the transaction no matter how beautiful those eyes are”, said Mr. McNair to Ms Hill
That sentiment was seconded by Adam Dicker adding that most of his bigger dollar sales were handled directly through lawyers without the use of an escrow service.
With Escrow.com saying that they personally handle more transactions in terms of dollars in domain sales in one week then others (being Sedo and Afternic.com) report for the year, combined with Mr. McNair and Mr. Dicker’s statements that most of the larger dollars sales aren’t even handled by escrow services, means that tens of millions of dollars a quarter in domain sales are taking place outside of reported sales.
On a Final Note the question was asked if anyone on the panel knew of sales higher than Sex.com which sold for $14 Million dollars, Andee Hill from Escrow.com said she has seen one over $20 Million and Gregg McNair said he knows of higher sales than Sex.com as well.
As we look at the Sedo and Afternic/Godaddy reported sales every week we see few six figure sales and even mid-five figure sales are giving the indication that the premium domain name market is weakening however it seems the high end domain market is stronger than ever, we are just not hearing about those sales.
Paul Nicks from Godaddy.com also added a huge amount of the sales take place under $1,000 also don’t get reported
Clearly the session was worth in and of itself the price of admission to TRAFFIC.
Gregg McNair was spot on, regarding the under-reporting of large domain sales and their handling by lawyers’ trust funds and contracts that often come with an NDA.
It’s a far cry from the forceful reporting of Sedo sales, as well, where one has to pay a fee to keep the sale private. Why?
Despite our claim to privacy, we all want to know which domains were sold for more than sex.com 😉
the beatiful world of make belive
No surprise here. I have been on record saying non-disclosure sales are the whole submerged side of an iceberg, out of sight. . Large End-Users keep the big sales secret for selfish reasons.
I feel blessed to be in the position I am in. Cheers Rick !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Hello MHB,
The most likely future paradigm shift in attitudes towards extension valuations, from a Marketing Analyst such as myself, fall heavily in favor of the .COM Channel. This shift, in fact, is already happening behind the screen of Non disclosure.
Of course the Smart money already knows this.
Just remember the money Frank Schilling is throwing around for hedging his bets, was raked in and will continue to be raked in at an ever increasing velocity, due to his massive .COM portfolio.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
I feel blessed to be in the position I am in. Cheers Rick !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
Pitcher or catcher? lol
Hello MHB
The coming shift , that Rick Schwartz has all alonge been predicting, to higher and higher .COM valuations ,in our estimation, is already under way. The hidden truth is that .COM valuations real values are being hidden from the general publics awareness within the fundamental underpinnings contained within the pricing structure of the hidden Shadow Market for .COM Purchases, going on behind the scenes. JAS 10/23/13
Yes this is one for the history books !
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
oh dear god here we go again. welp, real on topic discussions were fun for a while.
but who needs that when you can just cut and paste the same crap on 50 blog sites, right?
Interesting insider info = thanx for sharing!!! 😀
first off… i definitely concur with gregg that andee has beautiful eyes 😉
we’ve personally never encountered any instances where using escrow.com’s services to facilitate high dollar deals ever raised any ‘second set of eyes’ concerns but i suppose i can see how there would be some large companies/corporations who might feel more comfortable using a law firm, as well as some who might have other ‘incentive’ to run a deal that’s going to generate a potential $20k-30k service fee through the attorney of their choice…
however, for us escrow.com always has been and always will be the industry standard… we’ve processed all our 6-7 figure sales (and acquisitions) through them for at least the last 10 years without a single issue,
and i can even think of a couple end user sales in the $3mil+ range where my buyers actually insisted on using escrow.com and they cheerfully paid 100% of the transaction fees.
just my take…
steven