We received an email today that the domain Furniture.co.uk has been purchased for $700,000. The note came from the buyer Graham Haynes. According to Graham his company was the buyer of Purple.co.uk and BedroomFurniture.co.uk as well.
A quote from the buyer:
It has always been my strong belief that large businesses do not understand the value of keyword domains and therefore I decided to build the value in the name in a way they get, sales and profit.
Currently we sell yearly $7,000,000 of furniture through BedroomFurniture.co.uk from a standing start in 2012 with only the domain name and no prior business or knowledge in this sector.
We paid $60,000 for the name (what is it worth now?). Many at the time said we over paid for BedroomFurniture.co.uk but thats not to understand the decision process made by potential customers when they search for such items such as Wardrobes, Chest of Drawers, Bedside Tables, and Beds.
We also own AntiqueFurniture.com that we will use to sell high end European Antique furniture to China and USA, again giving us instant authority with only the investment in the name which was $90,000.
The transaction was handled by Sedo. Currently the domain is forwarding to BedroomFurniture.co.uk.
I can’t believe people still waste money on co.uk. It’s easily one of the worst looking domains – a sub-domain on top of it.
enough money to create 20 startups
Loads of UK businesses invest in Co.uk Domains I’m guessing you haven’t a clue about Co.uk just look at all the recent sales. Your just a troll.. M
Loads of people jump off bridges, too. It doesn’t make it smart.
Yawn go and crawl back under your shell.
You haven’t a clue about Co.uk if you did you wouldn’t be such a negative review.
We are happy with our sales we are doing best stick to your .com sales and be negative somewhere else!
You sound very angry. I’m guessing maybe because you realize that co.uk actually IS an ugly domain which makes no sense to have in 2016 or beyond. So, your only defense is to hurl personal insults.
GoodLuckInLife.co.uK
Haha you can feel what you like pathetic that’s what you are…
Troll…..
@ Anonymous – I suggest you take the time to look at the companies financial performance on Duedil.com.
The guys who bought furniture.co.uk made £2.5million profit last financial year on bedroomfurniture.co.uk. Now they’ve bought furniture.co.uk I expect they’ll be banking £10million profit within 3 years. Money.co.uk generated £12m of profit in 2014 using a .co.uk domain name. Bearing in mind these two .co.uk what sort of annual profit are you yourself achieving with your non .co.uk domain strategy?
Aside from annual profit owning that unique asset (which has stunning growth potential) has probably doubled their enterprise value from £25m to £50m. This was an absolute bargain as was gold.co.uk.
McLaren did about $750,000,000 USD in revenue last year. I doubt they’re going to run out and buy cars.co.uk. Why? Because a) it’s long and ugly b) it limits business to the UK.
Look he is a troll in the US that has no clue leave him to his cave!
What a clueless fella you are @Anonymous.
As James says you’re best left alone to run the wrong direction on your own! All the best!
If I’m so clueless, why do you and your boyfriend feel the need to keep coming back to defend the world’s ugliest TLD?
Every .co.uk comes with the right to get the .uk though.
Used to, not anymore
For example long time ago I registered one .co.uk name, then registered matching .uk as well (using such right) and later I sold .co.uk, but I still own .uk name. New owner of .co.uk name has no right to get my .uk name!
@John Doe,
There may be some confusion here. .CO.UK domains that have been continuously registered going back as far as date X still do entail 2LD .UK rights. That will remain true until date Y, when grandfathered rights cease.
Right now the only cases in which .CO.UK and .UK are separated would be cases in which the domain has dropped or been newly registered since date X. Also cases in which the .CO.UK owner pulled the trigger on his .UK rights and sold the 2 domains off separately – as we saw on NameJet some time ago.
For a UK company .co.uk is very valuable and recognised when doing business in the UK. Also it is worth noting that, most .co.uk names come with the right to register .uk. That exclusive right expires 10th 2019.
When buying a .co.uk name it is worth checking if the name still has that “right” attached.
For example the buyer may also have the rights to Furniture.uk
This sale is a great validation of the value of Category and descriptive names .
Ian.
It was sold with Furniture.uk as well.
Rights to register matching .uk name is over.
Obviously previous registrant had used that right and mow sells both names.
Makes sense.
If the right has not been used yet on any .co.uk name, then the owner has until 10th June 2019 (sorry typo in last post) to use it.
I understand that if the right has not been used yet and the name is sold then that right is transferred to the new owner.
Useful article on the subject here…
http://www.theukdomain.uk/advice/do-i-have-uk-rights/
Just registered FURNITURE.SYSTEMS less than 15 minutes ago.
Thanks to TheDomains for the rapid dissemination, keeping me abreast of the situation.
Would never purchase it, even if you gave me $15.
I am the buyer and the .uk came with it.
Long time domainer from 1999 and still believe big business only see the value when you develope the name. Currently the furniture market in the UK is worth 15billion USD and the UK loves to buy online.
You have to demonstrate the value to get the full worth and I will in time.
Not an easy way to extract the value but I have the infrastructure to do it.
Note .co.uk are clicked over 70% more than a .com, which is seen as US centric in the UK.
And most of us wouldn’t purchase a co.uk for $15.
Speak for yourself! Personally, I bought 6 on the aftermarket this morning. Before I heard about the Furniture.co.uk sale.
.UK is the 2nd biggest ccTLD market on earth. Right after .DE.
Congrats Graham. Great move IMO. Are u a UK (based) resident. Would like to hook up.
Yes based near Gloucester. On the forums I am BetTheLot
A Great Purchase and like all great EMD domains this will pay you back in no time.
graham makes a few good points in this thread
its easy to find a good domain name but few domain name investors have the infrastructure to make the most of the good domain name
but those that have the infrastructure to supply a good domain names orders dont need a good domain name but can usually afford to pay well for the best domain name in that industry sector
eg if a person already owns an existing chain of furniture shops and or already manufactures furniture etc the domain furniture.co.uk will cost them nothing more than the cost of a decent website and can be producing profit from furniture almost instantly
eg i own samedaymetal.com but dont have the infrastructure and do not hold any stock so cannot make any money from this domain myself but a metal stockist with existing stock at their disposal that already delivers metal to their customers could make a fortune from my domain
Or they could register samedaymetals.com for $10 & make money for themselves & nothing for you 🙂
I owe Furniture.wales
Steve Brady Furniture.System. Waste of money, carry on.
But they could have bought a name in a new extension instead ?
.furniture perhaps ?
Hey if it doesn’t exist yet, they could just apply for it, it’s going to cost less than 700K 😉
The above comment is of course sarcastic.
I call BULLSHIT.
You’re telling me bedroomfurniture.co.uk is generating revenue of $7 million per year with an Alexa Rank of 1.9 million?!?
I don’t think so.
Are you in the UK visit my office and I will show you the accounts and setup
Hi Graham, any interest in purchasing Moroccan dot com? Moroccan furniture & Moroccan rugs are huge business.
No
what about Furniture.wales
If it works for Graham all the power to him, curious if you asked to see any data like natural type in traffic before buying Graham?
No I didn’t it’s the authority that I see value in. We will do our own SEO and SEM
I suspect it has very little type in traffic.
Why is your Alexa Rank so low relative to the high-traffic you would have to have in order to be doing $7 million in annual sales?
Simply because you are assuming you get all traffic through Google. I don’t beat to the Google drum because when they change their algorithm you are damned, if you rely on Google only. It’s much more of a solid business model if you get your traffic from many online streams.
Some terms on Google we do come number 1 but long terms, which works for us offering specific designs.
Alexa is, in no way, related to Google.
Alexa is from Amazon and not Google. It tracks all traffic overall not just big G. Now I smell Bullshit too LOL
Im not to sure what you are getting at. But you got two choices either research my name and the website you will find the UK company I own 50% share with my wife. Go to the UK companies house and all financials are publicly available including revenue.
Alternatively always happy to give a tour of what we do.
Or just shout bullshit without any research or thought and vote trump.
Alexa measures visits using a browser toolbar that is mostly installed by US users. .co.uk sites generally show lower ranks on Alexa because US visitors don’t regularly visit .co.uk sites. Alexa is just not a very accurate guide to visits for cctld sites.
Pitcher: Hello Dragons. I’m looking for £250,000 for 5% of my online furniture business.
Dragon: What’s do your accounts show for 2015?
Pitcher: No idea on that, but I do have an Alexa Rank of 1.9 million.
I love how idiots question this businesses success from Alexa Rank 🙁
I’m glad you didn’t purchase Furniture.Systems and I’m not giving you $15.
You’ll slap a .COM on anything and sell it, that’s cool. The language is sophisticated in it’s simplicity to improve upon that.
.COM is music to your ears, and I enjoy the same old songs too, but today I wrote a new riff .
Some say every new composition is based on one that has already been written. Automation is all about taking the best qualities of an existing technology or piece, and tightening things up a little bit.
No surprise given the $1,000,000 purchase of Gold.co.uk.
And if Neustar had not been doing everything it can to make sure .US is an obscure failure that the US public scarcely even knows exists since 2002, we might be discussing interesting things about .US as well.
Congrats, Graham Haynes. Thanks for sharing here.
I’m not sure people from North America quite understand the power of a local CCtld in Europe in terms of trust and conversions.
A European consumer will, all other things being equal, always choose a shop on a local CCtild over for exacmple a .com.
The local domain has a buiilt-in level of recognition and most importantly trust which a .com won’t have. The consumer will be on guard before purchasing something on a .com, even though the .com has local language on it. Wny? .Com implies that the company behind is probably based somewhere internationally, where consumer protection almost always is worse than in the EU. Plus the everpresent risk of it being a Chinese scam site, which the local press frequently have reports on. A local site implies the company is located in that country and abide to local law.
It’s difficult to explain, but I guess it’s like you Americans looking to buy an item, and suddenly you land on a .biz domain. Would you give them your creditcard without hesitation?
It doesn’t help that so many .com results presented on Google are US companies and completely irrelevant to UK buyers.
In the US that would tend to be generally so, but I imagine people in Canada do understand. See what I posted above at July 29, 2016 at 10:31 pm.
Forgot to say, that I think it’s a geat purchase, and I’m sure the power of the keyword plus local extension co.uk, will pay it self back within a short period.
Biggest purchase I ever made was a local .dk domain for over $200,000 and I consider it a steal, because like furniture.co.uk it totally defines the industry and product group within my country. And it will continue to do so for years to come.
Match that up against the $80.000 rent we pay just for a warehouse and administration facility to cater to that shop. $80.000 every year..
You are right. In the right hands with vision and marketing its a killer. Never to be available to your competitors and even at the price I paid, its still only one persons salary for 25 years and it will earn far more. We are looking at it as the best long term investment we can make.
Graham, just curious, you said you had the infrastructure to develop your domains. What does that mean? Warehouse, shipping and marketing experience moving physical products, or something else?
We have all the above its not my first business. But we started of small one tiny van operating from a shared office and just $300k sales in the first year
its good to see the owner of a really good expensive domain purchase being contactable and for domain name investors to be able to chat to and put questions to the owner of an important uk domain name purchase
well done graham
Great to see the UK space getting some recognition and not just another top domain selling for reseller prices. Congrats Graham. Best of luck.
In my opinion this is a fantastic investment and by far the best domain name in its sector (within the UK) hands down! Not only is it highly descriptive, intuitive, memorable, highly marketable, easily referable and instantly credible – It will also save on long term marketing spend and passes the radio test without any confusion whatsoever…
I also think the price paid for the domain was spot on and a win-win for both ‘Dayline Enterprises Ltd’ (the seller) and Graham (the buyer). Even if i saw a price tag of £1million GBP paid for the domain i still would have thought this was a great buy, and in all honestly would have expected to see the likes of ‘Furniture Village’ behind such an acquisition, yet instead we find an internet savvy buyer like ‘Graham Haynes’ behind the purchase; a great move imo and a true testament to the added value a killer premium domain can bring to your business. And if you research ‘Graham’ and his company ‘R.A.G.S. (UK) LTD’, you’ll quickly understand why this was a cracking investment as he has a proven track record of taking a premium keyword ‘furniture domain’ name and turning it into a multimillion pound business, his business accounts speak for themselves 🙂
I work with a number of companies within the online furniture industry and can see Graham making his investment back pretty swiftly, most definitely within 1.5yrs thats for sure!
All domainers out there should be looking at this sale in a positive light… be it a ‘.co.uk’ .’com’ or any other extension for that matter – All high profile domain sales are great for the domain industry so there is no real need for any negativity in this thread – And for those who are negative towards the domain / extension need educating on how local search and country specific tld’s benefit such investors, not forgetting the obvious like; instant brand recognition, instant trust and authority, direct traffic, seo benefits and major marketing advantages etc etc… (the list goes on)
Wishing Graham and his team continued success.
-Barry
Someone who gets it! I will come back in 10 years sell the business to an entity as FurnitureVillage. From a standing start I had to think how can I compete against the big players. This is a massive part of that.
It was a great move and one which you will be rewarded for 10 fold when you decide to exit. I can’t wait to read future stories highlighting how your business went from 7m a year to 50m+ a year, it will happen, I’m sure of it! Not just because you’ve acquired a category killer domain, but because you have a vision and proven formula matched with that killer name.
Within the next 6 months i see ‘Furniture.co.uk’ being ranked beautifully within the engines with a little loving – Then in 2017 some serious paid search taking place to further boost sales and the brand – Then in 2018 a TV advertising campaign making ‘Furniture.co.uk’ a household name 😉
i’m not so sure furniture.co.uk needs paid search etc and tv ads etc – i think if furniture.co.uk does get sold on? that element would be an avenue the next buyer of furniture.co.uk could take the domain down
already the domain links to the bedroomfurniture.co.uk website which must be seeing increased sales already and with the amount of free advertising the domain will get over the coming weeks people not even looking for furniture at the moment will probably type the domain itself in to google just to see what graham paid that amount of money for but as graham said he already has the infrastructure in place to cope with increased orders as this domain already redirects to one of their furniture websites so already producing extra sales as not having to wait for a good quality website to be designed on the new domain name
a lot of thought has gone in to the purchase of this domain
but i dont think the money’s that important in this purchase as i think its something graham had to have and possibly would have paid a lot more for knowing overall the cost of the domain would be offset by increased future sales
“already the domain links to the bedroomfurniture.co.uk website which must be seeing increased sales already”
How would a 302 redirect be increasing sales?
Hi Graham. Appreciate you sharing your story and congrats on a great investment. Curious about your thoughts on .store – seems like a good fit for you. Do you ‘do’ gTLDs?
Disclosure: I own AntiqueFurniture.Store
Agree with you that you have to be willing to develop a name.
Congrats, Graham.
Always nice to see family businesses do well.
A lot of hard work goes into making these businesses a success.
Carry on and keep growing that biz.
Its not .biz
its .co.uk
duh lol.
Well done on the name Graham.
Congratulations Graham on a great domain and a successful business.
It seems that most businesses have never appreciated the authority that comes with a domain like this.
Great to see premium generics used in this way.
Also spot on Barry – you summed it up for me!
I think Graham is a smart guy. He knows the buying (im) pulses of the British.
I think it’s a great domain and looks like it has all the things in place to make it a success.
I am interested to hear from the buyer what the roadmap is for using it? When will it see it’s own website rather than a redirect? And will the other popular colour .co.uk you bought get used?
One of the lead amplifier manufacturers in the world is LANEY.
laney.co.uk
Laney amps made in England are very powerful. Every Black Sabbath album including the title album in 1970 was recorded with Laney amps. Laney is a legendary company, and very well respected in the USA for their heavy distortion.
So I find the domain LANEY.CO.UK to be very official.
For the purposes of a British metal amp company, the co.uk looks very exotic.
Furniture.co.uk is a world class domain. My compliments to the new owner.
Great discussion and congratulations Graham. I landed here after learning about the sale through a Sedo broker as I have recently decided to sell what I would consider a premium .co.uk domain and would very interested to have some feedback on it’s value. The domain is Christmas.co.uk
I’ve owned and mothballed it since the 90’s. My feeling is that this is the one chance a major retailer can effectively “own” Christmas online.
Haha, just found this.
Furniture.co.uk is a brilliant name, anyone saying otherwise is either jealous, a fool, or both.
Go for it, and don’t listen to them. Oh wait, you are, and you didn’t.
🙂
.furniture domain zone is cheaper