$20 Million Dollars Website Domain

Since the dawn of domains, they’ve built up a storied history full of character, enabling them to gain actual intrinsic values. Domain names are technically not websites but web addresses to get directed to a website. It first started with just a set of four different numbers and has since been expanded to accept alphanumeric characters.

With the age of the internet exploding, it quickly became clear that there could only be one domain name possible per word or combination of words. This led to scarcity, and thus with scarcity and demand, the value gets stacked up for these domain names. This is what led to one of the record-breaking sales of all time when Sex.com was sold back in 2013 for an easy $13 million.

Saying that, there was nothing beyond the sale of the domain name, meaning that if there was a website behind it, it didn’t come with it. So now after all this we’re finding ourselves able to buy sex.com again as it goes to auction. Yet the starting price already shows just how valuable domain names have become, with it being a cool $20 million.

How high can the price go up?

That’s right, 20 million dollars just to own the domain sex.com, and it’s expected to sell for a much higher price! This is due to several reasons. First, domain names themselves have since sold for even higher than sex.com, such as Lasvegas.com at $90 million, insurance.com for just under $36 million or privatejet.com for just over $30 million. These are some hefty sales figures, which again all come down to scarcity and show the state of play with similar sites.

So with a domain name such as sex.com, it’s easy to see it approach any of these figures or even end at a price which sets a new world record that could be the highest-priced domain sale of all time.  

It might be just the right time, considering how few single-word .com domain names are even available anymore, especially with one that’s behind a possibly lucrative industry. Of course, the new owner can repurpose it as they see fit to suit their needs.

What are the qualities that help to add such value to domain names?

Besides the scarcity itself, which is a huge part of the value for businesses and investors alike, several other factors can help with the pricing going up so high for a domain name.

​A short domain name 

That’s a key factor, while at the same time having it be memorable. A domain name like sex.com is definitely hitting both of these targets well. It makes it easy to share and helps with the business being established and having an extremely strong brand identity. 

​They are very relevant

You don’t want to waste a name like plant.com and sell beef, right? The same goes with the domain name, saying what the product or services the business is offering and what it’s all about. This helps bring in traffic because the name is the business, as has been the case with sex.com. This also gives a boost to brand awareness.

Humans like it when it’s simpler, and that’s what happens when you have a domain name like sex.com. It’s probably one of the easiest domains to remember, and well also quite a name to help sell itself as it’s already such a popular topic. Shorter domain names will always prevail, and words that are two-three letters will always become ultra-premium because they are going to be the easiest to remember.

​Exact Match Domain (EMD)

It’s also very powerful when it comes to having a domain name that’s actually a search term as well. There’s a possibility of helping the site naturally rank higher due to the search term being the name of the domain. That itself can be a huge boost to SEO and a reduction in the need for marketing costs in the long term, which again helps to push the price of a domain name.

From a keyword perspective, it also helps because you’re going to have the primary keyword also naturally assist with the search engine optimization.

So, in general, when a domain has relevant brandable naming that’s short, like sex.com, it’s going to be well worth it. It also has an established history, meaning that people are already well aware of it and that even if ownership changes to someone else, people who were already frequenting the site will do the same with the new site. This brings in a host of fresh new traffic that will improve its rankings and authority as a website. This helps new domain owners to capitalize on the existing traffic with whatever they want to promote, and that helps when it comes to the pricing of the site in general. 

Why not a different domain extension?

Because there are only so many relevant combinations of words that can be done with .com, there were attempts to allow to have similar names but with different extensions, such as .biz or .net. It was meant to separate the types of websites where .biz was for businesses, and .org, for example, would be for nonprofits.

Yet, at the end of the day, a site ending in .com was viewed as having a larger sense of professionalism than other sites and therefore grew in popularity. It would always cost a premium over other domain extensions, regardless of having the same exact functionality. 

How to own a piece of history

As one of the oldest domain names registered with a rich history and huge value, this is one of those few rare chances to get in on owning this domain name. It’s great for anyone. Private investors who want to hold it for its continuous price appreciation. Also, institutions and private equity can use it to grow their portfolio because there’s a huge market for this, all due to the fact that there’s only one sex.com for sale.

It also has a business model that can be replicated currently, allowing not only the investment into the domain name itself but also getting a feel for a business that people are expecting.

Bidding is already underway, and it’s a private and sealed bid auction. To get more information on the exact process, people can go directly to sex.com/auction or simply email them. Their email is auction@sex.com.

Keep in mind just how rare this chance is and that the internet has become a place for everything these days, with no signs of ever waning or disappearing. The age of domain names will continue indefinitely, meaning whatever price you end up paying for the domain name today, it can only go in one direction with price, and that’s up.

It’s expected to easily surpass the price of $20 million. Therefore, if you’re going to place your bid, you’re already going to have to go much higher than this to be able to be even considered when it comes down to revealing the buyer when the auction itself ends. Who knows when it will be the next time a domain this short, and with this history and value, will be available on the market again.