This year, 143 domain names and domain-name bundles were up for grabs in the live auction as the Keynote Hall filled with excited bidders, with hundreds more available in the extended auction that runs until February 9 (the extended auction is handled by NameJet). Some extremely high-value bundles were on offer: the lot including bars.com at $1 million in pre-bids before live auctioning began.
RightOfTheDot President Monte Cahn introduced world champion live auctioneer Wayne Wheat, who wasted no time in getting the event underway.
Fittingly for the locale, first up was LASVEGAS.CAM, which sold for $2,200. (Last year, LASVEGAS.ONLINE sold for $4,750.) AIRPLANES.NET sold for $1,500, while JETS.NET outperformed it at $6,000. TI.TV, one of those often-discussed two-letter domain names, sold for $4,050, and UF.TV sold for $5,000.
TRANQUILIZER.COM sold as well, but relax: it only went for $4,100. The crowd loosened up a bit, and LAXATIVE.COM went for $8,500.
CERTIFIEDPLANNERS.COM went for $1,400, while TILECLEANER.COM sold for $2,500.
DOMAIN.COMPANY, sporting a new TLD and perfect for this conference, sold for $1,200. The crowd dug then deep for the auction’s first five-digit sale, with ARCHEOLOGY.COM going for $23,000.
SPORTSCARS.COM, which includes the trademark, sold for $48,000. Some other luxury-oriented names also sold: DEALER.NET for $3,400, GOLD.CLUB for $4,000, and DIAMOND.CLUB for $2,300.
TRAVEL.AGENCY, using another new TLD, sold for $3,000. RAISES.COM sold for $2,000. Relevant to recent changes in US state laws, 420.SHOP sold for $5,000.
OCEANFRONTPROPERTY.COM went for $6,500. STOP.COM started at $199,999 but remained unsold: it continued into the online auction, as did BARTENDING.COM.
DPT.COM sold for $42,000. PATTY.COM went for $21,000. LODGES.COM sold for $14,000. INTEREST.NET sold for $1,700. YEA.COM went for $46,000. FARMS.NET sold for $4,000.
SINGLE.COM was available, but someone put a ring on it for $290,000. This was the highest-selling domain of the live auction.
BAR.COM, bundled with BAR.NET, CAFES.COM, GRILL.COM, PLACE.COM, PUB.COM, and SHELTER.COM, was the pre-show star with a million-dollar pre-bid, but did not find a buyer during the live auction: it moved to the online auction. So too went WINECLUB.COM.
These newly bought-and-sold domain names will now find new life as investments and and platforms for new businesses—not a bad way to end the first full day of NamesCon 2017. Be sure to follow the conference via the NamesCon app, and also keep an eye on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds.
