How big domains are traded
About a month ago, Toys R Us purchased the premium domain Toys.com for a whopping 5.1 million dollars. I always thought that super premium domain names were traded between 2 or 3 parties at most and the final price took weeks to agree and involved a lot of haggling back and fourth.
So I was intrigued to see that Toys.com was sold in a phone auction. DirectNavigation covered the telephone auction last month .
There was a lot of breaks during the auction so I assume that behind the scenes were a lot of people discussing whether the bid was going too high. The bidding also seemed strange at times. For example, after toyrsrus bid $4,815,000, National A-1 responded with a bid of $4820,000.
Here is the transcript in full :
Bidding has finished.
toyrsrus bids $ 5,100,000
National A-1 bids $ 5,000,000
National a-1 asks for 10 minute break
toyrsrus bids $ 4,915,000
National A-1 bids $ 4820,000
toyrsrus bids $ 4,815,000
bidding is going quick so i’m going to skip a few a
National A-1 bids $ 4,530,000
toyrsrus bids $ 4,525,000
National A-1 bids $ 4,505,000
toyrsrus bids $ 4,500,000. they raised their own bid
break given until 4.55 pm est
National A-1 asks for 15 minute break. Lots of bickering between toysrus and national a-1 going on over time alloted for break.
toyrsrus bids $ 4,300,000
national A-1 bids $ 4,155,000
toyrsrus bids $ 4,150,000
5 minute break announced
national A-1 bids $3,755,000
toyrsrus bids $3,750,000
national A-1 bids $3,555,000
toyrsrus bids $3,550,000
national A-1 bids $3,305,000
toyrsrus bids $3,300,000
i’m live on the call. 6 bidders total. 5 remain. National A-1 seems determined as they immediately bid when needed. Toys R Us as well as the rest holding cards very tight
toys r us asks for 2 minute break
national A-1 bids $3,255,000
toyrsrus bids $3,250,000
national A-1 bids $3,205,000
toyrsrus bids $3,200,000
national A-1 bids $3,150,000
toyrsrus bids $3,145,000
national A-1 bids $3,140,000
toyrsrus bids $3,135,000
national A-1 bids $3,130,000
its been announced, bid increments have to be at least 5k.
a break as taken place to discuss bidding increments among the bankruptcy lawyers. we are not able to hear this. FYI – bidding is a very slow process. break should be over at 3:55 pm est
toyrsrus bids $3,125,000
national A-1 bids $3,100,000
toyrsrus bids $3,050,000
Frank Schilling just formally dropped out.
toys.com current bid is $2,900,000 to national A-1. i will update as bidding occurs.
Link : Toys.com – bought by Toy R Us for $ 5,100,000
web design preston | March 31st, 2009 at 6:56 am #
It’s a strange thing domains, obviously Toys.com is a fantastic domain but what benefit will it hold for Toys R Us. Sure when you have a big brand and company people will search to domain rather than the keyword “toys”. Not only have they forked out 5.1 million for the domain but I think they will be spending the same again with re-branding or shops, marketing, products.
Buying a new domain and trading from it is a huge step.
Kevin Muldoon | March 31st, 2009 at 11:45 am #
They will definately make money through this domain. Toys R Us are a world wide brand. According to Wikipedia they made $13.646 billion USD in 2007 and are currently 189th in the Fortune 500 list.
You need to remember, most of Toys R Us customers are mothers, many of whom are not too internet savvy. I’ve seen many people who don’t use the web much just type the word of the thing they are looking for in the address bar. And searching for Toys would now bring up Toys R US.
Let’s not forget the search engine benefits either. This is the best domain possible for a toy company and when you look at the value of Toys R Us as a company, 5 million dollars doesn’t seem that expensive. Particularly when you compare it to their main offline and online advertising expenses. Every year more and more people are shopping online instead of heading down to the shopping mall so this could prove to be a great investment.
Broadband | April 3rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm #
it’s such a massive industry. And to see a domain go for that price speaks a lot of what the future holds for those trading in domains. Keep the posts coming dude.
Col | April 4th, 2009 at 11:57 pm #
Kevin is right. Your average techie is unlikely put in a search for toys or enter a domain of toys…but there are still a lot of unsophisticated pc and net users out there….
I even heard a story of a company exec that used to get his 12 year old son to type up his emails when he was working at home because he didnt know how….
Its that type of person that will just type a word into the address bar or into google and expect to get to the top sites
Tom - StandOutBlogger.com | April 16th, 2009 at 12:47 am #
That is a lot of money for a domain name, but I also think that as Col said the average pc user wouldnt search for toys r us, but just simple type in ‘toys’. So it is probably a really good buy for toys r us!
Pharmaceuticals Suppliers | June 14th, 2009 at 2:42 pm #
Total amazed and unbelievable domain can sold out on such price and with phone auctions. but what such domain makes difference. spending money on such domain insted of that less money spend on internet marketing and branding on new domain than why such huge amount ?
sohbet | July 2nd, 2009 at 11:50 am #
hi good thank you master
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