Domain name aftermarket picking up - Sextoys.com.au sells for $25,500
Compared to the prices paid for dot.com domain names, $25,500 is hardly a large amount. 
But it’s a record for a dot com au domain name and, perhaps, an indicator that the Australian domain name aftermarket may finally be picking up.
Certainly the dot.com.au aftermarket has been slow to take off since the rules were changed just under a year ago to allow Australian
domain names to be openly traded.
Indeed, figuring out just how many Australian names have changed hands over the past 8 months or so, and at what prices, is something of a task.
Despite its promise to do so, the Au domain regulator, au Domain Administration Ltd hasn’t yet begun publishing any listing or indicator
of activity in the Au domain aftermarket.
This has left sales reported in the two main aftermarket sites at www.neetfleet.com.au and
www.domainmarketplace.com.au as the main indicator.
The sextoys.com.au sale was reported at Netfleet and is one of a number of recent sales getting co-owner, David Lye, to get a little excited.
He told eCommerce Report this week that shortly before sextoys.com.au sold another sale, of mortgage.net.au for $13,500 had lifted
his pulse rate a little.
“That’s the biggest price ever paid for a dot net.au domain name” he said.
Lye said that June was proving to be the busiest month yet for Netfleet with 17 sales in the first half of the month alone, worth a
combined $60,000.
“In just twelve months Australian domain names have turned into highly valuable assets” he said.
Over at www.domainmarketplace.com.au sales activity also appears to have picked up with chelsea.com.au recently selling for $6250 ( ex GST).
Of course, these two public sites are probably handling only a minority of the actual sales.
Its reasonable to assume that the big domain name registrars, such as Melbourne IT are doing most of the business with their sales of “premium domains”.
Certainly the evidence of the figures published by Au domain name registry operator, AusRegistry, suggest that there are a lot more
Au domain name transfers going on than can be seen at the main aftermarket sites.
AusRegistry’s figures show 479 registrant transfers in May this year, 381 in April, and 495 in March.
Lye said that the transfer process itself was still something a deterrent, requiring a lot of paperwork.
“There is no standard process at the different registrars so we’re speaking with some of them about standardizing it” he said.
And for those who are wondering, sextoys.com.au is an online shop, selling exactly what you’d expect from its name.
Its not clear who exactly is operating the site. Gerrard Giumarra from Internet Business
Solutions Australia said it isn’t him.
He seemed surprised to hear that more than $25,000 had been paid for the domain name.
But he did confirm that sextoys.com.au is an affiliate of his wildsecrets.com.au, and
indeed a re-badging of that latter site.
For more information go to
www.netfleet.com.au
www.domainmarketplace.com.au
www.auda.org.au
www.ausregistry.com.au
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