Domain Names Sold for Big Money in the Past

Part of operating a successful business is owning a domain name that works with the products you sell. When you click on a URL like Nike or Coca-Cola, you expect to view sites owned by the company of the same name. Some online businesses fail simply because the owners chose names that were too complicated, too long or featured too many numbers and letters. A simple name or a catchy name that shoppers will remember is usually best. When you buy a domain name, consider your purchase as an investment. You never know when a company might offer you big bucks to take ownership of that site. Just check out some of the domain names that sold for big money in the past.

Toys.com

Though it may seem hard to believe, retail giant Toys R Us did not initially own the Toys.com website. When the toy store went online in the 1990s, it used its own name as its URL. That led to some confusion as customers went to Toys.com and didn’t see the company they expected to find. Toys R Us finally ended that confusion and purchased the Toys.com domain name in 2009 for more than $5 million. Toys R Us also purchased the former domain name of KB Toys, which now directs back to its home page.

iCloud.com

You might already know the fact that Apple Inc. is the owner of this domain name but do you know the fact that the company paid $4.5 million for it in the year 2011? That is definitely a lot of money. The company currently looks for many different domains with “I” at the front, with iphone.com being among the firsts. However, iCloud.com was bought after people figured out what Apple was doing so more money had to be paid for this premium domain name.

VacationRentals.com

The most expensive domain name ever sold is the VacationRentals.com name. Brian Sharples paid $35 million for the site. Though Sharples started the successful HomeAway site that lets travelers rent vacation homes online, he later admitted that he had another motive for purchasing this domain name. After hearing that Expedia, one of his main competitors, had plans to buy the domain name, he quickly put in a larger offer. The VacationRentals.com website now offers vacation homes for rent and has a link back to the HomeAway site.

Insure.com

We all know that the insurance industry is huge and that a lot of money is being moved around. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise to see that Insure.com ended up costing $16 million. In fact, this was the most expensive domain name sold ever until PrivateJet.com broke the record. We will always see records broken in this industry but when referring to this one, it was surely long-lasting.