5 Most Expensive Domain Names Ever Booked In The World

What’s in a name… domain name, to be exact? People like us who use the internet on a daily basis might think it’s just a matter of typing our favorite website in the browser’s address bar. Truth is: some of the more prominent, familiar-sounding URLs we know in the market today are cloaked in gold. An eight-letter word can be valued at millions of dollars depending on the need and demand of interested buyers. Consider as lucky those brilliant fellas who were the first to snap up the names before anyone did during the much-vaunted dot com boom.

The rule of thumb for domains is simple: the shorter and easier to remember the names, the better. Below, we list down the top 5 most expensive domain names recorded in history.

* Insurance.com (2010)

This high-value domain name was bought by Quin Street, the same owner behind insure.com and internet.com. Insurance.com is a car insurance comparison-shopping site although it also offers its services for life, home, health and motorcycle insurance, aggregating insurance quotes from the leading companies. Quin Street was certainly looking at the long-term when it made the $35.6 million purchase.

* Vacationrentals.com (2007)

Vacation Rentals was an active website until Texas-based company HomeAway bought it for a cool $35 million, just to keep it off the hands of its nearest competitor Expedia. Today, the site remains a marketplace for all sorts of vacation deals, not only in the US but all over the globe. So “whether you’re looking for pet-friendly accommodations, panoramic ocean views, a private pool or direct beach access….,” the site is the place to go.

* Sex.com (2010)

There’s something about sex, especially if it’s only three letters that cost a lot. Records show this domain name has been existing since the 90s and has been caught in nasty legal battles for ownership. Clover Holdings was able to acquire the name at an auction in 2010, but the price of $13 million it paid was only a little more than the $11.5 million that the bankrupt owner, Escom LLC, paid for it in 2006.

* Porn.com (2007)

Porn is a multi-million dollar industry and ranks high in internet searches.It’s just understandable that a company would pay a high price to have exclusive rights and control to this domain name. The sale of porn.com to MXN Limited for more than $9.5 million in 2007 is said to be the ‘largest all-cash domain transaction in history.’

* Fb.com (2010)

Fb.com was owned by the American Farm Bureau Federation until it was acquired by the social networking giant at a handsome price of $8.5 million in 2010. The reason is obvious. Today, fb.com redirects to facebook.com.