Sedo, the world’s largest domain marketplace and monetization provider, today announced the results of its Annual Domain Market Study with Q4 2012 review, revealing domain industry trends and changes based on transactions in its marketplace. In 2012, Sedo powered 36,181 transactions in its domain marketplace with a mean average price of $1,885 across all sales, and a median price of $600.

One of the biggest trends in 2012 was the growing popularity of Buy Now sales, where domain investors, consumers and business owners sell and purchase domains at a set price, with no negotiations. During the first quarter, Buy Now sales became the most popular transaction type on the marketplace – surpassing offer/counter offer sales – and continued to gain traction throughout the year. Ultimately, Buy Now accounted for 41 percent of all sales in 2012, representing an 11 percent gain over the previous year. As more and more sellers realize that end users want to be able to purchase domains quickly and simply, the number of Buy Now domain listings and sales has steadily increased.

“We expect Buy Now sales to continue their rise in popularity, and we’re investing substantial recources to make the process easier for everyone. The introduction of our Big Data Pricer, which allows sellers to get accurate, fair market price suggestions, is a great example,” said Tobias Flaitz, Sedo’s CEO. “Further integration with Go Daddy was another big milestone last year, enabling both Buy Now and Make Offer inventory to be displayed there. In 2013, we’ll continue to focus on connecting end user buyers and sellers, and will strengthen our ability to provide the best, accurate, and most transparent pricing tools for all users.”

In the fourth quarter, Sedo powered 8,818 transactions, totaling more than $16M and representing a slight increase from the third quarter. This is a common yearly trend, as the market generally slows during the summer months and picks up again in the fall.

Additional highlights of Sedo’s Q4 2012 Domain Market Study:

• .com accounted for 48 percent of all sales in 2012 – a 4 percent increase from a year prior – easily maintaining its position as the most popular TLD.
• More than half of all buyers throughout 2012 originated in Sedo’s two largest markets, the US (28 percent) and Germany (24 percent).
• The first quarter of 2012 was the year’s strongest, accounting for 10,133 sales and $19M in sales value.
• 46 percent of all sales for the year were valued at $500 or less, while domains that sold between $500 and $2,500 accounted for 40 percent of all sales.
• The mean average and median sales price of .com domains decreased during 2012 to $2,148 and $642 respectively. The traditional alternatives to .com— .net and .org – both saw increases in mean prices to $1,880 and $1,315.
• .eu was a surprise hit among ccTLD last year, experiencing a 127 percent growth in median price from $375 in 2011 to $850 in 2012.

Sedo’s complete Q4 2012 Domain Market Study is available at:
http://sedo.de/fileadmin/documents/pressdownload/Domain-Market-Study-Q4-2012.pdf?et_cid=21&et_lid=246441

About Sedo

Sedo, an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading domain marketplace and monetization provider. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany and with offices in London, England and Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world’s largest database of domain names for sale, with more than 16 million listings. The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global base of more than 1 million members.