What does it cost to buy a domain that’s already registered?

“How much do you think it would cost to get hold of this domain?” Variations on this question are perhaps the most common queries we receive here at Dotkeeper. One consequence of the high demand for good domain names has been the development of a ‘second-hand’ market, with the trading of domains that are already registered becoming much more frequent.

The standard answer to the above question is, “how long is piece of a string?” That’s because there are so many factors – often independent of each other – that have to be considered.

Some of the things we look at when we help our customer with valuation and investment analysis are the following:

• Who currently owns the domain?
• How is the domain currently being used?
• How long is the domain name?
• How many individual words are in the domain name?
• How effective is the domain as regards SEO and indexing?

In addition, we also have to consider whether the current holder is interested in selling the domain and what their valuation is. My experience in this area tells me that we can influence the seller in this area, by referring to relevant background details and history.

In the end, what ultimately matters is how much the domain name means to the individuals who want to own it. What is an investment in a good name worth to you? They say it’s difficult to make generalisations about the prices of domains in the open market. To give you an insight into what different domains can cost, I’ve been looking through data from dnpric.es. Below I’ve summarised the prices of a number of domains with the Swedish top-level domain .se. These have changed hands in the last few years:

In the price range 50,000 – 100,000 SEK, we find the following domains:

taxering.se
valutakurser.se
erbjudanden.se
yrkesguiden.se
oboy.se
photobox.se
shopit.se
thestudio.se
anagram.se
skonhetsfabriken.se
sw.se
svett.se
groupon.se
texasholdem.se
betting.se
m4.se
allsvenskan.se
webmaster.se
uglypeople.se
photobox.se
veterinar.se
scandinavia.se
korsetter.se
chat.se
laptops.se

In the 100,000 – 200,000 SEK price range:

games.se
sd.se
beat.se
dna.se
lakrits.se
jobs.se
sexnoveller.se
ps.se
it.se
dj.se
sökmotoroptimering.se
nets.se
uka.se
sms.se
888.se
ap.se
vimla.se
annonsera.se

Between 200,000 and 400,000 SEK:

maklare.se
store.se
gratissms.se
onlinecasino.se
kartor.se
fotograf.se
lagenhet.se
maskerad.se

These domains were sold for more than 400,000 SEK (and some were sold for in excess of 2 million SEK):

spel.se
tv.se
msb.se
spanien.se
hus.se
news.se
se.se
find.se

In additional to the sales above that were done publicly, many domains were exchanged in private at the request of the buyers and sellers.

Finally, I wrote previously about the re-run of the auction of 6.se (link in Swedish). The auction has reached a conclusion. Again! 225 bids came in for the domain, but this time the bidding ended at a more modest 78,700 SEK.

Are you interested in an occupied domain and want to find out more about it? Need advice about how much a domain might cost? Contact us – we’d love to help!

Further Reading:

The Swedish speakers among you can take a look at our advice for buying already registered domains.