.XXX just passed it's ONE year mark, did anyone make money with .XXX?

[Ulysses]

Here's my latest .xxx sales list.


Gay.xxx $500,000
Fetish.xxx $300,000
Shemale.xxx $200,000 ($60,000 .net & $530,000 .com)
Toys.xxx $125,000 May 2012
Free.xxx $100.00
Movies.xxx $90,000
footfetish.xxx $89,000 April 2012
? $80,000
? $80,000
Milfs.xxx $50,000
LasVegasEscorts$44,000
Bollywood.xxx $25,000
Orgy.xxx $25,000
Personals.xxx $25,000
ATM.xxx $20,000
Celebrities.xxx$15,015 29 November 2012
Wrestling.xxx $15,000
Chatroom.xxx $10,000
Sports.xxx $7,260 7 December 2012
Local.xxx $6,000
Sport.xxx $5,940 7 December 2012
Virtual.xxx $5,000
CamChat $5,000
Win.xxx $4,785 29 November 2012
Hotties.xxx $3,500
Bet.xxx $3,465 29 November 2012
BlackTube.xxx $3,250 March 2012
SJU.xxx $3,000 April 2012
Juicy.xxx $2,500
Leeds.xxx $2,719
Chi.xxx $2,310 29 November 2012
KeyWest.xxx $2,000 October 2012
Lean.xxx $1,995 April 2012
Birmingham.xxx $1,835
Sex24.xxx $1,769 March 2012
Wax.xxx $1,650 29 November 2012
888.xxx $1,320 29 November 2012
Implants.xxx $1,320 7 December 2012
pheromones.xxx $1,245 1,000EUR June 2012
Montreal.xxx $1,220 not final figure(3 hours before finish)
GayXXX.xxx $500 June 2012
Blackpool.xxx $460
DDD.xxx $330 29 November 2012
FreeLivePorn.xxx $330 29 November 2012
Honolulu.xxx $70




Also Frank Schilling paid $1.65 million for:
Amateur.xxx
Amateurs.xxx
Anal.xxx
Asian.xxx
Asians.xxx
Bollywood.xxx
Book.xxx
Celeb.xxx
Celebs.xxx
Chat.xxx
Dating.xxx
Free.xxx
Gratis.xxx
Hardcore.xxx
Hot.xxx
Indian.xxx
Latin.xxx
Lesbian.xxx
Lesbians.xxx
Live.xxx
Milf.xxx
Milfs.xxx
Oral.xxx
Porno.xxx
Pornos.xxx
Pussies.xxx
Pussy.xxx
Sexe.xxx
Sexo.xxx
Sexy.xxx
Video.xxx
Videos.xxx
Webcam.xxx

 

[hugegrowth]

Top keywords like most of those above will do fine with .xxx

 

[domacq]

Rick Schwartz bought Flowers.mobi for $200,000. Recently it was sold for $5,000 to 1800Flowers.com... Everybody makes mistakes.

Can you confirm that someone really paid $200,000 for a .mobi domain? Damn! mobis didn't take off, everyone kept their .com (etc.) brand and redirected to a mobile version typically an "m" subdomain. A very bad mistake, not sure its worth $5000 either but shows its a buyers market.

The .XXX should have been created from day 1. This would ensure adult websites couldn't be viewed by minors as you wouldn't need list of bad websites to filter, or to read the downloaded files content, just ban the .XXX domain extension to eliminate 90%+. I think .XXX stalled... Apart from start-up ventures (including from existing adult industry businesses) all the websites kept their .com sites.

What says more for your website? The .XXX extension or the highly graphic homepage??!!! I would say the latter... its just a way of them making more money... its the new-age real estate, people want the good dictionary names etc. even for a relatively bad domain extension.

 

[Gerry]

Yup, made money by saving money on not renewing (Adam, my one name made more than all of yours combined.)

 

[Gerry]

Here's my latest .xxx sales list.

I know you are a genius...but this list; are these your personal sales???

 

[DomainsInc]

I know you are a genius...but this list; are these your personal sales???

ha no. he only sold keywest.xxx for 2k or something.

loft.xxx sold for 17k last week.

 

[Howie Crosby]

@Adam
LOL your list is a good read over coffee in the morning

 

[seoexperttools]

These top domains will do just fine but damn, i would love to get my hand on one of these

 

[NostraDomainus]

Kept my 2 .XXX

1) Had low $XXXX offer for Thumbnails.XXX early last year here on DNF, which I declined.

2) So far, with increasing sales in the last 3 months, I've had low $XXX commissions with www.Shoppe.XXX
The only marketing I've done with Shoppe.XXX is to Pin products on www.Pinterest.com/SexToys

I must also say, Search.XXX has been throwing me decent traffic lately, too.

All the Best!

 

[firewoodtim]

The problem with the .XXX story is that the plot line is rather thin.

 

[hugegrowth]

Every once in a while there is a good sale. Mobile.xxx just sold for six figs. And the buyers took 350 others too.

http://www.thedomains.com/2013/02/04/icm-sells-mobile-xxx-for-160000/comment-page-1/

 

[ImageAuthors]

Top keywords like most of those above will do fine with .xxx

I think you're right, but the overall level of buyer demand is pretty pathetic at the moment. Apart from 2 or 3 high $XXX sales, the interest in my own .XXX portfolio has so far been minimal. Honestly, I think it will take some trend-setting sites using .XXX to get the adult industry to snap out of its complacent daze. Right now, most of the adult webmasters seem content to basically ignore branding altogether.

Plus, the goons behind the .XXX boycott have intimidated a lot of would-be buyers by threatening (explicitly or implicitly) not to do business with them. I recollect one instance where a person who was building a network of French gay porn sites and looking for affiliates refused to consider Hommes.xxx ("Men" in French). Why? Not because he personally had anything against .XXX, he said to me, but because others did.

Eventually market forces will overcome a childish boycott, and the adult industry will follow the money toward strong .XXX domains. Ultimately, good branding helps with sales. Meanwhile, the usual 3-word, second-rate-TLD, frequently hyphenated names that adult webmasters these days are using for their network of generic, interchangeable, forgettable domains simply won't work for destination sites. Something like Local.xxx is a bargain in comparison to the .COM, and far superior to LocalXXXAction.com or XXXLocalAction.com or FindLocalaction.com or whatever.

 

[Dynamic1]

Makes for easy firewall blocking. I dont know why so many invested.

 

[Domain Name Ninja]

I bought a few. They flopped ... none nearly as good as those listed above though. Only made a few cents on the dollar back from what I invested. Live and learn.

 

[radioz]

$1.65M for .XXX names? I'm guessing that the 1,000+ new extensions coming soon will finish off many a top domainer at that rate! I swear that even if I had had the money I wouldn't have touch this thing with a 12 inch pole :lol:!

 

[DomainScoop.Com]

i never bought any domain in any other extensions after .asia. But I always feel I should have regged some good keyword or generics in .me

anyhow, i have .coms now, only .coms, not even .nets haha

 

[domain agency]

extract from:
http://www.domaintools.com/buy/sales-history/?q=.xxx

Domain	Date Sold	Price	Location
mobile.xxx	Feb 15, 2013	$160,000.00	ICMRegistry
loft.xxx	Jan 2, 2013	€12,000.00	Sedo.com
swag.xxx	Dec 12, 2012	$1,400.00	Sedo.com
pheromones.xxx	Jun 4, 2012	€1,000.00	Sedo.com
sju.xxx	Apr 18, 2012	$3,000.00	Sedo.com
blacktube.xxx	Mar 6, 2012	$3,250.00	Sedo.com
movies.xxx	Jan 1, 2012	$90,000.00	ICMRegistry
lean.xxx	Jan 1, 2012	$1,995.00	-
footfetish.xxx	Jan 1, 2012	$89,000.00	ICMRegistry
toys.xxx	Jan 1, 2012	$125,000.00	ICMRegistry
gay.xxx	Jan 1, 2011	$500,000.00	PvtSale

and
extract from:
http://www.dnsaleprice.com/SalePrice.aspx

Domain	TLD	SalePrice	SaleDate	SaleThru	Wrds	Len	Num	Hyp	Link	Source
KeyWest	xxx	$2,000	Sep 12	Private	2	7	N	N	http://KeyWest.xxx	DNJournal
Pheromones	xxx	$1,251	Jun 12	Sedo	1	10	N	N	http://Pheromones.xxx	Sedo
Lean	xxx	$1,995	Apr 12	Sedo	1	4	N	N	http://Lean.xxx	DNJournal
Toys	xxx	$125,000	Apr 12	ICM Registry	1	4	N	N	http://Toys.xxx	DNJournal
SJU	xxx	$3,000	Apr 12	Sedo	1	3	N	N	http://SJU.xxx	Sedo
Movies	xxx	$90,000	Apr 12	ICM Registry	1	6	N	N	http://Movies.xxx	DNJournal
FootFetish	xxx	$89,000	Apr 12	ICM Registry	2	10	N	N	http://FootFetish.xxx	DNJournal
BlackTube	xxx	$3,250	Mar 12	Sedo	2	9	N	N	http://BlackTube.xxx	Sedo
BlackTube	xxx	$3,250	Feb 12	Sedo	2	9	N	N	http://BlackTube.xxx	DNJournal

:blush:

 

[tarikpierce]

Bought a few with Godaddy. Didn't make 1 cent. The registrars made all the coin. .COM is too popular and dominant to receive any threats from other extensions. Although ccTLDs work well in foreign countries.

 

[ImageAuthors]

Bought a few with Godaddy. Didn't make 1 cent. The registrars made all the coin

Definitely it's the registrars and the the ICM registry that have made money overall. But that's the case with all extensions -- including .COM. If we average the cumulative purchases and sales of all domainers in all TLDs, the mean net amount will be a negative number. To date, I personally lost money with .XXX, in spite of a few sales. But I also kept close to 100 .XXX domains out of more than 300 that I initially registered; so the jury's still out, as far as I'm concerned.

To me, .XXX makes branding sense. And if I were an adult webmaster I'd be all over it. That doesn't mean that my investment will pay off. It was a business risk -- one which I took knowingly and which I don't see as a mistake, on the whole, even if it results in a loss. Some stocks go down too.

.COM is too popular and dominant to receive any threats from other extensions.

That's true overall. But I don't think it's the explanation for .XXX's lack of widespread success at the present time. As an experiment, do some browsing for adult sites; and I'm sure you'll agree that their domains -- although mostly .COM -- are inferior. Generally speaking, transitioning to .XXX would provide an indisputable name upgrade.

Here are some factors that I think explain the current situation:

(1) .XXX is overpriced.
(2) Many adult webmasters were alienated early on by the ICM Registry -- perhaps seeing the high registration fees as extortion. Anger has gone as far as publicly wishing the deaths of ICM Registry employees' children and images of people defecating in open mouths.
(3) Most adult webmasters operate a network of cheap sites using throwaway domains and repurposed content. So switching over to .XXX completely wouldn't be tenable.
(4) As a rule, adult webmasters are web designers who don't believe in branding. Most sites are generic and interchangeable. Few "destination sites" exist. So choosing a premium domain name for a branded destination site is a business model they're unfamiliar with -- or which they believe (wrongly, in my opinion) works for all industries except their own.
(5) The ICM Registry entered the reseller market too soon and at prices that were too low, competing directly with domainers for sales and undercutting domainers' price expectations.
(6) The ICM Registry also held back some of the better domains -- undoubtedly using registrant search patterns to make their selection. Many domains initially registered by domainers have been dropped and subsequently sequestered by the ICM Registry.
(7) Most domainers are ill equipped to develop their own adult domains, since the adult industry is quite specialized and very competitive.
(8) Even adult webmasters who might see value in .XXX have been intimidated by a minority of their colleagues who boycott .XXX and anybody who does business with .XXX. I've seen this admitted explicitly in public.

So the situation is a bit more complicated that just

.COM is too popular and dominant to receive any threats from other extensions.

Pointing out these factors is not the same thing as me "blaming" the adult industry or the ICM Registry for losing money myself. I take full responsibility for my own decisions. But, at the same time, it's important to acknowledge some of these market forces ... and anti-market forces.

 

[katherine]

I have highligthed the bits which I believe are most significant.
I think you are spot on, and that's why .xxx is an extension that is especially difficult for pure play domaining purposes.

Adult webmasters indeed use low quality, throwaway domains and generally won't pay good prices for good domains on the aftermarket - but they will pay for domains with traffic.

...

Here are some factors that I think explain the current situation:

(1) .XXX is overpriced.
(3) Most adult webmasters operate a network of cheap sites using throwaway domains and repurposed content. So switching over to .XXX completely wouldn't be tenable.
(4) As a rule, adult webmasters are web designers who don't believe in branding. Most sites are generic and interchangeable. Few "destination sites" exist. So choosing a premium domain name for a branded destination site is a business model they're unfamiliar with -- or which they believe (wrongly, in my opinion) works for all industries except their own.

The fiasco was predictable for many reasons, but suffice it to say that industry-specific TLDs have always failed:
.aero .museum .coop .jobs .etc...