That’s One Hell of a Price-tag
Steve Robinson:
October 28th, 2006
The domain asset management provider Moniker.com held an auction yesterday for some of its domain names. On offer? Hell.com - offered for a cool Million Dollars.
It is the latest chapter in the ongoing madness that is domain name trading, of which Moniker.com - a division of marketing firm Seevast Corp - have made millions. Recent sales include Sex.com which went for an astounding $12 million earlier this year, and Cameras.com, which sold for $1.5 million.
So why the astonishing pricetags? Well, since Google Inc and Yahoo Inc begun Internet advertising a few years ago, clear and catchy domain names are under heavy demand, and companies are willing to go to extraordinary lengths - and costs - to acquire them.
Hell.com may well be the latest web-based money-spinner, but it has not been sold yet. The domain has now been placed in a silent auction by the company, and the website itself is not accessible by standard Web browsers.
“The world is alive and well,” Seevast Chief Exectuive Lance Podell told news firm Reuters. “Nobody is going to hell right now.”