Historically there has always been a very liquid market in premium domain names, with even some secondary domains proving popular in the market place, but have times now changed?

While there was great interest in the dot com market when the internet initially began to take off, we have seen a mass of new Top Level Domain (TLD) extensions introduced, such as .co.uk, tv, ie, cc and many many more. Each new TLD seems to devalue the rest, although it has to be said that the dot com market has held its value more than most.

We recently saw casino.co.uk change hands for in excess of £3 million, showing that premiums names are doing ok, even if they have fallen from earlier highs. We have seen other domain names go for a lot more money, with some approaching £10 million, but is the market fatally flawed now? Have we reached saturation point?

There is no doubt that the domain name market is not, and is unlikely to be, as lucrative as it once was, even though there are some prime domains which will always demand large prices. Due to improved SEO techniques and better promotional campaigns the TLD of your domain name is not as important as it used to be. It is now possible to make a big splash in the online market with a relatively obscure TLD, something which was probably unheard of a few years ago.

The domain market has moved on, the scarcity value has all but disappeared and the ever growing list of TLDs is not helping the situation. Investment into the domain name market is now a lot more difficult than a few years ago and very risky for those not up to speed with the industry.