For sale: the world’s most expensive – and recognisable – URL

The URL sex.com, said to be one of the most valuable in the world, has been put up for sale again with some analysts suggesting it could fetch over $US14 million.

Escom, the Germany computer group which currently owns the sex.com domain, purchased it for an estimated $US14 million back in 2006. Tech analysts suggest it could fetch that much again in a new sale.

The URL will be sold through domain name broker Sedo, with sales director Kathy Nielsen saying in a statement that the opportunity to buy a large, popular URL is quite rare.

“It is an extremely rare opportunity that a domain name of this calibre becomes available for sale,” she said. “Short, descriptive domains are an amazing marketing vehicle. The sale of Sex.com presents potential buyers with a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Owners of domains like this have a clear competitive advantage. Visitors land automatically on the websites of the owners just by entering what they are looking for. The listing in search machines is also improved.”

Other URLs such as Vodka.com and Kredit.de have sold for millions of dollars, but Sex.com is expected to fetch a high price for its massive popularity and controversial history.

But Rod Keyes, chief executive of Domainnamemarketplace.com.au, says Australian URL registrars shouldn’t get their hopes up. While popular URLs such as sextoys.com.au and freestuff.com.au have sold for tens of thousands, Keyes says the Australian market is just too small to attract million-dollar deals.

Sextoys.com.au is believed to be the most expensive URL sold on the Australian market, fetching over $25,000 last year on trading site NetFleet.com.au.

“The last time we did an audit we had about 100,000 names up for sale. We regularly see some sales in the $20-30,000 range, so there are certainly sales but not in the staggering amounts that sex.com will probably get.”

“Also consider the dotcom domains are global so they’re always going to attract bigger deals. They are a worldwide domain. Nobody is going to question that URL’s value, but dot-au sales will be harder to get. It’ll be interesting to see what sex.com goes for, it’ll be a lot, but you won’t see those sorts of deals here.”

But despite Sex.com’s popularity, it has gone through quite a lot of trouble during its 16 year history. It was first registered in 1994 by original owner, and Match.com founder, Gary Kremen who purchased it through his company, Network Solutions.

But the URL was transferred to Stephen Cohen, who had attempted to gain ownership of the domain through a number of methods using misrepresentation and forged emails. After he obtained the URL through a fake fax, he set up a huge advertising scheme and was reportedly earning thousands of dollars a day.

The subsequent legal battle between the two entities was highly publicised and was even the subject of a best-selling book.

In 2003, a court ruled that Kremem did have the right to the original domain name, and set a precedent that required registrars be held accountable for the domain names they manage. Kremen eventually sold the domain name to Escom in 2006 for $US14 million.

The URL was actually meant to hit the auction market earlier this year, after Escom’s creditors forced the group to declare bankruptcy. However, a new deal has been made that will allow Sedo to broker the name privately.