How much can you make out of a web domain – and that, in cash? Millions!
Domain names carrying umbrella terms are potential goldmines for obvious reasons. Think about voice.com, insurance.com, finance.com, or movie.com — you name it. Some of these domains have garnered over $30 million in sales.
You can get lucky, too, if you own a web2 or web3 domain that’s “Just Perfect” for a specific niche. Who knows, it could be a piece of real estate so valuable that companies are willing to pay millions just to claim it as their own.
In this post, we’ll share a list of domains that have been sold for whopping sums of money. Again, it’s not an ordinary list, as each of the entries has been thoroughly checked and verified, making sure it changed hands entirely.
In the domain business, you need to consider the domain’s true value by excluding other factors such as:
In addition, we’ve also considered the latest stats, facts, and figures from the most authentic sources.
Based on the above, we’ve refined our previously published list of the most expensive domains to make it more appealing for aspiring domain owners.
We’ve eliminated some of the entries that were not domain-only. This means they reflected the combined value of the domain, the website, and the business sold.
Moreover, we disregarded entries that weren’t all-cash, meaning they’re yet to recover the value they were originally sold for. The real purpose is to showcase the true potential of a web domain.
Below is the list of the biggest cash sales domains ever reported.
| Rank | Domain Name | Sales Price | Transaction year |
| #1 | Voice.com | $30 million | 2019 |
| #2 | Chat.com | $15.5 million | 2023 |
| #3 | Nfts.com | $15 million | 2022 |
| #4 | Rocket.com | $14 million | 2024 |
| #5 | Sex.com | $13 million | 2010 |
| #6 | Tesla.com | $11 million | 2016 |
| #7 | Connect.com | $10 million | 2022 |
| #8 | Porn.com | $9.5 million | 2007 |
| #9 | Porno.com | $8.88 million | 2015 |
| #10 | Gold.com | $8.515 million | 2024 |
On June 18, 2019, Tysons Corner, a data-analytics Software provider company, announced it had sold Voice.com to Block.one, a blockchain software company. This marks the most expensive all-cash domain sales ever. Block.one acquired the domain with the intention of competing with platforms like Facebook.
Chat.com has been sold three times. It was first sold to the HubSpot founder, Dharmesh Shah, for more than $15.5 million in 2023. Soon, Shah sold it to an unknown buyer. Later, the domain was acquired by ChatGPT in November 2024.
When this domain was sold in 2022, it was the second-biggest public domain sale of all time. Nfts.com was initially launched in 2021, and it didn’t take long to garner such a lucrative bargain.
The deal was brokered by GoDaddy and Domainer.com, but the buyer remains undisclosed. That said, the landing page of Nfts.com says, “Powered by DigitalArtists.com Marketplace.”
Rocket.com was sold for a hefty amount in September 2024, snatching the fourth spot from the previous holder, sex.com. The domain is acquired by a publicly traded company, Rocket Companies, Inc.
This firm has numerous brands, including Rocket Homes, Rocket Loans, Rocket Mortgage, etc., and has a market cap of $33 billion. The domain name truly reflects their potential. All in all, it is the right move by the Inc.
Sold for $14 million in 2005 and later, in 2010, for $13 million, the Sex.com domain maintains a unique record for being sold for record-breaking prices twice. Owned by Clover Holdings LTD, this domain currently hosts an adult website.
Did you know that the current owner of tesla.com, Tesla Motors, didn’t even exist when the domain name was registered? That’s true. Tesla.com was registered in 1992. It was acquired by Tesla in 2016 for a whopping $11 million.
Connect.com was acquired by HubSpot, its current owner, in 2022. Before that, it was registered under Whois privacy for quite some time.
This domain was purchased by MXN Ltd for $9.5 million in the first quarter of 2007. At that time, it was one of the most expensive domain acquisitions ever recorded. MXN Ltd is a web media and investment firm affiliated with Downloadpass.com and Pimproll.com.
The domain name was sold by Rick Schwartz, a popular name in the domain-flipping industry. Rick purchased Porno.com for just $42,000 in 1997. He waited nearly 20 years to get the best value for his domain and eventually succeeded.
JM Bullion, Inc. (JMB) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of A-Mark Precios Metals, Inc. After acquiring Gold.com in March 2024, the leading eCommerce retailer of precious metals now owns the two most important domains in the industry. The other domain is Silver.com.
While all of the above-mentioned domains represent the mainstream webspace – they all belong to the Web2 space. However, there is a smart combination of strategies hidden behind the success of each.
If you’re a beginner or want to make the most out of your domains, you might want to take a closer look:
Investing in domain names is a potentially lucrative opportunity. Here are some noteworthy reasons:
Also Read: What Domain Prices Depend On?
The Web3 space is still growing, providing opportunities to cash in. That said, one needs to be vigilant in choosing the right options. Here are some quick tips for extracting benefits from the Web3 marketplace:
Read More About the Importance of Web3 Domains
The above list of the most expensive domain names shows that if you own the right domains and preserve them properly, you’re likely to get lucrative profits upon reselling. That said, it’s quite unlikely that you get a traditional domain at affordable prices in order to get higher profits in the future.
On the other hand, the Web3 space offers a pool that’s way bigger than that of the Web2 space. Not only are web3 domains affordable, but they’re permanent and offer robust security features.
If you want to invest in web3 domains, Freename will help you take the necessary steps. The platform offers a large variety of tools and resources to locate, buy, and earn profits from web3 domain names.
We have excluded domain names like Cars.com, Unlock.com, 360.com, LasVegas.com, and others due to the following reasons:
Numerous sites mentioned that 360.com was sold to Qihoo Technologies for $17 million. However, there are no credible sources for this information. Also, the transaction hasn’t been officially confirmed by the buyer or seller.
Moreover, LasVegas.com was sold for $90 million, but it’s not all cash. The payment has been made in installments, with a bigger portion yet to be paid. Similarly, domain names like Cars.com and other excluded names have been sold either with other equity components or as part of the entire business.