Vodka.com Domain Sells for $3 Million

Conglomerate Russian Standard Co., controlled by Roustam Tariko, paid $3 million to an undisclosed seller in a deal completed December 4, according to a Sedo.com spokesman. A New York-based spokeswoman for Russian Standard confirmed the $3 million price tag.

Vodka.com’s price tag is among the highest ever revealed for a generic Web domain. In May, diamond.com reportedly sold for $7.5 million to jewelry retailer Ice.com. Business.com sold for $7.5 million in 1999.

In 2006, a source told Reuters that Sex.com had sold for around $12 million to a Boston-based company called Escom LLC, although the exact figure has never been disclosed.

As Seen On http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,236721,00.html

Invest in Internet Domains . Really !!!

This time it was Sportsbook.mobi commanding the big bucks - a whopping $129,800 in a private sale that we carefully examined during our verification process.The seller, Sule Garba, originally brought the sale to our attention soon after it was completed in mid-December. He was willing to make details of the deal public but the buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, wanted to delay an announcement while he pursued other related domains he had his eye on (it is our policy to honor non-disclosure requests that come from either party to a transaction). This week, the buyer (whose identity we know) agreed to release the information and the broker he was working with to acquire domains, SpareDomains.com, sent us the documentation we require before reporting a sale.

The exchange was handled by Escrow.com so I called the company’s president, Brandon Abbey, to verify the information I had been given was accurate and that his company had completed the transfer of both the money and the domain. Abbey had to secure permission from both the buyer and seller before he could comment on the transaction, but once he had done so, he confirmed that the money was paid and the name delivered to the new owner. 

The most amazing thing about this deal is that Garba says he registered the domain by hand in October for just over $30! The name was apparently registered during the .mobi sunrise period for trademark holders but was then released back into the general registration pool, possibly because the trademark claim was ruled to be invalid by the registry. Garba just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

As Seen On  http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

In 2005 Local.Com sold for $700,000

Hardtofindseminars.com is a brilliant idea

I first learned about Jay Abraham from a video by Tony Robbins. Jay was speaking at one of Tony’s expensive Life Mastery seminars. I was totally blown away by Jay’s ideas. Immediately, I started looking for his seminar products.

The first item I was looking for was a set of tapes of the famous Jay Abraham $20,000 protégé mentor training seminar from 1990. You read that right: $20,000. That’s how much it cost to attend. The press called it: “The world’s most expensive seminar”. The students were there to learn how to become a master marketing wizard just like Jay Abraham.

Bigbadtoystore.com = $4 Million a Year

Description: Online toy retailer specializing in collectible action figures

Founder: Joel Boblit, 29
Location: Somerset, Wisconsin
Projected 2005 Sales: Over $4 million

Robo-Biz: Joel Boblit parlayed nostalgia for his childhood toys into big-time business when he discovered how much Transformers–robot action figures whose popularity has continued since the 1980s–were being sold for online. He launched BigBadToyStore.com in 1999 shortly after graduating college, while he was reliving fond memories of trading his favorite childhood toys–GI Joe, Masters of the Universe and Transformers. The biggest challenge in those early days? Boblit admits: “Being teased by my friends.”

See Whole Article http://www.entrepreneur.com/worklife/successstories/article81758.html

Rocketauctions.com = $500,000 A Year

When Randall Pinson took a full-time job as manager of a cell phone store during college, he expected to earn some extra money for school. He didn’t expect to learn how to start an online retail business that would ultimately support him and his family.

Pinson, 29, had only vaguely heard of eBay in the spring of 2000, when his boss asked him to try to sell some phones on the website. So he followed the step-by-step instructions on eBay.com and listed a shipment of phones for sale. Less than an hour later, a woman in New York offered to buy 15 of the phones for $125 each, making Pinson’s employer $100 in profit on each phone.

The 400 percent markup the store earned got Pinson’s attention. He started selling cell phones and accessories on eBay himself on a part-time basis, and in 2002, he quit his job at the cell phone store and started his own online business using his last paycheck and a $2,000 American Express line of credit. By his college graduation a few months later, he was earning close to $60,000 a year selling on eBay.

Always aiming for a 50 percent markup on his sales, Pinson (eBay User ID: rocket-auctions) occasionally does much better. “My most profitable eBay sale was a piece of telecom equipment I bought for $5 without really knowing what it was. I sold it for $750.”

Five years after starting, Pinson says confidently, “Anyone can make a living on eBay.” His company, Rocket Auctions, based in Farmington, Utah, generated $400,000 in sales in 2005, with 2006 projections of $500,000.

To bring in that kind of money, Pinson has one full-time employee who handles the day-to-day logistics of inventory management and shipping the 400 or so items that are sold in completed auctions from the company’s warehouse each week.

http://www.rocketauctions.com