Gold.co.uk domain goes for record ?600,000 to British businessman

Bought to aid Halliday-Stein?s BullionByPost business offering, which deals in bullion by trading gold and silver bars, it beat the previous record by ?40,000. Stretching back to 2008, the ?560,000 purchase of Cruise.co.uk had been the leader.

Rather ironically, Halliday-Smith tried to buy the Gold.co.uk domain in the same year ? but could not afford to stump up the ?50,000 that was demanded back then.

In a statement, Halliday-Stein said: ?Whilst this is a significant amount to pay I strongly believe the domain will prove to be great value over the long term.

?The internet is now by far the UK?s most important high street and this prime piece of virtual real estate and strong memorable brand is already showing signs of being a great investment?.

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BullionByPost is now turning over in excess ?100m a year. Figures from the end of 2014 suggested it had more than 70,000 registered customer accounts, had sold ?300m of precious metal and processed over 100,000 orders.

Despite its size, Halliday-Stein turned crowdfunding in the hope of raising ?2.2m. However, the pitch on Crowdcube was discontinued, with the entrepreneur simply saying that it would ?enable us to focus on delivering our vision for the business?.

While it appears the demand for valuable .co.uk domain names seem to be on the rise, they still pale in comparison to the sums being paid out for .com locations. Insurance.com was bought for $35.6m in 2010, VacationRentals.com for $35m in 2007, PrivateJet.com for $30.2m in 2012, Internet.com for $18m in 2009 and 360.com for $17m in 2015.

Read more about domain names:

• Welcome to the .uk: Launch of shorter domain names
• The right domain name can mean more sales
• So you think you own your domain? Think again

Adult-themed domain names have also become popular acquisitions in recent years. Sex.com was snapped up for $14m in 2014, while Porno.com went for $8.8m at the beginning of 2015.

To deal with the increasing number of websites set up around the world, authorities and regulators have created a variety of options, such as .uk, .london in Britain, as well as more bespoke versions such as .Nike and .AOL. However, the purchase of gold.co.uk seems to indicate businesses still value .com and .co.uk highest.

By Hunter Ruthven

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