The decade from 2010 to 2020 marked the maturing of the secondary domain market. What began in the late 1990s as experimentation and grew in the 2000s into a recognized trade, now developed into a global digital asset class. Domains in this period became strategic identity markers for corporations, startups, and new industries, with a professional brokerage structure and record-breaking sales.
Institutionalization and Market Growth
During this decade, domain names moved decisively into the mainstream. Venture-backed startups and global corporations began to treat premium .com domains as strategic acquisitions.
- FB.com was acquired by Facebook in 2010 for $8.5 million.
- VacationRentals.com reportedly sold for $35 million in 2010.
- Voice.com achieved a record $30 million sale in 2019.
These headline transactions confirmed domains as boardroom-level assets, not just marketing tools.
The Rise of Marketplaces and Brokerage
The infrastructure of the market advanced significantly.
- Afternic expanded its fast-transfer network, linking major registrars and creating liquidity for domains under $50,000.
- Sedo continued to be a central marketplace for both end-users and investors.
- Escrow.com established itself as the trusted standard for secure high-value transactions.
- Boutique brokerages such as MediaOptions and Guta emerged as specialized intermediaries for premium deals.
Brokerage became a profession in its own right, with specialists focusing on finance, crypto, geographic names, and brandables.
New Extensions and Their Impact
The mid-2010s introduced hundreds of new gTLDs (.club, .xyz, .online, .app, and many others). While most failed to gain meaningful traction, a few stood out:
- .xyz gained prominence when Alphabet adopted abc.xyz.
- .club carved out a niche among membership communities.
- .app benefited from Google’s ownership and trust.
Despite the flood of new options, .com remained the gold standard, with resale values dwarfing all other extensions.
Emerging Sectors Driving Demand
Two major forces reshaped demand in this decade:
- Crypto & Blockchain:
Domains like Crypto.com (reportedly $12 million+, 2018) and ETH.com ($2 million, 2017) illustrated the hunger for short, category-defining assets. - Mobile Apps & Startups:
As apps became dominant, companies sought strong, concise brands. Many upgraded from multi-word compromises to single-word .coms, often paying six figures.
Pricing Tiers and Market Clarity
By the end of the decade, clearer pricing tiers had formed:
- Ultra-premium single-word .coms → $1M–$30M+
- 2–3 letter .com acronyms → six to seven figures, depending on quality
- Brandables → growing marketplace sales in the $2K–$25K range (driven by BrandBucket, Squadhelp, etc.)
This stratification gave buyers confidence and allowed domains to be valued more like traditional assets.
Conclusion
From 2010 to 2020, the secondary domain market completed its transformation from speculation into professionalized asset trading. Mega-sales demonstrated strategic corporate value, crypto and mobile apps created new demand, and while hundreds of new extensions tested the market, .com’s dominance only strengthened.
This was the decade that gave domains true institutional recognition — paving the way for an even more global and data-driven market in the 2020s.
Interested in what happened next? Read the follow-up:
👉 The Years of 2020 to 2025 in the Secondary Domain Market
