5 reasons COVID-19 will have a huge impact on domain prices

Huge shift to buying online

What a massive shift we have seen in the space of less than 2 months.  Most non-essential shops are still closed as a result of the government lock-down.  This means if you need to buy anything that you can’t get in a supermarket like Asda or Tesco you are going to be shopping online.  I know from my own experience I have started shopping online more out of convenience and also to limit my time spent in public places – especially at the start of the outbreak.  Online shopping was already big business in The UK and it is only going to get bigger now.

New start-ups looking for domains

At the moment a lot of people are still on the government furlough scheme.  As this starts to be phased out we will see a lot of redundancies.  The slightly positive side of this is there should be a potential boom in new start-ups as people leave existing employment and look at starting their own businesses.  What is one of the first things you look for when starting a new business nowadays?  Yes, a good domain name.

Brick and mortar businesses moving online

A lot of established brick and mortar businesses will only survive the crisis if they manage to make a massive shift to online sales.  This could see a scramble for good domain names and potentially see a lot of established businesses looking for premium and high value domain names.  I think this area will be of most interest to established domainers with a good portfolio of keyword based domains.  This will be where a lot of money will be made.

More people getting involved in a “side hussle”

We are going to see more people looking to make extra income online.  This is a result of many workers being made redundant, reduced hours or stuck at home on the government furlough scheme.  When you are spending a lot of time at home you have more time for hobbies that could potentially come viable businesses.  A side hussle or passive income could be potential domain markets.

Part time domainers needing quick cash

I am seeing this a lot at the moment on auction based platforms.  The uptick in domains being sold at Domainlore and Sedo has been very noticeable over the last 1 – 2 months.  We have seen two of the biggest UK domain sales of the year in the last week.

• HelpToBuy.org.uk (sold for £32,250)
• Tights.co.uk (sold for £40,251)

This could be domainers dumping portfolio domains because they need cash.  Alternatively they could be selling stock at as they think this is a market peak and they will get the most for their domain right now.  What I can tell you is there is no better time to get into domains.. well unless you can turn the clock back to 1997.