Animal domain names such as Ox.com have a significant value to both domain investors and end-users. Animal .COM domain names can range in value from the low four-figure range ($1,000-$9,999) up to the seven-figure range.
Table of Contents
Why is Ox.com valuable?
Why are animal .COM domains such as Ox.com valuable? Well, let’s take Ox.com as an example here. Ox.com is one of just a concentrated number of exact match, animal .COM domain names that are in existence. There are over 134 million .COM domain names registered, which means Ox.com and the other exact match animal .COM names represent a very tiny percentage of all .COM domains. Rarity makes Ox.com a highly valuable name, especially to investors who pay top dollar to own the world’s rarest names.
There’s also the question of trust and stability. If you’re called Ox, then you need to own Ox.com for your brand. By owning Ox.com, you are displaying a sense of trust to your customers or clients. As a consumer, would you trust Ox.com or GetOx.com more? The right domain name gives an instant sense of trust in a brand to anyone who visits the domain. A sense of stability and permanence also comes from owning a domain name like Ox.com. It shows a long term investment in a brand.
Unfortunately, animal names such as “Ox” are popular brand names. Because they’re commonly used, instantly recognizable names, it makes the equivalent .COM (Ox.com) valuable since so many companies are interested in using it. That makes it an expensive prospect for a brand to acquire.
An exact match domain name such as Ox.com for a company called Ox can also offer that company some security from data and traffic leakage that is commonplace amongst longer domain names.
These factors, and more, are why Ox.com is a domain name that has retained its value for more than two decades. The factors listed above are fine in theory, but let’s take a look at some examples of animal .COM sales to back up the overall value of Ox.com and animal .COM’s in general:
Case Studies
Here are several examples of companies that have acquired animal .COM domain names within the past few years. If several companies spend six or seven-figures on an animal .COM domain name, it demonstrates clearly that exact match animal .COM’s play an intrinsic value in the online brand of savvy businesses. Read our case studies:
1.Walrus.com
This domain name was acquired by an investor in 2018 for a reported ,000 in 2018. After a period of time, this name was subsequently acquired by Walrus Health for an undisclosed fee, thought to be in the six-figure range. Walrus Health now operates their online pharmacy on the domain..
2.Duck.com
For years, Google owned the Duck.com domain name after acquiring it in during the purchase of a company many years ago. Up until December 2018, Google redirected the domain to its search engine. That was until the domain was acquired by the rival search engine DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo now uses Duck.com to redirect visitors to its own search engine.
3. Goat.com
Goat is a common animal name, but often it’s used as the acronym for “Greatest Of All Time”, which is widely appropriated in sports in particular. The Goat.com domain name was acquired by GOAT, a luxury apparel wear brand that offers shoes and garments from brands such as Yeezy, Air Jordan, and Off White.
These are just three examples of animal .COM domains that have been acquired and put to use by brands willing to invest significant amounts of money into their online identity.
Another means of getting a face-value appraisal for Ox.com is to take a look at verified domain sales data.
Recent Sales
Thanks to NameBio, we have been able to produce a list of animal .COM domain sales from the past:
Snake.com – $135,000 (2019)
Walrus.com – $55,000 (2018)
Gorilla.com – $496,320 (2019)
Bird.com – $200,000 (2005)
Pig.com – $125,000 (2010)
Coyote.com – $65,000 (2011)
Pug.com – $61,000 (2016)
Hornet.com – $60,000 (2017)
Further Reading
I wrote an article for NamePros in 2019 about how certain animal domain names are being used. You can read that here Some of the content here is quoted from that article.
Conclusions
Working out the intrinsic value of the Ox.com domain name (without any attached content, IP or other considerations) is a difficult process. Automated appraisals cannot be relied upon, and ultimately it comes down to the circumstances surrounding the acquisition or sale of the domain (with associated factors including motivation to buy or sell, the need for the domain, funding available, and current circumstances).
However, it can be easily proven that domains such as Ox.com are highly desirable, and previous sales data indicates that this type of name routinely sells for five ($xx,xxx) or six ($xxx,xxx) figures. In some cases, this will be higher.