What is the value of the Swan.com domain name? Animal .COM domain names can range in value from the low four-figure range ($1,000-$9,999) up to the seven-figure range.
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Why is Swan.com valuable?
Why are animal .COM domains such as Swan.com valuable? Well, let’s take Swan.com as an example here. Swan.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 Swan.com and the other exact match animal .COM names represent a very tiny percentage of all .COM domains. Rarity makes Swan.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 Swan, then you need to own Swan.com for your brand. By owning Swan.com, you are displaying a sense of trust to your customers or clients. As a consumer, would you trust Swan.com or GetSwan.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 Swan.com. It shows a long term investment in a brand.
Unfortunately, animal names such as “Swan” are popular brand names. Because they’re commonly used, instantly recognizable names, it makes the equivalent .COM (Swan.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 Swan.com for a company called Swan 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 Swan.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 Swan.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. Shark.com
This marine based domain name shows precisely the wide range of uses for animal/wildlife names. The Shark.com name is owned and operated by a former golfer. Australian Greg Norman, nicknamed The Shark, spent 331 weeks as the world’s number one golf pro. After retiring, Greg created the Greg Norman Company, formerly known as Great White Shark Enterprises. Shark.com houses Greg’s multiple ventures.
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 Swan.com is to take a look at verified domain sales data.
Recent Sales
NameBio, a trusted resource for domain name sales, lists the following animal .COM sales in its database. There have likely been plenty more, but they haven’t been publicly disclosed:
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 – $60,000 (2017)
Further Reading
I wrote an article for NamePros in 2019 about how certain animal domain names are being used. You can read that here Some of the content here is quoted from that article.
Conclusions
Working out the intrinsic value of the Swan.com domain name (without any attached content, IP or other considerations) is a difficult process. Automated appraisals cannot be relied upon, and ultimately it comes down to the circumstances surrounding the acquisition or sale of the domain (with associated factors including motivation to buy or sell, the need for the domain, funding available, and current circumstances).
However, it can be easily proven that domains such as Swan.com are highly desirable, and previous sales data indicates that this type of name routinely sells for five ($xx,xxx) or six ($xxx,xxx) figures. In some cases, this will be higher.