Domain names continue to be a good investment with median and average sales continue to increase according to Sedo’s Q3 2010 Domain Market Study . In the quarter there were 10,085 sales, a 1.58 per cent increase from the same period a year earlier (10,070 sales), worth $24.5 million, averaging $2,033 per domain. The study found fixed-price sales accounted for 28 per cent of sales compared to five per cent a year earlier

ICANN released the fourth version of their Draft Applicant Guidebook for potential new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) applicants last week with several issues of interest to brand owners and trademark holders. The latest draft of the guidebook has changed in only a few areas from version three and will be a topic of discussion at the upcoming ICANN meeting in Brussels, commencing on 21 June

Nearly 12,000 domain names changed hands for a total value of more than $23 million according to the latest quarterly report from Sedo, the leading online marketplace for domain names. The sales in quarter one 2010 marked Sedo’s highest quarter for domain sales since 2008 and represents an 18.6 per cent increase in the number of sales compared to Q4 2009. Sedo, a marketplace for domain name auctions and sales, accounts for the vast majority of domain name sales each week, regularly accounting for around three-quarters of the top reported sales each week according to Domain Name Journal

Many internet users could have found German (.DE) websites and email addresses inaccessible for a short period last week following problems with faulty servers. On Wednesday (May 12) from around 13:30 to 15:45 servers went down causing the problems meaning some domains were inaccessible with website error messages being given saying the “domain does not exist”.