Cannabis Domains: Analyzing the 130 Largest Sales To Date

The cannabis industry is an interesting one to watch — especially in regards to domains and branding, but really across the board.

A young industry, without established leaders, but where there is a lot of money looking to be invested (and not a ton of places to invest it compared to traditional niches)–not to mention only a handful of states have legalized recreational cannabis so far makes for a pretty hot fire with a lot of potential energy.

I thought it would be interesting to look at the reported marijuana domains that have sold to date–whether through auctions or private sales.

Please note that these ONLY include reported sales: there are probably hundreds of deals that closed for more than these names did, but we have no way of knowing the price or the domain name, so we make do with what info we have.

Here is what’s covered in the article:

1. A list of domain sales sorted by price
2. Commentary on best deals, worst purchases, and what sites have been built on the domains

Shout out to NameBio.com, where I collected this information.

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Top Cannabis Domain Sales To Date

I capped this list at a minimum sale price of $5000 — anything under that and the list would have expanded exponentially.

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Thoughts and Takeaways

Kush.com – The biggest reported name on the list sold to a legal hemp marketplace for a cool half-million. Though there is a reported sale, Marijuana.com, that sold for more (an eye-rolling $4.2 million), that sale included a live site with an active forum, so it doesn’t count for our purposes. (It was also reported that CBDOil.com sold for $500,240 in March of 2019, but there are no official details that I could find about venue, exact date, etc.).

CBD.co – $50k is a pretty decent price to have purchased this name for at the height of the CBD “craze” for lack of a better term. It is now a CBD product marketplace.

Hemper.com – $36k is very steep for this hemp-related brandable worth, probably, low-mid four figures in my opinion. While it’s a general term that could mean “someone in the hemp industry” (bit of a stretch, but still legit), it’s also the name of a very established cannabis subscription box. It was even the subject of a UDRP in which the panel found it was not registered in bad faith. Not sure what the current price is, but the buyer, when approached by the .co subscription box company (who apparently participated in the auction!), offered it for sale at $360k prior to the UDRP. I’d be willing to bet that price is a little higher these days…

Kush.org – I really tried to win this when it went to auction in 2018, but my budget was considerably lower than the $13k it eventually went for. This four-letter .org would go for more at auction today–probably double–so I think this was a pretty great pick up for whoever won it at auction.

The420Times.com – There’s no way this name is worth $10.5k… unless… you guessed it! This was an expired domain that someone picked up in 2018 (it had been active for about 4 years as a cannabis-related site before expiring. A steep price for a mediocre (at best) name, this was still a pretty solid pickup for low-five-figures given the authority. I’d expect it to go for up to 2x if it were expiring today.

Indica.com – The steal of this list. Are you kidding me?! This seven-figure name finished at auction in 2012 for a measly $8300. Are you F’n kidding me, under $10k? I know 2012 was a long time ago, but reading this just breaks my heart. I’d sell all the way out if I could build a cannabis brand on Indica.com. Whoever owns this name, email me! Are you looking for a handsome partner that knows SEO? Call me!

Kush.io – Wow, popular brand for cannabis. Makes sense–even though it means a specific kind of cannabis, it is instantly recognizable as belonging to the cannabis industry without being made of a low-value word like “pot,” and without being too generic like “marijuana.” It’s the perfect brand name for a cannabis company, and whoever picked this up for $8k in 2019 paid a lot, but it’s definitely worth more. Currently for sale for $60k.

Kush.co – ANOTHER kush name going for over $5k? This is the last one, I swear. Though it sold AFTER the .io, it sold for about $3k less. I guess .co doesn’t quite have the star power of .io–interesting! A decent pick-up, but if you name your company Kush.co, well, you’ve got a lot of name-twin competitors to deal with. Good luck with that…

That’s it for now. I’ll keep this list updated over time, and add new entries as they sell.