Domain name collectors and investors know the value of short one-word domain names. These days, individuals can't simply come up with a noun like "toys" or "computers" and expect that it's available for registration with a domain name registrar. All the English language single-word nouns are taken. And some of these these domain names are being bought and sold for millions of dollars, both privately and through domain name power brokers like Sedo, Moniker, and numerous others. They are being bought and sold like pieces of Internet real estate  some collectors owning portfolios that include thousands of premium domain names.

The most valuable domain names have the "dot com" suffix, because "dot com" is the one used most often in Internet searches. However, domain names with country code suffixes did begin to show up on the million dollar list in 2008.

In 2006, the owner of Diamond.com sold the domain for a whopping $7.5 million. In that same year, Vodka.com sold for $3 million, and Cameras.com sold for $1.5 million. All of these domain names have great potential for development as websites, because they represent high end merchandise and have the potential to earn the company huge revenues in sales and advertising.

In 2007, CENSORED.com sold for $9.5 million. Computer.com was bought for $2.1 million. Seniors.com, Tandberg.com, Scores.com, Vista.com, and Chinese.com all sold for prices in excess of $1 million, but less than $2 million. Guy.com and Topix.com each sold for $1 million even. Investment.com sold for an amount just shy of $1 million that year.

In 2008,domain names with country code suffixes, as well as a two-word domain name, sold for prices in excess of $1 million. These domain names included the German suffix, "de" and the United Kingdom suffix, "co.uk." The domains were Shopping.de which sold for approximately $2.9 million, Kredit.de which sold for approximately $1.2 million, and Cruises.co.uk, which sold for approximately $1.1 million.

Topping the list of "dot com" domains was Fund.com, which sold for a mind-boggling figure $50 shy of $10 million. Clothes.com went for $4.9 million. The two-word domain, Data Recovery.com, sold for approximately $1.7 million and Invest.com sold for just over $1 million.

In 2009, there were eight domains that sold for amounts in excess of $1 million, most of which had commercial potential. Domain names still fetched high prices even in the economic down turn.

In October of this year, Insure.com and all its media assets was sold to Quin Street Incorporated for $16 million. The selling company, Insure.com, Inc., originally paid $1.6 million for the domain name in 2001. The retail giant, Toys R Us bought Toys.com for over $5 million. Candy.com was bought by a Massachusetts candy company for over $3 million. Fly.com was bought by Travel Zoo for close to $1.8 million. Travel Zoo intends to develop the domain into a search engine devoted to travel.

Other sales in excess of $1 million in 2009 included Call.com, Auction.com, Ticket.com, and Webcam.com.

Geo domains are beginning to see very high prices due to their potential for website development. Russia.com sold for $1.5 million in November of 2009.

This is not a full list of domain sales in the million dollar club, but it does give an overview. Thousands of domain names are bought and sold each year, and the number of domains realizing sales between $10 thousand to $999 thousand is great.

Remarkably, all these domain names that were bought and sold for prices in excess of $1 million, were likely originally created and registered for less than $100  which makes this a very good return on something that may only have been owned for twenty years or less. Many of these premium domain names have been bought and sold a few times over since the early days of the Internet. The best domains are taken, and they can be very expensive if they are for sale at all.It's a business, requiring years of experience and a lot of patience, as well as financial means. In many cases, that financial backing for the million dollar domains comes from numerous investors  investing to own a single word respected by search engines, and a prime piece of the Internet real estate market.