Tired of trawling through Amazon? Oxford St not doing it for you? Can't be bothered with eBay? Well, this just in from domain name marketplace Sedo. Why not buy your beloved a domain name for Christmas?

Yes, according to the firm, which - surprise, surprise - sells domains for a living, "domain names are one of the few investments that are continuing to rise in value". Sedo highlights the totally-illustrative-and-not-at-all-a-freakish-one-off case of Mr. Merlin Kaufmann.

He bought merlin.net for personal use four years ago for a not inconsiderable $975. Fast forward a few years and he's managed to flog it for $30,000. Imagine that?! Sedo, of course, failed to mention the unreported story of Barry Facebook, who was able to retire to the Caribbean after he was bought-out by a social networking start-up. Or Gareth Google, who is thinking of running for office with the funds he has managed to obtain from a certain web behemoth for his domain. Well, that's what Sneak heard anyway.

According to Sedo, Snowman.co.uk, Christmas.co.uk and Santas.com are all up for grabs, and while e-commerce firms are unlikely to be interested in such seasonal titles, it might make a change from the usual stocking fillers. Although, personally, Sneak is more excited by the return of Arctic Roll this Christmas.

15 Dec 2008