Shopify buys pair of domain names from Emerge Commerce

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Shopify Inc. has scooped up a pair of internet domain names from a smaller Canadian e-commerce player for more than $500,000, as it continues to build out an online platform under the “Shop” banner.

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EMERGE Commerce Ltd. announced Jan. 6 that it sold the domains Shop.ca and Shop.us to Canada’s largest tech company. The URLs now redirect users to Shopify’s Shop App website, a marketplace for Shopify-hosted retailers marketed as a “digital shopping assistant” where shoppers can search products and brands, make purchases and track shipments.

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The sale would put the deal among the top publicly reported all-cash domain name sales so far in 2025, according to figures tracked by domain name sales database NameBio.

According to NameBio, the top five most expensive publicly reported all-cash domain names sold last year were Rocket.com for US$14 million, Gold.com for US$8.5 million, Shift.com for US$1.3 million, TP.com for US$1.2 million and BestOdds.com for US$1.025 million.

The three most expensive publicly reported all-cash domain sales tracked by NameBio dating back to 1999 are Voice.com for US$30 million, Chat.com for US$15.5 million, and NFTs.com for US$15 million.

Toronto-based Emerge owns a portfolio of niche e-commerce brands, including meat and seafood subscription business truLocal, meat-of-the-month subscription service Carnivore Club, discount golf experiences and products company UnderPar, and golf products and apparel retailer JustGolfStuff.

The original Shop.ca emerged in 2011 as a made-in-Canada player in the e-commerce marketplace space, billing itself as “Canada’s largest online shopping destination.” The company filed for bankruptcy in 2016 after running up $72 million in losses. Emerge bought Shop.ca and revived it in 2018 as a destination for content and coupons, featuring shopping guides and coupon codes for major retailers.

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Emerge founder and chief executive Ghassan Halazon said in a press release that the Shop.us and Shop.ca domains had been “idle and non-revenue generating in recent years” and were sold to Shopify for “non-dilutive cash proceeds to fund future growth plans.”

The sale of Shop.us and Shop.ca rank fairly high among recent publicly reported domain name sales — but their dot-com counterpart sold for a lot more just over 21 years ago. According to NameBio, Shop.com sold for US$3.5 million in November 2003.

Domain investing can be a lucrative business. According to IBIS World, the U.S. domain name sales industry grew 4.4 per cent to US$9.4 billion in 2024. But it’s also a crowded market — aftermarket exchanges like Sedo and Afternic, which allow people to buy, sell and park domains, currently have millions of domains for sale.

However, it can pay off for domain investors who get it right. In August 2020, New York-based trademark lawyer Jeremy Green Eche bought HarrisWalz.com for US$8.99 — one of several domain names he’s purchased based on guessing possible future U.S. presidential tickets. He sold the domain for US$15,000 in August 2024, which he told CBS MoneyWatch felt like “hitting the jackpot.”

• Email: jswitzer@postmedia.com

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