Place your bids for Sex.com

They say that sex sells, and this baby has commanded some high prices in the past. I'm talking, of course, about perhaps the most expensive Internet domain name there is - Sex.com.

by Helen Leggatt

Next week sees the sale of the century as Sex.com goes to auction after its current owner, Escom LLC, went bust (pun intended).

But is someone going to pay big bucks for Sex.com? Escom paid a reported $14 million for the website back in 2006. Expectations are that the bidding won't reach those dizzy heights this time around. In fact, some predict it will go for decidedly less.

CBC business commentator Kevin O'Leary predicts the hammer will fall around the $2 million and $4 million mark. "In the last two years, domain name values have decreased dramatically so people who have squatted on domain names -- some people have thousands of them -- they're not such great investments," he said in an interview with CBC News.

Ultimately, it's worth what someone is prepared to pay and the auction should make interesting viewing.

The domain name is being auctioned by David R. Maltz & Co on Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 11:00 AM in New York. It won't be a cheap date as bidders are required to produce a certified check for $1 million if they wish to participate.