Expired domains: head, shoulder, knees and toes

Some ship has sunk; and as the cargo it carried sinks below the surface, domain resellers pick over its contents like fish seeking edible morsels from among the debris. The vessel’s captain may not know this goes on, having given up for lost whatever was in his ship’s hold. But we know. And we know too that the flavor of the sinking scraps will vary day to day, depending on who is throwing excess baggage overboard or who has sprung a leak.

Often, whether a conscious decision is made or not, owners allow a whole group of domains to expire all at once. This past week, one pattern I noticed was “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes”:

• AnkleProblem.com
• AnkleProblems.com $30
• BackProblem.com $858
• ElbowProblem.com N/A
• ElbowProblems.com $12
• FootProblem.com $293
• FootProblems.com $2962
• HipProblem.com $9
• KneeProblem.com N/A
• KneeProblems.com  N/A
• NeckProblem.com
• NeckProblems.com $1009
• ShoulderProblem.com $253
• ShoulderProblems.com $68
• WristProblem.com

All were registered in March 1999. All were owned by one individual — the man behind DrLannysInsoles.com. Since his active business (copyright 2014) hinges on correcting arthritis of the inner knee, he did renew his pair of knee domains. But I doubt he realized those extra domains of his would be worth more than $5,524 to his registrar after 15 years. I say “more than” because I didn’t track prices for 4 out of the 13 he let go.

Here are some other GoDaddy expired auctions (chosen arbitrarily) from last week:

• $13,500 HollySprings.com
• $1433 Hammsa.com
• $1325 HSE.org
• $1301 87588.com
• $1213 C78.com
• $898 ChildrensLiterature.com
• $898 93269.com
• $820 FSFG.com
• $820 FSFG.com
• $796 29761.com
• $758 GamingTips.com
• $660 60366.com
• $631 HZQ.net
• $510 Arrive.net
• $510 OOOR.com
• $455 HealthAndHumanRights.org
• $406 Call-Center.com
• $400 PoplarGrove.com
• $380 52265.com
• $360 EbookReviews.com
• $378 Batoo.com
• $356 29269.com
• $355 HairSource.com
• $354 IndianParty.com
• $305 RiceAndMisoEveryEay.com
• $290 ConsciousCommuter.com
• $251 06658.com
• $187 ForexOrders.com
• $151 10407.com
• $100 OrlandoClub.com
• $58 CoveredShelters.com
• $45 KingBurger.com

Holly Springs is a city in 3 states. Hammsa was an active Egyptian chat site, whose full name (همسة الروح = hammsat i-rooH) means “soul whisper”. Hopefully they got their domain back; but, even so, that bill is much bigger than it looks to an American. In the list, you’ll see a couple of .COMs for matching nTLD strings. Both were first registered in 1999 and 2002 and expired of natural causes; so maybe the bidders don’t have .TIPS or .CLUB in mind, but I expect they do.

By the way, that last one should ring a bell for some of you. It’s not just a Burger King ripoff; it’s also a Mad TV sketch starring Bon Qui Qui.

NameJet’s expired auctions included the following:

• $5655 ArkansasArts.com
• $2603 WebMortgage.com
• $1500 WOD.org
• $1109 Wetting.com
• $898 FoodFirst.com
• $656 Skimmers.com
• $592 TennesseeLawyer.com
• $560 CKG.org
• $512 DigitalCure.com
• $450 EasyCreator.com
• $440 VeganFriendly.com
• $429 BeSomeone.com
• $344 GLegal.com
• $295 Parsonage.org
• $210 NiceWebsites.com
• $190 NaturalHealthClinic.com
• $80 MiamiCremation.com
• $80 LearnBass.com
• $80 Tenor.org

3 of these auctions show 1 person in Whois. Evidently, the Arkansas Arts Council — which had maintained an attractive website for over a decade — dropped the ball. Now visitors will find a bare-bones “Hello World” message instead.

Two of the best buys from these lists, in my opinion, were CoveredShelters.com at $58 and LearnBass.com at $80.

Over at SnapNames, there’s an auction still in progress for JobGuru.com with 104 bidders up to $741. Would the demand be as high prior to .GURU? Perhaps.

If you’re still looking for some domains to backorder, here are a few to consider:

• Table.co.uk
• Resignation.co.uk (owned by a certain Mr. Schilling)
• Competitors.co.uk (owned by the same Frank)
• Ururi.com (in Italy)
• UDE.co.uk
• Enyoga.com (Sounds great, and I count at least 3)
• LendingGuru.com (if only because the .GURU is owned)
• MsFoot.com (Shoes)
• Trenoi.com (Brandable plus an existing Salon as backup)
• DomainCollage.com
• WeBackCoins.com (for you bitcoin enthusaists out there)
• BuyAMicrophone.com
• SanJoseTaxLawyers.com
• FijiFishingTours.com

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.