LuckyGames.com, BearClaw.com and other Expired Domain Name Sales

Joseph Peterson reviews the past week of expired domain name sales at NameJet.

Without the added attraction of money, games of chance are a bit boring compared to games of skill or strategy. So it’s fair to assume LuckyGames.com (with its $9.5k high bid) stands for slot-machine-style gambling rather than chess, basketball, or mine sweeper. Luck rather devalues success, although lottery winners seldom tear up those oversized novelty checks.

NameJet’s #2 expired auction from the past week, BearClaw.com ($8.6k) was a bit overpriced for a pastry, which is what hungrier readers may think of first. Naturally, this phrase has other meanings. Indeed, it’s the brand name for a bakery, an old manufacturing firm, and a jewelry store. TransNet.com ($7.5k), as you might have guessed, corresponds to a .NET website – South African freight, it turns out. This name could as easily signal translation as transport and even brand some new venture, but experienced domainers will recognize that price as the shadow cast by one or more preexisting companies.

Right now, parents are Fondly.com ($2.5k) snapping photos of their chubby drooling offspring or else paying professionals to give unappreciative infants the star treatment. BabyPhoto.com ($4.9k) means clientele to thousands of photographers. Banerjee.com ($6.9k) and Tillier.com ($411) are surnames, while Eryun.com ($1.9k) and Kiril.com ($217) are first names. Prices certainly vary in that department. Ibsen.com ($1.7k) isn’t the Norwegian playwright; instead, it’s a Danish company that specializes in spectroscopy.

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
LuckyGames.com	9501	BearClaw.com	8600
TransNet.com	7499	Banerjee.com	6901
BabyPhoto.com	4944	Fondly.com	2500
WeRoll.com	2000	Eryun.com	1903
PaymentShield.com	1819	LocalShops.com	1755
SupportTicket.com	1701	Ibsen.com	1655
MaxLaw.com	1621	XBOC.com	1550
NTDC.com	1522	POOS.com	1511
ZYGX.com	1500	UltraStar.com	1489
CoBit.com	1410	Mobling.com	1309
WaterPlant.com	1118	ONVI.com	1109
MFD.org	1100	ParaSaber.com	1100
IURI.com	1011	WestGlen.com	1000
BangMedia.com	950	NoControl.com	898
ThreatExchange.com	810	MusicPub.com	801
KHUB.com	800	UYEN.com	800
OPUA.com	792	BakingSheets.com	755
POOY.com	742	LegalCustody.com	735
HMPG.com	705	CharityHelp.com	704
ZNZ.net	701	ZOEZ.com	700
IOSU.com	608	GoodInvesting.com	598
TYT.net	565	ServoDrive.com	550
QYYQ.com	535	WebDesignBlog.com	534
IYA.net	529	SpinDryer.com	520
Glide Technologies.com	510	BismillahIrRahman IrRahim.com	510
HPMA.com	506	IUSM.com	498
Viore.com	474	IUTA.com	461
Calosa.com	439	OnlineMag.net	431
Templated.org	430	FuelProof.com	422
IUMC.com	422	VillagePulse.com	418
DigitalWill.com	415	Tillier.com	411
Neurogenic.com	410	DVD Information.com	410
EEngineer.com	375	Artworks.org	370
SeizedProperties.com	361	INWU.com	350
RFFI.com	343	GZYN.com	310
International Donors.org	309	IUSF.com	291
CLRJames Institute.org	290	TheBigWild.org	289
VXA.org	276	YaleLaw.com	256
SurroundSound Speakers.com	254	VisionScreening.com	251
UtahRedCross.org	240	Mortgage Company.org	235
Cobentoniaus.com	231	Renewabl Energy.net [sic]	231
FPLF.com	227	OECB.com	220
IASU.com	219	Kiril.com	217
VIPEnterprises.com	211	TwitterMeter.com	211
Temelin.com	209	KeepLifeSimple.com	201
G0M.com	178	OceanBrite.com	161
VirtualInquiry.com	160	WolfCreekUtah.com	160
KingsTravel.com	160	ArtBetting.net	150
IUSC.com	145	CCRCC.net	140
Mama-Mami.com	130	Poker Professional.com	129
MonkProject.org	116	MarkeeMag.com	99
AutumnGallery.net	93	CyberServers.net	91
ORWine.org	90	Erzincan.org	80
L337Gaming.com	80	MaryT.com	80
cAdmin.com	79	BLPV.com	69
ToClaim.com	69	Fuckers.tv	59

WeRoll.com ($2k) is an untranslatable bit of vernacular. It’s derived from Americans’ obsession with automobiles, but it means something like “let’s go” or else (as part of “how we roll”) it signifies personal style – just as your car is supposed to. As if those layers of meaning aren’t enough, it may also denote rolling a cigar or a blunt. So WeRoll.com could be travel … or fashion … or cars … or marijuana. Speaking of slang, Mobling.com ($1.3k) is a blend of “mobile phone” and “mo’ bling”, making it an ostentatious cell phone. If this paragraph seems fairly obvious, my fellow Americans, remember that DNW has a global readership. If someone in Pakistan or Switzerland says “we roll” and talks about getting “mo’ bling”, then he knows his hiphop.

BismillahIrRahmanIrRahim.com ($510). Apparently, length doesn’t matter when the phrase is sufficiently important. Every muslim and anyone who has lived among muslims will know this phrase backwards and forwards: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم . Literally, it means “in the name of the Merciful, the Compassionate”. The Qur’an opens with this invocation to God, as do all but 1 chapter / sura within it. Of course, the phrase is used for religious occasions; but it would also be a polite way to begin many a formal speech or welcome viewers to a TV talk show. Even as a non-muslim, I’ve had occasion to say it.

ParaSaber.com ($1.1k) looks like Spanish for “to know”. True, but it’s Portuguese too; and there’s a Brazilian academic site built on the matching .BR. Viore.com ($474) is or was a trademarked TV brand. Temelin.com would be a Czech nuclear power plant. Erzincan.org ($80) a Turkish city and province. ORWine.com ($90) is the state of Oregon – not a handy alternative to sober facts. It’s interesting to observe that IOSU.com ($608) tripled the price of IASU.com ($219) during the same week. LLLLs peaked with a 1-key-over typo for the video game console: XBOC.com ($1.6k).

You will never guess what Cobentoniaus.com ($231) means. Truly jaw-dropping! The first person to post the solution wins a digital high five from me. Here is the old website. But before you peek at that clue to the riddle, torture yourself for a bit. This is now my favorite bad domain, hands down.

If you find your diet is lacking in opaque jargon, just read this article on Cobit.com ($1.4k), which abbreviates “Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology” – COBIRT, surely! And that would be Ernie. (Now there’s an allusion to separate the American readers from the non.)

Some human beings take an inordinate interest in their own bowel movements. If POOS.com ($1.5k) isn’t providing them with vanity email addresses ([email protected]), then it had better be dumped on China where it can comfortably let go of those English connotations it has been packing. For, as an acronym, POOS.com is likely to be the butt of jokes.