Expired Domain Name Report

Joseph Peterson provides and in-depth review of the past week in the expired domain name market.

And now for something completely different … Instead of a Chinese domain like the $62k giant that towered over the previous week’s expired auctions – evidence of what’s newest and most energetic in today’s domain market – this week NameJet presents us with something old fashioned. Insurance1.com was the top result, weighing in at a lighter $5.2k.

Many years ago, registrants were prone to add the numeral “1” after their favored keyword so as to secure a short memorable .COM. By now that convention seems somewhat passé; and, as it has died out, we’ve seen such domains pass through the expired charts in a decelerating funeral procession. But aged domains with back links, especially those related to lucrative industries like insurance, retain some value. Sure enough, Insurance1.com was up and running from 1996 all the way to 2014. 18 years. Many domainers are now younger than that website.

Regarding Hushe.com ($4.2k), my first assumption was Chinese pinyin. After all, it’s a rare week when China doesn’t place in the top 2 or 3 spots. However, Hushe could as easily be Urdu for Pakistan’s mountainous North. Indeed, a travel agency bears that name in .PK; and, having discovered photos of the region today, I fully intend to hike it as soon as I can ditch this whole internet thing.

After AllergySolutions.com ($2.8k) had run the gauntlet of 45 NameJet bidders (4 of whom surpassed $2k), I was surprised to find no registrant in the Whois database for the corresponding nTLD, .SOLUTIONS. Cost would frequently be an issue, but not in this case. There were obstacles, however. Most registrars reported the domain as unavailable, and even those that congratulated me on finding it presented insurmountable glitches at checkout. It wasn’t until the 6th registrar I tried that I was finally able to register allergy.solutions for 1% the cost of the .COM. With variable pricing, registrar-registry coordination remains problematic even more than a year into the nTLD rollout.

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
Insurance1.com	5200	Hushe.com	4200
AeroVision.com	3900	FCCM.com	2908
AllergySolutions.com	2800	Hakia.com	2600
GreenSpirit.com	2222	ZGZS.com	2019
IdeaCube.com	2001	70998.com	1809
TeamProject.com	1755	ERKO.com	1710
RevvedUp.com	1610	BGAN.com	1550
StudioMax.com	1510	87177.com	1509
Themez.com	1499	Corval.com	1433
Righter.com	1421	LDBB.com	1420
Guardx.com	1400	Metavision.com	1387
Hapax.com	1355	SAVC.com	1320
JJT.net	1215	eAccount.com	1209
GTEX.com	1010	384888.com	1009
TennisTime.com	1005	PinTail.com	975
MetroCrest.com	945	IEShop.com	929
584888.com	910	JXCK.com	812
Stockton.net	799	MicGadget.com	790
Sandfield.com	787	Spize.com	760
Houlton.com	731	WHPF.com	693
JewelryBazaar.com	690	Horsing.com	595
Supernovae.com	585	GongFan.com	583
MYJM.com	575	Bringo.com	550
BECR.com	535	NeTeng.com	534
HMST.com	530	StartupVillage.com	520
Indicar.com	510	Silverio.com	490
OffGridPower.com	456	TXKB.com	455
47499.com	450	JQHT.com	449
Tortoreto.com	444	DJMH.com	428
Ragamuffins.com	420	555788.com	409
VSCCS.com	407	HTMLDoc.org	383
4IM.com	380	Perlite.net	360
FarmInABox.com	350	LivermoreWine.com	343
Zapture.com	319	AyudaInc.org	315
QNCR.com	311	DomainPlace.com	308
FieldToTable.com	304	SkinCosmetics.com	262
TravellerWorld.com	260	JHAI.org	259
TRUD.org	253	CCRC.org	242
JGKC.com	235	DunRan.com	229
MLF360.com	224	EasyBookmarks.com	219
73471.com	211	ActiveGamez.com	210
Avarix.com	202	03183.com	181
LVArea.com	169	SabahUSA.com	165
LincolnPlumbing.com	160	BuildingBright Futures.net	150
TaiwanKiss.com	148	NewsMall.com	140
HDTelecom.com	130	iMacs.com	129
GOWTrainer.com	129	VPFA.com	120
UVRA.com	120	GPSNow.com	119
IZIW.com	110	YardChairs.com	109
QualifiedLending.com	101	PVFA.com	100
CierraTec.com	100	Organic DryCleaning.com	100
DarkZen.com	100	Archaeologic.com	100
GrillPub.com	99	MusicMath.com	99
SexyHosting.com	99	Universiade Izmir.org	95
AlmaPGH.com	90	BOB1.com	89
TheBluebirds.com	89	Bitki.org	81
Smokerz.com	80	EDRInc.com	80
OhiaHia.com	80	RealCoasters.com	80
VirusRecovery.com	79	SEOTradeBlog.com	79
EastAfrican Hotel.com	71	WHPT.org	71
VoicesOf SchoolChoice.org	71	Instant6.com	70
JoomlaPort.com	70	HomeFurniture Carpet.com	70
The-European.com	70	JohannsFace.com	70
PVFE.com	70	PowerCables.net	69
DoNoEvil.org	69	MakeYourOwn Brew.com	69
MiamiHospice.com	69	Farasima.com	69
TransWorld Chem.com	69	VanLogistics.com	69
43322.cc	69	GreenRoof System.com	69
AppsWiki.com	69	Penetrazione.com	69
TheSoundStrike.net	69	NotesFor.net	69
NavyMil.org	69	Snekin.com	69
ChainlessBike.com	69	LandAct.com	69
AirAct.com	69	MenAtArms.com	69
888474.com	69	EmprendeGo.com	69

LLLL.com’s are certainly doing well. I count 7 between $1k and $2.9k with another 8 ranging from $428 to $812. You’ll also see a trio of LLLL.org’s selling at $250 ± $10. The lone 3-letter .NET, JJT.net, fetched $1.2k. Among numerics, a pair of NNNNN.com’s rose to $1.5k / $1.8k; but the stragglers are found next at $450 and then $211. Meanwhile, 6-digit numerics containing “888” achieved $1k and $910, and another “555” NNNNNN.com rose to $409. That said, a third “888” domain trailed far behind at just $69.

Stockton.net may refer to long-time Utah Jazz basketball star John Stockton, who (like Karl Malone, the burly hall-of-famer he’ll forever be paired with) has lent his name to an auto dealership. At least, that’s association 1 for me as a Utahn. You may be familiar with Perlite.net ($360) – a substance not a brand – if you’ve ever done any home construction. Tortoreto.com ($444) is an Italian coastal town. Bringo.com ($550) overlaps with BringGo.com, a Korean-made car navigation app; whereas EmprendeGo.com (meaning “Be an entrepreneur! Go!”) gave out cash awards to Spanish startups.

Indicar.com ($510) is the Spanish verb to show or to indicate; but, as it also means to prescribe medicine, the domain is well suited to pharmaceuticals. The first word in SabahUSA.com ($165) is Arabic for “morning” (so perhaps a morning chat show?). It’s also half the customary daytime greeting: “sabaH al-kheir”.

Spize.com ($760) could be a misspelling of English “spice” … or of German “spitze” (super!) … or it might be this Singaporean company. UniversiadeIzmir.org ($95) would be a university in the Turkish city known to antiquity as Smyrna, where myrrh came from (for you Christmas trivia buffs). There’s a street in Honolulu bearing the name OhiaHia.com ($80); so Hawaiian associations seem likely. Everybody who sees iMacs.com ($129) will think of Apple first – arguably IMAX theaters second.

Aerovision.com ($3.9k) can suitably rebrand a number of existing websites: (1) Aerovi.com; (2) UKAerovision.com; (3) AerovisionCanada.com; (4) Aerovision-SA.com; (5) Aero-Vision.com.ar; (6) AAI.com.tw; not to mention various Aerovisions built on (7) .TV, (8) NL, (9) .FR, (10) .IT, (11) .CZ, (12) .CO.UK, (13) .COM.CO, etc. Someone in that group of companies ought to buy or has bought the domain already.

Hakia.com ($2.6k) was a semantic search engine. And we all know which company says it does but doesn’t DoNoEvil.org ($69), don’t we. The week’s list is strewn with plenty of strong brand names like RevvedUp.com ($1.6k) and bargain buys like ChainlessBike.com ($69). My favorite might be Zapture.com ($319), which captures the rapture in a zap of electricity. CierraTec.com ($100) is my least favorite, since it fails the radio test in 2 separate ways. After the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the U.S. Army’s website at Army.mil last week, seeing the sale of NavyMil.org this week renews my concern about phishing military sites.

If you miss your malware, VirusRecovery.com ($79) might help you get reacquainted and recapture the magic. Also, following the example of Bob1.com ($89), I humbly submit that all the Bobs of the world should now take a number. That or we can rank each Bob by vote.