Westland.com at $16.2k and other expired domain name sales

A look back at the past week in expired domain name sales.

Our planet’s dirt must be popular. At NameJet last week, 3 of the top 4 auctions contained words like “earth”, “world”, and “land”. Let’s not read too much into that coincidence, though. Westland.com ($16.2k) is both a city in Michigan and a distillery in Seattle. EarthTech.com ($15.3k) could be an upgrade for solar gear; Florida sinkhole repair; Albuquerque landscaping; or Austin physicists researching gravity, cosmology, and electrodynamics. Take your pick!

CaiQi.com ($13.0k), the #3 expired domain auction, is Chinese Pinyin – probably 才气 / cái qì, meaning “artistic talent”, although it could also be read as 彩旗 / cǎi qí, “colored flag”. MobileHomeInsurance.com ($4.3k) shows why some domains NEED to be long. There is no shorter way to spell that topic. And – wow! – somebody got a great deal on BuildingInspectors.com ($3.8k). Every time any condo, house, apartment building, or commercial property changes hands anywhere, building inspectors get paid. Well, not every time. EarthTech needs a few buildings to be swallowed by sinkholes!

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
Westland.com	16,200	EarthTech.com	15,300
CaiQi.com	13,020	WorldPages.com	6201
MobileHome Insurance.com	4300	Building Inspectors.com	3755
Allegria.com	3600	AGER.com	3550
DailyDollar.com	3433	FraudCheck.com	3000
FireLily.com	3000	BKBank.com	2600
HFCU.com	2306	MakeupGuide.com	2166
Grattage.com	2150	WebBiz.com	2055

Got to love the name FireLily.com ($3.0k) as an edgier take on the placid water lily. In their less edgy more matter-of-fact way, FraudCheck.com ($3.0k) and MakeupGuide.com ($2.2k) are both good names too. Part of the fun of DailyDollar.com ($3.6k) is speaking its repeating consonants aloud. Language was music before it was script; so we humans remember sound.

Most of the English words I’d use to translate the Italian Allegria.com ($3.6k) sound old fashioned or even archaic: gaiety, glee, jollity, mirth. “Joy” is too strong; that would be “gioia”. In contemporary English, there is no direct translation better than “cheerfulness” or a lively good mood. Now if I tell you that Grattage.com ($2.2k) is French for “scraping”, that hardly helps. But if I mention that un “jeu de grattage” – literally a “scrape game” – means a lottery scratch card … eureka!

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
Catsup.com	1925	CConsulting.com	1900
999928.com	1700	GrandHotels.com	1621
Silma.com	1535	WGPT.com	1420
SeeHere.com	1400	Flying.info	1328
DrillTeam.com	1310	XFYG.com	1309
HG2223.com	1211	HG1113.com	1211
LPM.org	1160	MicroNetwork.com	1125
Inspection Service.com	1013	NYEX.com	1009

Catsup.com ($1.9k) is a quaint alternative spelling for “ketchup”, but it would actually make a great brand name for something cat-related – a pun we’d smirk not groan at. Another pun-based brand name is SeeHere.com ($1.4k). Normally the phrase “now see here” is used in a stern critical way to call someone out and make them pay attention. But with a lighter mood SeeHere.com can be used for link sharing or anything visual.

Do drill teams exist outside the USA, I wonder? The phrase DrillTeam.com ($1.3k) applies both to military marching displays and female dance groups associated with sports teams. Here again, the domain could become a pun-based brand for mechanical drills.

Flying.info ($1.3k) is worth pointing out, since single-word .INFOs haven’t been seen much in these charts lately. As a followup to BuildingInspectors.com, InspectionService.com ($1.0k) is also noteworthy. GrandHotels.com ($1.6k) would be a very different sort of hotel booking site, wouldn’t it? Emphasis on luxury and history rather than bare essentials and cost.

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
73278.com	930	52395.com	920
FertilityWeb.com	918	XEKE.com	918
BrilliantChoice.com	898	BrandsClub.com	890
AQPS.com	890	NYExpress.com	880
HandsHigh.com	880	Breakfast Delivery.com	829
CoreWeb.com	825	Vanguard Health.com	821
PGZL.com	820	CFOJobs.com	758
BootKnife.com	751	13447.com	750
BPXQ.com	749	LBFX.com	741
QNHH.com	730	FJFR.com	720
NJFG.com	720	8OA.com	720
JHCB.com	720	NWQP.com	700

Speaking of BreakfastDelivery.com ($829), who doesn’t want breakfast in bed of a morning? Bring me my pancakes! Sounds like a startup idea that might actually take off. Worked for evening pizza, after all. CFOJobs.com ($758) should be a great lead-gen domain for recruiters. At BrilliantChoice.com ($898), maybe I’ll be able to hire a yes man to follow me around through life saying, “Brilliant choice, sir!” as I pluck shirts from hangers or weigh the pros and cons of coffee versus tea … or choose dubious new keywords as TLDs.

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
SuperKick.com	700	ShakeDiet.com	672
Wormers.com	626	EEIA.com	610
9020.net	602	HisAndHer Health.com	601
Synthetic Pages.org	601	WaterUse.com	580
Healing Device.com	553	Rainbow Grocery.org	527
LeanProducts.com	523	AsWell.com	520
AudioGallery.com	510	FriendsUnited.com	506
Cheque.org	490	TheWineGuy.com	466
HumanRights Torch.org	460	Promotional Media.com	454
UBAA.com	453	42767.com	431
Total Spectrum.com	415	Africa- Research.org	410

Some of the standouts from this $400 – $700 group, I’d say, are AudioGallery.com ($510) for music, voiceovers, sound samples, and effects; WaterUse.com ($580) for water rights, conservation / efficiency, and technology; Wormers.com ($626), which are a medication for pets, horses, etc.; and ShakeDiet.com ($672) for all the liquid diets out there.

Cheque.org ($490) I like as well, given its financial meaning; but it is the British spelling, and Brits tend to prioritize their ccTLD, .UK. If Canada, Australia, and India share that spelling, then having a gTLD makes for a much wider market. SuperKick.com ($700) is a good brand name for those who don’t take themselves too seriously … and for Mortal Kombat arcade characters, who do. Oh, AsWell.com ($520) sold as well. For wellness, it’s another fun pun. 4 and counting …

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
Joohe.com	389	Changing Careers.com	378
XUAU.com	360	JadeMagnet.com	355
WolfStudio.com	350	W5P.com	335
WeBuyFast.com	333	X7Q.com	331
JobsIn RealEstate.com	330	TDomain.com	314
iSawThis.com	311	JobsIn Finance.com	309
Cosic.org	300	Growth Industries.com	300
Mister Teacher.com	300	JobsIn Marketing.com	299
ZUAE.com	295	JobsIn Accounting.com	291
AAKPE.org	289	JobsIn Advertising.com	278
FFInsider.net	275	SnowHotel.com	275

The biggest group of domains to sell last week centered around jobs. CFOJobs.com was the highest sale (see above). ChangingCareers.com ($378) is another strong, straightforward domain. Alongside those, at least 8 additional “Jobs in [Field]” domains sold between $159 and $330: Real Estate, Finance, Marketing, Accounting, Advertising, Retail, HR, and Insurance. JobList.net also fetched $200. That could become quite the job-search network.

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
WROB.com	267	ClusterOne.com	260
MarketCreative.com	259	JobsInRetail.com	258
Campaigns ToGo.com	255	BoobJobs.org	250
TheBluePlanet.com	250	MassGreen Energy.com	246
Combine.net	245	DonorAction.org	243
AirBest.com	232	Property.mobi	220
Strapping Systems.com	220	BabyName Train.com	220
ReggaeSource.com	219	Future-Fab.com	218
S5Y.com	210	JobsInHR.com	209
YunfoShan.com	205	X7J.com	202
LeadersUp.com	201	Equity Refinancing.com	201

BoobJobs.org ($250) certainly doesn’t belong with the other “job” domains. Obviously it goes with USPlasticSurgeons.com ($69). People have no trouble discerning such differences, but they’re hard to anticipate when writing the algorithms used for choosing PPC ads on parked pages or for auto-appraising domains. Meaning is a slippery toad.

TheBluePlanet.com ($250) is the name of an acclaimed BBC nature documentary narrated by the irreplaceable Sir David Attenborough. If you’re anything like me, then you’d never heard of StrappingSystems.com ($220). Yes, the industry is exactly what it sounds like – straps and equipment for fastening straps. That sale tied with a .MOBI: Property.mobi. Given Rick Schwartz’s sale of Property.com, there’s no faulting the keyword; but it’s apparent that TLDs are not all going to replicate .COM’s success.

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
JobList.net	200	eBYU.com	199
04914.com	195	UNBConnect.com	179
TheSkellig.com	162	QLQE.com	161
BYAE.com	160	UKGJ.com	160
LehaOnline.org	160	OPXQ.com	160
JobsIn Insurance.com	159	OZQY.com	159
EDMGT.com	153	RULQ.com	150
IEWZ.com	150	VDSJ.com	150
SMCHealth Wise.com	145	SueLeBeau.com	143
OWYW.com	141	YOZW.com	140
OKLodge.com	135	NedTech.com	135
ChickenLover.com	133	Relationship Training.com	132
Betting ForProfit.com	131	ZVZF.com	130

eBYU.com ($199) seems to target Brigham Young University, but I suppose it could be an acronym for something else. TheSkellig.com ($162) matches an Irish pub (now closed) in Waltham, Massachusetts. OKLodge.com ($135) isn’t just ok; it’s probably Oklahoma. (Readers outside the USA can’t be expected to know 50 state abbreviations.) Henceforward, I will denounce anybody who disagrees with me as a ChickenLover.com ($133). Watch out!

Domain Name	End $	Domain Name	End $
222AA.com	129	ATrueReview.com	122
NYCReal.com	119	Enderlin Independent.com	111
VWEM.com	105	MountanBikes.com [sic]	100
TradeCFDs.com	90	VosElSoberano.com	90
PennyTour.com	90	UTCFuelCells.com	89
All-Species.org	82	MilitiaOf Montana.com	81
MyHome Heating.com	81	TheLondonArt BookFair.com	81
WebmasterTools Central.com	79	Incorporation Store.com	79
WeberService.com	79	Adeology.com	79
NassauCounty FLA.com	79	Digitonik.com	77
USPlastic Surgeons.com	69	NewAutoInsurance Quotes.com	69
RuinedCast.com	69	ACWANet.com	69

As a .ORG, Vos el Soberano is a protest site within Honduras. Literally, it translates as “You, the Sovereign”. The dissonant effect of plural + singular is lost in English. But I’d translate the sentiment as “We the People”; and you’d get the idea from Lincoln’s “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. VosElSoberano.com ($90) might go to them.

We’re up to 5 puns with Adeology.com ($79), where ideology meets advertising. RuinedCast.com ($69) suggests a failed casting of some bronze sculpture. It’s also the name of both a play by Lynn Nottage that won the 2009 Pullitzer Prize for Drama and a sci-fi animated short. Then again, maybe it can serve as the filmography of Leonardi Di Caprio.