Another record-buster at NameJet

November was a great month for NameJet.

During 2015, NameJet surpassed itself several times. July had a record-setting 6-figure sale, but then September broke that record within weeks. And in many ways, October was the auction platform’s strongest month ever. That is, until November. November set 2 new records.

Each month, NameJet reports sales above $2000. (Most fall below that threshold.) In total, these top auctions have beaten the million-dollar mark just 4 times – starting in July, every month but August. That winning streak meant $1.56 million last month, raising the bar quite a bit. November’s top sale ($205k) is “only” NameJet’s third highest ever. Actually, even if we were to set that sale aside, NameJet’s total would stand as a new record – in spite of the fact that the next best month drew more than half its total from a single $695k sale.

Buckle up! The really astonishing figure is the quantity of domain sales. During nearly 4 1/2 years, NameJet’s median number was 84 auctions above $2k. Up until now, 6 months during 2015 saw at least 100 auctions reach that level; but 4 months fell short of 100, even in a strong year. NameJet’s previous record was 148 auctions back in January. And November? November racked up 233, leapfrogging the previous record by 57%.

China is the explanation, of course. But let’s examine which categories contributed and to what degree.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
ZCN.com	78,077	LJR.com	71,509
RSC.com	66,000	JFS.com	60,500
NTQ.com	44,600	EJB.com	41,900
IPJ.com	31,600	EIQ.com	24,600
GXV.com	23,000

9 LLL.com domains accounted for $441.8k. In other words, 3.9% of the domains generated 28.3% of the revenue. The mean price was $49.1k. But, as you can see, domains with vowels or “V” constitute the bottom half. Meanwhile a domain containing the abbreviation for China, “CN”, floated to the top. Indeed, it was the month’s 2nd-biggest auction.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
EPOS.com	30,100	BBOO.com	18,400
BAZA.com	14,100	JAMI.com	10,300
EEDD.com	8300	GUMO.com	7260
SBRH.com	5000	VODY.com	4400
FFFE.com	4350	PAHO.com	4300
ECDN.com	4235	SKKW.com	3809
ETTT.com	3777	XGZX.com	3509
SDWJ.com	3300	XYDX.com	3300
GZZT.com	3180	RKQQ.com	3134
CJQB.com	3125	RFDC.com	3121
BZNY.com	3109	BKBF.com	3010
MRHD.com	3001	FYJM.com	3000
NTHG.com	3000	SALY.com	3000
WIDY.com	3000	SBRR.com	2950
RNMY.com	2908	SMCY.com	2908
CMNY.com	2900	LBTN.com	2900
LYLL.com	2900	NXLN.com	2900
PPFR.com	2870	MLNY.com	2835
HGPC.com	2800	HHGH.com	2800
OOOD.com	2800	KHWN.com	2799
DPST.com	2788	FBWZ.com	2770
GNHB.com	2710	SCQN.com	2708
GLGH.com	2705	DROR.com	2700
GOZE.com	2700	SMFK.com	2700
CLBN.com	2675	KGNM.com	2654
TLLD.com	2609	NOYU.com	2600
NSJR.com	2600	RTWB.com	2600
SLSJ.com	2520	TYDZ.com	2451
NCLC.com	2412	GBLH.com	2409
PFTT.com	2350	RGXF.com	2320
RFNP.com	2300	SGKF.com	2300
KHRN.com	2299	WHPN.com	2299
CTGR.com	2263	PGRR.com	2263
XTQY.com	2209	PYSM.com	2205
TFYM.com	2200	THRR.com	2200
SKHW.com	2199	BNLN.com	2176
PRTW.com	2169	RNPP.com	2165
CHLP.com	2147	ZNTQ.com	2120
CPPM.com	2119	DSFY.com	2111
PJSL.com	2110	VGGV.com	2100
PCTS.com	2021	GLDR.com	2020
HTRN.com	2001	IRAB.com	2000
PFFN.com	2000

Up next are 85 LLLL.com domains, which brought in $305.4k. So even though there were nearly 10 times as many 4-letter as 3-letter .COMs last month, they produced only 69.1% as much revenue as a group. Since the bottom third of these fall between $2.0k and $2.4k, it’s clear that many more LLLL.com’s sold beneath this $2k threshold.

It’s worth dwelling on the fact that over a third (36.5%) of November sales were 4-letter .COMs. Remember, NameJet’s median number of reported auctions during 54 months is just 84, meaning that – for half of its history – NameJet has sold fewer domains (of any category) than it sold from 1 category alone during November.

During these past few months, we’ve all heard the mounting crescendo of domainers’ obsession with CHIPs. Most who use the term (which is an abbreviation of “Chinese premium”) are referring to 4-letter domains that are vowel-less and “V”-less. Personally, I’d question whether China observes that thumb rule as religiously as Western domainers imagine. For instance, OOOD.com ($2.8k) is almost all vowel yet sold to China because of its repeating sequence.

19 of the 85 LLLL.com domains above (22.4%) would not be considered CHIPs, according to the usual definition. As a matter of fact, out of the top 14 items, only 3 of them are CHIPs; and those rank #7, #12, #14. Indeed, 5 of the top 10 follow the CVCV pattern long favored by Western buyers, while the very top sale is a VCVC. At $30.1k, EPOS.com really shouldn’t be lumped with most of these at all. That’s because it’s a “brandable” rather than an acronym. In fact, it matches the brand name of several established companies.

Although 36.5% by quantity, this LLLL.com category measures only 19.6% by weight. Counting just the vowel-less, “V”-less CHIPs, the total would be far less – just $175.0k. That means 42.7% of the value in these LLLL.com domains came from the 22.4% that were not CHIPs.

Yet CHIPs are the primary reason NameJet set a record during November. Even with 160,000 of them floating around out there, very few were trading above $2k until the past few months. Average prices finally climbed high enough that a fair number of CHIPs began crossing the $2k reporting threshold. Anything trading in the $1,xxx range had been invisible, as far as these monthly reports were concerned. Mainly that’s what caused this sudden jump in sales figures. The ice berg was there months earlier … but submerged.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
701.com	205,001	9472.com	19,500
259999.com	15,100	438888.com	6000
87478.com	5200	98569.com	5079
76757.com	5020	888867.com	4700
33832.com	4000	221666.com	3520
34818.com	3220	871871.com	3100
HG358.com	3016	70686.com	2600
29428.com	2500	372333.com	2431
568999.com	2401	84242.com	2300
166555.com	2210	989000.com	2100
5886888.com	2012	27714.com	2000
988958.com	2000

$343.7k came from 35 numerical domains. They represent 15.0% of November auctions but constitute 22.0% of revenue. Only 22 were .COM, and those generated $305.0k. But that figure includes the month’s largest sale – a 3-digit domain that sold for $205k. Deducting that single outlier, the remaining numerics (across all TLDs) brought in only 8.9% of revenue. .COM numerics supplied $100k of that $138.7k; so their contribution comes out to 72.1%.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
2016.net	10,100	8986.net	4100
7985.net	3100	987.org	3060
HG365.net	3009	2829.net	2800
2933.net	2750	8185.net	2453
6717.net	2420	2925.net	2400
8211.net	2302	2017.org	2117
2812.net	2077	5186.cc	2010

Setting aside the large $205k sale, 27.9% of revenue from numerics derives from 13 “Not-COM” domains above. As you can see, .NET accounts for the majority – everything save 2 .ORGs and a .CC.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
HQ8.com	5425	PB8.com	5250
RK8.com	4500	54M.com	2600
8TM.com	2600

When referring to numerical domains so far, I’ve counted only pure numeral strings – i.e. no letters. But another 7 domains were a mixture of characters. That includes the 5 CCC domains above, as well as 2 numeral strings with an “HG” prefix – 1 .COM and 1 .NET. To me the numeral portions are indistinguishable – “358” as opposed to “365”. Yet, notwithstanding the difference in TLD, both those “HG” items sold for $3.0k. Odd.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
RE.net	49,000	VO.net	17,100
FTB.net	6128	YGD.net	4230
FQS.net	4120	XNJ.net	3909
PQF.net	3900	NPY.net	3720
BDN.net	3701	PFQ.net	3655
SGP.net	3478	MQB.net	3400
QDT.net	3400	QHH.net	3220
YND.net	3086	BFY.net	3020
QFB.net	3020	RZN.net	3020
GQB.net	3019	DMH.net	3000
FQF.net	3000	NQP.net	2992
QTD.net	2909	DQF.net	2900
PXC.net	2900	JON.net	2870
SAS.net	2822	TQF.net	2700
AMA.net	2600	ZKN.net	2521
BQZ.net	2519	RMY.net	2501
RLG.net	2322	YAYA.net	2001
NAT.net	2000

18.0% of these November sales were 3-letter domains – 42 in all. We already saw the 9 .COMs, and there is a LLL.org below. But the lion’s share went to .NET, which posted 32 LLLs for a total of $105.2k. That doesn’t count the pair of LL.net domains above nor a couple of LLLL items. Half again as much was spent on RE.net: $49.0k. In English, “RE” might function as an abbreviation for “real estate”; but the buyer is Chinese.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
YT.org	9999	WE.biz	4900
NCJRS.org	3601	STI.org	2600

Let’s talk TLD distribution. During November, 75.5% of domains selling above $2k at NameJet were .COM; and those accounted for 84.1% of revenue. October was identical (74.8% / 83.9%).

Sound like .COM dominance? Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. You see, the past 2 months are a deviation from normalcy. More representative of what I normally see at NameJet would be September, which was 93.1% .COM by count and 97.7% .COM by spending. Revenue at NameJet is normally .COM-heavy to the tune of 95 ± 3%. Indeed, from September 2014 through September 2015, only 1 month ever dipped below 91.7% – and that low ebb was 89.1%. Since then, we’ve had 2 consecutive months that break the pattern.

What displaced .COM? Why, the next biggest gTLD, of course, the world’s favorite “Not-COM”, .NET. All in all, 48 .NET auctions earned $212.8k. That means a mean price of $4.4k. While .NET accounted for 20.6% of auctions and 13.6% of spending, .ORG clocked in at 3.0% / 1.8% with 7 domains; and all other TLDs contributed just 2 domains out of 233 – WE.biz and a 4-digit .CC.

If you weren’t .COM but you made it into these charts last month, then there’s an 84.2% chance you were .NET, a 12.3% chance you were .ORG, and a 3.5% chance you might be something (anything) else. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
YiBing.com	5400	KeXueJia.com	3100
JiaPinHui.com	2420	KangYing.com	2400

Before bidding farewell to China within this article, I should point out the 4 Pinyin domains above. While speculators have driven up the price of short numeric and literal strings, those aren’t the only domains Chinese buyers care about. Actual language, words, names – such things matter in China also. However, valuing such domains requires patience, research, knowledge, and taste; so they’ll never be bought and sold with the same velocity as numerics and CHIPs, which are interchangeable, numerous, even capable of being produced ad infinitum out of thin air – simply by extending the length or mining more and more TLDs.

Can we estimate how important China was to NameJet’s November sales? If we add up everything in this article discussed so far, then 179 domains – all but 54 – belong to categories favored by China. That’s 76.8% by quantity. Furthermore, those auctions totaled $1.32 million in their own right, leaving just $239.7k in sales from among every category that remains. Directly or indirectly, China may be behind as much as 84.7% of the dollars!

That’s an overestimate. After all, as I mentioned, EPOS.com ($30.1k) is a brand match for Western companies; and many of the non-CHIP LLLLs – especially CVCVs – might be considered Western brandables. Including EPOS.com, these might add as much as $130.4k to the Western side of the balance. We can identify a few others: JON.net (an English first name), STI.org (“sexually transmitted infection”), NCJRS.org (which matches a .GOV site), etc. With those, we scrape together another $9.1k. That brings the Western total up to $379.2k. In that case, China would be only 67.4% of auctions and 75.7% of sales.

Most likely, the truth falls somewhere in between. Many domains you might surmise to be Western – like WE.biz, RE.net, or MrHD.com (which is the name of an electronics store) – had Chinese buyers. In summary, I’d attribute to China 67.4 – 76.8% of auctions and 75.7% – 84.7% of revenue. Clearly, NameJet and the Chinese domain market are closely coupled; so if the latter experiences a market downturn, NameJet sales will suffer too.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
HORA.com	36,999	CounterIntelligence.com	5600
Flowing.com	5200	Postings.com	4300
Cassiopeia.com	3778	Espectaculo.com	2700
Napping.com	2085	Onigiri.com	2057

The 8 domains above are all dictionary words. Two are Spanish; one is Japanese … and edible. It’s tempting to think that words for the “same thing” in different languages will map onto one another in an exact 1-to-1 correspondence. But, of course, that is seldom – I’d say never – true. As an example, take Espectaculo.com, which I discussed last week.

HORA.com might be translated as “hour”, but that’s not the whole story. In English we’d ask, “What time is it?”; but in Spanish the question becomes “¿Que hora es?” So “hora” means not just “hour” but “time”. That’s true even though Spanish uses separate words for time in such phrases as “time travel” (“tiempo”) and “first time” (“vez”). I mention this because someone paid a large wholesale price – $37.0k – based on the overlapping meaning of “hour” and “time”. For a calendar or scheduling app in Spanish, HORA.com is perfect.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
Wheelz.com	7061	Bellas.com	5655
Acteva.com	3850	Mimen.com	3500
Philibert.com	3076	Viney.com	3069
Tosha.com	2900	Impressum.com	2405
Chalv.com	2319	Marcona.com	2155
iStuff.com	2101	Geosphere.com	2026>

None of the 12 domains above (as far as I’m aware) would be found in a dictionary. Some of them are single-term brandables, while a few – like Philibert.com – are personal names. Several match the brand names of 1 or more established websites. Or, in the case of Acteva.com, an infamous company, now defunct.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
JohnDoe.com	14,600	CourtReporter.com	9100
VoipPhone.com	7500	SmartVR.com	7000
MuddyWaters.com	6100	KidsClinic.com	5600
ForexRate.com	4735	StoneGroup.com	4577
DataCorp.com	4122	InsuranceHealth.com	3800
FirstMedical.com	3600	CareerPark.com	3200
PlanoHomes.com	3050	HomeCinemas.com	3018
LawExpert.com	2901	SnowMaster.com	2877
WildPlanet.com	2600	PicGroup.com	2560
RedHen.com	2555	MyPerspective.com	2500
XmasGift.com	2500	HybridAutos.com	2215
MedicalEDU.com	2106	FashionPoint.com	2010
GamesGeni.com	2000	SocialGiving.com	2000

NameJet sold 26 domains consisting of 2 words. Many of these I’ve discussed already – a legendary blues musician, a brand of snow blowers, a B-52’s album (probably not), etc. InsuranceHealth.com was previously reported in an auction that finished at $29.9k. But, for whatever reason, that winning bid didn’t result in a sale; so the domain scored only $3.8k.

Readers whose native language isn’t English might suppose that JohnDoe.com ($14.6k) is the name of a real person. Actually, it’s a place-holder name given to any male who hasn’t been positively identified. Watch a few episodes of “Law & Order”, and you’ll meet John Doe again and again.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
FreeHomePage.com	5350	WalnutCreek RealEstate.com	5125
UnderTheSun.com	3750	Tarry TownHomes.com	2500

NameJet also sold a quartet of domains consisting of 3-4 words.

Domain	End $	Domain	End $
ColoradoSprings.org	4050	Outsourcing.org	2605
Asteroid.net	2600	MUSE.net	2010

Finally, here are some Not-COMs that definitely didn’t go to China.