A look back at the past week in expired domain name sales.
SnapNames turned in the top expiry result this week: 489.net ($7.2k). Such 3-digit .NETs are fairly rare in these charts, since only 1000 exist and those few rarely expire. The last time we saw one was 9 months ago, before the Chinese surge in prices; and it’s interesting to note how little the value has changed between these 2 NNN.net sales – quite unlike the steep appreciation in categories like LLLL.net, where 160,000 “CHIPs” exist to be scooped up and hyped. So much for scarcity!
For quite some time, numerical domains have been selling as well at SnapNames as anywhere. Indeed, they sold a pair of 6N .COMs during 1 week last September for $7.5k / $7.3k – a higher price than this NNN.net. These days, I see a handful of 6N .COMs in the $385 – $520 range; but most that sell fall below $200, usually around the $69 minimum bid. Numerics are by no means dead, though. NameJet sold a 5N for $5.9k. Still, it’s a long step downward to the next expired 5N item at $940.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 489.net | 7150 | SN | LaPlagne.com | 7055 | NJ |
| SmokeWeed.com | 6600 | NJ | 13713.com | 5900 | NJ |
| PineHill.com | 5126 | NJ | SIHI.com | 5101 | NJ |
| CurlyHair.com | 4900 | NJ | SoulMan.com | 3100 | NJ |
| BaseCapital.com | 2967 | NJ | NeedWork.com | 2699 | NJ |
| SunProperties.com | 2601 | NJ | Sueno.com | 2526 | NJ |
| CheckNow.com | 2525 | NJ | Migom.com | 2450 | SN |
| DietRecipes.com | 2320 | NJ | ZYTP.com | 2260 | NJ |
| Brasa.com | 2226 | NJ | LYZW.com | 2201 | NJ |
| SodFarm.com | 2200 | NJ | WFRZ.com | 2119 | NJ |
| XHSN.com | 2019 | NJ | QBPL.com | 2010 | NJ |
My favorite domain from the list above would certainly be Sueno.com ($2.5k). Interpreted as “sueño” with an “Ñ”, this is spanish for a “dream” as well as “I dream”. If you can’t think of a way to put dreams to use, then you lack imagination.
La Plagne is a ski area in the French Alps; so LaPlagne.com ($7.1k) will either upgrade or compete with the existing site at La-Plagne.com. Migom.com ($2.5k) is a surname; but Migom is also a Russian-language product catalogue built on .BY, the ccTLD of Belarus. Meanwhile, Brasa.com ($2.2k) is a name used by several restaurants, which isn’t surprising given that it’s the same root as “braise”.
SoulMan.com ($3.1k) owes its appeal to this hit song by Sam & Dave:
Nobody belted more rousing anthems than they did. You’ve heard this one too.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OrangeGrove.com | 1950 | NJ | Upson.com | 1877 | NJ |
| Rossana.com | 1866 | NJ | Perra.com | 1837 | NJ |
| HostingCenter.com | 1810 | NJ | Kadry.com | 1749 | SN |
| Dollz.com | 1655 | NJ | TZHU.com | 1540 | NJ |
| Aktan.com | 1537 | NJ | PlainEnglish.com | 1533 | NJ |
| CarCollection.com | 1475 | NJ | DeepClean.com | 1427 | NJ |
| CloakAndDagger.com | 1400 | NJ | PlasticWrap.com | 1400 | NJ |
| NELN.com | 1311 | NJ | XiaoXiaoDai.com | 1310 | SN |
| RBM.org | 1260 | NJ | Glitches.com | 1230 | NJ |
| 闽.com (xn--oi5a.com) |
1125 | SN | BitVault.com | 1110 | NJ |
| Commenced.com | 1110 | NJ | MaxMon.com | 1103 | NJ |
| Advanced Funding.com |
1100 | NJ | Gabler.com | 1008 | NJ |
Farmers grow dirt itself as well as citrus fruit. In fact, SodFarm.com ($2.2k) outsold OrangeGrove.com ($2.0k). No phrase better suits espionage than CloakAdDagger.com ($1.4k). Possible uses include surveillance, spy museums, mystery novels, or this Marvel comic book. No people are more dedicated to surveillance than the British. Indeed, that’s what MaxMon.com ($1.1k) is likely to be – an upgrade for a company that specializes in monitoring remote property.
Last week, I reported a Chinese IDN sale – only the 2nd ever to have made it into these charts in nearly 2 years. And I suggested that we might see Chinese IDNs selling with greater frequency. Well, 1 week later we have 3 more! Let’s see if this trend continues.
The highest-priced of these is 1 solitary character: 闽.com ($1.1k), an abbreviation for Fujian province. Next up, 金牛座.com ($394) is “Jīn niú zuò”, the zodiac sign “Taurus”. As if anybody in China cared about auspicious omens like the numeral “8” or horoscopes! Finally, 飞镖.com / “fēi biāo” ($250) is the world’s favorite pub game, darts. You’ll notice that each of these defines a monetizable category. They’re not fanciful brandables.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFFM.com | 999 | NJ | JESP.com | 970 | NJ |
| NPTN.org | 950 | NJ | TQL.org | 949 | NJ |
| 45530.com | 940 | NJ | OrientTravel.com | 940 | NJ |
| ZanPiao.com | 924 | SN | FJQ.org | 920 | NJ |
| Conas.com | 911 | NJ | EarthMatters.com | 910 | NJ |
| GreekGod.com | 902 | NJ | SecureGlass.com | 900 | NJ |
| CapitalSecurity.com | 898 | NJ | Thinking Couch.com |
885 | NJ |
| Liters.com | 864 | NJ | Temple Inland.com |
861 | NJ |
| 857755.com | 855 | NJ | Rutorg.com | 851 | SN |
| XiaoMuJi.com | 825 | SN | IQOptions.com | 819 | SN |
| SABL.com | 801 | NJ | BTDI.com | 787 | NJ |
| Security Research.com |
786 | SN | FreeBoxes.com | 779 | NJ |
OrientTravel.com is a great brand name for an Asian tour company and, at $940, a real steal. XiaoMuJi.com ($825) may be a Chinese personal name. One guy even named his aluminum boat “Xiao Mu Ji”, although I highly doubt he’d present that boat with this domain as a love token.
Averse to reading? Not to worry! There are still IQOptions.com ($819) left for the laziest among us. Simply buy a ThinkingCouch.com ($885). Then lie back, smile, and stare at the ceiling until all the universe’s inmost truths reveal themselves. Or if that’s not the style of thinking you’re hankering after, then grab that romance novel and feel free to fantasize about your sultry LatinLover.com ($580), Carlos, as he carries you up a very long flight of stairs.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CollegeEdge.com | 765 | NJ | ChosenOne.com | 761 | NJ |
| 58946.com | 730 | NJ | P3I.com | 722 | NJ |
| ImageCapture.com | 717 | NJ | UnitedEarth.com | 711 | NJ |
| 87945.com | 700 | SN | EFZ.org | 690 | NJ |
| Colani.com | 660 | NJ | MilkShop.com | 660 | NJ |
| GPIT.com | 657 | NJ | GreenWin.com | 635 | NJ |
| Mozong.com | 627 | SN | HackerCity.com | 620 | NJ |
| SecondSite.com | 612 | NJ | EliteAviation.com | 611 | NJ |
| Combinatorics.com | 610 | NJ | Spario.com | 598 | NJ |
| CorporateNet.com | 590 | NJ | Private Airplane.com |
583 | SN |
| LatinLover.com | 580 | NJ | ZLU.org | 579 | NJ |
| DeepLight.com | 570 | NJ | Maynardije.org | 570 | NJ |
| 686161.com | 560 | SN | ZZVZ.com | 553 | NJ |
| UltraTickets.com | 551 | NJ | ProVending.com | 551 | NJ |
In this next U.S. presidential election, many Republicans would rather they ChoseNone.com ($761) than choose the ChosenOne.com, Donald Trump. Raise your hand if you guessed (as I did) that Maynardije.org ($570) was Dutch or Polish or Ukrainian. Not so. MaydardIJE.com must be the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, already found at MIJE.org. Apparently, Mozong.com ($627) is a surname as well as an area within the city of Lahore (Pakistan).
PrivateAirplane.com ($583) seems quite undervalued at $583. Which would you rather sell – private jets or a warehouse full of 686161s? EliteAviation.com ($611) is yet another flight-themed name. Sometimes clusters like these indicate that 1 owner registered multiple domains long ago at the same time and has let them all slip simultaneously. But I haven’t checked to see if that’s the case with these 2.
A couple of positive-sounding “earth” domains went to auction at roughly the same time and sold in roughly the same range: EarthMatters.com ($910) and UnitedEarth.com ($711). Rounding out a trio, there’s also GreenWin.com ($635).
Among brandables, CollegeEdge.com ($765) stands out because of its repeating “J” sound. College applicants are looking for an edge – some advantage that sets them apart. Once they get in, of course, most students will take that edge off with beer-drenched frat / sorority parties in lieu of studying.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mecanicos.com | 543 | NJ | QVB.org | 540 | NJ |
| Ittehad.com | 531 | NJ | 854111.com | 520 | NJ |
| EQD.org | 520 | NJ | ArtsCouncil.com | 514 | SN |
| Renovated Homes.com |
511 | SN | Content- Wire.com |
510 | NJ |
| Josefs.com | 498 | NJ | 883982.com | 491 | SN |
| JS1238.com | 489 | SN | Selphie.com | 488 | SN |
| NVCoins.com | 479 | SN | JBOP.com | 470 | NJ |
| Liberty-Ship.com | 470 | NJ | QBGardens.org | 461 | NJ |
| SECDE.com | 461 | NJ | FAPD.com | 460 | NJ |
| Advertising Marketing.com |
460 | NJ | Building Demolition.com |
460 | NJ |
| Asthmatics.com | 458 | NJ | TKBA.com | 455 | SN |
| KKZ.biz | 451 | SN | 881939.com | 450 | NJ |
Mecanicos.com ($543) are Spanish-speaking “mechanics” or any plural set of “mechanical” items. Meanwhile, Ittehad.com ($531) is a transliteration of the Arabic اتحاد, meaning “union” or “federation”. This is a very common word, found not only in the names of nation states like the former Soviet Union but also in scads of official-sounding titles for organizations. Pick up any newspaper, and you’ll find the اتحاد of something or other.
In much the same way, practically every state, county, and large city in the USA has its own ArtsCouncil.com ($514). Even a small area like Atlantic Highlands (population 4385) has one. Which is a good thing.
Josefs.com ($498) isn’t this Joseph’s Selphie.com ($488), thank you very much. Spelling truly is the Enemy of the People. I pity any English learner who runs across words like “asthma” and Asthmatics.com ($458) only to be told that the “TH” is silent.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BDMLaw.com | 445 | NJ | ChongChun.com | 435 | SN |
| Rainbow Bookstore.org |
435 | NJ | uTubes.com | 431 | SN |
| 885378.com | 430 | SN | SugarX.net | 427 | SN |
| KJN.biz | 425 | SN | SWZ.biz | 425 | SN |
| KYZ.biz | 425 | SN | BossArea.com | 425 | SN |
| Gleanings.com | 425 | SN | TeenVoices.com | 420 | NJ |
| Naturels.com | 413 | SN | AntiqueGolf.com | 411 | NJ |
| Elgra.com | 411 | SN | WorldBirder.com | 410 | NJ |
| BoatCanvas.com | 409 | NJ | 991163.com | 403 | NJ |
| PBLegal.com | 400 | NJ | EuroTreaties.com | 400 | NJ |
| HSEBooks.com | 395 | SN | 金牛座.com (xn--xxtn25bl4w.com) |
394 | SN |
| 798987.com | 385 | SN | SchoolOfFashion.com | 384 | SN |
| Cricket Australia.com |
380 | SN | Bhubaneshwar.com | 377 | NJ |
| Bladders.com | 375 | NJ | XXBB.net | 370 | NJ |
Naturels.com ($413) means “natural” in French. Yet translation doesn’t work in 1-to-1 correspondence. Actually, “naturels” is 1/4 of our English word “natural”, since it’s the masculine plural – as opposed to the masculine singular, feminine singular, or feminine plural. The same issue affects Mecanicos.com (see above). American domain investors tend to underestimate linguistic factors like these.
WorldBirder.com ($410) is 1 of 2 bird-watching domains to have sold last week, the other being a far less global address: DelawareBirdingTrail.org ($260). Wonder what uTubes.com ($431) applies to … Google’s lawyers are no match for this winning bidder, surely.
No, the Bhubanesh War isn’t a chapter of military history you somehow skipped. Worse! Not having run across this name before is far more deeply embarrassing for me than that. For Bhubaneshwar.com ($377) is the capital city of Odisha in India. More human beings live in that 1 city than there are people in Greece, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Cuba, Switzerland, or Israel. Yet we’ve all heard of those places, right? As for Odisha, that single state is larger than Canada, Poland, or Iraq – nearly as big as Spain, Kenya, or South Korea! Buying a .COM city name at a rate of 30 residents per penny? You could do worse.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master Printers.com |
365 | NJ | BestMind.com | 360 | SN |
| ChengXiang Tong.com |
359 | SN | MXRV.com | 358 | NJ |
| Villa Management.com |
355 | SN | Minecraft- Skins.com |
354 | SN |
| LVZang.com | 350 | SN | 3695888.com | 345 | NJ |
| IHRQ.com | 342 | NJ | RZZX.net | 341 | NJ |
| Biolex.com | 337 | NJ | 111305.com | 336 | SN |
| 5156.biz | 335 | SN | LeFoto.com | 335 | SN |
| E-SOL.com | 331 | SN | DKJE.com | 330 | NJ |
| PeaceCom.com | 329 | NJ | SpermRiver.com | 328 | SN |
| WebSalon.com | 326 | SN | Quenta.com | 326 | NJ |
| DDJJJ.com | 325 | SN | QHR.biz | 320 | NJ |
| 7797.info | 319 | NJ | DZE.org | 319 | NJ |
| 815581.com | 314 | SN | 820188.com | 310 | NJ |
| Zen-Yuu.net | 310 | NJ | Ideup.com | 309 | NJ |
| Mayford.com | 308 | NJ | 223669.com | 305 | SN |
| Weaver Models.com |
301 | SN | Libay.com | 299 | NJ |
One body of water I recommend nobody go skinny dipping in is SpermRiver.com ($328). Mayford.com ($308) is a village in Surrey, England, with 1776 residents. The per-person cost of this place name is therefore 17.4 cents – 522 times the normalized price of Bhubaneshwar.com.
Ideup.com ($309) must be what you say to your Id’s primal animalistic urges when you’re ready to cut loose at a gallop. Ideup! Pharmaceutical company Biolex ($337) was founded in 1997, raised $190 million from investors, and went bankrupt in 2012. In between, they did important work with recombinant DNA.
| Domain | End $ | At | Domain | End $ | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WorldYoung Models.com |
298 | SN | 177991.com | 279 | SN |
| UggAustrailia.com | 279 | SN | NGX.biz | 279 | SN |
| Sol-Linux.com | 276 | SN | XZQD.net | 276 | SN |
| 88VA.com | 275 | SN | Kitchen ShowRoom.com |
275 | NJ |
| Rebounded.com | 272 | NJ | VIGuide.com | 270 | NJ |
| CAFireAlliance.org | 266 | NJ | ZKJJ.net | 264 | SN |
| Ladad.com | 262 | NJ | NJFilm.org | 260 | NJ |
| GDFD.net | 260 | SN | Delaware BirdingTrail.org |
260 | NJ |
| NGONet.org | 260 | NJ | FunAuto.com | 258 | NJ |
| YLXX.net | 256 | SN | XYHT.net | 256 | SN |
| TinyMedia.com | 255 | SN | SWFJ.net | 252 | SN |
| SideBarNation.com | 252 | SN | YDRK.net | 251 | SN |
| PQNP.net | 251 | SN | CZJZ.net | 251 | SN |
| JMWS.net | 251 | SN | QSYL.net | 251 | SN |
| FWSH.net | 251 | SN | CYWF.net | 251 | SN |
| JJWT.net | 251 | SN | JKJP.net | 251 | SN |
| TDRF.net | 250 | SN | HNTJ.net | 250 | SN |
| 飞镖.com (xn--wd5an3e.com) |
250 | SN | ZJY.biz | 250 | SN |
| XDQR.net | 250 | SN | FDTW.net | 250 | SN |
Setting aside the outlier XXBB.net ($370), this past week, LLLL.net “CHIPs” ranged $210 – $276. Most now fall beneath my $250 reporting threshold. Just 1 week before, this category had been $232 – $300. And a week prior to that, the lowest .NET “CHIP” sale I had to report was $258. That’s a decline of about $25 per week for 2 weeks straight. During the first week of 2016, they were mainly clustered $242-$295. Compare that to the week before Christmas, in which .NET “CHIPs” dominated these charts, solidly filling in the full $250 – $344 range. Looks like this category is down $40 – $75 since last month and trading in lower volume. Maybe in a few weeks, CHIPs will have Rebounded.com ($272). Maybe not.
Joseph-thanks for this list. As we were looking for some pinyin Chinese names we came across a name you had reg’d. We ended up buying -among others- ZudeChe.com and were wondering will you be writing about these names in the future and are you actively looking? We are. Thank you!
Hi, John. For various reasons, I tend not to discuss my own domain investments very much. The goal is to address broad topics and avoid salesmanship. But it’s true that I’m interested in Chinese Pinyin domains. So I expect to buy more of them and write more about them.
Pinyin is actual language. So it’s idiosyncratic, full of unpredictable meanings, booby-trapped wit issues, and prone to widely varying values. Whereas other Chinese categories abide by a dull consistency day to day, in Pinyin there’s an element of surprise and discovery that interests me and (I’ll wager) plenty of other people inside and outside China.
Meaning, not money, is what attracted me to the domain industry. So I buy domains primarily with an eye toward meaning – whether descriptive or brandable. That’s not to say that other types of domains (like numerics an CHIPs) lack market value; their shifting prices get discussed here at DNW weekly. Nevertheless, I decided years ago to limit my focus – specifically, to study the interaction of language and value within the domain name space.
So, yeah, I’ve experimented with about 3 dozen languages in various TLDs – both unicode and IDN. Some combinations I’ve tested more thoroughly, some less adequately. Certain areas are overrepresented in my portfolio, partly due to the languages I speak, while other areas are underrepresented. Those domain types that work for me (either as investments or brands worth advocating for), I pursue. Those that look like duds, I drop. For instance, I let go a large portfolio of Chinese IDNs once. Pinyin is still an experiment for me.
Thanks Joseph for the reply and you are so very right about some of the pitfalls and obviously potential of pinyin. We’ll lorward to your future writings on the subject.
the LLLL.net needed to come down. Anything above 5% of the dot com was too high IMO. Either dot com was going up or dot net was going down. Nice list
Shane, that’s another reason I don’t subscribe to the notion that chunks of domain types all fall under the same pricing trend.
Example: Sold many LLLL .net domains individually, for as much as 800% of their matching LLLL .com’s current valuation.
How is this possible: The method of valuation for the non “Chinese premium” LLLL .com domains is grossly inaccurate and was created in order to give artificial weight to the letters our Hong Kong fund managers decided to game the system with.
Retraction:
I no longer feel bad never having heard of the city of Bhubaneshwar. Turns out it’s far smaller than I said – only as big as San Francisco or Indianapolis.
Too much ground to cover & going too fast. This is what I saw at Wikipedia:
“Population
• City 11,25,456
• Rank 57
• Density 2,131.37/km2 (5,520.2/sq mi)
• Metro 881,988”
So I was going off the 11.25 million. Whatever that larger figure represents, 882k seems to be the truth of the matter.
Knowing the size of India and having lived in Cairo (whose greater metropolitan population is 20.5 million), the 11.25 million number didn’t seem obviously wrong.
What I said about the state of Odisha checks out, though.
Thanks to the anonymous person who discovered my error and told Andrew Allemann who told me. Now I can tell the rest of you about it. That roundabout route isn’t the most efficient path, though.
Everybody is more than welcome to point out my mistakes publicly in the comments. Some people can’t handle that sort of thing, but I sincerely love discussion. Really truly. When I ran a nuclear power plant, my subordinates and superiors used to point out my blunders every 2 minutes. They had my back. And I miss that.
P.S. Plus, distracting me is a great way to get better deals on auctions – like Prisoners.com, which I meant to snipe and just missed. C’est la vie.
489.net for $7.2k is no surprise here ! the domain has 3 Chinese dislike, (1) the number 4, (2) more important .NET extension is the least favorite to Chinese (3) Snap Names is not the best place for Chinese to buy domains.
Yes, you’re right that “4” is supposed to be unlucky, and that can lower the market value. The only other NNN.net to have appeared in these expired domain charts was 9 months ago. And that domain begins with “0”, likewise a feature reputedly disliked by China:
https://domainnamewire.com/2015/04/30/short-domain-names-lead-expired-domain-name-sales/
Not sure about your third point, though. Do numerical domains fare worse at SnapNames than elsewhere? I doubt there’s much difference, since the price ranges in these Chinese subcategories tend to be very narrow and predictable. Plenty of people are looking for them at SnapNames. In fact, SnapNames has often set weekly records in this sector, over and above to NameJet. (See the 2nd paragraph of the article for 2 examples.)
In any case, if the price were lower than normal, then that would make SnapNames ideal for buyers – the reverse of what you’re saying.
Try to compare the numerical .com domain to the .NET domains NNNN.com to nnnn.net. that sold recently
9727.com $35,000, 9208.com 32,500, 3141.com $32000
Now see the NNNN.NET which sold 3 weeks ago at 4.cn.
6553.net $1,703
3696.net $1,703
9151.net $1,703
3292.net $1,672
9319.net $1,641
7285.net $1,641
7637.net $1,611
7632.net $1,611
7953.net $1,581
7621.net $1,581
9127.net $1,505
Chinese buyer do not go to Snap Names they come to you if you own short Domain Name and you better know your domain value if you do not you lose big money.
@mansour,
Sorry, you’re partially wrong.
Before claiming that Chinese buyers don’t go to SnapNames, you might want to check Whois for the domain we’re discussing.
489.net WAS purchased at SnapNames by a Chinese buyer.
@Joseph
The purpose of this discussion is not to promote or dis one company or another but to state facts which would help the readers of this blog to understand the subject matter better. If you own a Picasso or a Renoir, your first choice to get the best price is to give it to either the Christies or Sotheby’s auction house. If it is a lithograph you can give it to anybody even your neighborhood gallery; they would all do a good job. Now if you look at the table below, according to the website DNJournal.com, you will see that 3 number domain names in 2015 have been sold at a high of $1,000,000 and a low of $110.The highest one was sold by 4.cn. The lowest was sold at Domain Holdings, and SnapNames is in the middle. From my experience and from what I have noticed, the best price is obtained if you negotiate your own deal, and believe me the Chinese are the hardest people on Earth to negotiate with, and you have to have the skills to negotiate. If they want your domain name, they will send you an email followed by another email. If you give them a high price, they will email you from a new email address with a lower offer to give you the impression that your domain name is not worth the price that you have received in the past. All of those emails are generated by the same person. You have to be patient and knowledgeable and always counter the offer even if it is good with double what you have been offered until you get the best price. In my opinion, any NNN.com, regardless of the competition should sell at a MINIMUM of $500K; NNNN.com – $20K; and 3 Character – $4K.
Good Luck.
3.
tie 588.com $1,000,000 4.cn 9/23/15
5. 399.com $821,818.88 Schwartz 1/3/16
6. 989.com $818,181.81 Guta 10/28/15
8. 345.com $800,000 MostWantedDomains 1/7/15
15. 358.com $480,000 SnapNames 9/9/15
28. 701.com $205,001 NameJet 12/9/15
41.
tie 419.com $150,000 eNaming 9/23/15
49. 742.com $142,000 NameJet 11/4/15
50.
tie 458.com $140,000 eNaming 7/15/15
71. 144.com $110,000 DomainHoldings 2/4/15
@mansour,
No, this discussion is not about where to sell your domains to get the best price. It’s about expired domains with no sellers / owners involved.