Not Quite What You’re Thinking: Tesila.com (Expired Domain Report)

Here are expired domain names that sold within the past week.

Here’s something you’re going to see more and more as brands contend with the vagaries of foreign pronunciation and transliteration: Tesila.com ($14.0k). As you must have guessed, that price was based on an electric car company. But it’s not a typo.

In Romania, there is a town called Teșila – evidently too small to appear in the list of cities with 2000+ residents. Small size notwithstanding, you can book a luxury ski hotel there. Plenty of ski resorts own their name in .COM. And it’s not inconceivable that Tesila.com might have been purchased for this reason, as LaPlagne.com was just 2 weeks ago.

For all I know, this town’s name may share a common origin with Nikola Tesla, the Serb-born inventor and eponym of Tesla Motors. After all, borders in the Balkans jump about like grasshoppers. Even today Serbian is spoken in parts of Romania. Tesla’s birth place has belonged to multiple nation states since it produced that genius. So Tesila may simply be a European variant of “Tesla”.

Ha! That’s all a red herring, a dead end; and I’ve misled you unconscionably. In fact, TeSiLa.com is Chinese. Well, sort of. First we had Nikola Tesla’s name in the Cyrillic alphabet, “Тесла”. Then it passed through our Latin alphabet as “Tesla” (when he emigrated to the USA in 1884). Then it went into Chinese ideograms as “特斯拉” (after the man became world famous). Finally, it bounced back to the internet’s default Latin alphabet, slightly distorted as the Pinyin “Tè Sī Lā” (once domain names for electric car companies found big market value in China).

Yep. “Te Si La” is Chinese, and it means simply “Tesla”. Lawyers for Tesla Motors will have a hard time proving their company was targeted by this purchase. After all, TeSiLa.com denotes “Tesla” in every sense – the man himself, the electric car, even the unit for magnetic flux density: 1 Tesla = 1 Weber / Meter^2 =1 Kilogram / ( Amp * Second^2). Such meanings predate electric car companies; for “Tesla” went to China along with AC electricity long ago. Actually, while Tesla Motors doesn’t yet own Tesla.com, the company has a history of buying domains for brand protection. If they plan on selling many cars in China, they’d be wise to acquire TeSiLa.com.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
Tesila.com	14,000	SN	OldPirateBay.org	4544	SN
PotLocker.com	4444	SN	MegaBits.com	3450	SN
TedTalk.com	3433	SN	AAndD.com	3120	SN
Vandelay.com	3099	NJ	EverCode.com	2815	NJ
NewState.com	2609	SN	DDST.com	2600	NJ
Toptanci.com	2600	NJ	GreenStream.com	2300	NJ
QFWM.com	2240	SN	Maxwells.com	2205	NJ
GSBT.com	2107	NJ	RMRP.com	2047	NJ

Speaking of automotive companies, AAndD.com ($3.1k) is a potential upgrade for AandDTech.com, which develops tests and simulators for vehicle power trains – including electric cars. “A + D” is also a skin ointment for diaper rash.

While I’d love to believe that Maxwells.com ($2.2k) is an homage to another giant of electromagnetism, James Clerk Maxwell, that fellow didn’t provide the name for anything as trendy as a Tesla car – just the backbone of modern technology, Maxwell’s equations, without which nothing from electrical power to the internet would exist. Time for my inner electrical engineer to shut up, huh. In the real world, Maxwells.com will probably upgrade 1 of half a dozen bars, bakeries, or restaurants with websites like MaxwellsECE.com, MaxwellsNYC.com, Maxwells-Market.com, MaxwellsNJ.com, etc.

If Vandelay.com sounds familiar, then that’s probably because George Costanza lied to you about “Vandelay Industries” in the show “Seinfeld”. Still, there are a couple of real sites named Vandelay – including a genuine IT company called Vandelay Industries, believe it or not.

PotLocker.com ($4.4k) should upgrade PotLocker.me, which (despite its name and logo) is a site for videos not marijuana. OldPirateBay.org ($4.5k) was a P2P file-sharing site that ran afoul of Swedish courts for copyright infringement. Clearly the site was quite popular, since its clunky 3-word .ORG ranks 2nd out of hundreds of auctions for the week.

Toptanci.com ($2.6k) means “wholesaler” in Turkish. Consequently, the word is found in the names of various drop-shipping websites and suppliers: YeniToptanci.com, ToptanciKapinda.com, ToptanciIletisim.com, etc.

TedTalk.com ($3.4k) is the sort of domain I’d recommend domainers avoid. To me it looks like cyber squatting and a UDRP risk. Not only is the “TED Talks” series a well known brand, popular enough that attempted resale could lead to bad publicity for our industry; the organization already owns TED.com and ranks first in SERPs, giving them little motivation to buy anyway.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
KWHZ.com	1850	SN	Parenthood Web.com	1600	NJ
YEO.net	1515	NJ	LongLashes.com	1515	NJ
ILLS.com	1405	NJ	79022.com	1269	SN
InfoPartners.com	1242	NJ	JiaoMen.com	1210	SN
SHQ.org	1210	NJ	ShuangXuan.com	1200	NJ
Satia.com	1122	NJ	GDStarRating.com	1110	NJ
FTO.org	1100	NJ	PYJ.org	1100	NJ
SalaryCap.com	1010	NJ	ReedLaw.com	1010	NJ
Filem.com	1005	SN	YiQiFu.com	995	SN

JiaoMen.com apparently translates as “corner gate” (角门 / jiǎo mén), though why such a notion would be worth $1.2k wholesale … who knows? Cultural overtones are frequently lost in translation. If you know the meaning of ShuangXuan.com ($1.2k) or YiQiFu.com ($1.0k), do tell!

Just as we ended up with an extra “i” in Tesila.com after “Tesla” bounced back from Chinese, so too we end up with an extra “e” in the Malay word for “film”: Filem.com ($1.0k). Yes, the domain can be regarded as a brandable derived from the word “file”. (Think: “File ’em!”) But it’s important for the owner to know (if he doesn’t already) that the National Film Department of Malaysia is called “Filem Negara“.

LLLL.com “CHIPs” are balanced on that $2k number as if it were the fulcrum of a seesaw. After 1 item with repeating letters at $2.6k, you’ll see a trio at $2.2k, $2.1k, and $2.0k. Then there’s another at $1850. These weekly articles only show expired domains. But among non-expired inventory, at NameJet I count 2 more above $2k and 2 more below, going as low as $1720.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
Gene Sequencing.com	986	NJ	ZGD.org	973	NJ
OyunZamani.com	929	SN	Cartelia.net	910	NJ
LeanBeef.com	910	NJ	Ardesia.com	898	NJ
MetroMax.com	875	SN	VJNano.org	863	NJ
YZT.org	855	NJ	ZNW.org	830	NJ
YQS.org	760	NJ	Ashdale.com	757	SN
NewYork DUILawyer.com	755	NJ	TongSong.com	750	SN
DeLucca.com	735	SN	YBW.org	720	NJ
TheSlant.com	718	NJ	Schoenfelder.com	694	SN
MZQ.org	692	NJ	MQB.org	689	NJ
VDYA.com	688	NJ	FFAT.com	661	NJ
XZR.org	650	NJ	WQT.org	640	NJ
IndianMarket.com	625	NJ	XHM.org	621	NJ
F1Z.com	610	NJ	Lardy.com	606	NJ
GoldenBrick.com	605	SN	ITFox.com	603	SN
XJM.org	600	NJ	IIMMGG.com	599	SN

In case you haven’t noticed by now, the Turkish domain market is exceptionally well developed and recently quite active. OyunZamani.com ($929) is Turkish for “play time”, and it can serve as an upgrade for this children’s game site built on .ORG. Ashdale.com ($757) looks like a city name, but it may be nothing more than fictional place in a video game called RuneScape, which has its own encyclopedia entry – heaven help us!

Ardesia.com ($898) matches a NY restaurant or bar. DeLucca.com ($735) can upgrade the website of either a handbag / jewelry designer named Montserat De Lucca (based in L.A.) or an Uruguayan winery. Any bets which?

Lardy.com ($606) is a nickname no teenager wants – nor any adult trying to lose weight, for that matter. Curious how that brand name will be put to use … As clear and memorable as it is, for its most intuitive application it’s quite insulting. Interesting to see $910 for what looks to be a brandable or surname .NET: Cartelia.net. The corresponding Cartelia.com is an electronics website.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
MQU.org	599	NJ	DMMLaw.com	599	NJ
SRAE.com	595	NJ	VJBio.org	590	NJ
J7P.com	587	SN	Reseal.com	586	NJ
EITY.com	585	SN	SingleCell.com	581	NJ
ToggleText.com	575	SN	YKH.org	573	NJ
GuiterCenter.com [sic]	552	SN	SolarZellen.com	550	SN
CPTryOn.org	540	SN	YJL.org	540	NJ
YLR.org	540	NJ	6518.co	530	NJ
Slonce.com	530	SN	LongNong.com	530	NJ
WatchCenter.com	530	NJ	Cawthorne.com	529	NJ
Captains Choice.com	527	NJ	ZLN.org	520	NJ
TXAL.com	513	NJ	IQAP.com	512	NJ
Socialed.com	511	NJ	Global TalkRadio.com	510	NJ
SNQ.org	510	NJ	PTOU.com	510	NJ
ZJA.org	509	NJ	SYB.biz	505	SN
BackPak.com [sic]	500	SN	Soulard OktoberFest.com	497	NJ

SolarZellen.com ($550) would be photovoltaic cells in German, I believe. Reseal.com ($586) has applications for repackaging opened goods, including food. Quite a good buy. My guess (with no time for research) is that LongNong.com is Thai or Vietnamese … or a ribald bit of English.

At first, I couldn’t make hide nor hair of SLOnce.com ($530). Turns out, it’s a vital Polish word – “Słońce”, meaning the sun. CPTryOn.com ($540) is even more puzzling. Archive.org has no record of it, but it seems to be about CP = Catholic Prayers. Purchased for the back links, one would assume.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
JonesDesign.com	487	SN	XJN.org	483	NJ
ParaGroup.com	479	SN	WZN.org	470	NJ
SeaPure.com	463	NJ	LCSU.com	460	NJ
BinHun.com	460	NJ	2119999.com	456	SN
NEKJ.com	451	NJ	3773.biz	445	SN
Amami- Setouchi.org	436	SN	MedInt.com	435	NJ
PeaGreen.com	429	NJ	BigEddie Radio.com	425	NJ
CiberPostales.com	425	SN	Camera.us	425	SN
MathShop.com	425	SN	IhuWai.com	423	NJ
XPU.org	420	NJ	YJG.org	413	NJ
Boundary Institute.org	411	NJ	Davro.com	410	NJ
Bankology.com	410	NJ	ZYM.biz	405	SN
PointerGroup.com	404	SN	FishingCabins.com	395	NJ

Whether it’s MathShop.com or MathsHop.com that sold for $425 depends on whether you watch “sports” or “sport” … whether you’d sing “Let freedom ring!” or “God save The Queen! My hunch was the American version, but the Brits do have a consulting firm at Mathshop.co.uk that offers “mathematical modelling” (Oh, those double “L”s!) and data “visualisation” (Where did the “Z” go?); so this may wind up British after all.

Camera.us ($425) is notable for being the only expired .US domain to appear in these charts since November 2014. We Americans certainly pay less attention to our ccTLD than people in the UK do theirs.

SeaPure.com ($463) matches the brand name of a seaweed extract used for skin care. Going now to a country that loves to eat seaweed, Amami-Setouchi.com ($436) defines the tiny Japanese town of Setouchi on the island of Amami Ōshima, near Okinawa. Apparently, they prefer a word order opposite ours – moving inward rather than outward.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
TXWI.com	393	NJ	WildOrchid Baking.com	390	NJ
SRAU.com	380	NJ	ODesk-Tests.com	379	SN
622878.com	379	SN	2127.biz	376	SN
MyNetSohbet.net	375	SN	DongBups.com	369	SN
LombardMaps.com	361	NJ	LyricsCafe.com	359	NJ
XB365.com	358	SN	Ionta.com	356	NJ
WeightOfThe Nation.org	355	NJ	ClockCenter.com	352	NJ
Pornopolis.com	350	NJ	7785555.com	350	SN
MaryMe.com [sic]	350	SN	ZFV.org	349	NJ
GLGL.net	346	SN	XUAF.com	345	SN
VZH.org	343	NJ	0321.co	341	NJ
VGQ.org	340	NJ	VYU.org	340	NJ
UYP.org	340	NJ	UQX.org	340	NJ
UOX.org	340	NJ	UQS.org	340	NJ
UZG.org	340	NJ	XKV.org	340	NJ
UZQ.org	340	NJ	ZCE.org	339	NJ

It’s striking how many LLL.org domains sold during the past week – definitely the most surprising feature of these charts. The week before, I could only report 1 of them at $600. This time there are 43!  Price-wise, they’re all over the place, ranging from $330 to $1.2k. Really, the distribution is heavily weighted at the lower end: 3/43 surpassed $1k, but 18/43 (nearly half) fell within a narrow $330-$349 range.

Turkey strikes again! As near as I can tell, MyNetSohbet.net ($375) is English plus the Turkish word for “chat” (“sohbet”). There is still an active website called EskiMynetSohbet.com.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
Mudavim.com	334	NJ	HG0765.com	334	SN
Abedo.com	333	SN	ForexTrade.net	332	SN
SteakBurgers.com	331	NJ	XFV.org	330	NJ
UYJ.org	330	NJ	UYH.org	330	NJ
XVJ.org	330	NJ	YQO.org	330	NJ
UXV.org	330	NJ	VisualNovel Games.com	326	SN
Fundacion Veo.com	326	SN	ErongSuo.com	325	SN
1098.co	321	NJ	WVNR.com	320	NJ
Pender Harbour.com	315	NJ	ComfortSpa.com	311	NJ
Rasker.com	310	NJ	252218.com	310	SN
DingDangDai.com	309	SN	DVRCenter.com	302	SN
SecretPolice.com	301	NJ	318088.com	300	NJ
Austin Chiropractic.com	300	NJ	ITAustralia.com	300	NJ
516883.com	300	SN	MP3Fil.com [sic]	294	SN

Mudavim.com ($334) is the 4th Turkish domain sale I’ve discussed in this week’s article. It appears “müdavim” means a “regular customer”. In Spanish, FundacionVeo.com ($326) translates as the “I See” Foundation. There’s an arts organization in Valencia going by that name; so in this case “VEO” may be an acronym.

Rasker.com ($310) is a surname. Based on PenderHarbour.com ($315) in British Columbia, Canada, it looks like our North American neighbors have stuck with the British spelling of “harbor” rather than be neighborly – “neighbourly”?

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
ImageHQ.com	292	NJ	51385.net	289	NJ
CYDR.net	288	SN	NTNN.net	281	SN
CTZJ.net	280	SN	BJBJR.com	280	SN
Sands RealEstate.com	280	SN	755698.com	280	NJ
GNJB.net	278	SN	LSMW.net	278	SN
CYRK.net	278	SN	FJQJ.net	278	SN
ZZGS.net	275	SN	ArchiVideo.com	275	SN
SkillTrader.org	275	SN	8223888.com	274	SN
566397.com	271	NJ	FTCN.net	270	NJ
596896.com	270	NJ	HeavenAnd HellLive.com	269	NJ

Apparently Dante wasn’t the only guy who’ll get to see HeavenAndHellLive.com ($269). SandsRealEstate.com ($280) has nothing to do with desert sand. Most likely that’d be Fred Sands, who “sold the largest independent residential real estate brokerage in California” but “won’t quit real estate”.

Last week I described LLLL.net “CHIPs” barely holding onto the cliff’s edge at $250. Apparently, they heard me because they defiantly haven’t let go of my charts yet! The highest of these, CYDR.net ($288) looks to me almost like a brandable misspelling of “cyder”; so I expect that resemblance added to the bidding. Repeating letters tend to outperform the average; so that explains NTNN.net at $281. Thereafter, this category ranged $209 – $280. Out of more than 60 auction results at SnapNames and NameJet, the median sale price for LLLL.net “CHIPs” was $251. Right now they’re hanging on, but I still think they’re about to fall off.

Domain	End $	At	Domain	End $	At
WDNR.net	267	NJ	HarborLanding.com	265	NJ
KLGW.net	265	SN	TBDS.net	265	SN
CJXG.net	265	SN	FMHB.net	264	SN
DJRT.net	263	SN	XBGB.net	263	SN
517836.com	263	SN	ZBLT.net	262	SN
XPJB.net	262	SN	LSWS.net	261	SN
CTZS.net	261	SN	WRKG.net	260	SN
CYCP.net	260	SN	YQFF.net	260	SN
LGSS.net	260	SN	TBWH.net	256	SN
BusinessBlog Wire.com	255	SN	MMBH.net	255	SN
XYJK.net	254	SN	TKTC.net	253	SN
MTHZ.net	253	SN	MXZH.net	253	SN
WDJK.net	253	SN	GTFW.net	252	NJ
BH-HCHR.org	251	SN	SKRY.net	251	SN
PRMQ.net	251	SN	QDGG.net	251	NJ
819121.com	250	SN	359869.com	250	SN
Anniversaire.net	250	SN	MNSF.net	250	SN
SAMA-KSA.org	250	NJ

That’s it.