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84.com just sold for 8-figure yuan

by — Domain Sales 3 Comments

A Chinese domain marketplace reports that 84.com sold for at least $1.5 million.

84.com on a light blue background

Domain marketplace Le.cn reported on April 7 that 84.com was sold for 8-figure yuan or approximately $1.5 to $15 million.

According to the news story, the buyer used the nickname Dun Ge (盾哥) and has a plan to develop the domain. Whois indicates that the ownership likely changed on April 1.

Wayback Machine shows that 84.com was first used in 1998 as a personal site and then was either parked or not active for many years. In 2014, the domain was reported to have sold for 8.4 million yuan (about $1.25 million) to a company called Shi Fen Bian Min (十分便民) but no website was developed. In 2015, 84.com was listed for sale on Namesky.com with an asking price of mid-8-figure yuan or more.

The matching .cn and .com.cn are already developed. 84.cn is a business franchise marketplace called Zhong Guo Shang Ji Wang (中国商机网) but I could not find any explanation on the relationship between 84 and the site title. 84.com.cn is operated by disinfectant manufacturer Ai Te Fu (爱特福) which owns many product brands prefixed with 84.

If you want meanings for the domain, 84 rhymes with Pinyin words such as Ba Shi (巴士=bus), Ban Shi (办事=handle affairs), and Fa Shi (发誓=swear), suggesting that they can be used to provide bus services, business services, legal services, and many more.

Finally, note that this acquisition was reported only by Le.cn and I did not find any other sources in Baidu news search for it.

Microsoft buys Corp.com domain name, likely for seven figures

by — Domain Sales 6 Comments

Seller planned to auction the domain starting at $1.7 million.

The word "Sold" in big letters in quote on red background

Microsoft has acquired the domain name Corp.com for an undisclosed price after the domain’s owner said he was going to start an auction for the domain at $1.7 million. Brian Krebs broke the news.

Mike O’Connor, who has owned the domain name for 26 years, has been vocal about new top level domain names causing “name collisions.” This is when a developer uses a then-non-existent top level domain in their programming. When a top level domain is added to the root, that software might try to send information to the new domain.

His concern was based on owning Corp.com and receiving massive amounts to traffic because Windows computers had a type of name collision with corp.com. It’s a bit different given that corp.com is a second level domain, but the same concept led to lots of leaking data.

While Microsoft has tried to address this over the years, but Corp.com still gets a lot of traffic, O’Connor has said.

It seems like spending a few million dollars was a wise security investment. It will also give Microsoft new data that it can use to understand name collisions.

Reviewing 4-letter domains sold in March

by — Domain Sales 0 Comments

Kassey Lee evaluates four-letter domain sales as to how they might be valuable in China.

Four L's on a blue and orange background

Here are some 4-letter sold in March as reported by Namebio. I’ll look at them from a Chinese perspective.

XCDN .com sold for $22,000. XCDN.com is already a developed site by Yun Su Yun (云速云=speedy clouds) to provide cloud services such as CDN, server rental, and security. The domain and the company name do not seem to match.

XCDN.com.cn is operated by Xin Cheng (欣诚=happy and sincere), an internet service provider offering VPN, CDN, email, and domain registration services. The acronym XCDN may be formed by combining the first word of the company name and the term “CDN” (Content Delivery Network),

TDKJ .com sold for $1,375. TDKJ.com.cn is a developed site. TDKJ is an acronym for the company name Tong Da Ke Ji (通达科技=science and technology which are clearly understood). The home page suggests something related to cars but clicking the links does not display any contents.

ZYWX .com sold for $1,247. ZYWX.com forwards to Oxford.com.cn, which appears to be a news portal related to skills and qualifications. The Chinese brand of the site is Niu Kao Wang (牛考网=awesome exam net). Note that simple or popular English words such as “oxford” are liked by Chinese companies.

PWSY .com sold for $900. This domain is for sale and likely owned by a Chinese investor.

PWSY.com.cn is also for sale at 180 yuan or about $27. Even though the price is low, the owner must have spent a significant amount of time to identify company names matching this acronym. The information is very detailed and it includes the contact person’s name, phone number, email address, physical address, registered capital, and date of company registration. Such information is very useful in outbound sales to potential end users.

WXFT.com sold for $794. WXFT.cn is for sale with an asking price of 9,999 yuan, or about $1,500, which is much higher than the .com domain just sold.

End user domain name sales up to $200,000

by — Domain Sales 1 Comment

Two .app domains lead the way at Sedo.

Shopify logo

The top two end user domain name sales at Sedo this past week were .app domains, including the blockbuster sale of shop.app to Shopify (NYSE: SHOP).

Other domain buyers include a French leather goods company, a port operator and an olive oil producer.

If you’re looking for four-letter domains, note that Sedo has a 4 Letter .com auction ending Thursday.

Here’s a look at some of the domains end users bought at Sedo this past week. You can review previous end user sales lists here.

Shop.app $200,000 – Shopify, which owns the domain ShopApp.com. It’s the highest sale ever publicly reported for a .app domain.

Me.app $24,000 – Not one but two big .app sales this week. The domain is an upgrade for MeApp, which uses the domain MeApp.info. The app provides caller ID, spam call blocking and other phone features.

KeyBee.com $7,500 – Red Rock Design Studio, a UK web design shop, bought this domain for one of its clients.

PSAInternational.com $5,000 – Port operator PSA International.

Beeex.com $4,990 – This appears to be an “upgrade” or a defensive registration for BEEX.one. The name of this cryptocurrency exchange platform fails the radio test miserably.

Lamarthe.com $3,600 – Forward to Lamarthe.org, a French leather goods brand that produces purses, luggage and other accessories.

CCCleaner .de €3,000 – Ccleaner is a software program for speeding up your computer.

SearchData.com $3,000 – ValueCare provides a platform for finding business data.

Bon-Vita.de €2,500 – Forwards to Savit.de, which sells store systems for pharmacies, labs and clinics. Bon Vita is Italian for “good life”. The company bought MediNow.de last week.

BoatLinks.com $2,000 – Infule, a Fort Collins, Colorado SEO that specializes in serving RV dealers. This could be a purchase for one of their clients or an expansion to boat dealers.

MolonLave.com €2,335 – Molan Lave makes olive oil.

 

Traffic up, domain inquiries down at Efty in wake of pandemic

by — Domain Sales 3 Comments

Efty reports that domain name purchase inquiries were down last month.

Chart showing increased traffic on Efty domain name landers in wake of pandemic

Visits are up but inquiries are down at Efty.

What’s happening to aftermarket domain name inquiries in the wake of the pandemic and asset market plunge?

For most people, it’s hard to look at their portfolio and draw any conclusions. But domain name sales platform Efty has a large dataset to start drawing some conclusions.

Efty says that inquiries were down 14.5% in March compared to February. It notes that traffic to for-sale landing pages was up, though; it was up 37% month-over-month. The company thinks this is because more of our daily lives have shifted online. It notes that internet usage is up 50% in some parts of the world.

(If your company has access to other relevant data to show the impact of the pandemic, please contact me at andrew (at) domainnamewire.com.)

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