Another record-buster at NameJet
November was a great month for NameJet.
During 2015, NameJet surpassed itself a number of 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 fresh records.
Each month, NameJet notes 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 fresh 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 noted 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 since of its repeating sequence.
19 of the 85 LLLL.com domains above (22.4%) would not be considered CHIPs, as stated by 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 since it’s a “brandable” rather than an acronym. In fact, it matches the brand name of a number of established firms.
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 notes 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 sizable $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 by now 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 |
Ahead of bidding farewell to China within this article, I ought to 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 regarding. Actual language, words, names – such things matter in China also. Still, 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 notable 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. Following all, as I mentioned, EPOS.com ($30.1k) is a brand match for Western firms; and many of the non-CHIP LLLLs – especially CVCVs – might be considered Western brandables. Counting 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 the prior 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 since someone paid a sizable 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. A number of match the brand names of 1 or more established websites. Or, in the case of Acteva.com, an infamous firm, 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 by now – a legendary blues musician, a brand of snow blowers, a B-52’s album (probably not), etc. InsuranceHealth.com was previously noted 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.
