Expired Domain Note: In-Depth on LLLL.com
Joseph Peterson’s weekly roundup of expired domain sales.
During the past a number of months, LLLL.com domains (4 letters, for those just joining us) have multiplied in value among wholesale traders who expect to flip to China or resell to one another. For years, values had stagnated in the $15 – $50 range; but suddenly prices at auction and in the forums began to rise, climbing 10 – 20 times higher as word spread. Mailing-list domain brokers who wouldn’t have been caught dead featuring LLLL.com’s in 2014 are now listing them prominently and hungry for more.
Yet certain kinds of LLLL.com domains were valuable ahead of this spike in the Chinese market. For instance, the CVCV pattern of alternating consonants and vowels has long been sought following. Coincidentally, the West prizes precisely those letter patterns China disdains – and vice versa. Chinese buyers and their intermediaries state a preference for LLLL domains excluding A, E, I, O, U, and even V. Meanwhile, the Western retail market sets a premium on pronounceability, which almost always requires vowels. Moreover, since letters such as “Z” and “Q” (beloved by China) start few English words, LLLLs built from those letters are unlikely to serve as English acronyms; therefore they find little retail demand in the USA. In other words, the Chinese LLLL market and the non-Chinese LLLL market barely overlap at all. And while values in the former have skyrocketed, prices in the latter remain more or less as they were last year.
NameJet’s top expired domain auction the prior week, KIRI.com ($9.3k), as well as AZEA.com ($2.1k) illustrate the type of LLLL.com sales we’ve seen for a long time and which, I’d say, are oriented to the Western market. These two are brand names meant to be spoken aloud outside China. Even QIME.com ($1.7k), whose Chinese buyer seems to be breaking my “rule”, may only be a CVCV in a nominal sense. My guess is that it’s Pinyin: “Qi Me”. SZVR.com ($1.6k) is a departure from the “no V” habit, but it’s possible that “VR” (meaning virtual reality) has entered Chinese as a loan word. That I don’t know. As for RSRV.com ($4.9k), well, it’s probably an English word stripped of its vowels. Reserve Petroleum Co. uses it as their stock ticker. And a Belgian clothing store sees it not as “reserve” but as “reservoir”. For all I know, Ammar Kubba was thinking of RVs when he bought the thing.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIRI.com | 9300 | Tavares.com | 5725 |
| Icona.com | 5400 | RSRV.com | 4864 |
| FutureFinance.com | 4600 | YuPay.com | 3869 |
| GetAWebsite.com | 3200 | Creeks.com | 3080 |
| Cards.org | 2900 | MoldTips.com | 2900 |
| ExoticTravel.com | 2850 | Wenge.com | 2677 |
| Nutrition Explorations.org |
2651 | ColoView.com | 2500 |
| ChineseWok.com | 2400 | Concrete Furniture.com |
2189 |
| AZEA.com | 2100 | LuxuryRetail.com | 2100 |
| AutoForum.com | 2077 | SweetLand.com | 2021 |
Tavares.com ($5.7k) is a surname – perhaps best known through the Tavares Brothers, a 70s music group. Apparently, they’re still performing; so when the Whois profile updates, we may see them as the buyer. A number of brands use the name Icona, counting a Fresh Jersey beach resort, another pop singer, and the “world’s first titanium car“. Wonder what AutoForum.com ($2.1k) and LuxuryRetail.com ($2.1k) will have to say regarding that last item … Speaking of hard surfaces, here comes ConcreteFurniture.com ($2.2k).
Wenge.com ($2.7k) is an African wood. A brave IT firm has gone against the grain and given its colocation monitoring software the name ColoView.com ($2.5k), which makes their service sound for all the world like an anal probe. Unsurprisingly, a product of the same name is used in rodent colonoscopies. (What! Hire a naming consultant and deprive the world of such gems?)
Cards.org ($2.9k) is a notable .ORG sale, but NutritionExplorations.org ($2.6k) did nearly as well. (More on that domain below.) Someone spent $2.9k on MoldTips.com without registering Mold.tips. In fact, none of the bidders bothered to do so. GetAWebsite.com ($3.2k) is a call to action any domainer must be familiar with, thanks to spammers who ransack the Whois database looking for web design clients. In case you’re curious, GetA.website is owned by Radix, the registry selling .WEBSITE domains.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanhope.com | 1965 | Alternative Energies.com |
1900 |
| MarkWay.com | 1709 | C3.org | 1701 |
| QIME.com | 1700 | KHI.net | 1650 |
| ItsTheLaw.com | 1621 | SZVR.com | 1609 |
| Drony.com | 1523 | iNightLife.com | 1410 |
| Swiff.com | 1410 | GiftCardStore.com | 1409 |
| SwetsWise.com | 1260 | Dynamic Diagrams.com |
1160 |
| PowerBikes.com | 1120 | FYPS.com | 1106 |
| Chateau-Theme.com | 1010 | VRM.net | 960 |
KHI.net ($1.7k) and VRM.net ($1.0k) continue the LLL.net trend I discussed the prior week. Drony.com ($1.5k) fits the drone market, although it competes with a rival spelling: Droney.com isn’t what you’d expect. Stanhope.com ($2.0k) is the surname of comedian Doug Stanhope, among other Stanhopes. Swiff.com ($1.4k) sounds a bit like Swiffer. But there seems to be little ambiguity regarding whom MCHammer.com ($580) targets; so it’s possible that we’ll hear a UDRP panel singing “can’t touch this“. Buckle up, domainers; ItsTheLaw.com ($1.6k).
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| BridalTips.com | 909 | JustBeCool.com | 907 |
| EliteLimos.com | 904 | Beeing.com | 898 |
| EquityExchange.com | 898 | 85509.com | 810 |
| AOLS.com | 810 | Nova Engineering.com |
797 |
| UniSpec.com | 784 | NEXL.com | 715 |
| ESM.org | 710 | Flapa.com | 710 |
| Riske.com | 700 | PenSys.com | 659 |
| CreditAnalyzer.com | 609 | GreenFuels.com | 595 |
| 91901.com | 592 | SWTS.com | 580 |
| MCHammer.com | 580 | RentalTool.com | 576 |
| AuditService.com | 563 | ECFD.com | 533 |
| 79238.com | 530 | Majara.com | 520 |
| MogulApp.com | 500 | 36709.com | 491 |
JustBeCool.com ($907) – that’s my mantra. Doesn’t seem to work; but maybe if I took up bee keeping at Beeing.com ($898). (Excellent name for that purpose, by the way.) The prior week saw a few environment-related domain auctions: EnvironmentTimes.net ($139), GreenFuels.com ($595), GreenEnergies.com ($316), and AlternativeEnergies.com ($1.9k).
AuditService.com ($563) makes sense for forensic accounting. NovaEngineering.com ($797) will be an upgrade for 1 of the many firms that have built websites around inferior versions of that name: NovaEnging.com, NovaEngInc.om, USANova.com, Nova-Consulting.com, AquaNovaEngineering.com, and the like.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charter Consulting.com |
490 | 39091.com | 490 |
| CasinoBonus Online.com |
461 | GNYP.com | 441 |
| TravelNorth.com | 437 | Blouses.net | 431 |
| IconRealty.com | 415 | NEPHP.org | 410 |
| TaxResearch.com | 409 | ULIC.com | 386 |
| 83507.com | 350 | CSSJuice.com | 340 |
| GreenEnergies.com | 316 | PollocksToy Museum.com |
310 |
| MMData.com | 309 | TableTennis Scotland.com |
300 |
| LaVozAlmeria.net | 285 | AcuityCMS.com | 265 |
| CyberShare.com | 260 | Azaret.com | 247 |
Blouses.net ($431) indicates the current wholesale value of .NET keywords. In the lower price ranges, we do see more 3-word domain sales: CasinoBonusOnline.com ($461), PollocksToyMuseum.com ($310), TableTennisScotland.com ($300), etc. But don’t forget GiftCardStore.com ($1.4k) above. In Spanish, the definite article (the “the”of “el” / “la” / “los” / “las”) hardly counts as a word, since counting “the” is often expected. LaVozAlmeria.net ($285) matches a .ES news website.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| TastyEats.com | 232 | QuickSilvers.com | 222 |
| LiveOffer.com | 219 | iLoveChat.com | 210 |
| 14275.com | 210 | StoneSaw.com | 200 |
| KCMuseum.com | 195 | Nutrition Explorations.com |
190 |
| BelgeNet.com | 190 | DXPI.com | 179 |
| TechTrain.org | 175 | Lyxia.org | 171 |
| NewsKnife.com | 171 | SimpleFolders.com | 161 |
| 226.tv | 160 | PNGSDP.com | 159 |
| RMDeafSchool.net | 159 | AMZB.com | 155 |
| BrianMitchell Music.com |
154 | SecondLaw.com | 151 |
| FarmToConsumer Foundation.org |
150 | YourApparel.com | 149 |
See NutritionExplorations.com at $190? Now scroll up to view the price paid for NutritionExplorations.org! TastyEats.com was a good buy at $232. KCMuseum.com ($195) probably refers to Kansas City. “PNG” stands for the nation of Papua Fresh Guinea; and PNGSDP.com ($159) for many years showcased their sustainable development program.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tutorex.com | 149 | BPD-Water AndSanitation.org |
139 |
| DogConnector.com | 139 | Environment Times.net |
139 |
| SEOPro Software.com |
135 | TopNaman.com | 125 |
| ANewWay.com | 120 | PreGroup.com | 120 |
| CheatUniverse.com | 119 | MyPalmdale.com | 113 |
| WolfCoach.com | 110 | Fresh-Life.com | 110 |
| RLVP.com | 102 | Medical- Missionaries.com |
100 |
| Fiancee.org | 100 | AirKauai.com | 99 |
| RaoHang.com | 99 | OMG99.net | 99 |
| Rare RealEstate.com |
89 | TrainExpress.com | 89 |
| Druvan.com | 83 | ThaiMassage Therapy.com |
82 |
| TheCyberSpot.com | 80 | NWMaps.com | 80 |
| Hawiaa.org | 80 | OptarSSII.com | 80 |
If you’re looking for data on hyphenated domains, you really ought to check out this series on Sedo end-user sales, since Europe is where hyphens live. But at NameJet, Medical-Missionaries.com ($100) and Fresh-Life.com ($110) provide a wholesale benchmark. ANewWay.com ($120) – now that was cheap.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| VOIPP.com | 79 | CarTuning.org | 79 |
| KGregoryBooks.com | 79 | BibleQuestion.com | 79 |
| TableFan.com | 79 | Islolup.com | 79 |
| CatcoraCooks.com | 79 | IXKZ.com | 79 |
| NanoWeb Technology.com |
79 | ClubMud.com | 72 |
| IraqTax.org | 70 | JobsUSAGov.com | 70 |
| CSMIntl.com | 70 | LifeSkills-Center.org | 70 |
| LegendsFrom Europe.com |
69 | HSANet.org | 69 |
| YESH-GVUL.org | 69 | WiserDrivers.com | 69 |
| TurboCatUSA.com | 69 | WomanBusiness Grants.com |
69 |
| DebtLess.net | 69 | GeekReporter.com | 69 |
| TutorSD.com | 69 | BarEast.com | 69 |
| RefBlog.com | 69 | Cloud Symposium.com |
69 |
| WrinklesVanish.com | 69 | Oxandrin.com | 69 |
| UnitedNEBank.com | 69 |
Oxandrin.com ($69) is a drug that promotes weight gain following surgery. Why on earth pharmaceutical firms don’t care to control such domains is beyond me. Some referee would probably enjoy owning RefBlog.com ($69). Likewise some geek GeekReporter.com ($69).
