Ingles.com, LEA.com and more: NameJet’s past month
Joseph Peterson reviews some of the notable expired domain name sales on NameJet last month.
Too many domains to choose from this past month! This time I’m considering 18 instead of my usual 10.
August saw 95 domain sales at NameJet close at or above $2,000. That’s up from 82 during July and 69 during June. Although I have noted on some of the expired domains ahead of in my weekly articles, with this monthly recap I include NameJet’s many sales of privately owned domains as well. Statistics appear below.
Ingles.com ($49,899) – Of all the domains NameJet sold during the summer, this item will impact the most lives worldwide. That’s my prediction, anyway. “Ingles” is English from the perspective of Spanish — a perspective shared by 405,000,000 people. Globally, only Mandarin Chinese has more native speakers than Spanish. English comes 3rd. Obviously, language skills are notable for U.S. immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere. Beyond that, English is a lingua franca for global science, commerce, and media. Regional trade in the Fresh World depends on exchanges between Spanish and English. The motivation to learn Ingles is strong. Language instruction lends itself well to online formats. So building a profitable business on Ingles.com ought to be easy. The buyer paid only 1% of a penny per Spanish speaker! Oh, yeah … Ingles is also Portuguese; so we’ll throw in Brazil — an economy larger than Russia, India, Canada, or Australia — for free.
LEA.com ($60,100) – It’s no secret that 3-letter .COM domains enjoy both high value and liquidity. Back-and-forth trading in LLL.com’s and LLLL.com’s causes even just a single domain to generate more than its fair share of sales. During any given month, NameJet handles many LLL transactions. Even so, August stands out. Out of NameJet’s top 11 sales, 8 were LLL.com’s. Those 8 ranged from $17.3k to $60.1k, along with a 9th at the lower $7.1k level. July at NameJet also had 9 LLL.com sales between $7.5k and $23.2k. But this month the average price — $28,751 — was higher than last month’s highest! Prices appear to be a function of domain quality, but it’s possible that appreciation is also a factor.
This month, I thought it might be interesting to pair off domains by price. Partly, that’s an excuse for me to talk regarding twice as many brand names. But I do find side-by-side comparisons helpful.
GulfCoast.com ($19,650) and/or eAuto.com ($17,088) – Single-vowel prefixes are a familiar naming convention to all of us by now. Apple personalizes its products with an “i”. Other brands condense the idea of “electronic” into an “e” to express being online. In the long run, this trend will become quite dated, fixing brands within that generation that first saw e-commerce as a novelty. GulfCoast.com, on the other hand, makes use of real language, which is much more lasting — as lasting, in this case, as the shoreline from Texas to Florida. Names with regional associations are actually quite versatile; they don’t need to be used for regional projects. Patagonia the clothing brand is not confined to Patagonia in Chile and Argentina.
Cash.org ($15,099) and/or HospitalityJobs.com ($15,099) – Both this pair and the next one suggest that a good single-word .ORG domain is roughly commensurate with a strong 2-word .COM in terms of market value. That’s a sensible thumb rule for fresh domain investors, I’d say. Both these domains have clear applications. When .ORG is used for commercial projects, it generally benefits from having a social outreach angle. With Cash.org, that will almost certainly be personal loans. Since travel and hospitality are closely allied, HospitalityJobs.com will attract employees eager to travel, making the domain a good fit for online recruiting.
Dot.org ($14,899) and/or MoneyOnline.com ($12,800) – Out of 95 August sales, 7 were .ORG and 3 contained the “online” suffix. Generally, I prefer “online” domains to imply services that are distinct from their offline counterparts. MoneyOnline.com would be an exception. It’s bound to no specific business model, but money is such a basic concept that the “online” sticks to it like a magnet to a refrigerator. Dot.org is equally vague / versatile. As spoken, it will be “dot dot org”, which is very memorable.
VelvetRope.com ($7,888) and/or HomeRent.com ($7,877) – On the one hand, we have a physical object that symbolizes luxurious gala occasions. On the other hand, we’ve got a physical image (a home) as part of a practical action. There is no symbolism in renting a home. What there is is a tried and true business model: rental listings. VelvetRope.com will require more creativity.
WeddingSupplies.com ($5,200) and/or GiftsForHer.com ($5,060) – These 2 make an attractive couple. Both rely on retail. Both aim at women … via men. Yet the domains are actually quite different. WeddingSupplies.com simply describes a category, whereas GiftsForHer.com is much more conscious of its own sales pitch and branding.
YourShow.com ($4,299) and/or CPRClasses.com ($4,200) – CPRClasses.com is a reminder that the world is full of unique niches and business models. Firms and government agencies do hire CPR instructors. So there is probably money to be made in a referral site. First, medics demonstrate on dummies; then it’s your show. We’ve all heard that last phrase countless times. Since “it’s your show” is very familiar and expresses positive ideas of choice and being in charge, YourShow.com makes an excellent brand name for consumers. The price could have been much higher.
BeBeauty.com.com ($2,509) and/or Helicopters.net ($2,500) – I quite like “Be Beauty!” as a slogan-style brand name, partly since of its visual / auditory repetition and partly since of that affirmative exclamation point. At the same price of $2.5k, Helicopters.net was amazingly undervalued. Numerous businesses focus on helicopters — manufacturing, pilot training, maintenance, aircraft for sale, helicopter tours, etc. Each of those areas is expensive. And all of those firms are competing for a tiny number of premium domain assets. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this domain sell for 10 times this much at some point.
GameFest.com ($2,600) and/or Artwork.org ($2,000) – GameFest.com is one of those domains where you’d expect to find a developed website for a major gaming event. Certain topics incline toward .ORG, while others can feel awkward. With art we have a perfect match. The biggest galleries are often public institutions. Artists care deeply regarding more than money. And many of them rely on government grants and philanthropy. Artwork.org deserves to be built into a website that benefits artists.
P.S. Some of you may be interested in the makeup of NameJet’s August sales. Of the 95 noted at or above $2k, I find 25 expired domains (26.3%), 46 non-expired domains (48.4%), and 24 domains I didn’t check. All of these totaled $744k. Interestingly, the 25 expired domains contributed $121k (16.3%), while the 46 non-expired domains added up to $531k (71.4%). In other words, NameJet’s top sales are greatly skewed toward seller-owned domains as opposed to expired inventory.
