Tadpole.com sells for $20k and .us compared to fresh TLDs
In this stretch’s Expired Domain Note, Joseph Peterson notes on the sale of Tadpole.com, plus a comparison of .us domain sales to the asking prices on fresh TLD premium domains.
Once upon a time — specifically, once upon 22 April , 1992 — there hatched a Tadpole. Like many a domain, it began as a primitive website but mutated as it matured. Tadpole Computers supplied the world with “rugged … UNIX work stations, thin client laptops, and lightweight servers” ahead of being bought out by General Dynamics a decade ago (Wikipedia). Recently, Tadpole.com expired. Whatever the brand becomes next, it ought to be good, based on the purchase price of $20,239.
Premium domains are like that. They outlast firms, retain value, and reinvent themselves.
I’m going to show a longer than average list of GoDaddy expired domain auctions from last week since an interesting pattern emerges in the lower price range:
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tadpole.com | 20239 | 1mi.com | 9022 |
| Liaise.com | 4101 | ConsumerCreditReport.com | 4051 |
| FluShotsUSA.com | 3125 | AutoInsuranceCompany.com | 3050 |
| BlankMedia.com | 2950 | Skaau.ws | 2676 |
| Blue.us | 2605 | PersonalCreditReport.com | 2425 |
| BitcoinBox.com | 2225 | OpportunityEquation.org | 2176 |
| McGregorHomes.com | 1750 | VIPPorn.com | 1727 |
| EU8.com | 1338 | MadisonCountyLibrary.org | 1275 |
| OviGaming.com | 1275 | Rentech.com | 1250 |
| SkylineNewspaper.com | 1025 | DailyGotham.com | 1009 |
| Leninology.com | 1000 | BitcoinOnline.com | 950 |
| Hotels-List.com | 800 | AffordablePainting.com | 780 |
| Z43.com | 762 | AirStream.net | 748 |
| AtlantaConsulting.com | 711 | FrontierGroup.com | 711 |
| GlacierCentennial.org | 710 | HomeTuneup.com | 710 |
| StyleAvenue.com | 710 | AdvancedTCASummit.com | 660 |
| BabbleSoft.com | 660 | GZDefenseFund.com | 611 |
| Reducers.com | 611 | BurningBrides.com | 610 |
| DragonLabs.com | 610 | Investors.us | 610 |
| SportsGreetingCards.com | 610 | FreeMoviesAddict.com | 568 |
| NasherMuseumBlogs.org | 565 | SuperfluitiesRedux.com | 561 |
| LandInSight.org | 560 | VimBox.com | 560 |
| 61121.com | 510 | BirthdayFund.com | 510 |
| EatThisCity.com | 510 | Emken2012.com | 510 |
| EverybodyInNobodyOut.org | 510 | NSHost.com | 510 |
| Murro.com | 500 | MMAFightGear.com | 480 |
| QuickFlipFormula.com | 475 | Boots.us | 460 |
| ReallGraphics.com | 460 | BlueDot.us | 459 |
| GoodLuckBet.com | 455 | CourtModernization.com | 443 |
| WhatIsCredit.com | 440 | SEMBC.org | 430 |
| Getriebe.com | 420 | AustinMedia.com | 415 |
| InDefenseOfData.com | 411 | Furious.net | 410 |
| AnimeUTD.net | 405 | FreeFox.us | 405 |
| Lobsters.us | 405 | OnlineGames.us | 405 |
| RyleeHitchnerPhotography.com | 405 | CFECA.org | 404 |
| LifeNetworks.com | 404 | TurnOffTheGlory.com | 404 |
| MCA.us | 403 | Phimtructuyen24h.com | 385 |
| RecoverySDCounty.org | 361 | SalsaBand.com | 358 |
| MYYU.com | 355 | VisibilitySquad.com | 355 |
| 22675.com | 350 | SmartSoda.com | 340 |
| Moon.us | 337 | Rex.us | 326 |
| Mirror.us | 323 | 50399.com | 305 |
| Hairdrenalin.com | 305 | OnlyScreenSavers.com | 305 |
| MarketingMadeSimple.tv | 294 | 31GR.com | 271 |
| Comedian.us | 271 | Meme.us | 265 |
| Wiggling.com | 260 | WilsonWhirligigFestival.com | 260 |
| YourDeveloper.com | 260 | PHDN.com | 256 |
| Clown.us | 255 | iPhone-TopSites.com | 226 |
| HealthHookup.com | 225 | QTRO.com | 216 |
| ServerGurus.com | 216 | Si-K.com | 216 |
| M-Rooo7.com | 215 | TheDollars.com | 205 |
| Uno.us | 193 | AccessWifi.com | 191 |
| HomeInspection.us | 182 | Next-Ten.org | 180 |
| Music-Skull.com | 170 | 7-up.us | 160 |
| Off.us | 151 | Moom.us | 138 |
| GetRichCity.com | 125 | RentToOwnHomes.org | 123 |
| Magnet.us | 122 | QROX.com | 121 |
| River.us | 116 | EqualDreams.com | 113 |
| BestCasino.us | 106 | Cream.us | 106 |
| NorwayBaseballMuseum.com | 106 | Lick.us | 105 |
| Open-Site-Talk.org | 105 | BradTuckerBadTrucker.com | 97 |
| GameRaiders.com | 97 | Uproarious.com | 96 |
| Cub.us | 95 | Fapiaos.com | 87 |
| BasicBinaryOptions.com | 85 | Tat-ology.com | 80 |
| Sarah.us | 76 | DinnerCraft.com | 75 |
| StockBroker.us | 74 | AlarmPlanet.com | 70 |
| Sketch.us | 60 | TheGunMaker.com | 60 |
| Doberman.us | 56 | Groom.us | 56 |
| HeadSets.us | 54 | StockBrokers.us | 51 |
| Rapper.us | 41 | HomeInspections.us | 38 |
| CityOfBarstow.com | 10 | SpeedSurf.us | 10 |
Do you see it? Regarding 3 dozen .US sales — the top 14 of which fall between $255 and $2,605. Now, granted, .US domains sell at some level all the time. While this is more .US activity at GoDaddy Auctions than I’ve seen for awhile, I still wouldn’t call it a trend. What these sales do show, still, is that .US domains don’t die without buyers ready to scavenge them.
Years from now, will the 11-letter .ENTERPRISES have the staying power of our 2-letter .US? While you’re mulling that over, compare this sale of Investors.us at $610 to the unsold Investor.guru ($3,300), Investor.build ($2,250), Investor.buzz ($2,310), Investor.luxury ($3,000), or Investor.systems ($7,368). Alongside those, .US looks promising to me. Oh, and to be fair, less than 0.1% of my portfolio is .US.
“Credit note” had 2 sales adding up to $6676 — “consumer” and “personal”. You can add WhatIsCredit.com ($440) to the pile for good measure.
Bitcoin continues to sell domains with $3.2k divided between BitcoinBox.com and BitcoinOnline.com. Binary options have been another lucrative niche for some domainers — represented here by BasicBinaryOptions.com at just $60. Ahead of I leave “B” behind, what’s up with the tongue twister, BradTuckerBadTrucker.com?
Also worthy of note are a number of not-quite-nTLD sales: ServerGurus.com ($216), Tat-ology.com ($80), and RyleeHitchnerPhotography.com ($405). The last buyer made 2 mistakes: (1) buying such a bad .COM; (2) not buying the equally bad .PHOTOGRAPHY.
At NameJet, the highest bids I saw were for Bid.net:
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bid.net | 8900 | Farallon.com | 5800 |
| 1588.cc | 4200 | JosiahMacyFoundation.org | 2200 |
| NeoMed.com | 2122 | Caker.com | 1801 |
| DHMC.com | 1600 | UrbanConcepts.com | 1311 |
| Fiberglass.net | 898 | Bomex.com | 720 |
| IrishTours.com | 660 | ROPH.com | 545 |
| AUVIcom.info | 530 | InjuryLaywers.com | 500 |
| FCCD.com | 465 | SDHI.com | 365 |
| GreatProgs.com | 360 | FoundryMusic.com | 310 |
| Julpan.com | 281 | SLSF.com | 280 |
| BBNPlanet.com | 260 | OurSavings.com | 230 |
| 60772.com | 220 | VideoMovies.com | 217 |
| MotorcycleRepairShop.com | 160 | ReformedTheology.org | 160 |
| CourierServices.net | 120 | Vereor.com | 104 |
| FindHikes.com | 77 | Gobblin.com | 72 |
Every week, I do my best to exclude non-expired domain auctions. This stretch, I filtered out 51 owner auctions from NameJet and 12 from GoDaddy. The same issue complicates my recommendations for the week ahead.
You could interpret MobileDevelopers.com, iPanama.com, Shirt.org, iShirts.com, Lassy.com, and dozens more like them as bona fide expired auctions. Of course, they seem to show up in NameJet’s featured lists again and again, year following year, every May. Your odds of winning at auction are better if you ignore the publicity and look at something like ForeignTravelInsurance.com, which has 2 backorders instead of 186. Here are a few others to glance at:
| Domain Name | Venue | Domain Name | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| AsiaPower.com | GD | BallSports.com | NJ Pre |
| Belex.com | NJ Pre | BestLandscaping.com | NJ Pre |
| BigDifference.com | NJ Pre | Dividual.com | NJ Pre |
| DomainNameCheap.com | NJ Pre | Epee.com | NJ Pre |
| Fernandos.com | NJ Pre | GetGame.com | PD |
| GreenSide.com | PD | GuideToGuys.com | GD |
| NeoCity.com | NJ Pre | Nianji.com | NJ Pre |
| Nitches.com | NJ Pre | NJN.net | NJ Pre |
| Norwegian.net | NJ Pre | Ropita.com | NJ Pre |
| TheDrama.com | NJ Pre | TheOrigins.com | GD |
| TryOnline.com | PD | ZAIF.com | GD |
Yes, I realize Nitches.com is misspelled. But the people who will misspell it won’t.
