This stretch’s Expired Domain Name Note
Joseph Peterson reviews the past week of expired domain names sales, counting a look at what’s happening in China following the stock bubble burst.
Following the Chinese stock market began its downward spiral on June 15, domain investors and brokers began speculating regarding how the Chinese domain market would respond. For my part, I examined June sales above $2k at NameJet, looking for any short-term recoil among domain buyers. Now that July has given us 3 weeks of additional data, we can assess the market’s reaction since.
Expired domain auctions at NameJet cover a fairly wide, low-to-mid price range and include enough assets of interest to China that we’d expect evidence of market trends to be manifest. Moreover, these are neutral specimens. Sellers may suddenly dump more domains on the market or else freeze up, withholding their property until a more favorable time. But expired auctions aren’t subject to those confounding human impulses, since a domain name’s timing was determined at least a year in advance. Even the decision to renew a given domain or not would have preceded the Chinese market decline. That won’t be true following this 3-week window, which is why I’m making my examination now.
First of all, what has the Shanghai Composite Index been up to lately? Well, like any volatile underdamped system, it plunged below reality, then overshot a bit, and now seems to have stabilized – falling from regarding 5200 on June 15 … down to around 3400 by July 9 … and easing back up to 4000 as of July 22.
Meanwhile, what do we see at NameJet for the Chinese domain sector during July? Answer: Consistent strong performance in keeping with past months. During Week 1, China had the runner up with HuiChen.com ($8.9k). During Week 2, China claimed the top spot: DiLiu.com ($4.9k). And this past week, China again occupies second place – this time with an uncommonly expensive 5-digit numeric domain, 89992.com ($4.0k). Each week has also seen a number of additional 4-figure sales of Chinese-style domains, not to mention strong wholesale outcomes below $1k.
What’s most significant isn’t the absolute price, since these values fluctuate most widely at the top, but rather the relative position of Chinese versus non-Chinese assets. If the Chinese domain market were losing ground, then we’d expect to see its favored categories slip behind. Yet we’re seeing the same neck-and-neck competition that I’ve described throughout the past year.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| GLIM.com | 5000 | 89992.com | 4000 |
| MotorMarket.com | 3101 | TechKnowledge.com | 2711 |
| GoodPets.com | 2656 | Voltaic.com | 2501 |
| EMO.org | 2060 | Oozoo.com | 1976 |
| MZKJ.com | 1908 | QYAO.com | 1900 |
| TUDS.com | 1877 | NetFun.com | 1741 |
| CreativeLand.com | 1650 | JupiterCapital.com | 1643 |
| DavidLeeRoth.com | 1600 | SelectUSA Summit.com |
1555 |
| ICFTU.org | 1510 | 20F.com | 1500 |
| 226.org | 1210 | BuyPower.com | 1009 |
But enough talk of China! You can identify the Chinese-category domains in these charts yourself and compare their prices over time. Whether the American buyer of GLIM.com ($5.0k) knows it or not, “glim” happens to be an archaic term for light, a candle, or lantern – a meaning that survives in our word “glimmer”. Voltaic.com ($2.5k) is, of course, a word related to electricity. Its sound is angular and assertive, and it’s by now being used as a brand name for solar backpacks.
You’ll recognize the lead singer of 80s band Van Halen in DavidLeeRoth.com ($1.6k). NetFun.com ($1.7k) is what you might get following deducting web trolls from Youtube. In the case of BuyPower.com ($1.0k), I’m not entirely sure how to read the domain – buying influence as lobbyists do? or electrical power? or purchasing power itself … with an accent on “BUY power” as opposed to “buy POWER”? Guess we’ll find out eventually, once the domain is developed.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| BigSpeakers.com | 956 | CG6.com | 931 |
| HealthStop.com | 880 | TPCR.com | 852 |
| 777735.com | 760 | IRBSevens.com | 760 |
| PerfectPrints.com | 660 | MaritalProblems.com | 603 |
| AirChart.com | 557 | FixTool.com | 553 |
| 76010.com | 539 | LOJ.net | 520 |
| IABB.com | 461 | PSTL.com | 450 |
| KBSG.com | 450 | SexyFeminist.com | 445 |
| FloridaWater.com | 445 | Medical-Library.org | 442 |
| Indiens.com | 410 | Jazzitude.com | 393 |
IRBSevens.com ($760) meant nothing to me … but a great deal to rugby fans. The International Rugby Board, which dates back to 1886, changed their name last year to “World Rugby”; and the “sevens” are a rugby style and league (administered by the ex-IRB) whose games are played with 7 instead of 15 players. The form is internationally popular and will make its debut during the 2016 Olympics.
Indiens.com ($410) is (unsurprisingly) French for “Indians”. MaritalProblems.com ($603) ought to make a great brand name and/or lead generator for some marriage counselor out there. We’re looking at China again with a 6-digit numeric that sold for $760: 777735.com. Since of its repetition, it outsold a number of 5-digit domains, which came in at $539, $380, $170, and $160. Still, a very similar 6-digit numeric – 777808.com – fetched only $122. Bidding can be unpredictable.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| IURE.com | 390 | QCJX.com | 390 |
| EveryTime.net | 389 | EBLR.com | 380 |
| 37053.com | 380 | VRWC.com | 370 |
| StopAIPAC.org | 370 | AntiqueBeds.com | 368 |
| CannabisMag.com | 360 | DMAMusic.org | 360 |
| PewFellowships.org | 360 | IPSphereForum.org | 360 |
| TopSmartWatch.com | 322 | 9N2.com | 313 |
| HybridBus.com | 309 | DonaldYoung.com | 309 |
| Sickos.com | 260 | HollywooDrag.com | 260 |
| GeoSpectral.com | 212 | GemsTech.com | 209 |
Following LOJ.net ($520), the second highest .NET sale was EveryTime.net ($389), followed by WriterSpace.net ($151). .ORG fared much better. Its LLL sale this stretch was EMO.org ($2.1k). Perhaps that’s not a fair comparison, still, since “emo” is by now such a well known slang term for music and youth culture that South Park could devote an entire episode to distinguishing emos from goths. Even so, .ORG beat .NET with a 5-letter acronym ($1.5k), an NNN ($1.2k), and the hyphenated Medical-Library.org ($442). Some of these sales are explicable in terms of back links. Certainly StopAIPAC.org ($370) would be. That website ran from 2006 onward; but it has expired whereas the American Israel Public Affairs Committee hasn’t stopped lobbying.
Society’s changing conditions are reflected by CannabisMag.com ($360) and HybridBus.com ($309). GeoSpectral.com ($212) corresponds to a South African firm with a website built on .CO.ZA. PewFellowships.org ($360) clearly refers to a well known philanthropic organization, which manages $5 billion. Calling people Sickos.com ($260) implies perversion or evil; but, as a brand name, the domain could be used lightheartedly. And since the term is short and widely understood, I’d say that price was a bargain.
| Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancot.com | 180 | 04089.com | 170 |
| 01670.com | 160 | WriterSpace.net | 151 |
| PayBorg.com | 150 | ManicDepressive.com | 143 |
| SKRH.org | 126 | 777808.com | 122 |
| KZPI.com | 109 | CityHallNews.com | 99 |
| BoatsMiami.com | 99 | ViralElectronics.com | 85 |
| MonVoyant.org | 82 | FloridaMortgage Loan.com |
80 |
| Williamsburg HospHouse.com |
79 | ELYQ.com | 79 |
| JobContracting.com | 77 | GamesZoo.com | 70 |
| Marijuana Prescriptions.org |
70 | DNW Readers, | Hello |
Another bargain would be MarijuanaPrescriptions.org at just $70. Where prescriptions go money follows. Individuals with bipolar disorder are often described as ManicDepressive.com ($143). That’s another bargain – and for the same reason. Speaking of money, PayBorg.com ($150) puns deliciously on “cyborg”, wouldn’t you say?
Ancot.com ($180) is both a surname and an Italian organization for tax consultants – L’Associazione Nazionale Consulenti Tributari. Meanwhile, MonVoyant.org is French for “my light”. French readers, please correct me if I’m wrong; but my assumption is that this can also be read as “my psychic”, along the lines of our English word “clairvoyant”.
I’m no psychic, but these aren’t GoodPets.com ($2.7k). No, really. But here’s one who is.
