Joseph Peterson’s weekly roundup of expired domain name sales.
The sadist in me contemplates a cruel reality TV show in which some unsuspecting person answers a knock on the door to find a camera crew pointed right at him. “John Q. Public, you’ve just won $26,010!” Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he sees a beaming fashion model holding out to him a cartoonish bag of money. Then, just as our surprised victim reaches for that bulging prize, Alex Trebek blurts out: “Wait a sec! You let the domain expire over 10 bucks? Never mind. Come along guys; we’re done here.” And the camera crew slinks grumblingly away with the cash.
Each and every week, we could tantalize former domain owners with thousands of dollars that they flushed down the drain. Such a show would by now have run for 2 decades, simply because the general public remains oblivious to the potential value of domain names. Slow learners …
Last week at NameJet, the high expired sale was 1280.com at $26.1k. Even if we can’t precisely predict final prices, this NNNN.com category is known to sell consistently for significant amounts. If domain owners were rational and attentive, they wold always renew such domains, and the entire asset class would become undroppable.
Weeby.com is more of a surprise at $10.2k. Part of me wonders if some bidders saw a traffic leak from well known website builder Weebly.com. MedicalSoftware.com defines a cross-section between 2 enormous industries – large enough to include multiple companies. I find it unimaginable that ownership of MedicalSoftware.com wouldn’t eventually lead to at least 1 extra client, and that client would certainly be valued above the domain’s $5.3k cost.
Domain Name | End $ | Domain Name | End $ |
---|---|---|---|
1280.com | 26010 | Weeby.com | 10200 |
MedicalSoftware.com | 5300 | OVOO.com | 5200 |
CounterTerrorism.com | 5099 | FindANanny.com | 4656 |
CostaMaya.com | 4102 | Collected.com | 3850 |
InsulinPumps.com | 3411 | GolfSmart.com | 3356 |
InfinityMedia.com | 2525 | COMZ.com | 2300 |
PurpleTree.com | 2205 | ComeClean.com | 1855 |
Banju.com | 1766 | DigiFlex.com | 1601 |
Polster.com | 1545 | MissingPersons.com | 1533 |
Neptuna.com | 1500 | BarberPole.com | 1433 |
FalconRidge.com | 1010 | CardProcessor.com | 1005 |
HGSL.com | 1000 | ANW.net | 909 |
Lastra.com | 902 | WhiteRidge.com | 862 |
Hebbes.com | 859 | OxfordRealEstate.com | 858 |
Topio.com | 815 | IMIR.com | 810 |
QIRO.com | 805 | BXV.net | 800 |
ContinentalAirlines.com | 787 | HFDI.com | 725 |
YoShop.com | 710 | 9×5.com | 700 |
Cinnamon.net | 695 | GO88.com | 680 |
India24.com | 650 | Abarca.com | 625 |
KTVD.com | 610 | iParticipate.com | 565 |
InsideWashington.com | 565 | IHTI.com | 540 |
PLGA.com | 520 | WXS.cc | 520 |
IntrepidTrips.com | 510 | LMLP.com | 489 |
CHLP.com | 480 | NDNE.com | 470 |
ZYX.cc | 460 | PEMC.com | 459 |
Civitas.org | 420 | PTJW.com | 420 |
IEX.org | 415 | MNPN.com | 410 |
AdAdvisor.com | 410 | FastPlumbing.com | 400 |
TruckTrade.com | 400 | TGWY.com | 390 |
Innovius.com | 390 | 9L6.com | 380 |
VeloMoto.com | 350 | AlbanyNYHotels.com | 350 |
Visign.com | 350 | CustomPainters.com | 339 |
PrimeStore.com | 329 | StartupPower.com | 322 |
ZLQG.com | 320 | PBPL.com | 319 |
WRZY.com | 311 | Ceiling.net | 310 |
NBXG.com | 309 | USPatentAttorneys.com | 269 |
KazooChamber.com | 252 | TATF.com | 242 |
GHAA.com | 237 | Crusaders.org | 232 |
Anpanman.com | 210 | TheVI.com | 210 |
PayPerCallAds.com | 180 | Putas.net | 180 |
ChildrenOnline.org | 170 | XGEE.com | 161 |
WangSang.com | 161 | RecipeJournal.com | 160 |
74564.com | 160 | 987KXW.com | 160 |
TopLimousine.com | 159 | PoliticalCartoons.net | 149 |
Sprint800.com | 149 | AGoodBook.com | 133 |
MessageApps.com | 130 | EPCAE.org | 128 |
JerryResists.net | 119 | LocalFoodsConnection.org | 117 |
Tabernacle.net | 109 | IrishFreeStyle.com | 109 |
Precincts.com | 101 | SellMachinery.com | 100 |
IllumiData.com | 100 | TheVoiceNews.com | 100 |
BusinessOfSport.com | 99 | LindaTellingtonJones.com | 91 |
777221.com | 89 | Uyruk.com | 82 |
FixerHomes.com | 81 | RickNoriega.com | 80 |
MobileParkingApps.com | 80 | BrandTune.com | 80 |
FineMondo.com | 80 | MultiSitePress.com | 79 |
DomainEm.com | 79 | AutoInsuranceOrlando.com | 79 |
VegasWager.com | 75 | Science-Education.org | 72 |
PlatinumMall.com | 71 | PeachFestival.org | 71 |
YuanJiaoWang.com | 71 | Preprocessor.com | 70 |
PilotPoetry.com | 70 | ApartmentGarden.com | 70 |
EuclidTransit.org | 70 | JueZuan.com | 69 |
Mercextra.com | 69 | PotMedicine.com | 69 |
Sofresam.com | 69 |
OVOO.com ($5.2k) leads the 4-letter charge, with nearly 2 dozen LLLLs in tow. 18 of those ranged from $300 to $1000, while the domainish COMZ.com climbed to $2.3k. LLLs are represented in a trio of TLDs: ANW.net ($909), BXV.net ($800), WXS.cc ($520), ZYX.cc ($460), and IEX.org ($415).
Apart from those 3-letter domains, .NET and .ORG also show up with dictionary words and phrases. Those sales fall within a typical $xxx wholesale price range: Cinnamon.net ($695), Ceiling.net ($310), Putas.net ($180), PoliticalCartoons.net ($149), Tabernacle.net ($109), Civitas.org ($420), Crusaders.org ($232), and ChildrenOnline.org ($170). “Putas” is Spanish for whores / prostitutes.
As a TLD, .ORG is closely allied with the idea of social conscience – something underlined by the 3 aforementioned sales. Colored by its suffix, ChildrenOnline.org strongly suggests the notion of internet safety. Although “crusaders” has a negative meaning throughout the Middle East, in the West it stands for any moral quest. Last but not least, “civitas” is Latin for citizenry. Whether Latin is a dead language or not, this particular word lives on in multiple brand names.
Coincidentally, Uyruk.com ($82) means “citizen” or “nationality” in Turkish. CostaMaya.com ($4.1k) is a tourist destination in Mexico frequented by cruise ships. Banju.com ($1.8k) may be Maltese for “bath”, and in that sense it brands an importer of boutique bathroom accessories; but image results are dominated by someone named Häkelkissen Banju who makes these quilted objects. Polster.com ($1.5k) is either a surname or a typo of “pollster” (someone who surveys public opinion). VeloMoto.com ($350) reads as a Spanish brand name from my perspective, since “moto” is short for “motocicleta” (motorcycle) and “velo” implies “velocidad” (velocity).
We have plenty of creative names in the list. I quite like AdAdvisors.com ($410), TruckTrade.com ($400), PurpleTree.com ($2.2k), Lastra.com ($902), Topio.com ($815), DomainEm.com ($79) as a verb plus a contraction of “them”, and Neptuna.com ($1.5k) for something oceanic. Some of those undoubtedly match preexisting brands. RecipeJournal.com ($160) makes a lot of sense for a daily cooking blog.
There are also a number of common phrases such as MissingPersons.com ($1.5k) and ComeClean.com ($1.9k). The latter normally symbolizes confession but may act as a pun, canceling that symbolism and returning the phrase to actual cleaning. CounterTerrorism.com ($5.1k) is as symptomatic of 21st-century malaise as any phrase could be. InsulinPumps.com ($3.4k) and CardProcessor.com ($1k) were the top 2 exact-match product domains. I doubt you can count the number of stores in which you’ve swiped a credit card during the past week. Just think: Anywhere you might go to spend money using a card, some business is paying for a credit card processor.
Among the cheaper good deals last week were PotMedicine.com ($69) for medicinal marijuana, VegasWager.com ($75) for gambling, MessageApps.com ($130), USPatentAttorneys.com ($269), PayPerCallAds.com ($180), and a AGoodBook.com ($133). Those are prices to curl up with!
Apparently United Airlines deemed its 2010 merger with Continental far enough in the past to let ContinentalAirlines.com ($787) go to auction uncontested. Either that or the company simply wasn’t paying attention.
Thomas says
In all fairness, sometimes owner of domains die, and their domains become available again. Got one name once in a namejet auction and wondered why on earth would someone let that name drop. Did a little bit of research and fount out the former owner that had the site for over 15 years died… Makes you think that you should include your domains into your last will.
Andrew Allemann says
I once bought an expired domain name, only to find out it expired because the guy was in prison for some pretty bad stuff. When he got out, he wasn’t very happy about it.
Joseph Peterson says
Sounds like a movie trailer:
“When Andrew won CuddlyStuffedAnimals.com, he was on top of the world. But when Sylvester ‘Cuddly’ Gambino got out, he was none too happy.”
We’ll get Harrison Ford to play you.
KC says
Thank you. It has prompted me to take a certain action and explore opportunity.
thelegendaryjp says
Sometimes, ok a lot of times, people let names expire because no one offered them $26,000 while they owned it and a moron with too much time and too little knowledge buys it on a drop, for $26,000.
Just sayin, it happens.
Joseph Peterson says
Yes, there is often such a disconnect. Just last week, I wrote an article here at DNW orbiting around the sentence “Domains are worth more dead than alive”:
https://domainnamewire.com/2015/05/14/expired-domain-name-results-wangan-com-13k-floridian-com-11k-and-more/
Most renewal decisions are anything but clear. Still, the NNNN.com category is predictable enough that dropping a domain is always the wrong answer. The market would unanimously pay for it, whatever the digits.
thelegendaryjp says
I agree Joe, it certainly has value and no one should let a name like that drop out of frustration. More mind blowing to me is the people lined up to pay the drop company over market value on something they never tried to buy for less from the owner(s) first. Not always possible I know but it still imo does not condone over paying. Always exceptions to the rule but I live by a simple creed, buy low, sell high. In todays atmosphere and hysteria coupled with false markets and cheap money again, over pay is the way.
DNSal.es says
Do you think wee.by is worth now more?
Joseph Peterson says
If Weeby.com is employed as a brand name in its own right, then the owners might take some interest in Wee.by. But most people are unaware of .BY as a TLD; so they’d need to be apprised of the domain’s existence first of all.