Domain Bits

LLL.com Prices Continue to Fall

Previously, on June 7, I warned that LLL.com prices were about to fall. On June 26, I showed that prices had already began to fall. I hate to sound like a broken record, but today, evidence comes in that prices continue to fall further.

Today on Bido, the domain QVK.com closed at $6,730. A week ago, people were scoffing at the mention that a three letter dot com could sell below $7,000 - today one did.

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Bido Reviewed

I recently wrote a review of all the domain auctions. Since that review, there have been two new players who entered this lucrative market. The first is MyID, which is now running a series of Canadian domain auctions. I've discussed their auctions many times on my blog already. The second is Bido, run by a number of prominent domainers, such as Sahar, which had been announced at the time of my review, but has just gone live less than two weeks ago.

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LLL.com Prices Falling

On June 7, 2008, I blogged that I thought LLL.com prices were about to fall. It has indeed started to happen. It looks to me like prices have fallen about 10% since that post.

According to the June 1, 2008 3Character.com Price Guide, the minimum wholesale price (regardless of letter combo) of three letter dot com domains is $7,600. However, in the last week, there have been a number of LLL.com sales at or below this amount.

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Canadian Auction Update

The second MyID auction completed successfully with three 5-figure sales: Interview.ca for $30,000, Bond.ca $19,100, and Gamble.ca $15,000. In all, 33 domains were sold. Here are the remaining results:

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4200 LLLL.com's For Sale!

Like the title says, someone has apparently put up 4,200 LLLL.com domains for sale on Ebay. You can see the auction here.

4200 is close to 1% of the entire LLLL.com market - so it's a pretty amazing event. It will be interesting to see how this sale goes.

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Canadian Domain Auction Update

At Pool's weekly auction, Betting.ca closed at $5,310. The result seems a bit modest to me.

Pool's next weekly auction is for Cafe.ca. Astute readers may notice that this domain was previously auctioned. At that time, it failed to meet its reserve and was not sold. This time Pool is auctioning Cafe.ca on a no reserve basis. It looks like it could be a good bargain.

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8o.org Closing Soon

My domain 8o.org is on auction at Sedo and the auction will be closing in about 10 hours. Right now the price is only $1,050, which is a steal. You can read more about this domain here. Or, you can just head on over and bid here.

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Auction Review - Detailed Look At the MyID Auction

As I previously discussed, there is a MyId dot ca auction in process. I said I'd analyze the domains soon, and now that it's the weekend I've had some quiet time to do this. Here is the list of domains on auction, with the reserve range in brackets, and my thoughts on some of them afterwards:

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Advisory: Sell Your 3 Letter Domains

There is a mantra among domainers: "shorter is better." And to a large extent, when speaking about domain names, this is true (although some say that it's not how short your domain is, but what you do with it, that matters).

Following this mantra has paid off handsomely for many domainers. The value of three letter dot com domains has soared in recent years. According to the leading site for tracking prices for 3 letter domains, 3Character.com, the minimum wholesale price of an LLL.com has gone from $3,700 to $7,600 in the last year. That's more than doubling your money in just one year - a rate of return that's hard to beat.

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2 Character Dot Org Sale

I'm offering up for auction the domain 8O.org - a premium NL.org. It's a very rare domain - there are only 260 NL.org in existence.

This domain consists of a premium letter and a premium number - which makes it even rarer still and more valuable.

It's a really old domain, registered in 2000.

I'm told that eight is considered a lucky number in Asian culture because it sounds like the word "prosper" or "wealth" (發; Pinyin: fā). Additionally, it is considered lucky in Japan because the Chinese numeral character resembles a mountain, specifically Fujisan.

There are over 10 Million results in Google for the term "8O".

See 8O in the urban dictionary.

There is a no reserve auction.

You can place your bid on Sedo here.

The auction closes June 10, 2008.

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Canadian Domain Auction Update

After the successful sale of Dates.ca, Pool is now auctioning off the premium dot ca domain Betting.ca. The auction starts tomorrow, so get your order in quickly. There is no reserve price on Betting.ca - the domain will sell at the highest bid. Pool seems to be continuing their no reserve policy which worked really well with the sale of Dates.ca.

Tomorrow the next MyId premium dot ca auction begins. They are also including a couple of no reserve auctions - PainClinic.ca and SummerSchool.ca. If these two auctions go well, the no reserve format will likely become popular in dot ca auctions, but likely only for strong domains at strong auction venues.

The list of domains was just released earlier today, so I haven't had a chance to go through it in detail. They've got another great two letter domains VP.ca. Gamble.ca is another great domain on auction and it will be interesting to see how the sale price compares with Betting.ca.

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Dates.ca

The great domain Dates.ca finished its auction on Pool today. The closing price was $18,353 (USD). Another DN Journal worthy dot ca sale following on the heals of Friday's MyID auction.

The domain is an expired website and apparently earns $300 per month from affiliate sales. Bidding in the last half hour was incredible, driving the price up from about $9,000 to the closing price. The servers at Pool really were slow - I'm not sure if that affected bidding.

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CV.ca Smashes Records as MyID Auction Ends Successfully

The MyID auction ended as a resounding success. The domain CV.ca closed at $53,300 (Canadian) - making it the third largest dot ca domain sale of all time. There were several other great sales. The most contested domain was Diploma.ca, which closed at $17,352 (Canadian). Another highly contested domain was Income.ca, which closed at $25,299. All of this is likely DNJournal material, as soon as payment is made.

Below is a table of unofficial (and possibly inaccurate) results that I compiled from the auction. N/A means that there were no bids. All figures are in Canadian dollars. I'll analyze the figures over the weekend and post some further thoughts then. Without further ado, here are the results:

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Canadian Domain Auction Scene

Pool is continuing with their one-at-a-time premium dot ca domain auction format. Their next auction is for Dates.ca, which is obviously a top of the line domain. According to Pool, the site receives 600 uniques per month and earns $300 (Canadian) per month - which shows just how profitable the dating niche is. Browsing through archive.org, it looks to me like it formerly was a "sex search - free adult personals and adult dating online" website, which is where the traffic must be coming from.

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What's A Dot Asia Domain Worth?

The sunrise dot asia domains are finished and so are some of the initial landrush auctions. This gives us some idea what domainers are valuing dot asia domains at - and perhaps what you should bid if you're involved in an upcoming .asia auction. From the Pool DotAsia website, there is a ticker tape listing all the completed auctions. The results are as follows:

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Weekly Roundup

I'm going to introduce a weekly feature on my blog - every Sunday, I'll select 10 of the best blog posts from the domainersphere and discuss them in more detail. Like my blog, rather than concentrating on news stories, I'm going to select blog posts that have good practical value and will help you succeed as a domainer.

In no particular order, here are the posts I found most informative this week:

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Mobi Market Meltdown

Yesterday's Traffic Auction showed that what I had predicted has come true: the dot mobi market has melted down.

Here are the .mobi auction results:

mortgage.mobi - $18K
drugs.mobi - $17.5K
sales.mobi - $10.5K
men.mobi - $10K
films.mobi - $10K
escort.mobi - $10K
computers.mobi - $9.5K
airlines.mobi - $9.5K
records.mobi - $8.5K
boats.mobi - $6K
forsale.mobi - $5K
show.mobi - $5K
religion.mobi - $3K

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Live Blogging the Traffic Auction

I'll be live blogging the Traffic Auction for the first few hours (at 5 pm EST I have to pick up my son from school).

It will be interesting to see how the auction goes given all the concerns with the bad economy. If it goes badly, expect people to say that timing was bad, long weekend, late in the day, low attendance at Traffic, etc. But it will do the market a lot of good if this auction is successful - so I really hope that it is.

It looks like a couple domains have been scratched from the auction: something.com was one of them and busy.net the other.

At the start of the auction, there are 40 viewers and 45 bidders online. Starting about 8 minutes late - pretty good. Monte makes a welcoming speech and goes over the rules. Brent Corwin won the draw (congrats!). Room looks about half empty. Prizes will be given out at the end of every hour. Drinks and desert in the back.

Most of the .com's are up front, then .mobi's, then .org and ended with .net's. Auctioneer will be bidding on behalf of sellers - unfortunate :-(.

Without further ado, here are the results so far:

10. doug.com - pass at 75K.
20. portfolios.com - pass at 900K - not sure if this is a real bid or on behalf of seller.
30. gasprices.com - sold $225K - internet bid.
40. DiscountTravel.com - comes with DiscountTravel.mobi - sold $300K
50. loancalculator.com - sold $350K.
60. Susan.com - sold $50K.
70. oh.com - pass $250K.
80. MARINA.COM - pass $150K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller
90. FreeHoroscope.com & FreeHoroscopes.com - pass $250K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller
100. Greek.com - sold $275K.
110. partner.com - pass $225k.
120. Pagers.com - pass $70K.
130. Grass.com - heavy bidding on this one from the internet - sold $70K - internet bidder #14026.
140. pay.com - pass $2MM - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
150. con.com - pass $85K.
160. koran.com - pass $450K.
170. InsuranceRates.com - sold $225K - internet buyer #13904.
180. sagittarius.com - heavy bidding on this one - $33,500 - bidders were all in the room.
190. Athlete.com - sold $122K.
200. Track.com - heavy bidding on this one -sold $92.5K to internet bidder #14026.

It's now 2:30 p.m. - 89 viewers, 67 bidder. The auction continues:

210. TVschedule.com - sold $17K to internet bidder #14005.
220. BabyFood.com - pass $125K.
230. coloradoriver.com - pass $22.5K.
240. confession.com - pass $85K.
250. uscitizenship.com - pass $125K.
260. SpecialOffer.com - sold $35K to internet bidder #13977.
270. Ankle.com - Monte says: "anyone with an ankle raise their paddle" - pass $25K.
280. jackpot.com - Monte says: "let's hit the jackpot" - pass $2.5MM -not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
290. Managed.com - pass 65K
300. Autobody.com - pass $425K
310. IllegalImmigrants.com - pass $15K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
320. televisionshow.com - pass $50K.
330. ow.com - some telephone bidders - heavy bidding - Monte whacks the auctioneer and calls out "ow!" - sold $120K to bidder in room - lots of cheering.
340. Dieselcars.com - pass $40K.
350. CLOSINGS.COM - sold $25K to internet bidder #13993. Monte calls out that we've reached $1MM in sales.
360. HOTPOTATO.COM - developed site. Pass at $17.5K.
370. FreeMerchandise.com - Monte says: "everyone wants this and we'll be giving out some of this" - pass $10K.
380. travelconditions.com - pass $25K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
390. Yachts.com - developed website + developed website YachtCharters.com - includes Yachts.net and a forum - pass $3.5MM - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
400. lasvegasresorts.com - pass $60K.
410. maybe.com - Monte makes a lame maybe joke - heavy bidding - sold $40K to internet bidder #14015.
420. Israel.com - crown jewel of the auction - pass $5MM - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
430. affiliateprogram.com - pass $1.25MM
440. ComputerParts.com - very heavy bidding - sold $80K to internet bidder #13993.
450. blueray.com - sold $30K to internet bidder #14036.
460. Tune.com - pass $250K - not sure why - reserve was $100K - $250K - perhaps this was a bid on behalf of seller.
470. rainbow.com - sold $170K - to internet bidder #14005.
480. ladybug.com - pass $45K.
490. PregnancyCenter.com - pass $25K
500. action.com - pass - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller
510. minerals.com - pass $150K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller
520. idol.com - pass - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller
530. SUPERSTARS.COM - pass $25K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller

It's now 3:00 p.m.. There's a draw going on. Jeff Beasley wins. We're at 106 viewers and 70 bidders online.

540. carwax.com - pass $70K.
550. breathalyzer.com - pass $45K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
560. SexShows.com - sold $55K to internet bidder #13903.
570. XmasList.com - pass $4K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
580. liens.com & bankliens.com -pass $150K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
590. hoodia.com - pass $400K - reserve was $100K to $250K - must be bid on behalf of seller.
600. UsedLamborghinis.com - sold $3,500 to paddle #215.
610. CertifiedDiamonds.com - pass $200K - not sure if this is a real bid or bid on behalf of seller.
620. FertilityServices.com - pass $30K.
630. flavoredwater.com & flavoredwaters.com - pass $30K.
640. SleepAwayCamp.com - pass $20K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller.
650. FilmMaking.com - active website - sold $55K to internet bidder #14026.
660. crowds.com - pass $40K.
670. WeddingParty.com - includes .ca, .org., .biz, .net, .info, etc. -includes active website - pass $200K -looked like a bid on behalf of seller
680. laptopcomputer.com - pass $45K.
690. SoccerBalls.com - pass $45K.
700. something.com - scratched.
710. Anger.com - heavy bidding on this one, but in small increments - sold $49K to internet bidder 14026.
720. desktopcomputer.com - pass $45K.
730. MetricConversion.com - very heavy bidding on this one - sold for $8,250 to internet bidder 14182.
740. ClothesShopping.com - auctioneer says: "someone asked why I hold my wife's hand all the time - if I let go she goes shopping" - pass $25K - looks like bid on behalf of seller.
750. patti.com - heavy bidding on this one - sold $12K to paddle 254
760. Lemons.com - pass $50K.
770. exerciseballs.com - sold $17.5K to internet bidder 14037. Energy level in the auction room seems really high.
780. SlangDictionary.com - pass $25K - looks like bid on behalf of seller.
790. boxingnews.com - sold $25K to internet bidder 13895.
800. Affect.com - pass $15K - looks like bid on behalf of seller.
810. Naturalists.com - pass $20K - looks like bid on behalf of seller.
820. Hector.com - pass $20K - looks like bid on behalf of seller.
830. LabSupplies.com - heavy bidding on this one - sold $18K to paddle 216.

It's now 3:30 p.m. - 115 viewers and 70 bidders.

840. refinancerates.com - sold $12.5K to internet bidder 13980.
850. underconstruction.com - sold $12.5K to internet bidder 14083.
860. luxurygifts.com - pass $30K - looked like bid on behalf of seller
870. PinballWizard.com - pass $10K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller
880. ElectronicFundsTransfer.com - Monte says: "this is how we take most of the payments for this auction - pass $12.5K.
890. FootballScores.com - sold for $37.5 to paddle 217.
900. MusicDVDs.com - pass $15K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller.
910. floortiles.com - sold $30K to paddle 239
920. GraphicsSoftware.com - sold $2.5K to paddle 249
930. nannycams.com - pass $8K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller.
940. Asphyxiation.com - pass $4K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller.
950. longer.com - Monte says: "Who's longer?" - pass $45K.
960. CarpetStores.com - Monte says: "If you have floor tiles you should go to a carpet store" - pass - looked like a bid on behalf of seller
970. typo.com - Monte says: "Very popular in the domainer community" - sold $25K to internet bidder 14033.
980. ENDORSEMENT.COM - heavy bidding on this one - sold $16.5K to internet bidder 14083.
990. InvestmentIncome.com - pass $20K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller
1000. onlinecounseling.com - sold $12.5K to internet bidder 14026.
1010. petbirds.com - auctioneer chirps like a bird - pass $10K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller.
1020. Conglomerate.com - sold $20K to internet bidder #14083.
1030. CivilClaims.com - heavy bidding on this one - sold $8.5K to internet bidder 13977.
1040. UniformServices.com - sold $3.5K to internet bidder 14114.
1050. VintageCigars.com - pass $4K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller.
1060. RainChecks.com - pass $5K - looked like a bid on behalf of seller
1070. livestreaming.com - Monte says "we're live streaming right now" - pass $12.5K - Monte says "unbelievable".
1080. Demonstrated.com - Auctioneer says "show 'em how its done" - pass $12.5K
1090. Flammable.com - pass $10K - looks like bid on behalf of seller - Monte says "wasn't as hot as we thought it would be"
1100. thankyougiftbaskets.com - sold $3K to internet bidder 13916.
1110. beerkegs.com - pass $17.5K
1120. EmploymentAds.com - sold $9K to paddle #235

It's now 4:00 p.m.. Monte says: "They're going to be swapping out the food soon, in case you're interested in the chocolate. Right hand corner of the room.
1130. engraved.com - very heavy bidding on this one - sold $19K to internet bidder 14083 - wild clapping in the auction room.
1140. WebClass.com - heavy bidding on this one - sold $5.5K to paddle 223
1150. Migrate.com - heavy bidding on this one - sold $9.5K to internet bidder 13925.
1160. BodilyInjury.com - auctioneer said "Monte said if I don't sell any more, I'd better buy this name - I don't know what he means by that" - pass $20K - looks like bid on behalf of seller.
1170. influential.com - Monte said "anyone influential in this room?" - sold $12K to internet bidder 13981.
1180. postalcodes.com - *extremely* heavy bidding on this one - lots of cheering - probably the most competitive auction so far - the crowds are going wild - sold $42.5K to paddle 274

There's a new draw - nice GPS

1190. celluliteremoval.com - Monte says: "Gene Simmons and his wife just had this" - sold $10K to paddle 215.
1200. bavarian.com - Monte calls out "Beer!" - pass $7K
1210. FreeTrailer.com - auctioneer says to Monte "so you're moving, are you?" - sold $17K to internet bidder 14026.
1220. subsidiaries.com - pass $6K.
1230. scraper.com - sold $5K to paddle 286.
1240. burningdvds.com - sold $3K to paddle 218.
1250. rabid.com - sold $3K to paddle 217.
1260. Commodes.com - Monte says "get off the pot" - Auctioneer says "no crap" - pass $20K - looks like bid on behalf of seller.
1270. establishcredit.com - pass $25K - looks like a bid on behalf of seller
1280. BathSupplies.com - Monte says "goes with floor tiles" - sold $9.5K to internet bidder 13977.

Dot Mobi Starts - 4:25 pm. Comes with usual terms of dot mobi premiums - ie must be developed in 6 months.

1290. computers.mobi - sold $9.5K to internet bidder 13886. Cheers from audience.
1300. airlines.mobi - Monte takes a cell phone call. He says "I'm in the middle of an auction right now - I'll call you back" - sold $9.5K
1310. boats.mobi - sold $6K to internet bidder 13983.
1320. mortgage.mobi - heavy bidding on this one - sold for $18K to internet bidder 13981.
1330. men.mobi - heavy bidding on this one - crowd seems a bit more energetic than before - lots of cheering - sold for $10K to paddle 216.
1340. sales.mobi - heavy bidding on this one - again crowd is cheering - auctioneer says "it's like 5 Euros" - sold - $10.5K
1350. forsale.mobi - Monte says - "you can't let this one go if you've got sales.mobi" - sold $5K to paddle 425.
1360. drugs.mobi - heavy bidding - sold $17.5 to paddle 221.
1370. films.mobi - sold for $10K to internet bidder 13894.

OK, I've got to go now...

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13 Reasons Why A Domain Has No or Low Value

A lot of things can impair the value of a domain. Here are 13 of the most common reasons that I've seen for domains to have no value or a low value:

1. Weak Term in a Weak Extension. For domains that are not .com or strong .ccTLDs, the keywords in the domain need to be much stronger to compensate for the weaker extension. A weak term in, for instance, a .info domain, isn't going to have much value.

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MyID Releases Auction List

The MyID auction is starting Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 15:45 EST and runs for one week to Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 15:45 EST. MyID has announced the domains to be auctioned. Here is the list, with reserve range in parentheses, as well as some of my comments:

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