DomainNameWire reports

Domain registration “wholesaler” and service provider Tucows (AMEX: TCX) has revealed data about its domain holdings. With over 150,000 domains, the portfolio makes up a significant part of the company’s value, which likely hasn’t been fully captured in its stock price. Its shares on the AMEX are sitting at $.63, just off a 52 week low of $.53 and well below a high of $1.41. (I’m assuming that Tucows is revealing these details because it doesn’t feel its stock reflects the value.)

Its portfolio includes:
-1,000 domains the company considers “gems” (see a sample below)
-39,000 surnames (last names), most of which were part of the NetIdentity acquisition
-22,000 “brandable” names
-88,000 direct navigation names

Tucows CEO Elliot Noss says the company has sold thousands of domains and will continue to sell individually and in bundles. Tucows has internal tools to evaluate its domains for faster resale, and sells them through a variety of venues including live and silent auctions.

Among the company’s “gems” are:

Actresses.com
Liberals.com
Lutheran.com (more…)

New LLLL.com Price Guide is Out on 4letternoob blog by Reece.

Quad premiums had the highest increase in prices, which was only expected as they are the most desirable of all 4 letters.

Triple premiums with Z and other letters seem to be the real bargain at these prices. They are not too ugly and can have decent end user potential. If I find any at $75 a piece I’d buy them all! If you can get your hands on some triple premiums with K for $120 that would be a major bargain too.

According to the guide minimum prices are up to about $55 for the worst “anti-premium” type of LLLL’s, which sounds fair. The regular U+X, or Z+U type of domains which are being sold a lot around these days are worth about $65-70. Like xpru.com, xptu.com, zlhu.com. That would be a good price for them as well.

Triple premiums with Y,V and J aren’t that desirable and it’s strange to see them priced higher than K triples. But the guide is based on the actual sales data.. you can’t argue with the market.

Please note that the guide only refers to letter quality and disregards the other important characteristics as letter patters: CVCV, VCVC, CVVC, VCCV; number of vowels, for example domains with 3 vowels are usually worth $150 and up for the worst letters and 4 vowels would make it to $250 and up.

DomainNameNews reports these sales:

names sold out of 83 Total was $191,550
cabinets.net $20,000
stereotypes.com $19,000
SNOWMOBILES.NET $17,000
grandcayman.net $13,000
centralamerica.net $12,000
ProfessionalAthletes.com $9,000
WEBDESIGNING.com $6,000
converted.com $5,500
scrapbooks.org $5,500
HuntingLicenses.com $5,500
CreditReferences.com $4,500
groupdentalplans.com $4,000
funnymovies.net $3,900
ELECTION2008.COM $3,500 (more…)

Some domainers, including Elliot, Dominic and admins of DomainState have recently expressed their opinions about LLLL.com domains describing them as a “bubble that will one day explode”. What are the reasons they list?

1. LLLL.com domains have no end user value
2. LLLL.com domains were bought out by domainers and are only sold between domainers
3. There are 26 times more 4 letter domains that 3 letter
4. LLLL.com are risky and prices will fall
5. Other reasons, that are too lame to list here

Now here is why I think they are wrong: (more…)

Vanity plate sold for $14 million in UAE

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - A license plate with nothing but the number “1″ on it went for a record $14 million at a charity auction Saturday.

many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record-breaking single-digit plate.

“I bought it because it’s the best number,” said Khouri, whose family made its fortune in real estate. “I bought it because I want to be the best in the world.”

The oil-rich UAE began auctioning off vanity license plates last May.

Ordinary automobile license plates issued to drivers here — and even most other vanity series plates — carry both Arabic and Western numerals and script, defining the issuing city and country. (more…)

Recent LLLL.com sales compilation here from last 2 days, to keep you up to date with the current prices.

eBay mostly has low priced LLLL’s and the prices seem good for buyers. At other venues prices are pretty much the same. You can still find some bargains mostly on forums here and there, but these get sold very fast.

Quad premiums seem be perceived as the most safe investment and if you can find one for under $400 grab it quick! Minimum price for quad premium LLLL.com now getting close to $500 and is believed to achieve $1000 by the end of the year.

Also notable that triple premium LLLL.com’s - that have 3 premium letters and one not premium are selling for prices very similar to the crappy4L’s. They are pretty cheap and names with decent letters can have good end user potential and are very likely to grow the highest in price.

I think triple premiums and quad premiums are among the best investments now.

Pronounceable LLLL.com’s are also very desired, also imho they are less liquid and usually sell for higher prices.

Snapnames
rfsn.com $433
nfpe.com $431
kdld.com $151
nrmx.com $108
pbeb.com $437
bldv.com $150 (more…)

My favorite registrar and parking company Fabulous.com organizes the 2008 TRAFFIC Down Under conference at the Sheraton Mirage Resort, Surfers Paradise on November 18-20, 2008.

Early Bird Pass (Until 30 April 2008) - US$995.00 (more…)

Few days after the buyout NNNNN.com sales are heating up.

Update: I’ve received reports of some random NNNNN.com’s sold in bulk privately for $8.5-10 each. Get those bargains while you still can

Several sales have been reported so far on the forums.

I’ve sold 5 random NNNNN.com’s for $12.5 each (not selling that cheap anymore):

87816.com
87826.com
37535.com
37675.com
38417.com

Another sale reported here:

These 5 sold for $15 each:
72252.com
82292.com
71131.com
75525.com
72292.com

Another sale here

37467.com $15 Spells Eshop.com

More sales from SnapNames

01140.com $22
00108.com $29
05211.com $22

$10-15 or about twice the reg fee is the minimum anyone would sell NNNNN.com’s. But for now, while they are still fresh you can choose the better ones.

Now is a very good time to buy some good NNNNN.com’s for cheap before the prices rise and stabilize.

A few notable previous sales:

46000.com $299 2007-12-25 SEDO.com
34000.com $1,050 2007-11-21 SEDO.com
84444.com $500 2007-11-06 AfterNic.com

Domains ending with a few zeros and with many repeating digits are obviously more memorable and thus more valuable.

New cover story on dnjournal about Dan Pulcrano, who owns such names as LosAngeles.com, SanFrancisco.com and Philadelphia.com

Changing of the Guard: How Dan Pulcrano Became The Point Man in the Historic March From Old Media to the New World Online

If you are a domain owner you are involved in something much bigger than the domain business- you are in the media business. The success that domain owners are enjoying today is a direct result of a historic upheaval in the media business that is shifting advertising expenditures away from traditional outlets and onto the Internet.

As one of the few publishers that have successfully navigated the treacherous straights between print media and the new world online, Boulevards New Media founder and CEO Dan Pulcrano gave us a unique opportunity to take you beyond domains for an inside look at the larger forces currently shaping our industry. Forces that are precipitating the fall of old media empires offline and the rise of new ones on the web - a seismic shift hat has put owners of high quality domains in the catbird seat.

Of the six billion people on our planet, only a few dozen had the foresight in the mid 1990’s to start acquiring domain names with the idea that they could become valuable in the future. Those very rare individuals were almost universally regarded as fools who were flushing perfectly good money down the drain. Fast forward barely a decade ahead and yesterday’s fools have become today’s visionaries. (more…)

Sedo has some big names at auctions closing within a few days

urlaub.com 700,000 EUR 9 3d 21h 46m
iraq.com 400,000 EUR 8 3d 21h 46m
arabia.com 350,000 $US 3 3d 21h 46m
iran.com 300,000 $US 11 3d 21h 46m
kosovo.com 150,000 $US 3 3d 21h 46m
dubai.net 140,000 EUR 12 3d 21h 46m
sevilla.com 110,000 EUR 7 3d 21h 46m
glasgow.com 78,000 EUR 5 3d 21h 46m