Domain Magnate

Up until today I never heard of any .co.za domain sales. Dnjournal had 3 high value sales for the South African tld in the recent report:

Property.co.za     $56,000     Pvt Sale
AutoInsurance.co.za     $36,500     Pvt Sale
Life.co.za     $14,536     Pvt Sale

These are private sales most likely to end users, so they (like most high value domain sales on dnjournal)  shouldn’t reflect the market value of these domains, however surprisingly these aren’t even the highest value .co.za sales, here is how a list of all reported top .co.za sales would look like (excluding some older and lower value sales to have only data for the last 12 months):

Domain    Sold Date    Price    Source
Fly.co.za    2/10/2010    65,000    Latonas.com
Property.co.za    9/9/2010    56,000    Private
Porn.co.za    11/17/2009    45,000    RickLatona.com
AutoInsurance.co.za    9/8/2010    36,500    Private
Furniture.co.za    3/3/2010    33,000    Sedo
Toys.co.za    1/21/2010    20,000    Sedo
Domains.co.za    4/20/2010    15,000    Sedo
Life.co.za    9/8/2010    14,536    Private
Slots.co.za    5/13/2010    10,000    Private
S.co.za    6/2/2010    8,500    Sedo
Shirts.co.za    3/9/2010    8,000    Sedo
bet.co.za    8/12/2010    5,480    Sedo
domainnames.co.za    8/25/2010    5,169    Sedo
fly.co.za    11/17/2009    5,000    Sedo
Mortgage.co.za    5/25/2010    4,920    RickLatona.com
super.co.za    12/25/2009    3,500    Sedo
indemnity.co.za    12/1/2009    2,505    Sedo
mattresses.co.za    2/18/2010    2,301    Sedo
studies.co.za    8/19/2010    2,200    Sedo
institute.co.za    8/19/2010    2,000    Sedo
bikini.co.za    1/20/2010    2,000    Sedo
bed.co.za    2/11/2010    1,900    Sedo
decorating.co.za    3/9/2010    1,800    Sedo
airconditioners.co.za    6/28/2010    1,250    Sedo
okb.co.za    5/25/2010    1,100    Sedo
ouch.co.za    6/2/2010    1,050    Sedo
diplomas.co.za    8/17/2010    1,000    Sedo
financecareers.co.za    6/16/2010    1,000    Sedo
tnt.co.za    4/20/2010    1,000    Sedo
pensions.co.za    10/20/2009    1,000    Sedo
chiropractors.co.za    8/17/2010    933    Sedo
iha.co.za    8/15/2010    892    Sedo
skouspel.co.za    12/24/2009    425    Sedo
bbw.co.za    1/20/2010    400    Sedo

First thing that comes to mind: Nice Flip on Fly.co.za – $5k -> $65k in 3 months, well done Rick!

There are no restrictions on .co.za domains and everyone can register them at different registrars. Prices can vary, for example at EuroDNS the price is 18 euro, while at Godaddy it’s $59.49.

While writing this post I researched some of the .co.za domains available for sale and there are very few. There could be bargains out there, but it’s hard to estimate the actual market value to know what a bargain is in this group.  At first I wanted to check the opportunity of purchasing some nice .za generics to build a site, rank it and monetize with affiliate offers, however the only decent affiliate program I could find in .za are for loan leads. According to Google the local traffic is pretty low for most of these terms so it’s probably not even worth the effort. But I think a premium .za generic can present a nice long term investment to diversify any domainer’s portfolio  and the South African namespace matures these names should gain more value and the end user interest will rise.

There seems to be an elevated interest in CCC.com domains  lately from domain resellers and investors, especially the LLN.com and LNN.com types.  However most people still take the 3character.com price guide into account, not realizing how far those values are from the market reality, so I’ve compiled a list of ALL reported CCC.com domain sales on auctions since the beginning of 2010.  The list contains 101 domain sales, with sales prices ranging from $76 to $4000. At Godaddy prices are usually considerably lower than on Sedo.

NLN.com and LNL.com type of domains are the worst prices wise.  ’0′ is the worst digit, while ’1′ is the best – the exception is when 0 created a number, e.g. d40, 50x, v10 etc. Names with repeating digits or letters usually fetch significantly higher amounts.Letter combos with special meanings or acronyms can fetch surprisingly high prices on Sedo, take a look at 0fx.com below (fx is the common acronym for forex).

The real minimum wholesale market prices are like this:

• NLN.com and LNL.com – below $100 for the worst combination and $130-150 on average.
• NLL.com, NNL.com, LLN.com, LNN.com – $110 min and $200-300 for decent combos

Several expired CCC.com domains sell on Godaddy auctions almost every week, while Sedo auctions are naturally more random. Some also sell at snapnames and namejet.

The list:

Date                     Name          $         MarketPlace
29/08/2010    8ae.com    271    GoDaddy
29/08/2010    y5m.com    130    GoDaddy
26/08/2010    0fx.com    2,272 Sedo
25/08/2010    55u.com    1,316    Sedo
22/08/2010    kg8.com    255    GoDaddy
22/08/2010    jg8.com    230    GoDaddy
14/08/2010    3tq.com    405    GoDaddy
09/08/2010    av0.com    200    GoDaddy
03/08/2010    8sf.com    365    GoDaddy
01/08/2010    ui0.com    165    GoDaddy
01/08/2010    tq0.com    135    GoDaddy
01/08/2010    ud0.com    120    GoDaddy
30/07/2010    7sj.com    226    GoDaddy
28/07/2010    1zg.com    165    GoDaddy
23/07/2010    h3j.com    210    GoDaddy
20/07/2010    o2j.com    4,000    Sedo
11/07/2010    2vw.com    215    GoDaddy
06/07/2010    8ig.com    102    GoDaddy
05/07/2010    z1g.com    360    Sedo
05/07/2010    1o2.com    103    GoDaddy
04/07/2010    k6f.com    76    GoDaddy
04/07/2010    f6h.com    76    GoDaddy
04/07/2010    f6n.com    76    GoDaddy
04/07/2010    f7c.com    76    GoDaddy
04/07/2010    m7x.com    76    GoDaddy
02/07/2010    x5d.com    141    GoDaddy
29/06/2010    u6o.com    162    GoDaddy
28/06/2010    u8c.com    155    GoDaddy
25/06/2010    s8t.com    185    GoDaddy
16/06/2010    8zd.com    206    Sedo
16/06/2010    h0q.com    105    Sedo
14/06/2010    v0o.com    146    GoDaddy
10/06/2010    6xy.com    576    Sedo
09/06/2010    s8e.com    140    GoDaddy
05/06/2010    17w.com    2,000    Sedo
04/06/2010    9ue.com    130    GoDaddy
03/06/2010    j6m.com    130    GoDaddy
28/05/2010    j05.com    220    Sedo
23/05/2010    05j.com    180    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    6yw.com    170    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    z1g.com    140    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    0qj.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    8g7.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    u1f.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    q0w.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    0b6.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    4m0.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    aq0.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    y9i.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    0b7.com    115    GoDaddy
23/05/2010    0o5.com    115    GoDaddy
20/05/2010    3k1.com    205    GoDaddy
20/05/2010    0f6.com    130    GoDaddy
20/05/2010    e6z.com    120    GoDaddy
20/05/2010    7z6.com    120    GoDaddy
15/05/2010    o1o.com    405    GoDaddy
15/05/2010    5nt.com    380    Pool
15/05/2010    47l.com    140    Sedo
13/05/2010    e2h.com    305    GoDaddy
11/05/2010    x7i.com    105    GoDaddy
11/05/2010    v7u.com    105    GoDaddy
02/05/2010    8sh.com    301    GoDaddy
02/05/2010    nu9.com    205    GoDaddy
28/04/2010    wx7.com    242    Pool
28/04/2010    ij9.com    126    GoDaddy
23/04/2010    ow3.com    135    GoDaddy
23/04/2010    uj3.com    130    GoDaddy
23/04/2010    uf3.com    110    GoDaddy
20/04/2010    1lh.com    230    GoDaddy
15/04/2010    v2h.com    245    GoDaddy
12/04/2010    uj7.com    135    GoDaddy
11/04/2010    8v1.com    200    GoDaddy
09/04/2010    6fy.com    213    GoDaddy
08/04/2010    hs3.com    575    Moniker
03/04/2010    11z.com    800    Sedo
02/04/2010    d0l.com    505    GoDaddy
02/04/2010    1nu.com    305    GoDaddy
25/03/2010    4v4.com    733    Sedo
19/03/2010    4g4.com    460    Sedo
06/03/2010    d7c.com    112    Sedo
03/03/2010    00f.com    170    Sedo
24/02/2010    vv4.com    360    Sedo
22/02/2010    7z7.com    1,050    Sedo
11/02/2010    gk0.com    450    GoDaddy
11/02/2010    6vv.com    310    Sedo
05/02/2010    1py.com    293    Sedo
04/02/2010    5tr.com    423    Sedo
24/01/2010    jl0.com    161    Sedo
23/01/2010    fu7.com    1,045    Afternic
20/01/2010    3yf.com    200    Sedo
20/01/2010    3ey.com    171    Sedo
19/01/2010    d99.com    1,263    Moniker
19/01/2010    77f.com    1,110    Moniker
19/01/2010    40d.com    995    Moniker
19/01/2010    z55.com    818    Moniker
19/01/2010    at7.com    650    Moniker
19/01/2010    b7b.com    635    Moniker
19/01/2010    4lu.com    525    Moniker
19/01/2010    os9.com    300    Moniker
19/01/2010    5md.com    300    Moniker
17/01/2010    nq0.com    152    Sedo
03/01/2010    5dk.com    3,100    Sedo

(c) DomainMagnate.com

With all the respect to Zesty for keeping and maintaining the 3 char domains price guide, which has been a valuable resource for domainers for many years, lately it has become quite outdated and some of the price figures in it have little to do with the reality on the market. Here are some examples:

1. LLL.com min price has gone quite below $4k despite the guide putting it at $4750. Recent sales on sedo: whz.com $4,050, aoq.com $3,499, xtq.COM €3,050. There are also quite a few low quality LLL.com’s available for sale on dnforum which can be easily purchased for around or below $4k.
2. Low quality LLL.biz, LLL.info, LLL.us have become almost worthless, having no liquidity, except for good, premium letters, or meaningful combos.
3. Min 3 Char prices (CCC.com) are also below the nominal value:  LLN.com and NLL.com have a $245 and $200 min prices in the guide respectfully, however many recent sales on Sedo and GoDaddy auctions fetch considerably below that:  0xi.com $160, ui0.com    $165, tq0.com    $135, 0qj.com    $115, aq0.com    $115, 0mx.com    $120,  1zg.com    $165
4. The biggest joke of all: N-N.com – despite their extreme rarity: only 100 are available are selling for roughly 3-4 times less than the guide’s value. There were no recent sales reported, however the latest one: 2-9.com for $617 on sedo from half a year ago is pretty close. Since recently this incredible deal was offered on DNF – with no interest at all:  4 decent N-N.com’s (with no zeros) plus an LLL.info for only $1950 – which comes down to below $500 per N-N.com compared to the $1700 minimum reseller price mentioned in 3char guide.
5. L-L.com – not many sales happened lately,  but a few months ago we’ve seen a few of them on Sedo auctions: q-i.com   $752, z-l.com $702 – despite the noted min reseller price of $2200 for L-L.com.

Hopefully we’ll soon see 3char price guide values changed to reflect the market and being updated based on the market data to be once again a great help to domainers.

The main question on everyone’s mind is of course what will happen with the short domains in the near future, especially LLL.com’s which are the domain resellers favorites: they are easy to appraise, rather liquid and hold good value. Two and half years ago at peak times we’ve seen the min prices for LLL.com reaching $8k and after that prices  started to plummet and have been falling ever since. While there are always opportunities for quick flips on auctions and forums, personally I wouldn’t advice people buying low quality LLL.com’s taking advantage of low prices as an investment – it’s hard to predict how the prices will change, they might as well keep falling and reach new lows.  However the good quality LLL.com’s – with no bad letters such as: Y,Z,X,Q or even without J,W,V may represent a good investments due to the good potential for end user interest and affordable prices below $10k.

Moral of the day: Do your own research, check the recent sales and demand vs supply on the forums and marketplaces; don’t rely solely on guides!

Here is a list of available names I recently checked:

BinghamCanyonCopperMine.com
BlackCanyonofTheGunnisonNationalMonument.com
CanyonDeChellyNationalMonument.com
CasaGrandeRuinsNationalMonument.com
ChacoCultureNationalHistoricalPark.com
ChimneyRockNationalHistoricSite.com
ColonialWilliamsburgHistoricArea.com
CumberlandGapNationalHistoricalPark.com
FlorissantFossilBedsNationalMonument.com
GlenCanyonNationalRecreationArea.com
GrandStaircaseEscalanteNationalMonument.com
GreatSandDunesNationalParkandPreserve.com
HavasupaiIndianReservation.com
KennedySpaceCenterandCapeCanaveralAirStation.com
LittleBighornBattlefieldNationalMonument.com
MedicineBowMountains.com read more »

Over $25k Domains Sold on BQB in June. Reece published the full sales list

Most were definitely great deals, such as:

13 LLLL.com 205.00 USD
16 Triple Repeat LLLL.com 10,000.00 USD
BBBD.com 785.00 USD
LLLF.com 655.00 USD
LLLM.com 678.00 USD
OOOM.com 1,025.00 USD read more »

Myid published a list of .ca domain for the next auction, which starts in about 8 days. Quite an impressive one this time:

 2-3 characters
1.     666.ca ($1751 – $2500)
2.     JFK.ca ($1001 – $1750)
3.     SNN.ca ($251 – $500)
4.     TNN.ca ($251 – $500)
5.     War.ca ($1751 – $2500)

read more »

The recent dnjournal report featured many high value .ca domains sales from myid auctions.

CV.ca $54,977
Income.ca $26,242
Diploma.ca $17,999
Pharmacies.ca $15,663
Eyeglasses.ca $11,410
ZZ.ca $9,959
STD.ca $4,149
LoansCanada.ca $3,112
MontrealMortgages.ca $2,624
AccountingJobs.ca $2,438
Enjoy.ca $1,817
VancouverTravel.ca $1,816
WebTemplates.ca $1,559
QuebecHomes.ca $1,556 read more »

Here is an interesting comparison of reported cvcv sales.

Last week:

3 Months Ago : read more »

Here is the fifth monthly Recent LLLL.com Sales compilation. LLLL.com’s are the most frequently traded domaining commodity on all forums and auctions and it’s thus crucial to be up to date with the quickly changing prices.

The list includes last 3-5 days of sales on different venues based on TDVR database and NP sales thread.

CVCV.com’s and 3 letter repeating LLLL.com’s remain the most wanted among 4L’s.  Minimum price for  quad premiums is about $325, while without  F and H they usually go up to $350-400 and more.

SnapNames

aavp.com $184
gdcv.com $79
GGXG.com $254
vvnv.com $214
xtwe.com $33
yfqp.com $33
yqcu.com $33
yzve.com $33
ayiu.com $81
bonm.com $365
bskm.com $85
cxbu.com $31
Hily.com $1,050
jifa.com $3,200
lzxp.com $40
mzdk.com $40
oyxt.com $36
rurw.com $84
sivy.com $60 read more »

The recent live auction at the TRAFFIC show netted only $2,555,00, which is a big downtime from last action. The most lively domain of the day was one we picked out last week, postalcodes.com, which rode all the way from a $1,000 reserve, to a $42,000 selling price. Reportedly there were only 75 people in attendance at the start of the auction and another 75 online, which is quite different from previous shows when there were several hundred people in live audience. The highest price recorded was $225,000 which was a tie between, GasPrices.com and InsuranceRates.com.

As expected .mobi is losing its popularity fast: computers.mobi and men.mobi sold for $9,500 and $10,000 respectively. The highest .mobi of the day was mortgage.mobi which sold for $18,000.

Only 105 of the domains sold. Here is the full list of all domains that sold :

$225,000 gasprices.com
$225,000 insurancerates.com
$170,000 rainbow.com
$122,000 athlete.com
$120,000 ow.com
$120,000 ringtones.org read more »