Frank Schilling just announced he has sold over 2,000 4 letter .com domain names for $3 million dollars
Frank also announced that all 4 letter domain names in .link and .click have sold out at the registry level
” All 4 and 5 number combinations in link and click are about to be sold or sold out”
All 6 numbers in link and click are pending sale.”
“All 4 letter domain names in link and click are about to be sold out or sold out. All 5 number combinations in link and click are about to be sold or sold out. All 6 numbers in link and click are pending sale.”
There are only 456,976 Four letter domain names but only 194,481 when common vowels A,E,I,U,O are removed (the Chinese language doesn’t necessarily support transliterations of these vowels).
When you add in 3, 2 and 1 letter combinations there are just 204,000 Chinese alphabet domain names possible per space (4 letters and under) and 475,000 Total 4 letter or under possible combinations.
Enterprising registrants in developing markets are realizing that at $8.50 per year the entire 4 letter spectrum of a namespace can be purchased $1.6 million dollars and then arbitraged against smaller buckets of names which are sold-on to later speculators or distributed to end-users.
This same effect began in universal language numeric name spaces .. There are 1 million six-number names, 100,000 five-numbers, 10,000 four-numbers and just 110 three, two and one numbers .. An entire namespace contains just over 1.1 million names containing numbers (6 characters and under) and at low prices these have all been purchased for arbitrage against future sales.
While this may seem like an area that is ‘too big’ to get one’s arms around, there are really only a few viable new namespaces which have the potential to offer a generic alternative to .com and .net
.xyz, .link, .club, .click .space, and just a clutch of others have generic meaning and low enough prices in a well governed space which will allow investors to register and hold names to extract an arbitrage opportunity.
Investors have realized that at $8.50 per name and entire namespace can be registered for just $13,470,000 per year, with sales activity from the entirety of a space eclipsing the cost to maintain the space.
.com and .net spaces are nearly exhausted of these short and international combinations and now, speculators are moving to lower priced new GTLDs.
500 .SPACE names were registered yesterday at Uniregistry by a single registrant for just $1.88 per name. Investors are taking searching larger tranches of 4 number 5 number and 6 number .link and click names.. This phenomenon is accelerating and all viable generic spaces will likely be exhausted of their viable 1.5 million short names within this year if things continue.
Uniregistry is the only registrar solution which will allow you to register buy and sell and manage easily, in large volume. We have seen 4 letter .com names accelerate in value from 1000 to 2500 per name and Numeric bulk re-sales beginning in new GTLDs such as .LINK for $500-1000 per name. Amazing opportunities to register and trade continue. This is an incredible year with new investors discovering that domain names are an alternative asset class. These new faces are changing the available pool of viable generic namespaces and new GTLDs.
Adam says
Joseph Peterson says
Easy as printing money.
@domains says
Are non-English countries going to have use for and understand English word extensions like .link, .club, .click .space? It turns out that .xyz has the huge benefit of being premium Chinese letters that are understood, something they probably never thought of before.
The second round of new gtlds will bring even more new gtlds, but I guess that’s not for a while.
Will other new gtld’s lower their registration price to compete with this?
I’d like to see .co lower their renewal price to be more competitive for long term holders and investors.
Congrats to Frank on another big sale, short domains are on fire.
cmac says
so thats only 1500 each? or am i wrong? frank must think these prices won’t last or such a bulk deal was too good to pass up.
Jerry says
Exactly.
Thomas says
A lof of failed gTLDs will end up with a profit due to this chinese registration frenzy. What about .xxx? Is it banned in China?
Sandra says
Investors have realized that at $8.50 per name and entire namespace can be registered ********************************for just $13,470,000 per year,************************************
Is it me, or is $13.5 million a year ALOT of money ?
Ron says
The money is in the renewals, unless they are free, or at a low rate?
So now we are going to a see a monster sale on some of these extensions, then we will all run, and try to buy them, and the sky will rain down with domain dollars for us all.
Oren says
Anyone know who/what companies are ACTUALLY doing these buyouts?
Shane says
And to think. 500 5 number dot coms for $4K in total is now a million dollars in the bank . Thank you “hype”
Joseph Peterson says
It’s only a million in the bank if you dump the stuff at the right time.
Shane says
Agreed. And several domain investors just did
Joseph Peterson says
Yep. It’s a seller’s market. Buyers beware.
Anon says
Seems like .xxx would be more attractive than .xyz given the repeating pattern.
Mike says
I strongly believe.SEX is much better than .XXX or .PORN
In 5 years LL.SEX will be worth 5-6 figures. Patience, patience, patience.
J says
Do current owners have the patience to afford this wait? Time will tell the .sex story.
Sure enough, .sex owners could make a bundle. However, they must believe sitting on .sex will produce lucrative gains.
Salez says
“Seems like .xxx would be more attractive than .xyz given the repeating pattern.” LOL
Martin says
Three words:
North
Sound
Domains
Garth says
I don’t understand it, but am happy for others. Well done, Frank.
Xavier Lemay says
I’ve just renewed my only LLL .link after reading this lol
DNP
Colin Campbell says
Great article. Something seems to be happening in China all starting from the quick rise in price of 2-3-4 character .COM names. Since our 2 character .CLUB auction which had 24 of 26 names sold we have seen all 4 N sell out and someone just picked up 11,000 5 N. We have also had a number of brands approach us this week to buy the 2 characters and have had multiple offers for portfolio buys. Lastly out Sedo 3 N auction seems to be getting a lot of interest. I am on my way back to China (8th time) to try to sort this out.
Congrats Frank
Colin.club
mansour elseify says
THREE CHARACTER DOMAINS IS THE NEXT BIG THING! YOU HEARED IT FROM ME FIRST.
Chinese is buying them like crazy. Do not forget you pay over 1M for NN.com and LL.com
2600 domains NNL.com
2600 Domains LNN.com
6760 LLN.com
6760 NLL.com
2600 NLN
6760 LNL.com
Wot says
Most people have missed .cn in the 4,5,6 etc number domains although the Chinese have not. Nothing of any value in the drops nowadays.
And just about impossible to get a 3 character .cn anymore.
Brad says
I wonder how far the LLLL names will come down when the numerical domains finally crash? (mainly gtlds). This article is talking about millions of additional numerical domains being registered. This is going to flood the market and really minimize their value. I only see the good numbers having any potential (outside of .com).
Mike says
Happy to see the bulk sales.
.click & .link is not so good. may be wrong investment. time will reveal it.
Inland says
…not good?
I remember when all the experts said avoid .net and .info
Then they said avoid all gTLDs.
Then they hated on .xyz
Then they hated on .blah, .blah …
M. Menius says
Amazing turn of events these past few months. Congratulations to all the sellers.
Michael Berkens says
Guys .XXX is a sTLD not a gTLD meaning that it is can only be registered by a member of the adult community
You have to acknowledge your a member of the adult community to register a .xxx or sell a .xxx which may not be “healthy” for those living in China
Anon says
Hey, we’re all adults here.
J says
Remove the “L” in sTLD and we have a serious infectious problem. 🙂
DomainInvestor says
Frank…
https://youtu.be/jjaqrPpdQYc?t=10s
ben pedri says
Frank Shilling really was not up to par on number and letter domains when on domain sherpa. As with all no one is bigger than the market ,weather stocks or commodities or domains, When an asset takes on big supply such as franks quantity of chips at $1500 and Adam dickers chip sale at $400 a piece ,it shows that the market will move a lot higher. Now that we took out the supply ,the higher prices will prevail. Great Sale Frank,this is the best way to get out of a big position,those fruits you picked will be great for new seedlings. ”Buy Sheep Sell Deer”
DomainInvestor says
@ben Completely disagree. This is a perfect case of irrational exuberance and, “Animal Spirits,” are in full force right now! Congrats to Frank for selling at THE PEAK!
Brad says
.com will hold their value for the most part if not continue to appreciate. It’s the gtlds that will bomb. Gtlds are a good investment if you are a registry but horrible for domain investors.
ben pedri says
Have you looked lately The peak at 1500 is now the floor these chips are selling between 2200 and 2800, I know markets although 3 million is a lot of money ,in the big picture here its chump change. Its a big world .com is king. The rest is whats left over on the chess board, queen being the .net ,and so on . Years from now and llll.com will be worth thousands. There not making any more. The chips as they called them I think coined by
Big Shane C are gonna buy you a nice luxury Car. Remember limited supply ,and in my eyes The more tlds that they conjure up only make the big 3 worth more. “”IN MY OPIONION”
Joseph Peterson says
@ben pedri,
DomainShane takes credit for many things, but even he would probably acknowledge that he borrowed the term “CHIPS”. As far as I recall, Tim Schoon coined it. Honestly, it’s a brilliant little term. I’d use it myself except that nowadays it has an effect on domainers like Pavlov ringing a dinner bell – instant drool.
It’s tempting to think there’s a clear Yes/No dividing line between Chinese and non-Chinese domains. But I’m not sure the border is quite as consistent or well defined as being “V”-less + vowel-less. Usually but not always. Talking about “LLLLs” rather than CHIPs versus non-CHIPs allows us to admit we don’t know everything.
Oren says
I would love to hear more postulation on non-chip LLLLs, I feel like no one talks about them anymore
ben pedri says
As far as non chips or premium american or defined from a great sales tracking site.Quad Premium LLLL.com Minimum Price
No J, K, Q, U, V, W, X, Y or Z , Let me tell you out of the 100 or so random llll.coms that I picked up for Big money at the time{lol}average $40 ,going thru all my domains 5 ended up being Chips and the total number I had that were QUADs a big fat zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeerooooooooooooo. Maybe because they were hot at the time or maybe there just harder to get or less combo .all in all you dont see them going up that often ,So maybe we can put on some chip/quad ratio spreads sell 1 chip /Buy 5 quads and buy some lll.info I dont know what you call this but sound s like a great appetizer and would go great with a .beer
Shiva Domains says
Congrats..
One can also buy LLL.in , there is a massive opportunity. .in itself represent .internet , just english word “IN” . LLL.IN sales are quite good in the range of 2K to 5K USD to end users , the floor prices of LLL.in are very little…
India is going to head the same direction as China in few years time, its a country with 1.2+ billion population and the internet penetration is around only 15% heading fast to add more users , very likely with 50% penetration by 2020. Also almost 90% LLLL.in are available to hand register as of today… I think there are no big investors driving .in space, hence no news outside…. so plenty of opportunity for those who really want to convert their wealth to millions.. LLL.in offers much better proposal than LLL.info… Just my opinion
ben pedri says
2-3 grand is a great deal if your an company in india. Mark Z=facebook is really trying to make the internet mainstream in india and the world{purchased internet.org}for that reason .Your absolutely right on track on the potential with lll.in but the 4s are probably not ripe just yet,the cost to carry is just too expensive,your probably better off waiting a few years and paying $150 . I was lucky enough a few years ago to get my name Benedict.in but no ones beating down my doors for it,thanks for bringing this up, Shiva ‘ Regards Ben
Shiva Domains says
2 to 5k is not a big deal in India thats a small amount for sure, there are several richest people living in India , only thing is they have not focused on this as the internet penetration is very little.. India has already has the worlds second largest internet user base, although most of users are at early stages like using facebook or twitter.e.tc , more of social usage. Lot of youngsters are jumping into the start ups world.
I appreciate Mr Mark Z efforts, which are very little for a big country like India , its more about getting face book usage more in India 🙂 . 4G will be launched by the Reliance Industries in a year time, that will be the internet disruption force of India.
LLL.ins are ripe now, offcourse cant compare biggies like lll.com or lll.net … which is beyond comparison , India is perhaps 7 years behind china in Internet adoption. If you buy lll.in it will certainly a rare asset as the demand is huge … LLL.in floor prices are already above $250 and some good quality names like daa.in are sold over $500 in re-seller market, although few drop catchers time to time selling around $100 for lower quality names.. try to acquire few nice lll.in name, for $150, i will be surprised if you get any good quality names for that price.
Benedict.in is a great name for your personal usage however not in Indian context , perhaps if you own a name like Shiva.in , it might be worth 10K and you could have received 100’s offers by now. I am sure many will regret not focusing .IN market. With in two years time , you will see .in sales across sales report. IMHO.
Ramahn says
Thanks for sharing this. I only own one LLL.in domain…maybe I should pick some more up for cheap while I can.
Also, I’m starting to get offers on my “iot” keyword dot com domains from India buyers. India seems to have deep investment in iot technology and it looks like as internet usage grows, iot domains may start getting snatched up by buyers in India…your input?
Samit says
Are you sure ‘90% of lll.in are available to hand register’?
Afaik, the entire namespace sold out in ~2008.
SoFreeDomains says
Franks should be commended for keeping the LLLL.com domains till the time that they became hot cakes.
168 says
One of THE BEST articles to date! Some facts to add,
the china market is 3 TIMES the size of the american market. the chinese system of communication is all about
numbers. up to 9 characters in length. Even with all of the new extensions, the supply is limited for THAT SIZE of a market. Should chinese corps follow american corp buying patterns, it’s even more limited!
THINK GLOBAL. All of the 2,3,4,5,6 character L’s with short generic extensions have a huge global market 5 TIMES the size of the american market.
None of the information provided in today’s market projections account for growth of user base globally.
+++ for quite sometime. THINK 1 BILLION “ADDRESSES” (approx. 1/10 of the world population) by 2026.
Today, 300 million registered. Corporations Globally will have a minimum of 100+ in their portfolios,
even taking into account the largest brands with their own extensions.
This is already happening in the american market.
Subtract the extensions that users don’t embrace, example: more than 6 characters looong, and there could be another shortage in 10 years!
Cheers! to rational exuberance.
Joseph Peterson says
@168,
Yes, China is large. The place wasn’t exactly a ghost town in 2014.
Population doesn’t explain this phenomenon whatsoever.
Today many LLLL.com domains are selling above $2500 that would have struggled to sell for $25 last year. We can’t explain that CHANGE by citing a factor such as population that has remained basically CONSTANT.
China is large. But the price of eggs and paperclips in China didn’t skyrocket by a factor of 100.
China is large. But it was large in 2014 … and in 2004. During that decade, the wholesale prices of LLLL.com domains were stagnant in the low to mid $xx.
However people explain this market exuberance, the size of China itself won’t cut it as a rational explanation.
168 says
Sorry U missed the point.
Two words, communication, user base
NOT POPULATION.
China needs inventory. the type of inventory they use.
Joseph Peterson says
@168,
Honestly, I can’t make any sense of what you’ve just said. Perhaps you can try explaining it another way.
Joe says
Interesting sales by Frank Schilling Now my question to address follows Frank as its brokers and sales department have not yet resposdido my email for 15 days Premum offer to sell domain names in total on June 15 of 9 three letter. club and 6 four letter.online and no response had to be held the very success of his boss.
Response if you offer me a broker Domainnamesales.com makemoney.online I respond that I hope my email response and 10 days the customer service leaves much to be desired..
Frank still selling at cheap prices to get yourself so that customers pay more and not vouch email.
Thank you for your des aid.
Jack says
Nice marketing but it is not going to manipulate smart people to believe in it.
Do not simply believe anything from other domainers even from me. but i would be honest once to tell you this: The whole thing up there is nothing but marketing for 3 parties. guess who are they ?
Justin Wilson says
So he got less than $1,500 per domain on the average…
I guess still better news than the deal Marchex did…
where they sold the portfolio for $28 million in the spring….
the one they had paid $164 Million for in 2005
They only got around $310 per domain
Times have changed…
J says
IMO, that Marchex portfolio was probably a liquidation move. They could have made much more, but that amount of money to move an portfolio was hard to turn down. In bulk, the buyers usually gets a good deal.
This 4 character dot com portfolio could be worth a good amount in the long term. It really depends on whether this new owner wants long-term and/or short-term goals.
Brad says
Has anyone confirmed the moves via whois record changes? A list of the 2,000 names would be awesome.
J says
Buyer got a good deal. 2,000 4 character dot com can resell for much more than this $3 million price tag. Congrats to Frank for making this sale.
Michael Berkens says
Marchex was pretty clear that they were selling the domain names to get out of that part of their business and did not shop the portfolio around
ehdf says
Frank has just scored the deal of his life time, 3 Million is a good price tag for those domains but on the parallel side buyer can re-sell it on a much bigger price tag if he opts a clever reselling strategy.
Joseph Peterson says
For a different lifetime, maybe. Not for his.
elevator says
Chinese are going places and making huge difference
Brad says
Yeah 3M is nice, but I don’t think it will change Frank’s lifestyle a whole lot.