paxton

People often ask me for my opinion on numerical domains, and in particular 4-digit dot coms (1234.com) and 4-digit dot nets (1234.net). Since number domains do not trade as frequently as letter domains, there is often uncertainty about their market value. Western webmasters/domain resellers rarely encounter websites developed on numerical domains, and question how easy such domain names are to monetize. Do these names get traffic? Can they make you money in the short term or long term or both? Here is my story, and hopefully it will answer some questions on what is happening now and where this segment of the domain market might be headed.

I have become a collector/investor of numerical domains. It started over a year ago when I noticed that a handful of 4-digit dot com domains (a.k.a NNNN.com domains) were selling for high prices in auctions for expired names. It was puzzling why some of these NNNN.com domains were available to register for the basic reg fee while others were commanding prices over $100. I asked around, but most people did not have any answers. In fact, a large majority thought these types of domains had very little value - reg fee at best. That is when I began to do my research. I began to track what prices these names were selling for in the open market, who was doing the buying, and how many NNNN.com domains remained unregistered. Based on the upward trend of such names, I concluded that it was worthwhile to register as many of these as possible for $8 and lower. It wasn’t long before all 10,000 possible NNNN.com combinations were registered. My attention then shifted to the expired name marketplace. At first it was possible to catch these names as they dropped using inexpensive services like Enom’s Club Drop. As NNNN.com domains deleted, most of them could be secured for $10 (+ registration fee). This lasted for a few weeks before the competition picked up and the names began heading to auctions. It was at this time that prices rose into the $30-$60 range, with some of them selling for over $100. A few high profile public auctions took place last year with the names going for $300+ each.

At this point I began to dig deeper into these types of names. There were many questions and very few answers. Early research showed that number combinations beginning with the numeral 0 (e.g., 0136.com, 0591.com) were the least desired, followed by numbers that contained the numeral 4. Apparently, “4" has negative meanings in various non-Western cultures. For example, in Ancient Hebrew and Chaldean philosophies, the number 4 is associated with mortality and death. Also, the Chinese people try to avoid the number 4 because it sounds the same as death in Cantonese. The numbers most in demand by domain owners were those with repeating numbers, those representing special historical dates, and those with numbers 3, 6, and 8. Again, this preference for certain numbers over others seems to be rooted in ancient numerology - where cultures believe that the universe is based on mathematical principles. As a result, numbers have great significance in people’s daily lives. In China lucky phone numbers such as 133-3333-3333 or 8888-8888 were reported as sold for more than $200,000 each. There are many other possible meanings for numbers. They represent dates, product numbers, physical addresses, phone abbreviations (think SMS) and they even substitute for words in mobile business services (see http://worddial.com).

Today, demand for NNNN.com domains is still strong. Just this morning, 8582.com sold for $180 at Enom. But what is really making the story of number domains interesting is the recent surge in interest of 4 digit dot net domains (a.k.a NNNN.net domains). Just a month or two ago, you could find many of these available to register. The demand was low and so were the prices. That has changed in a hurry. Now all NNNN.net domains are registered. As they expire, they are being caught by dropcatchers and auctioned off to the highest bidder. More auction results from today:

4623.NET $60
1383.NET $60
9915.NET $60
7818.NET $55
4080.NET $100

Yesterday I ran a check to see how many 4 digit domains were available in the .INFO and .ORG extensions. Since I knew all .COM and .NET versions were taken, I thought it might be interesting to see how popular they were in other TLDs. Here is what I found:

Number of Domains available to Register (as of 7/3/05)

Code:

 .COM	.NET	.INFO	.ORG
0000 - 0999	0	0	27	538
1000 - 1999	0	0	0	0
2000 - 2999	0	0	0	0
3000 - 3999	0	0	6	2
4000 - 4999	0	0	736	0
5000 - 5999	0	0	582	2
6000 - 6999	0	0	480	0
7000 - 7999	0	0	426	565
8000 - 8999	0	0	594	821
9000 - 9999	0	0	448	861
TOTALS   	0	0	3299	2789

The results seem to indicate that someone is systematically acquiring these domains, one decile at a time. Some quick scans of the whois database revealed that this might indeed be happening. Does anyone remember Duke’s article entitled The Great Three-Letter .Info/.Biz Buyout: Elequa Alters the New Extension Landscape ? History might be repeating itself. Elequa publicly discussed numerical domains earlier this year in a February 23rd interview on DomainMasters radio. In the interview, Elequa talked about many topics, but in particular he gave some unique insight into why pure number domains have significance to the Arabic speaking world. If you would like to hear that interview, you can find it archived at Monikers website: Domain Masters: Online Radio Talk Show Archives.

So here we are today. We find that NNNN.nets are picking up steam in the marketplace. We know that NNNN.coms are still hot, and some of them are hitting new highs (last week 0753.com sold for $3,433 and 0572.com sold $2,450). We see that NNNN.infos and NNNN.orgs are being slowly absorbed into strong hands. To me, there is little to indicate that the value of these domains will go anywhere but up. They are scarce - only 10,000 four-digit combinations exist per each extension. They are often preferred by cultures who do not use the Western alphabet. As an owner of 4 digit domains, I notice that some names receive very high numbers of foreign type-in traffic. Experts predict millions and millions of new internet users will emerge from non-Western areas in the next several years. The long term potential for these names looks promising, from an investment point of view. But what about the short term? If domain owners want to hold on to their digit domains, can they make money from them?

When I first started to acquire these domains, I did not believe they would be easy to monetize. I tried parking them at various places like Sedo and DomainHop. Eventually, I moved them around to other PPC programs like DomainSponsor and Fabulous. It became clear that most of these programs were not well-suited for these domains. Most of them do not pay for Asian traffic. One program even contacted me directly to know that the type of traffic I was sending through my numerical domains was not the type they were looking to send their advertisers. They asked me to remove the domains. Next, I decided to give Google Adsense a try. I developed a few nice, simple pages and displayed some ads - and sure enough I got a few clicks. But total earnings were not much more than I got through parking with PPC companies. But since I now owned hundreds and hundreds of these domains, developing & hosting & tracking pages in this manner seemed not worth my time and effort. I was about to give up until I found GoldKey. Miraculously, GoldKey offers a solution for numerical domain owners. Some of my pure number domains that made nothing at other programs, were suddenly making several dollars per day (each). For those of you that own number domains that are not making you much money, consider giving these guys a try. Goldkey has an affiliate program, so if you are interested PM me. I can show you screenshots comparing the results for the same domains at various PPC programs as well as provide you my referral code.

To be honest, not all of my digit domains receive traffic and generate click revenue. The majority of them are profitable, but some of them get no visitors at all. Rarely in the domain business is anything guaranteed - and making money off these domains is no different. To summarize: 4 digit domains are being accumulated in the major TLDs. All the .COM and .NET versions have been registered and as demand continues to be stronger than the supply, these names are consistently rising in price. You can make steady income parking these domains, as you wait for the next tidal wave of internet users to come online. As mobile and internet technology advances, who knows what new applications & systems will be developed that may increase the value of these domains. If you’re looking for an investment with a nice potential return - and limited downside, you could do worse than picking up some NNNN domains. As a reseller, you can decide to trade if these if you desire, but I doubt you will be able to flip these overnight for sizable profits. IMHO, the best course of action is to acquire them and be patient, picking up income along the way. You might be able to offset registration renewals with the parking revenue you earn.

Good luck.

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SharonTucci

One of the most insightful posts I have ever read on the topic of domains Thanks so much for sharing Paxton.

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equity78

Excellent Post Paxton, Word Dial seems to Own a bunch of numerical domains over 6500 not just 4 number and I ask you do you think a trend continues if 4 nnn.com taken 5 nnnnn.com becomes desireable. I own a few 7599.com gets good traffic and I have Beyonce and Avril numerically Both get some type ins. REP upgraded Nice Job.

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harpo

great great research paxton, thankyou so much for sharing, im a believer.

though i thought i was the last to hand reg the last nnnn.com back 16 months ago???

Paul

_FLIP_

a good read

.Mike

Fantastic post Paxton

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HugoD

good post! nice to read! rep upgraded

elequa

great post wow paxton i just learned some more new info thx

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Oysterboy

Great post - thanks Paxton!

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Scorpio

Very nice and detailed research pax...... Nice work..

One of the best post on the forum..

bertwrld

Very nice post. This was one of the best posts I think I have read on a forum in a long time. Very informative and nice structure. I think this post deserves consideration for the post of the week. Thanks Paxton for your time to research and write a post like this.

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paxton

Thank you all for the positive feedback.

Of course it's still early, but I do tend to think that the 5 digit domains will be next in this game of supply and demand. People are starting to realize just how scarce number domains are. And when you consider the advancements in mobile internet devices - including things not yet invented - it would seem there could be many uses for them in the future. And let's not forget about the obvious things like zip codes and birthdates.

There are 10,000 four-digit combinations for each extension. For five-digit domains, there are 100,000 combinations. What is interesting is that most of these NNNNN.com domains are already taken! According to RADiSTAR, who offers a list of Five-Digit .com domains available to register, only 44,990 names are left.

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JoshHendo

Thanks for the great article!

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sibaong

great post, thanks

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Venolus

Very interesting, though i am a bit "say no" to number domains

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equity78

Then you are way off your game

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VURG

I disagree.

xyris may have a different strategy to paxton but that doesn't mean it's not a good one. I tend to keep away from number only domains not because I think that they aren't a good investment but rather because I have limited time and funds available and I feel that the best thing for me to do is specialise in a particular types of domain names. This allows me to know what's good and what's bad as I have put the time in to sell at good prices, buy at good prices and be seen as somebody who can give good advice. Maybe I am missing out by not buying some number only domains but maybe I would be missing out more by not doing something else.

On a second note, I think that you are going to see a lot more of these people who buy thousands of a particular type of domain name in the future. One of the main things that appeals to me about these short names like the 4 number domain names is that they will sell for at short notice with a lot less variation than other types of domain names. If I regret buying a one word .com and I want to sell it quickly, I don't know how much I can sell it for and I may lose a lot of money but if regret buying a 4 number .com, there is a good chance that I can get half my money back quickly.

faisj

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cjcjcj

I believe that number domains are also becoming valuable as it is very easy for people to know statistically how many there are - ie 0000 up to 9999

With the confusion if dashed, IDNs and not to mention the 26 letter alphabet this is very appealing

paxton

A few people have asked me if I have the list of available .org and .info names from the above table. Here it is: Available NNNN info/org as of 7-3-05

Keep in mind this was as of a few days ago, so some of these may have already been registered.

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dsforsaken

wow very interesting and informative nic epost

IAmAllanShore

Nice article, and now I too may get a laugh at all of those that gave me heck about my 4 # .net's

You paint a very rosy picture of the outlook, and I'd certainly like to see it come to fruition, but only time will tell...

Thread bookmarked so I can come back in 6 months and see what happened

-Allan

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Virtua

Very Nice Paxton

Thanks
- Virtua

paxton

Thanks, Allan.

I agree I do sound a bit optimistic, but this is heavily influenced by actual short-term PPC earnings off NNNN domains. I hope everyone has similar success because I know for a long while I was making only pennies with my number domains. If the long-term value of these turns out to be a disappointment, the ongoing revenue should help to offset the pain.

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paxton

Just a quick update since a lot of people have been asking about parking their NNNN domains at GK. Starting next week, GoldKey will start monetizing traffic for visitors not originating from North America. Among the big areas that will be supported are: UnitedKingdom, Germany, France, and Korea. This is very good news for numerical domain owners. Number domains tend to have a very high percentage of traffic that originates from Asia.

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