NamePros Blog

James Iles · Feb 9, 2016

Just under a year ago, Swedish entrepreneur Jonas Bonde acquired the $76,000 domain name Car.info in one of the largest .INFO domain name sales of all time. As the name suggests, Jonas and his team are building a data website for cars. It looks to be a big project, but Jonas is no stranger...

James Iles · Feb 8, 2016

In the past few months, I've bought more domain names than I have in the past two years. These have been through marketplaces, via private deals and of course on NamePros. Throughout all of these deals, there are a few rules that I try to follow to minimize the risks involved with acquiring new...

James Iles · Feb 5, 2016

In this week's Top Topics, there are a couple of notable discussions surrounding four-letter .COM domain names. We all saw the rise of this category last year - could this year yield yet more increases in four-letter .COM values? Elsewhere, Shane Bellone has shared his views after his first year...

Kassey Lee · Feb 4, 2016

I am honored and surprised that so many domainers are embracing me as a Chinese domain expert. Many are amazed that I can explain the meanings of Chinese domain names with ease and speed. Some even want me to appraise their domain names for China. Let me teach you how I am able to quickly answer...

Omar Negron · Feb 3, 2016

I have been domaining for awhile now. Buying and selling domain names can certainly be fun. It's a thrill when you scan a list for hours to find 1-2 domain names that show "promise" and then you're able to acquire them through an auction or you successfully drop catch them straight into your...

James Iles · Feb 3, 2016

In December, we brought you news of China's first ever domain name conference in Shenzhen. Along with reports of the event itself, we showed you the impressive results of the premium domain name auction. The data available to us at the time showed that the auction produced a total of...

James Iles · Feb 2, 2016

This time last year, the majority of six-number (6N) .COM domain names were available for registration. Even up until September of 2015, investors were acquiring thousands per day; the news broke here that a Chinese investor had registered 33,000 6N .COM's over a two day spree.

However...

James Iles · Jan 29, 2016

In the run up to Chinese New Year on February 8th, you may think that the Chinese domain market is slowing down. This is true for some domains, but the 6N .COM category shows no signs of slowing down at the moment. As members have noticed this week, the 6N .COM category's average price has...

James Iles · Jan 28, 2016

Up until recently, a company called Drawbridge had been using the domain hack drawbrid.ge to host their main website. This week, it has been confirmed that they have acquired the domain name Drawbridge.com in a private transaction.

The company, which allows brands to have "seamless...

Kassey Lee · Jan 28, 2016

Recently, I was asked about the readability and reliability of Google Translate. As China plays a significant role in the domain industry, there is increasing interest to read Chinese domain news, which is often written in Chinese. Many investors turn to Google Translate to translate...

James Iles · Jan 26, 2016

Today, we have the great pleasure in bringing you an interview we conducted with Jason Calacanis. For those of you who don't know about him, Jason is a very successful angel investor and the creator of some of the Internet's most valuable websites.

Some of @jason calacanis's achievements...

James Iles · Jan 25, 2016

If you have been monitoring the Chinese domain market recently, you'll have noticed a drop in the volume of sales in comparison with December. This article, written by Travis from DomainShane.com, has some excellent infographics to show an obvious decrease.

What causes this...

James Iles · Jan 23, 2016

Today, the news from China is that the domain name Xian.com has sold for "a mid seven figure CNY fee," which equates to a six figure dollar value of anywhere between $450,000 and $910,000. The news, first reported on eName.cn, suggests that single Pinyin words may be the new trend among...

James Iles · Jan 22, 2016

Welcome to this week's Top Topics. "China will block the .COM extension" is a bold prediction from a member in one of NamePros.com's most active discussions this week. Elsewhere, DN.com released some very interesting information regarding triple Pinyin domain names, and one member shared the...

Kassey Lee · Jan 21, 2016

Numeric domain names are very popular in China. One of the primary reasons for their popularity is that they have no intrinsic meaning, and therefore meaning can be added to them. Once a meaning is attached to a numeric domain name, it becomes easy for consumers to remember, and that's why many...

James Iles · Jan 21, 2016

NamesCon 2016 was an excellent place to learn about the domain industry with plenty of speeches, live events, and networking opportunities to keep you busy for four days. However, for those who weren't able to attend NamesCon in person, NamePros.com provided live coverage of some of the major...

James Iles · Jan 20, 2016

With the influx of buyers from China acquiring short domain names in many different extensions, we sometimes forget about keywords and new gTLDs. In this week's New Names, we take a look at some of the recent purchases of NamePros members.

This week, we have two new gTLD entries, two keyword...

James Iles · Jan 19, 2016

In 2012, one company made a big investment in their future by acquiring two six figure domain names in a short amount of time. ViSalus, lead by CEO Ryan Blair, bought Challenge.com for $500,000 and VI.com for $325,000, and both domain name sales were reported in an October edition of...

James Iles · Jan 18, 2016

Last week, 19 year old Erwan Kina (@ErwanKina) made an announcement that his investment group will be acquiring over $20 million worth of domain names in 2016, with their focus being on buying short .COM domains. Why are they putting so much money into domain names this year? Who are these...

James Iles · Jan 15, 2016

In this week's Top Topics, we ask the community which domain name they would buy if they won the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot. The replies were interesting and varied, as you'll see below. The news also broke this week that our very own @Eric Lyon became a father, and the owner of 20.com...

Kassey Lee · Jan 15, 2016

Recently, a member on NamePros asked me to help him find the acronyms for some Chinese city names: Qiqihaer, Shenyang, Nanjing, Chengdu, Changchun, Wuhan, and Xi'an. He tried to use Google, but he could not find them.

In Chinese, it's a straightforward process because we can find the...

James Iles · Jan 14, 2016

The last day of NamesCon 2016 is here. On NamesCon's main stage, we've seen Uniregistry unveil a new market platform, and we have witnessed the success of the RightOfTheDot auction that sold nearly $1.5 million dollars worth of domain names.

Today, it's Matt Barrie's turn to take to the stage...

James Iles · Jan 12, 2016

Chao Mi (www.chaomi.cc) has become a popular website for tracking daily price changes of domain sales in various Chinese marketplaces. Due to the fact that many sales from the past year have been to China, it’s important to know what is selling, which prices have increased, and which have...

James Iles · Jan 11, 2016

One of the most anticipated live auctions in domain industry history is about to get underway in Las Vegas.

The NamesCon auction, which is being run by RightOfTheDot, is expected to be one of the largest auctions the domain industry has ever seen. There have been around $7,000,000 worth of...

James Iles · Jan 11, 2016

The annual NamesCon domain industry conference is under way in Las Vegas, with many opportunities for those in attendance to learn from some of the best in the business.

Today marks one of the most important events during NamesCon: the keynote speech, which is being delivered by Frank...

James Iles · Jan 8, 2016

In this week's Top Topics, NamePros users discuss the news that the Chinese stock market has crashed. Does this have an impact on domain name prices? Jason Calacanis, the owner of 20.com, discusses the possibility of using a broker to help him reach his desired sales price, and our members...

James Iles · Jan 7, 2016

DN.com is one of the largest domain name escrow providers and an extremely popular service among Chinese buyers, handling over 100,000,000 CNY (over $15 million) in sales in the first three quarters of 2015.

Below, we take a look at the statistics that have been released by DN.com for Q4 of...

James Iles · Jan 7, 2016

Welcome to the first edition of New Names in 2016. This series shows you the recent purchases of other domain name investors to give you insight and inspiration for your own acquisitions.

This week we look at purchases that NamePros members have made recently. These domains include...

Kassey Lee · Jan 6, 2016

Many Chinese companies use Pinyin domain names to run their businesses. However, many of them later upgrade from their long Pinyin name to the short acronym equivalent. If you own an acronym domain name, such as LL, LLL, or LLLL, you may already have potential buyers for your domain name...

James Iles · Jan 5, 2016

NamesCon, arguably the most popular domain name conference in the calendar, is set to kick off in Las Vegas on January 10th. With an expected attendance of over 1,000 people, the stage is set for a memorable event.

Such a big industry event warrants an auction of equal magnitude. Mike Berkens...

Kassey Lee · Jan 5, 2016

When it comes to the use of hyphens in domain names, there isn't a global convention. A hyphen in a domain is generally not preferred in the U.S. but commonly used in countries like Japan. Bill Hartzer has written about the negative impact of hyphenated domains on search engine ranking...

James Iles · Jan 4, 2016

Up until a few weeks ago, I had a few Gmail plugins that I used religiously to help make my outbound sales process that little bit easier. I used Sidekick, WiseStamp, Rapportive, and a couple of other plugins. I never thought of using any others until a couple of weeks ago.

Since I've recently...

N-A · Jan 3, 2016

The most popular discussions this week include predictions about the domain market in 2016 such as China prices doubling, the India market emerging, and more; speculation on LLL .CH domain names; investing in the new gTLD .TOP; goals that domain investors set to have a profitable year; and...

Kassey Lee · Dec 31, 2015

If you are selling domain names to China, how do you set favorable prices on your domains? Are there any rules or standards that Chinese sellers use? Do the last few digits play an important role? This strategy is often referred to as psychological pricing, charm pricing, or price ending...

Kassey Lee · Dec 31, 2015

In this new blog series, I'm going to wear my Chinese hat to check whether user-submitted domain names can be turned into something meaningful and easy to remember for Chinese consumers. This is actually more challenging than it may sound, because numbers and letters do not have one-to-one...

James Iles · Dec 30, 2015

With the new year fast approaching, it’s a good opportunity to check that your domain names and your strategy are all set to make it a good year in terms of domain investing. Take a few minutes out of your day to make sure that your existing domain names are ready for the new year.

Sell...

Kassey Lee · Dec 30, 2015

Rumors are flying and Chinese news sites are reporting the sale of Nubia.com to mobile phone maker Nubia for US$2m. Some sources have speculated that GoDaddy was the seller.

According to the news release from mobile news site Qudong, Nubia.com (reported as "nubia.con" due to a...

James Iles · Dec 29, 2015

In April 2015, Freelancer announced a deal to acquire Escrow.com for $7.5 million. Since then, members of the domain community have expressed concerns regarding the future of Escrow.com as a company. In November 2015, the news of Brandon Abbey's departure from Escrow.com was...

Kassey Lee · Dec 28, 2015

Renting a place in China requires a lot of cash upfront. Apart from the one-month deposit, renters also need to pay three to six months of rent in advance when signing a contract, which may be difficult for people with good income but not much saving.

Huifenqi is an app and lending service...

N-A · Dec 27, 2015

The most popular discussions this week include an explanation on Sedo’s “Make Offer” and what it means, domain name investors sharing times in which they’ve gotten taken for a ride, inside the $125K sale of USA.tv after an initial $100K offer, all Chinese premium LLL888.com’s reported as...

James Iles · Dec 25, 2015

The Christmas holidays are here and naturally, being a domain investor, I can't help but take a look at some of the generic Christmas domain names and how they are currently being used. I’ve picked out five of my favorite .COM domain names that are relevant to this time of year...

James Iles · Dec 24, 2015

This evening, NamePros user @donnied79 revealed that he has sold USA.tv for a six-figure price, which will be reported to DNJournal.

The established member created a thread on Monday asking for opinions on an offer that he had received on the domain name. In his initial...

James Iles · Dec 22, 2015

Two-number .COM domain names are some of the rarest names in existence. There are only 100 possible two-number .COM's, and even rarer are those with repeating digits: 00, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99.

Today I can reveal that 77.com has been sold. A source familiar with the sale told...

James Iles · Dec 21, 2015

What is it like to receive emails every week offering you a multiple seven-figure sum for your domain name? Meet @jason calacanis, the owner of 20.com, which he bought in 2006 for just $75,000.

Jason is no stranger to owning valuable domain names. As an entrepreneur, he has founded...

N-A · Dec 20, 2015

The most popular discussions this week include a showcase of long-tail keyword domains, investing in numeric domains in other ccTLD’s such as .CH, the perception of .XYZ domains and their legitimacy by the general public, a one-year outlook on Chinese premium LLLL.com’s, and the value of domains...

James Iles · Dec 19, 2015

China's inaugural domain name festival and digital asset summit has just been held in Shenzhen, which included a domain name auction. The main topic of the event was "domain names as digital assets."

Some of China's most respected Internet leaders were present at the event, which by all...

James Iles · Dec 18, 2015

With the hype around the influx of Chinese and Western domainers acquiring short .COMs, you may be forgiven for forgetting about some of the new gTLDs that have launched. Domain investors may be putting many new gTLDs to the side, but startups are using them as viable alternatives to spending a...

James Iles · Dec 17, 2015

In August of this year, ReviMedia announced the acquisition of the two-letter .COM domain name PX.com from MediaOptions in a transaction worth $1 million in cash, in addition to other considerations. Until yesterday, this remained the highest publicly revealed sale of a two-letter .COM domain...

James Iles · Dec 16, 2015

You may be aware that the domain name JG.com was put up for auction recently on NameJet, given the fact that it has received a lot of exposure. The highly sought after two-letter .COM domain that was owned by BrokerageFirm.com (according to a recent screenshot) has just sold on NameJet in...

James Iles · Dec 16, 2015

This week in NamePros.com’s New Names series, we take a look at five more recent purchases from @Ali Zandi, domain investor and director of sales and acquisitions at Perception.com.

In our previous New Names blog post, Ali revealed that he had acquired Raindrop.com for...

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