Dynadot

interviews Successful Chinese Domainer Gives Advice to Investors

Spaceship Spaceship
A very good contact of mine in China has just shared an interesting piece of news with me. As you'll know, the Chinese domain market has taken off rapidly within the past six months in particular, and whilst Western investors are struggling to understand what's happening, it seems that many Chinese investors are having the same sentiments.

My contact has told me that many Chinese investors are still trying to understand what is happening with the domain investment market. With floor prices for four-letter "CHIP" .COMs increasing to over $2,000 per name and other extensions increasing in popularity, it seems that Chinese domainers are also looking for guidance on what they should be spending their money on.

Last night (November 18th), famous investor John Xu made a comment in a WeChat group that caused great interest among the Chinese domaining community. The 4.CN founder told fellow investors to be "cautious and rational in registering meaningless domain names with long letters and numbers." This could be referring to the current buyout of "Chinese Premium" 5L domains, and the continued registration of seven-, eight-, and nine- number domains.

He also warned the WeChat group that hype and false reports tend to exist in this market, which can give misguided information to new investors. Mr. Xu also expects domain names to eventually be "reasonably allocated" to all investors.

It is interesting to see that many Chinese investors are struggling to fathom what's happening in the short domain market, and it's good to see an experienced investor such as Mr. Xu dispensing this advice to those looking to invest in domain names.

Do you agree with Mr Xu's opinions? Write a comment below.

Other news that was dispensed to me today was the fact that another famous Chinese investor - Lei Zhu - has recently completed some very good sales. After selling 277.com for an undisclosed fee, Lei Zhu then sold 699.com for a price close to $1,000,000.
 
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Mr Xu also expects domain names to eventually be "reasonably allocated" to all investors.
I have no idea what "reasonably allocated" means here.
 
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When Chinese domain investors realise what domains sell in other countries to end users, they may buy non-CHIPs also....curious events are happening...interesting times.
 
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I have no idea what "reasonably allocated" means here.

reasonably allocated means a few get the money the others the domains.
 
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As others have noted throughout this forum, Chinese commentary on their own investment proclivities -- which numbers, letters, patterns, etc, are best -- has not been exactly clear and consistent. There are reports of Chinese domainers sitting in a bar laughing at Western domainers buying up so-called meaningful phrases in 4L and 5L niches, while whois reports show that 80% of these same domains are registered by Chinese investors. Etc. We've all heard these stories.

It is easy to fall into the abyss of trying to read the tea leaves of what these comments might mean, and how to extrapolate from them to a meaningful investment strategy.

As a general rule, I find it better to base your judgment on what people do, not what they say.

I have a friend on this forum who has not invested in the 5L.com buyout. So he's an uninterested party. Even before the buyout began he mentioned a Chinese friend of his who had bought 100,000 5L.coms a couple months back -- and registered them all for 2 years. There have been multiple other reports of this in other short domain niches, Chinese investors buying in bulk and registering for 2 or 3 years.

I'm not sure what exactly Mr Xu's comments might mean, but I'm going to continue to base my buying and selling on what the market is doing, not what one or the other famous investor is saying. Who knows what agenda lay beneath these comments? Also, I doubt Chinese domainers are any more unified in their views then we are. For them, like us, the right hand doesn't always know what the left hand is doing -- or why. There is also a generational component, from what I've read, with more of the younger money going into digital assets, while the older money might not quite "get it".

I don't know Mr Xu and I'm sure his comments were well intended. But at the end of the day they are just that -- comments. Talk is cheap. Watch the market.
 
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After reading the article, it is clear Mr Xu doesn't know more than any other domainer at this point. He is basically stating what we already know - buy what you know will sell and avoid random stuff.

IMO I have put money behind LLLL dot com in 2007. I have probably only sold 10 so far (which I regret) and I will be holding the rest. In fact bought a few this week. The value of these short dot coms will remain intact and when you find an end user that wants it, the base is useless. So it took me 8 years to see the value that it holds today in terms of a base, but I am putting much higher value on them as I start to think of end users. I am translating all of my sale pages into Chinese and will welcome this new tranche of new buyers.
 
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Just from my limited Whois research, I'm seeing Chinese registrants registering domains with "0" and "4," -- as long as there is a pattern and combinations, such as 248, 848, 48, 54, 44, 444, and 84.

Very confusing.

Perhaps we have all drunk the Kool Aid -- that Westerners are perceiving a certain market parameter and the Chinese seeing what Westerners are registering and jumping on the bandwagon.

In other words, we are all playing off of each other.

Guilty!!!

:)
 
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As a general rule, I find it better to base your judgment on what people do, not what they say.

Pure gold comment.
 
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I understand it. When a certain type of domain (NNNN.com, LLLL.com, etc.) starts selling for a lot, especially when it becomes too expensive for most, people just look for what's next line... this just keeps happening over and over and all the action is attracting more, and more new investors. So now there are more people then ever that want these kinds of names, and this results in higher sale prices, buyouts, and a scarcity of names - and then it becomes a vicious circle, because those 3 things result in, well, those 3 things.
 
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Just from my limited Whois research, I'm seeing Chinese registrants registering domains with "0" and "4," -- as long as there is a pattern and combinations, such as 248, 848, 48, 54, 44, 444, and 84.

Very confusing.

4 - what happens if you own a Zombie business in China, is it a bad number.
 
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This does make sense to me. I have been seeing these long number domains in the Chinese auctions. I can see them buying just because it is part of the hype and they do not know the difference either and buying just in case as we have been doing.
Assuming these long number domains are the most temporary direction to take perhaps now is the day for everyone to sell these and forget them and concentrate on shorter easier to understand Domains that may just be valuable when or if this Chinese craze drops or slows to a minimum?
I think I am getting out ;)
 
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Please, share a few links to chines sites where chinese investors prefer to search for good domains. Thanks.
 
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Anyone here hear of a "Market Maker"? In the investment world companies like Goldman Sachs have been feeding information for years to manipulate markets so that they can take advantage of the weak hands.
 
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I think it's a good advise for not only Chinese domain investors but for all in general.
 
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Anyone here hear of a "Market Maker"? In the investment world companies like Goldman Sachs have been feeding information for years to manipulate markets so that they can take advantage of the weak hands.

well I think it's jusst called the stock market lol

but I don't really see the link betwen that and domaining.

cars.com has value or other reasons... and 4l.com are rare enough given the global demand and growing number of people gtting on net, to retain good stable value in future too.

that being said, just about everything else that is not com and not 4l.. well.. you do what you want, but I'm being careful
 
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You cannot compare this trend to 3 letter dot coms, no way. Supply does not meet demand in the 3L space and in the 4L space there is enough demand to keep prices going up.

The 5L space has way too much supply \ combinations and right now is a bubble floating towards a sharp object.
 
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This is what happened:

In August 2015, random LLLL.coms were sold for $100-$150. Same names were sold for $170-$220 range in Sptember. HOW?

When every one was bidding in the range of 100-150, new domainers were bidding for 170.
When every one was bidding in the range of 170-200, new domainers were bidding for 220. (The guy who previously bid 170 has got some experience (mostly bad) & he didn't bid for more than 170 this time)
When every one was bidding in the range of 220-250, new domainers were bidding for 250. (New set of domainers this time. They were buying in bulk after seeing the price rise from 100-300 within few months.)

Now we need to wait for some brand new domainers who can Bid $400 on random LLLL.com :D:D:D

 
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Just from my limited Whois research, I'm seeing Chinese registrants registering domains with "0" and "4," -- as long as there is a pattern and combinations, such as 248, 848, 48, 54, 44, 444, and 84.

Very confusing.

Perhaps we have all drunk the Kool Aid -- that Westerners are perceiving a certain market parameter and the Chinese seeing what Westerners are registering and jumping on the bandwagon.

In other words, we are all playing off of each other.

Guilty!!!

:)

0 is not an unlucky number in China.
 
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I do think there are some fundamentals driving this market. It is not only hype.
1. Chinese are willing to pay a premium for lucky numbers. For example, "lucky" cell phone numbers (e.g. containing many 8's) are sold at a premium. I saw one forum comment saying that when someone's Chinese relative bought a house in Canada, a factor was that the house was at number 38 in the street. The street number of apartment complexes in China often ends in 88 or 99.
2. There are Chinese domainers selling 4L.com CHIPs to end users for over 60kCNY ($10k plus). 4 characters it a good length for the name of something in Chinese. (5 characters is less good) So there is an end user market there.
3. There may be a market in China for domains simply as trophy assets--the jury is currently out on that one.

The question is how far can the land-rush go before we are over-extended--and I think no-one knows the answer to this. The more niche the buyouts get (longer domains, less well-known tlds), the greater the risk that your handregs will not be worth the renewal fee. If bulk registering, I recommend taking advantage of promotions to reduce your acquisition price to below the normal registration cost (check domcomp.com for the lowest prices). When a new TLD suddenly becomes popular in China it is also often related to registrar promotions.

Also take a look at the fixed price (一口价) domain sales at 22.cn. Some CHIPS 5L.com domains are currently for sale at 50cny, which is just below reg fee--and the advantage will be that you will have the domain registered at 22.cn, which is a popular registrar in China that has its own sales platform with commissions of only 4% when you sell.

BTW: A word about this idea of using google translate to find the "meaning" of 5L domains. Most of the time this is inaccurate--don't google translate to judge the value or meaning of a 5L domain.
 
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Some CHIPS 5L.com domains are currently for sale at 50cny, which is just below reg fee--and the advantage will be that you will have the domain registered at 22.cn,
That may be ABOVE regfee if they were registered when discount was available.
 
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