In May 2015 I saw how LLL.com, NNN.com and NNNN.com were going up in value fast. So I figured I'd look into LLL.co and NNNN.co (NNN.co was all registered) since it seemed the short strings were getting in demand, and a .co could be an alternative to .com (if you are going by how a domain looks, 866.co is a lot more like 866.com than 866.org or 866.net). Plus some new businesses have been using .co, it is only two letters, China takes well to .cc so why not .co, so in a world where domain extensions have vastly multiplied with new gtlds, .co looks pretty good as a .com alternative compared to everything else. Short .com's are so sky high in value, many have to choose something different. Also I checked Whois on some NNNN.co and did find Chinese owners and Chinese websites. That is my rationale, I'm not asking anyone to debate it or agree/disagree, that's just my decision making at the time.
So back in May I started regging some LLL.co and a lot of NNNN.co, and even some NNNNN.co NNNNNN.co good patterns.
I didn't know what Chips were (the term hadn't even been invented yet) so many of my LLL.co turned out to be non-chips. For numbers I knew enough not to get 4's, and that 8's and double/triple numbers were good. I bought a few here and there between May and October, not seeing any evidence yet of .co picking up in the market, just on a hunch I could hold for up to a year and re-evaluate.
I never expected all the NNNN.co to get bought out before the end of 2015. There were lots available to reg, I should have taken them all. And all the remaining LLL.co too. In hindsight I was doing the right thing, at the time it was pure speculation based on how I saw what the market was doing for short .com's. Now I've been selling some of those <10$ hand regs for $150 to $250. What other class of domains have gone up 15x to 30x since last spring?
So now looking around what is in demand? Short domains. Everyone would love to have short .com's but they are scarce and super expensive. What is a next choice? I would say you want an extension that is short. An extension that is open to anyone to buy and hopefully available at many registrars (and if not registrars can always add new extensions at any time). An extension with a reasonable reg fee (not like some of the premium new gtld reg fees of $100's or $1000's per year). An extension that is easy to type and easy to remember. Maybe an extension that starts with a 'C' because that is how the most popular extension (.COM) starts. People are used to going for the C after they type the dot. Maybe an extension with letters that could be an acronym. .CH can stand for CHINA, or China H------. .CZ could be China Z-----. There are meanings in Pinyin for letters. .BZ could be Beijing Z----. I don't know, but it turns out .XYZ has a meaning in China no one knew about. I'm smart enough to know there are probably meanings I have no idea of! If an extension has a lot of the above going for it, I think it has a chance.
So what could some winning extensions be this year?
.CH
.CZ
.BZ
.IO (already has some traction for start-ups, why not for Chinese start-ups too?)
.SH (for Shanghai, why not? already some Chinese use of .SH, look at 588.sh and 688.sh)
.CH could be such a natural for China. .IO is already known to many in domaining circles. .SH is a flyer for Shanghai, who knows. .CZ and .BZ are maybe the most speculative of all.
At this time it is guesswork and hunches and speculation, just like when I was regging short .CO less than a year ago. I hope it works out like .CO did, but I don't know. I can see one or more of these extensions catching on.
The forum is for discussing ideas like these. I don't see any pumping, I see some optimism, some people who have bought and think it's a good choice. That is what the thread topic is about. I don't go into unrelated threads and hype this stuff.
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