3 Letter . US - Stock them up?

[johnn]

In the past couple of weeks, hundred/thousand of 3-letter .us are about to expire so many owner can't afford to renew and have to rush out to sell them.

The prices are ranged from cheap NP$ to below register fee and some cases @ $1.

I think the situation is temporary and the price of the 3-letter should go up shortly.

Imagine to renew 100,200,300 names at even $4.95 is a real pain.

The 2 dollars question here is should we buy them wait? I think we should.

Just my 2 cents.

John

 

[MsSpider]

Hmmm...I'm so new at this biz that I honestly don't know, but I am eagerly awaiting to hear what the "pros" have to say on this...

 

[Grrilla]

In today's market, investing in 3LL .us is not for the faint of heart, particularly w/ borderline letter combos. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little dismayed by the current turn of events in this category. It's tempting to just to throw the hands up and start chucking them. But, I think the wise investor finds a way to buy low and sell high and 3LL .us is currently a buyers market. I'm holding on to the ones I have and have been picking up a few more along the way. Most of those being sold on the cheap require an immediate renewal, so a $7 price tag actually reflects about a $15 buy, but that's still a bargain in my eyes.

I've only been at it a few years, but in that time I have had the oppurtunity to see trends in name categories fluctuate and go full circle- particularly in non-.com exts. .us is in it's drop cycle period and the market for this .cctld, in general, is down- again, good for buyers-bad for sellers. I think the market in 3LL and 3char in non .com exts has also slowed a wee bit. Only a few months back .us were selling at Bazaar, (the reseeler's rock bottom, IMHO) at $15/$18/ $25. In a few months, .info will be taking center stage as the dump du jour and there will be bargains in that area. I project that .us will show a small but steady rise beginning late this year and continue into next. No guarantees, of course, but that's how I'm playing it.

 

[-db-]

Good quality 3-letter .US domains are valuable. The extension (3rd anniversary) is at one of those growing pain periods when a lot of portfolios's are being 'tweaked', and many less disirable letters and domains are not going to be renewed. Right this minute, those so-called "junk" letters (Z,X,Q etc.) are not worth much, so it's a good time to make a little stash if you can.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

My only word to the wise is be wary of buying domains in bulk that are at a registrar/reseller with expensive renewal prices. Made that mistake early on, and almost did the same thing in my excitement with the recent crop of .us's dropping
I've picked my pony, as a lot of you know , in the non .com arena, and .us is it. I've bought many more 3 letter .us's that aren't the "junk" letters, but at the same time, I've been able to hand-reg a lot of .us's that are "junk" letters, but for $4 I can live with that
-Allan

 

[johnn]

I agreed with Grilla and hold on to all the names that I have and buy some more at a cheaper price now.
You have nothing to lose but the renewal fee at this ridiculous prices.

I believe the price will eventually go up because the names will be transferred from large lot owners to small lot owners which will create less pressure to sell.
You can't afford to renew several hundred/thousand names at a time but under 100 is mostly manageable.

There is always a risk in investing but in this case the risk is small.

 

[zestydomains*com]

Hello All,

I'm in a strong hold position on my 3-letter .us names (have renewed them all) and may reg more when in-all-likelihood many will drop soon. I've further been offered many 3-letter .us domains at next to nothing that need renewal...and the offers are tempting.

I would say that for a new domainer that is looking to get into a better-than-average speculator position in domains, 3-letter .us may be a great option. As 3-letter combos in the upper Gtld categories (.com, .net, .org, .info) have grown sharply in value, it would be logical that .us might (and likely will) follow. .US has the possibility to be a powerhouse extension in time. I would relate it to the Fox TV Broadcasting network here in the US. 15 years ago Fox was laughed at for trying to be 4th big network on TV. Fast-forward to today and Fox is not only holding its own, but is currently doing better than long-time powerhouse NBC.

Will .us ever replace .com, .net, .org or .info in greater value in 3-letter combos...not likely IMHO. But this said, if it merely keeps up with the rise in values of these other extensions in 3-letter price percentage growth...just watch out. In a short amount of time we could all be looking back at amazement at the days when it was once possible that one could still reg a 3-letter .us domain.

Finally, most domainers now-a-days are very much "super quick-return mindset" speculators. They want their investment return right away...and yet very few are now able to really turn a profit with this mentality. Recall that folks 5 years ago were wondering these same types of questions about 3-letter .com names: "Would they ever take off? Would they ever grow in value? Would people hold onto their 3-letter .com domains? Would there ever be a strong market for 3-letter .com domains?"

I think history has looked very favorably on those who who have taken their chances with 3-letter domains. Further, I think the future is very bright...particularly for those whose perspective is longer than 1 week or 1 month from now.

I hope this helps...great thread and a very good question of our day.

Thanks,
Zesty

 

[johnn]

Great post! Zesty post!

 

[Grrilla]

Ditto

 

[-db-]

Good stuff Zesty. :tu:

Patience is a virtue, no doubt.

By the way, congrats on the great DSO.com sale.