3 LLL .info's-20NP$- Ahh... Those Were the Days!

[Grrilla]

A little over a year ago, Feb 20/21 depending on your time zone, all remaining 3 LL .info's were registered. Went back to get a look, and found out just how far 3LLL .infos have come.
On 7/10/03, 3,546 3LL .info domains, (20% of all avail), were listed as available in "Expired Domains". Cost? reg fee plus 20NP$ donation each. At the time, .infos could be regged for about $10 ea, so for $35,460, (plus about 70,000 NP$), the whole lot could have been yours. Today's market value: approx $500,000. A buyer w/ enough foresight (and/or luck) on that day, would be half way towards being a millionaire today.
http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=2760&highlight=.info+letter
About 6 mos later, 1,126, were still avail.
http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=21389&highlight=letter
Then, poof! http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=21771&highlight=letter
:sold:

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Lots of .cc's available all ye with forsight
-Allan

 

[zestydomains*com]

How short a year it's been since that buy-out on 3-letter .info and .biz, and only 9 months ago all 3-letter .us were bought out too.

With wholesale on 3-letter .info (regardless of letter combo) now around $50+ minimum, that represents a very healthy return in a years time to those lucky enough to have gotten them at reg fee prior to the buy-out.

And further, with some ~3500 of the 17576 in Elequa's posession, the supply of non-end-user 3-letter .infos is already pretty tight.

Great Thread Grrilla!

 

[daddypi]

RADiSTAR
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Name: Greek God
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Just a note: 3 & 4 letter .info domains look ridiculous
__________________




:D :D :D :D

 

[Anthony]

Thanks for making us all sad for not grabbing those back then, Mike! :lol:

 

[harpo]

That speculation is due to, a buyout of one person, if they were sold to all of us at namepros the market would be saturated and many people are happy to make 5 bucks of of their name ,,,and the market for three letter .infos would still be 10 bucks..

that one person has invested what 35,000 ????for the buyout and he had to renew so its up to 70,000 to hold onto his names is any one here still willing to do that???.
and 2nd secondly you have to say you are not selling your names to everyone to make that price go up high..still interested in buying them all, out?? just crazy
{that road to being as milioniare is so slippery with snakes ar ever corner}


for junk letters,,,, just look at three letter .us .........people are still trying to sell their for what `10 15 for with junk letters..

 

[Grrilla]

That one person bought approx 1,100 names that were still avail last Feb, (not Jul 03), therefore reg+1 yr renewals=$22K, and I believe the individual, (and probably a number of members here), could afford to pop for that amt. I hardly think the buyout of 1,000 names, (approx 7%), had the effect of single-handedly making 3LL.info go up from reg fee (approx $10) up to today's current prices, where the bare mininum is $60, because all drops end up in auctions. Additionally, by the time that Elequa made his move, 3LL .infos had been picked over and those that remained, weren't of the highest quality. i know, because I was one of those who happenned to be picking through the remaining names the night before the buy was made.

.US is a cctld, it has never approached it's potential and the ext. can't fairly compared to .info, or to .biz, for that matter. The 3LL .US names that I have recently seen for sale, have letter combinations w/o acronym value and the letters have most of their links to foreign countries with names like Uzbekistan, so, for obvious reasons, the .us ext is not going to work or hold much value in this situation.

The road to being a millionaire is indeed a "slippery" one that is filled w/"snakes" and sharks. The number of sharks that are circling becomes proportionally larger, the closer one gets to the meal, which in our context, would be money. I have seen and experienced this phenomenom, over and over again.
The fortunate man does not spend his life in the sole pursuit of money, and doesn't have to be on the constant lookout, worrying that his head will be swallowed as part of an appetizer to someone's, (or something's), next meal.

And, to all of you who consider yourself to be one of the sharks, (unless you are one of those who is content taking advantage of minnows and feeding off of them), there is always a bigger, faster, stronger and meaner shark, waiting to eat you, if you happen to get too close to the prize. This prospect is exciting to the minnows, who eagerly await your remaining scraps, as they float down to the bottom of the pond. Seafood dinner, anyone?

:wave:

 

[zestydomains*com]

Hello All,

Also, in regards to Elequa, who bought out the remaining supply of 3-letter .infos a year ago, he is most certainly very wealthy and owns something in the neighborhood of:

2500 3-letter .com names
2500 3-letter .net names
2000 3-letter .org names
3500 3-letter .info names
4500 3-letter .biz names
(and a few of the worlds most beautiful and exotic sports cars)

I don't know the exact numbers of his ownership levels, but I don't think I'm off by much. You'll know you've been to a name he owns if you visit a domain and it's set up as an OXiDE search site. Others he owns include cool.com, media.com and mr.com among MANY others.

Elequa is an exceptionally nice guy whom I've sold several 3-letter names to in the past. He has been very clear with all who ask that he intends to NEVER sell any of his domains, and I truly believe him and take him at his word. He's by far got the funding to keep them registered and in that way, the number of names still in circulation (not in end-user's hands) is getting smaller and smaller.

I wonder if in 10 years or so if we'll look back and smile in consideration of our current domainer days and our speculation of the future for the domain market. I happen to hold a very positive view of the market ahead for 3 letter names, and I think I'm happy to let our time ahead tell the story. Fun Stuff!

Andrew

 

[equity78]

Michael and Zesty great posts IMO you are exactly right.

 

[Grrilla]

Fun Stuff!

:bingo: TX for the reminding me of why I got into this, to begin with. It's good to hear this again, every once in awhile. It's far too easy to lose perspective at times, with all of the differing opinions, disagreements, B/S and whatnot that you come across.

 

[Midano]

How many times have you told yourself "If I only knew then what I know now..."?

 

[Grrilla]

Like many of us, I fantasized as a child, (and continue to do so as an adult), daydreaming about what I would do if I could go back into time. I'd try to figure out what resources and information I would need to bring along, to get the job done. With the www, it reduces the chore of what to bring to 3 very simple items. A computer w/ access to the internet, a list of domain names, and enough $$'s to reg them. But what would the fun be, w/o the challenge?

 

[Riceman]

Hello All,


Elequa is an exceptionally nice guy whom I've sold several 3-letter names to in the past. He has been very clear with all who ask that he intends to NEVER sell any of his domains, and I truly believe him and take him at his word. He's by far got the funding to keep them registered and in that way, the number of names still in circulation (not in end-user's hands) is getting smaller and smaller.

With all of these names, how does he monetize it?

 

[1rrr1]

Hello All,


Elequa is an exceptionally nice guy whom I've sold several 3-letter names to in the past. He has been very clear with all who ask that he intends to NEVER sell any of his domains, and I truly believe him and take him at his word. He's by far got the funding to keep them registered and in that way, the number of names still in circulation (not in end-user's hands) is getting smaller and smaller.

With all of these names, how does he monetize it?

parking, maybe just selling later?

 

[Grrilla]

With all of these names, how does he monetize it?

AL-Ghanim's Future Media Architects, Inc. (fma.com) is a holding company for his masterpieces. However, you need not bother approaching FMA to buy a piece for your own collection. AL-Ghanim says he does not sell domains. That alone tells you how different his approach is from most others in the industry. “My model gives me an opportunity to enjoy utilizing domains for my own purposes and creativity”, AL-Ghanim told DNJ in a series of interviews conducted over the past month.

He says he was drawn to the domain business because he saw a power locked in domain names that is often left unused. The industry is like a perfect studio where he can apply his creativity to a business with spectacular growth opportunities. Thunayan has a number of major development projects in the works. His brushstrokes will bring domains like Jade.com and Fed.com to life....

Some of that traffic is drawn by the type-in value of great domains and some is produced by Thunayan’s promotional skills. His mp3.tv sponsored Italy’s national championship Ferarri racing team. Seeing his logo emblazoned on a car roaring by at 200 miles per hour is a perfect metaphor for the full-throttle approach AL-Ghanim is applying to the domain business.

http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/coverstory2.htm