question Are wordplay domains valuable? Example geo domains , like go.al , loy.al , payp.al???

[ImperiousDon]

Any opionions on this ?

 

[Dan Prather]

Any opionions on this ?

Also referred to as "Domain Hacks" -- action depends on what your intention with them is. From an investment perspective, I have never had any clients remotely interested in them. Primary feedback received eluded to the following:

1. Difficult to Remember
2. Knock-Off Variant NOT owned by the owner of the .com
3. Spammy or High Probability to Cause Harm
4. Difficult to Market

Hope that helps you in making a decision to invest in or take next steps with your domaining strategy.

Thanks

Dan Prather

 

[cooljub]

I'm not a huge fan of hacks anyway, but definitely avoid names like the third in your list. This would be a blatant disregard of a well-known trademark.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I have never been a huge fan of them and never invested in them. However it is clear that a lot do sell sometimes at good prices.

There is a subcategory domain hacks feature in NameBio that allows you to search for sales. This expliains how to do it.

Recently the bike sharing major company LimeBikes announced they were moving from their com to the domain hack name Li.me

 

[DanBingham]

Not a fan personally, not invested in any and no plans to do so.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I might add that while I am not a fan really of domain hacks (i.e. a single word split by the dot), I am a big fan of domain phrases (two, or more, words where the period splits the words exactly). For example, I see in this morning's NameBio daily report that mentor(.)me sold for more than $5k and that is in my opinion a great domain. The best of the new extensions do this naturally, such as home.loans or vacation.rentals or be.fit.

The difference for me is that outside the domain community the public really don't know which are extensions and which are not (for the most part) so to use one of the OP examples I think the public remembering it would not be sure if it is loy.al or lo.yal etc. That being said, I do recognize that domain hacks are selling moderately well so clearly investors and end users find value in it.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Just one more addition, while not domain hacks per se (I think), I like the idea of using the extension to make a word speakable, provided that the name and extension both suggest reasonable value. Like a super great example would be e(.)co that sold for $81k a number of years ago. A few other great names along these lines are ban(.)co that sold for $24.5k in 2010 and magnifi(.)co that sold for $5k this year. I think co works well for these, but a few other extensions do as well. Interestingly ban(.)co does not resolve currently. A waste of a great digital asset!

When the combination is speakable, spellable and brandable it is great, and if it also is a word, or near word, in some language is another bonus. I acquired editi(.)co last fall as for me with the letter i added it made it more speakable, as well as of course making it into "edit ico" with possible offerings in editing windows ico icons or in initial coin offering use, possibly.

While the auction is long over, Sedo's domain auction earlier this year has some good general guidance - the link is here.

In August there was a time limited promotion at Undeveloped where they reduced prices on many hacks for a short period. Does anyone know if they reported, in aggregate or individually, what sold? I know Undeveloped do not normally release sales, but would be interesting to see how many sold.

Of course many of the best hacks selling are at Park.io.