discuss （Exclusive NEWS)High sales behind the .Ai You may have never heard before!

[domainnews]

Many of you may not have heard this story.
Do you still remember how much a typical four-letter domain name cost in 2014 and 2015? Most were priced between $1,500 and $2,000, or even more. Why? Back then, Chinese market manipulation led to a massive surge in Chinese domain name pledges on platforms. Eventually, the platform owner donated money and absconded, leaving many Chinese people penniless. A class-action lawsuit ensued, and ultimately, the platform owner was sentenced to prison for fraud. Since then, the price of four-letter domain names has plummeted dramaticcally，Today, many are priced at just $100 or even over $200.

Let's talk about the development of Chinese artificial intelligence companies.

According to Chinese media reported, approximately 10,000 Chinese artificial intelligence companies closed down last year and this year together. The artificial intelligence website of Alibaba, a major company, has changed from the original .ai to the current .com suffix.

Let's first look at the data. Approximately two-thirds of high-quality one English word .AI domains are registered by Chinese. In other words, seven out of 10 high-value .ai domains are registered by Chinese. Two-thirds of single-letter and two-letter .ai domains are registered by Chinese. The remaining domains, including ai.ai, were originally registered by Chinese. A slightly smaller third, or even less, are registered by Ukrainians. This year, the Chinese are even trying to register all three-letter and three-digit .ai domains. So, now you understand why the high prices for .ai domains are so high in the market. This is a monopoly, and prices are set arbitrarily.

In my observation, some of these domains are not actually real transactions. I'm only pointing out this phenomenon because after some transactions, some domains remain unused. Would you be willing to spend tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on a domain that sits unused? However, it can create the illusion that the AI market is booming, which is a purpose they want.

Of course, high transactions are expected, but we can't verify their authenticity. After all, it's unlikely that small startups would pay a high price for a .ai domain at a very early stage.

Deepseek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company with the highest number of downloads worldwide, has never chosen a domain ending in .ai. To be honest, I rarely see Chinese companies using domains ending in .ai for their websites.

Investing is risky. You need to do a lot of objective market research, rather than relying solely on market trends. For example, a domain name end with "com" was recently auctioned on Sedo with a starting price of 500,000 USD. It was got rid of it from auction market by Sedo security personnel after only two days.

just imagine If the auction ends and no one bids, then the historical price of this domain name would be captured by the data platform at 500,000 USD. Previously, this person had bid 1M USD for another domain name ended with "com", too，but the auction was forced to stop by the Sedo staff. This is the same person， If you don't believe then you can go and ask Sedo staffs.

Last but not least ， I just wanna share stories that people may have never heard before，Whatever， just enjoy your domain journey!

 

[domainnews]

four-letter refer to four-letter .COMs

 

[VadimK]

While I generally agree that there is a certain level of manipulation possibly happening in the .ai space, there are definitely a few things I would question:

1. Undeveloped domains is nothing new to any tld (starting with .com)
2. There is no evidence to support the claim that most .ai registrations are by Chinese companies.
3. Even if we assume that many of the registrations are from China, this does not mean a monopoly. China is not a corporation, and even if we imagine some form of alike behavior towards .ai, it falls far short of intended price manipulation.

I'd rather believe the operator of .ai (Identity Digital) and Anguilla government are messing up with registrations and fake purchases, rather than Chinese companies.

In any case, the .ai tld is interesting to watch. I sold both .ai and word+ai.com already. Hope uptrend will continue )

 

[domainnews]

You misunderstood what I meant. When I said that large-scale AI domains were registered by Chinese people, I did not mean that Chinese people manipulated the prices and the value of domain names. Ultimately, only buyers and sellers can determine the value. Due to various high-value transactions on the market, the actual value of AI domain names has been increased in disguise. At the beginning of the year, at the AI auction conference reported by Sedo, many high-quality domain names had no bids. After all, it takes time for a suffix to develop and settle. This is a rule. From last year to now, there have been many transactions of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. With the same money, some AI prices are completely enough to buy com. Your transaction is just that others saw the large transactions of AI domain names, and they wanted to buy them at a low price. As I said, this is what I said, the "butterfly effect" domain name. In addition, the price of .4-letter com was indeed manipulated by the Chinese, and many small Chinese investors lost a lot of money.

 

[domainnews]

In 2013, a Chinese man purchased the domain name game.com from an American toy manufacturer Hasbro for $3.6 million. He was likely to advertised the Chinese domain medias ,some leading Chinese domain name medias outlets to report that he had purchased it from abroad for $15 million. Later, the seller, Hasbro ，the seller, clarified that the price was $3.6 million, not $15 million.

 

[domainnews]

in addition to， The Former sale of Fund.com reported close at 10M USD， actually，Transaction for this domain at 9M dollars failed as well in the end .

 

[VadimK]

This is a monopoly, and prices are set arbitrarily.

Well, this what you said and the term ''monopoly'' clearly implies control and manipulation, and that's what I've been replying to.

If you mean more of an ''influence'' - that's a different story and here I believe it's possible )

 

[william]

In 2013, a Chinese man purchased the domain name game.com from an American toy manufacturer Hasbro for $3.6 million. He was likely to advertised the Chinese domain medias ,some leading Chinese domain name medias outlets to report that he had purchased it from abroad for $15 million. Later, the seller, Hasbro ，the seller, clarified that the price was $3.6 million, not $15 million.

I'd be shocked if Chinese media were to manipulate data or report fake news. They are usually my #1 source of trusted news.

 

[domainnews]

I'd be shocked if Chinese media were to manipulate data or report fake news. They are usually my #1 source of trusted news.

HAha.You are totally wrong but you can trust this domain platform， Domain.cn

 

[domainnews]

I would like to disclose how the 4-letter com was hyped back then.(2015~2017)

First, A sets up a domain name platform with his own team. Then, his team goes to many Chinese domain name trading platforms to buy up those 4-letter coms that no one wants at an average price of 100-200 USD. When the market is almost fully acquired, his team releases the domain names they bought from other domain name platforms before (50USD-150USD or so) and re-marks them at 300-400USD and sells them on other platforms.

Then, their team has already bought their own domain names for 300-400USD, although there are transaction fees, in order to defraud a larger amount of money later. Then, because of their crazy low prices, there are not many 4-letter domain names in the Chinese market for 50USD-150USD (most of which have been bought up by their team at the previous low prices). Many Chinese investors go abroad to buy them at low prices, buy them back, put them on the platform, and are bought up by this team again.

As the domain names bought at low prices from abroad are constantly being re-acquired, the price of 4-letter coms abroad is also raised, and it gradually rises from the original price of 50-200 USD to... com domain name from abroad at high prices. These people who made a little money, in turn, attracted those who had just entered the domain name industry and deceived them into buying domain names at high prices. This is the so-called "butterfly" effect.

Soon after, the team had almost sold out the low-priced domain names and no longer purchased the 4-letter com domains that ordinary investors had bought from abroad at high prices. Domain names, those 4-letter coms bought back from foreign countries at high prices, no one is willing to buy them anymore, just like stocks, ordinary users are trapped and cannot exchange domain names for cash until the cash flow breaks.

so these ordinary investors have to repay the bank’s previous loans (the money for buying domain names). Before, although those ordinary investors pledged their domain names on the team platform to get a little interest, the domain names had long been resold by the platform, so they found out that they were cheated and filed a class action lawsuit against the platform. The owner of the platform had already transferred the money abroad. Finally, after unremitting efforts, he was arrested and sentenced to prison by Chinese police.

However, the victims’ money could not be recovered in the end. The original price of a 4-letter com fell from the peak of US$2,000 or even higher to US$100 or US$200. No one bought it, and many investors suffered heavy losses. It is said that the platform made hundreds of millions of yuan.

 

[domainnews]

the platform made 200M USD within 2 years or so equals 150000000RMB in the end

 

[domainnews]

I'd be shocked if Chinese media were to manipulate data or report fake news. They are usually my #1 source of trusted news.

Hi， I'm so sad to hear that， I mean some Chinese Domaining Medias NOT mean Chinese Medias

 

[pb]

In 2013, a Chinese man purchased the domain name game.com from an American toy manufacturer Hasbro for $3.6 million. He was likely to advertised the Chinese domain medias ,some leading Chinese domain name medias outlets to report that he had purchased it from abroad for $15 million. Later, the seller, Hasbro ，the seller, clarified that the price was $3.6 million, not $15 million.

What if both numbers are true? What if he actually paid $15M and Hasbro actually received $3.6M?

 

[domainnews]

What if both numbers are true? What if he actually paid $15M and Hasbro actually received $3.6M?

the seller, Hasbro had clarified that the price was $3.6 million, not $15 million already，Howere，the buyer did not clarify it yet

 

[pb]

the seller, Hasbro had clarified that the price was $3.6 million, not $15 million already，Howere，the buyer did not clarify it yet

What I meant is that if the transaction was facilitated by a "broker", then both numbers may be true and the missing amount found another owner.

 

[domainnews]

What I meant is that if the transaction was facilitated by a "broker", then both numbers may be true and the missing amount found another owner.

Hi， Lets put it in the way ， take Sedo top broker as example， brokeage service fees account for 25% of total sales in 2025， back to 2013 ， The broker service fee would have lower than this figure a little bit .

For example:counted as 20% brokeage fees， 1500 USD sales total venues >>>>brokeage got 300 USD + total sales （1200USD- 360 USD ，So ，Where is 840 USD?

Aha，obviously，840 USD is buyers venue in the future to the end user through ADs spread although it's imagination， ADs just like virus across far and wide .

Maybe ， the buyers went too far ，therefore，Hasbro has to show some color to them ，LOL…

Whatever，This domain is 3.6M USD 2013， after all ，its singular ，it would much higher if it is plural.

 

[pb]

That's why I put "broker" in quotation marks. I know some cases where a "broker" negotiated a different price from the buyer and the seller, to try and cash in on the difference. Although admittedly not on such a scale.

 

[domainnews]

That's why I put "broker" in quotation marks. I know some cases where a "broker" negotiated a different price from the buyer and the seller, to try and cash in on the difference. Although admittedly not on such a scale.

It's not a surprising thing， Many brokers did the same thing.
first of all， After comparing with the previous similar transaction datas, after making a rough judgment on the value of your domain name as long as the transaction price is not too far from your ideal, in most cases，it is acceptable.

As for the difference between the intermediary's quotation to the buyer and the seller, it is also a normal business behavior. The higher the intermediary's quotation, the higher their commission, and similarly, the greater your income. In any case, high-end intermediaries have their sales channels, and it is reasonable for them to take more. If you negotiate by yourself and find a seller, the sales price may not be much that high, and it is very laborious. After all, everyone's sales abilities and strategies are different. A win-win situation for all three parties is the best business model.

 

[domainnews]

That's why I put "broker" in quotation marks. I know some cases where a "broker" negotiated a different price from the buyer and the seller, to try and cash in on the difference. Although admittedly not on such a scale.

Yes， I can understand you totally.

Sometimes ，the brokers will join hands with sellers to release fake news in order to elevate their domains value so as to catch domain investors attention ，It happened frequently in the domaining.

 

[domainnews]

While I generally agree that there is a certain level of manipulation possibly happening in the .ai space, there are definitely a few things I would question:

1. Undeveloped domains is nothing new to any tld (starting with .com)
2. There is no evidence to support the claim that most .ai registrations are by Chinese companies.
3. Even if we assume that many of the registrations are from China, this does not mean a monopoly. China is not a corporation, and even if we imagine some form of alike behavior towards .ai, it falls far short of intended price manipulation.

I'd rather believe the operator of .ai (Identity Digital) and Anguilla government are messing up with registrations and fake purchases, rather than Chinese companies.

In any case, the .ai tld is interesting to watch. I sold both .ai and word+ai.com already. Hope uptrend will continue )

Hi， I mean high-value .ai domains registered by Chinese investors，I mean "registered" reg fees rather than bought at a low prices from markets at that time.

1-2 letter or 1-2 number or two-letter ai Chinese domain investors owned much more than any other country domain investors( 1- letter （26 total in number) while
(1-number 10 in total) Chinese account for 70% or more all hand-reg)

(1)How many high-value English one word there?
(2) How many 2-number and 2-letter there?
(3) Chinese own the most 3-Number than any other country investors.

Most importantly ， many Chinese investors loaned to register.ai domains crazily when the .ai market is as cold as iceburg， How do they know the ai.market will be booming soon? even loans from bank to register .ai domains with high reg fees and renewal fees at early stage?

BTW，after that，many newbie Chinese domain investors attracted and registered large numbers of Chinese Pinyin.AI domains but hard to sell at present although they reduced prices again and again.

It's simple evidence shown that someone dominating the .ai market.