HYPHENATED .COM domains are BACK IN FASHION!

[Rob Monster]

Just sold sushi-man.com from an Epik SSL lander for $4200. This is one of Epik's O&O domains. I don't normally report sales but these days we are routinely asking for $10K+ for good hyphen .COM names and seeing sincere engagement.

The great gTLD experiment has been run. I now routinely sell even ccTLD registrants are upgrading from their ccTLD to .COM if they can afford it. I was late to acknowledge it but the risk-reward equation for speculators overwhelmingly favors .COM.

When it comes to hyphenated .COM, SEO is your friend. I recommend to use SSL landers but any SEO lander will probably do the trick to drive inquiries.

 

[bmugford]

I sold a hyphenated .COM in the last couple weeks for $14K. It was probably a term that would have sold for $500,000+ without the hyphen.

However, I will say hyphenated sales are few and far between even for top quality terms that make sense.
That type of sale is an outlier.

Brad

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I may more carefully check this and write it up but I used NameBio to do a quick check. Looking just at .com and over the past 5 years hyphenated domains represent 1.79% of sales recorded in NameBio. If I use Dofo to see the percentage of hyphenated domain names for sale currently in .com, that is 3.57%. I also looked at average sales prices - without hyphen over the 5 years $1533 and both with and without $1549 (so some higher priced sales did have hyphens).

It is possible that a shorter period will show a stronger performance of hyphenated domains.

This is for .com. A year or so ago I looked at .de and recall it was not surprisingly something like 17% of sales have a hyphen. Also I recall that the percentage of .org sold with hyphens was significantly higher than for .com, probably because .org sells more globally compared to .com dominance in North Amereica.

Bob

 

[Rob Monster]

Just got another 4 figure offer now. This one for pro-techsecurity.com. It had 2672 visits to the landing page so I know it is worth more. Now listed:

https://pro-techsecurity.com/

Let's see if he buys it today.

 

[Rob Monster]

With all due respect, I do not think they are nearly as popular is you say.

In addition, all hyphenated names completely fail the Radio Test, right?

I see the evidence that the world is heading to .COM. People are systematically upgrading from .WHATEVER to .COM. Even the trend .AI and .IO upgrade to .COM when they have the money. However most cannot afford the pure .COM so they settle for a variant. So, check this:

Which is better? Sushi-Man.com is obviously superior to what is ranking there.

This one is already occupied by a Japanese restaurant:

http://sushiman.com/

So good luck prying it loose.

I rest my case. I think high quality hyphen .COM domains at $5.49 with Epik SSL landers is a viable speculation. Let's see what the stats show. I am sharing a data point from the bridge. Feel free to ignore it.

 

[Rob Monster]

What you say makes logical sense, but 99 times out of 100 the end user looks at the price, and then goes and registers SushiManNewton.com SushiManMA.com or SushiMan617.com. I think many veteran domainers alike have grown old, and tired waiting for end users to adopt hyphens on a more grand scale, but it has been molasses frankly. Even for the sake of brand protection, I always thought they made sense, but the sales just never materialize. Now I am sure you have a very large, and diverse portfolio with fixed priced landers, and as you said good luck getting the direct .com, so I would say .net, or hyphen would be the best case scenario as .man is not live yet. I think you got the better end of the stick on that sale, as most one off restaurant operators are usually working with $500-$5K budgets, so for a hyphen domain getting that top end is a very good sale.

Thanks.

Obviously no hyphen is better but for brandability, I can do way more with Sushi-man than I can do with Sushi-Man-Newton.

Let's say you call yourself SushiManNewton.com. Now you want to open another location in Framingham or Boston. You're hosed. Get another domain. Oops.

I am going to advise our clients to allocate up to 10% of their portfolio to hyphen .com. The market is still pricing it as toxic sludge, but it is not.

I think the URL shorteners are the safe bet. If you can go from SushiManNewton.com to Sushi-Man.com, you got an upgrade. Feel free to disagree.

 

[boker]

Just got another 4 figure offer now. This one for pro-techsecurity.com. It had 2672 visits to the landing page so I know it is worth more. Now listed:

https://pro-techsecurity.com/

Let's see if he buys it today.

I own a few, like red-news.com, e-deposit.com, red-parrot.com equity-group.com and a few others and I've sold around 5 of them, but just for xxx, could not get more. In the same time, I own around ten nonhyphens where the hyphen equivalent is developed, but could not get a good price for them, so probably depends on taste, budget and a few other factors.

 

[oldtimer]

Rob, when you have a very large portfolio you are going to get a few lucky sales here and there, you might even sell a four word domain, but whether that translates into a trend for everyone else is something that we have to wait and see. Maybe you are on to something, considering that there is a class of small businesses that don't care that much about having the absolute best domain and also don't have all the knowledge and expectations that domainers have and so if the trend picks up then perhaps more people can sell domains from the Epik drop lists especially those whom you are thinking about helping from the other thread. IMO

 

[equity78]

Here is an article Rob wrote 9 years ago on Hyphens https://epik.com/blog/please-give-me-your-hyphenated-domains.html

SeoBlog.com wrote At the end of the day, you can use hyphens if you want, but it’s generally not recommended if it can be avoided. The hassles are many and there are no actual advantages unless you absolutely need the clarification.

https://www.seoblog.com/hyphen-dash-hurt-seo/

@Alvin Brown wrote his thoughts 6 years ago here https://www.kickstartcommerce.com/buying-domain-names-with-hyphens.html

Andrew Allemann writing for Namecheap made it his first thing to never do https://www.namecheap.com/blog/5-things-to-never-include-in-a-domain-name/

Comparison of the effect of single-word versus hyphenated domain name choices on website visibility.

Why Using Hyphens in a Domain Name is a Bad Idea https://www.avara.co.uk/why-using-hyphens-in-a-domain-name-is-a-bad-idea/

Are Hyphenated Domain Names Dead? http://q2c.com/are-hyphenated-domain-names-dead/

Brad Mugford's hyphenated names http://www.datacube.com/Hypyenated.html

 

[Federer]

Sold a few weeks ago: Jobs-Group.com ($800 via Epik landing page).

 

[namemarket]

Just sold sushi-man.com from an Epik SSL lander for $4200. This is one of Epik's O&O domains. I don't normally report sales but these days we are routinely asking for $10K+ for good hyphen .COM names and seeing sincere engagement.

The great gTLD experiment has been run. I now routinely sell even ccTLD registrants are upgrading from their ccTLD to .COM if they can afford it. I was late to acknowledge it but the risk-reward equation for speculators overwhelmingly favors .COM.

When it comes to hyphenated .COM, SEO is your friend. I recommend to use the Epik SSL landers but any SEO lander will probably do the trick to drive inquiries. The Epik landers happen to work like a champ and will help you sell hyphen names especially with

With all due respect, I do not think they are nearly as popular as you indicate.

In addition, all hyphenated names completely fail the Radio Test and deliver some free traffic to the non-hyphen name, right?

 

[frank-germany]

I own singles-online.com
I reckon it one of my best .com domains

 

[Rob Monster]

Just sold a hyphen domain today for $5,000.

General-Counsel.com

The inquiry came in from a Make-Offer lander powered by Epik. The price negotiation took about a week.

I came down from original ask of $7500. Buyer paid in Euros.

I have more funds for buying hyphen-domains at wholesale prices for those who need a sale so for anyone who wants to sell some hyphen domains, send those lists to [email protected]

Important: if you hand-reg hyphen domains, please do it at Epik.com -- I generally will not buy hand-reg domains from other registrars until they are are at least 60 days old.

 

[Business Brands]

Report sales to DnJournal and gain free exposure.

 

[biggie]

is this really about selling domains with hyphens or about selling something else?

because..... when a buyer is interested, it really doesn't matter where it's parked.

imo...

 

[Rob Monster]

Dot coms with hypens are not in fashion. They sell from time to time.
You are mistaken.

It is because I see a decent amount of inquiry volume, I am sharing anecdotal evidence that is repeating. I think there are asymmetric opportunities there and I will authorize to @Gube and @RaquelPenha to buy more hyphen .com names using profits from sales of hyphen .com sales. This is mainly to prove the point that hyphen .com, notably in the case of URL shortening, is looking interesting. The pattern we are looking for is a case where there are many people already calling themselves something that can be shortened and/or made more versatile with a hyphen name. We'll see if we lose our ass on that. I am guessing not, but yes, the buy-side has to be highly compelling given the lower sell-through rate.

 

[owntype]

This thread reminded me my first hyphenated domain name sale.
I sold m-business.com for $1,200 in 2007, which encouraged me a lot when I was a newbie in this industry. It was a lot of money to me and bought me a lot more domain names.

 

[Rob Monster]

This is a feel good story.

For reasons that @CodingTheDomain can explain or not, this husband/wife team pushed the domain My-Logistics.com to Epik a few days ago. Earlier today, the domain sold on Afternic for $3,000. We agreed to split the proceeds. Decent hyphen names do sell, and not just at Epik. Providence at work.

 

[equity78]

gym-pact.com 20,000 USD 2020-09-13 GoDaddy
creative-network.com 6,995 USD 2020-08-19 Sedo
blue-way.com 6,594 USD 2020-08-31 Sedo
wi-fihotspotlist.com 6,488 USD 2020-09-12 GoDaddy
learn-about-tea.com 5,049 USD 2020-09-05 GoDaddy
banshee-project.org 4,491 USD 2020-09-22 GoDaddy
wwii-photos-maps.com 4,051 USD 2020-09-17 GoDaddy
phone-repair.de 3,960 USD 2020-09-03 Sedo
dns-shop.com 3,544 USD 2020-08-24 Sedo
contour-design.de 3,232 USD 2020-09-16 Sedo
terminal-services.net 3,004 USD 2020-09-08 Sedo
hausverwaltung-berlin.de 2,962 USD 2020-08-19 Sedo
window-fashion.nl 2,938 USD 2020-09-16 Sedo
military-network.com 2,650 USD 2020-09-18 GoDaddy
my-media.de 2,603 USD 2020-09-10 Sedo
tt-hardware.com 2,600 USD 2020-09-18 NameJet
xn--sxqu07c.com 2,550 USD 2020-07-04 Dynadot
low-tech.com 2,500 USD 2020-09-11 Sedo
xn--cfe42fdb.com 2,490 USD 2020-09-07 Flippa
medical-guide.de 2,369 USD 2020-09-11 Sedo
bike-outlet.de 2,368 USD 2020-09-18 Sedo
versicherungs-vergleich.com 2,365 USD 2020-09-02 Sedo
lastminute-hotel.com 2,361 USD 2020-09-07 Sedo
food-hub.org 2,050 USD 2020-09-16 GoDaddy
techno-logic.com 1,600 USD 2020-09-10 BuyDomains
eotech-inc.com 1,451 USD 2020-08-22 NameJet
museum-aix-en-provence.org 1,450 USD 2020-09-21 NameJet
gewerbe-anmeldung.de 1,414 USD 2020-09-08 Sedo
as-space.com 1,360 USD 2020-08-31 DropCatch
art-stl.com 1,285 USD 2020-09-05 GoDaddy
news-journal.net 1,225 USD 2020-09-17 GoDaddy
e-snes.org 1,161 USD 2020-09-08 DropCatch
topic-topos.com 1,150 USD 2020-09-19 DropCatch
top-onlineshopping.com 1,150 USD 2020-08-28 DropCatch
manga-anime-here.com 1,125 USD 2020-08-19 GoDaddy
norway-un.org 1,010 USD 2020-09-05 DropCatch
cycling-manager.com 920 USD 2020-07-02 DropCatch
assembly-weu.org 916 USD 2020-08-26 GoDaddy
virtual-economy.org 900 USD 2020-09-12 GoDaddy
gesetzlich-krankenversichert.de 888 USD 2020-09-13 Sedo

 

[Rob Monster]

Rob, when you have a very large portfolio you are going to get a few lucky sales here and there, you might even sell a four word domain, but whether that translates into a trend for everyone else is something that we have to wait and see. Maybe you are on to something, considering that there is class of small businesses that don't care that much about having the absolute best domain and also don't have all the knowledge and expectations that domainers have and so if the trend picks up then perhaps more people can sell domains from the Epik drop lists especially those whom you are thinking about helping from the other thread. IMO

Granted, it could be the lucky dog thing. Entirely possible.

I am not that long on hyphen names:

About 13% of the O&O portfolio. I think we'll take that up to 20%. It is pretty much all .com, by the way.

However, we are seeing multiple legit offers daily on hyphen names now which we were not seeing 3 months ago. There's that.

 

[Kassey Lee]

However most cannot afford the pure .COM so they settle for a variant.

The ripple effect is working in the digital real estate markt too, and the center is .com. I realized it when I watched the wave spreading from 2L to 3L to 4L, 2C, 3C, etc.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Am I the only one surprised that four people actually voted for the last option "Nah, .com is toxic sludge?" Now I can understand seeing opportunities in other extensions, new or country code or even other legacy options, but seeing .com as toxic sludge seems to me, well, a little bit harsh perhaps?

Re hyphens, totally agree that it has to make sense. I think the strongest case is when the word is often spelled with a hyphen in writing. That is followed by cases where strictly speaking the hyphen should be used because it is a compound adjective (which I am slowly learning for the first time now that I write for the NamePros Blog. Most people do not follow these rules in their writing, but given that grammatically correct domain names have an advantage I would give more weight to hyphens that strictly speaking are correct according to the expression. And of course they have value when the word is very high value, even with a hyphen, or the market for the name is mainly Germany and some nearby countries where they are desired.

One final comment. @namemarket above makes the good comment that the case for hyphens as word dividers to aid in search was important ten years ago when Google search was different, but that case is now absent. That is an important point, as is his comment re radio test. However, there may be one additional factor that makes hyphens still relevant and that is that now branding is more visual than it was 10+ years ago (I think), and in some cases the hyphen can help visual use by making the independent words stand out. Also they can clarify the meaning clear as many words could be split in different ways.

By the way I did some research to add to my earlier stats re hyphens, but will keep you waiting on the edge of your seats until I double check the numbers and write it up.

Bob
(AKA I can't believe he only owns one hyphenated-domain )

 

[wwwweb]

Just sold sushi-man.com from an Epik SSL lander for $4200. This is one of Epik's O&O domains. I don't normally report sales but these days we are routinely asking for $10K+ for good hyphen .COM names and seeing sincere engagement.

The great gTLD experiment has been run. I now routinely sell even ccTLD registrants are upgrading from their ccTLD to .COM if they can afford it. I was late to acknowledge it but the risk-reward equation for speculators overwhelmingly favors .COM.

When it comes to hyphenated .COM, SEO is your friend. I recommend to use the Epik SSL landers but any SEO lander will probably do the trick to drive inquiries. The Epik landers happen to work like a champ and will help you sell hyphen names especially with

Congrats on the sale, but I would mark this one as a one off sale, you asked, and they paid. Had it been make offer most probably would have been in the $1-2K range in hoping to unload it. Hyphen names are still pretty slow go, I would recommend newbies stay away until they have more sales under their belt.

 

[wwwweb]

Thanks.

Obviously no hyphen is better but for brandability, I can do way more with Sushi-man than I can do with Sushi-Man-Newton.

Let's say you call yourself SushiManNewton.com. Now you want to open another location in Framingham or Boston. You're hosed. Get another domain. Oops.

I am going to advise our clients to allocate up to 10% of their portfolio to hyphen .com. The market is still pricing it as toxic sludge, but it is not.

I think the URL shorteners are the safe bet. If you can go from SushiManNewton.com to Sushi-Man.com, you got an upgrade. Feel free to disagree.

The cost of doing business for many small businesses especially restaurants is pretty cut throat especially with rising taxes, and rents.

You gave the scenario of SushiManNewtwon.com in regards to multiple stores, but if they had gone SushiManMA.com, or SushiMan617.com they have the option for multiple stores built in. Another well used option is always THE, which is also taken. I don't remember the last time I sold a hyphen domain, but like any .net sale today, I am happy to get rid of them any chance I get, and I think most domainers who have held for a while feel the same way. I think your feeling the Euphoria of a pretty good sale, although probably small for what you do on an annual basis, a sale is a sale.

There is lots of knowledge on this site, especially people who have gone all in on hyphens, I look forward to hearing their side of it also. Always room for new opportunity, and you never know where you will find it. Many times I have seen lower budget, or no budget inquires who can't afford .com's go, and register hyphens, but these are people who are not willing to pay anything significant for a domain in the first place.

 

[equity78]

The top 10 hyphenated sales of all time according to Namebio

hotel-reservation.com 209,916 USD 2009-09-23 Sedo
free-sms.de 162,150 USD 2010-01-26 Sedo
online-casino.de 144,900 USD 2012-06-20 Sedo
online-casinos.de 84,500 USD 2012-03-21 Sedo
18-wheeler.com 82,390 USD 2007-07-03 Moniker
faire-part.com 59,056 USD 2008-11-04 Sedo
blackjack-vegas.de 53,218 USD 2017-04-07 Sedo
sci-fi.com 50,000 USD 2017-04-25 Uniregistry
black-jack.com 49,657 USD 2017-03-29 Sedo
online-games.com 48,000 USD 2012-04-04 Sedo

As an fyi I regged Blackjack-Vegas.com when the .de sale happened to see if any traffic or interest would happen on the .com over the next year, there was none and I dropped it.

Namebio has 724,491 sales of those 19,323 hyphenated or 2.66% of all sales.