LLLL.com COUNTDOWN!

[VURG]

COUNTDOWN COMPLETE!

NO MORE 4 LETTER DOMAIN AVAILABLE TO REGISTER! ​

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Since early 2005, I have been investing/trading with 4 letter domain names. I started this thread due to the large variation in opinions on how many four letter domains there are available. When I started, I heard a range on viewpoints ranging from 200,000 down to nothing. What I learned that most people did not know how many were available.

Sources of Error for the estimates in number of available 4 letter domains include:

Traffic Testers: These are people who buy thousands of domains at a time to see if the domains are being visited and only keep the small percentage of domains that have regular visitors and cancel their orders for the domains that don't have a regular flow of visitors.

Inefficient ways of making estimates: There are over 450 thousand possible 4-Letter domains. There are short cuts that people can take in estimating the number that been registered that don't include all domains. One short cut that is often taken is for somebody to search through a list of previously available 4 letter names that they purchased (or got for free) and assume that all the names that are not on that list are registered.

People quoting old information:The variation in the number available changes all the time. Estimates that are months old are very different than up to date estimates.

People manipulating information for a sale:It definately is true that incorrect information on the available number of 4-letter domains can intensionally be manipulated to sell 4-letter domains at a higher price. Typically the lack of supply tends to motivate people to pay higher prices.

As a 4-letter domain trader, I believe that the information of how many 4-letter domains there are is extremely valuable for two main reasons. Firstly, my pricing of my names is subject to the amount of work it requires for customer to find for similar name. Secondly, if I want to increase my stock of 4-letter names than the information of how many there are at reg fee prices is essential.

I decided to update this thread when the number of available 4-letter domains dropped to the following levels:
22% Remaining - 25th January 2006
19% Remaining - 31st March 2006
16% Remaining - 29th June 2006
13% Remaining - 1st August 2006
10% Remaining - 15th February 2007 (crossed without traffic testing early April)
9% Remaining - 26th February 2007 (crossed without traffic testing early May)
8% Remaining - 2nd March 2007 (crossed without traffic testing in June)
7% Remaining - 21st March 2007 (crossed without traffic testing early July)
6% Remaining - 3rd July 2007(crossed without traffic testing some time in July)
5% Remaining - 1st August 2007(crossed without traffic testing August 11)
4% Remaining - 14th August 2007(crossed late August)
3% Remaining - 15th September 2007(crossed In September)
2% Remaining - 14th October 2007
1% Remaining - 31st October 2007
0% Remaining - 2nd November - COUNTDOWN COMPLETE!

Although, the number of available domains does sometime rise straight after it drops due to traffic testing and people dropping their domains, I don't consider it worth mentioning unless the rise is as significant as a 3% rise in the number of available domains.

Types of Four Letter Domains that have run out include:
- ALL OF THEM!

Since I started this thread important event about four letter domains that are worth mentioning happenned:

1: Late March/Early April 2006 there was a significant shift in the market for brandable (fake words) 4-letter domains and they started selling at significantly higher prices and the market for the names has been a lot more active ever since.

2: In July 2006, a namepros member 3par launched DYYO.com as a site committed to educating people about 4 letter domains. This is an excellent resource for those who are interested in 4 letter domain names.

3: In early February 2007. All the 4 letter domains starting with the letter A ran out.

4: wasistdas won QQNQ.COM, PCZV.COM & IQKE.COM for the competition for predicting when the 4 Letter domains would run out
_______________________________________________________________
Initial Post
Less than 23% of the 4 letter domain names are unregistered. I thought I'd try to keep this thread updated every time I discover another 1% reduction. I am now routinely checking the percentage of unregisted 4 letter domains.

 

[index2703]

If we get enough LLLL.com owners together, it would be possible to create a monopoly.

I did this quite successfully with a rare item a couple of years ago on eBay.

Whenever one came up for auction, I would win it. Then I would sell it for a fixed price. I won almost all the auctions for this item and it ended up that if somebody else wanted "Product X" they either had to beat me at auction or bite the bullet and pay my price.

Funnily enough, I always won the auctions for between £10 and £120 but constantly sold the item for £175. Very profitable

How could this work for LLLL.com?

I'm guessing that the people who keep reading and coming back to this thread hold a lot of LLLL.com. I've got about 250.

Once all LLLL.com are gone, we can try and set a minimum price. Any under this minimum we find, we alert everyone on this thread so somebody can grab it.

Eventually, we'll have a huge collection and it will get harder and harder for anybody to get an LLLL.com for less than our artificial minimum. By that time we will be able to start steadily raise the price - price fixing if you will.

Example:

Jan 08 - all LLLL.com are gone. We set the minimum to $15. Somebody puts an LLLL.com on eBay and it is going for less than $10 - we post it here so a "cartel" member can go get it.

March 08 - We've steadied the ship, LLLL.coms no longer sell anymore for less than $15. So, we increase it - it's now $25... Rinse, repeat and so on.

In a year or so we could get it over $50 with a little work :hehe:

With 250, I own 0.05% of all possible LLLL.com. We only need 2,000 people with the same number of LLLL.coms as me and then we can control the *whole* category...

Obviously we wouldn't need that many due to certain companies holding some (such as hsbc dot com and cnbc dot com etc) but how many LLLL.coms are not in the hands of end users?

Something to think about, or am I talking BS?

 

[clowesy]

index2703. You have obviously put a lot of thought into your post, and have experience with the idea. It sounds great!!

I also have around 250, so 1998 more people to go !!!
More domain suggestions appreciated, then Ill set up a site of some sort.

 

[bricio]

If we get enough LLLL.com owners together, it would be possible to create a monopoly.

I did this quite successfully with a rare item a couple of years ago on eBay.

Whenever one came up for auction, I would win it. Then I would sell it for a fixed price. I won almost all the auctions for this item and it ended up that if somebody else wanted "Product X" they either had to beat me at auction or bite the bullet and pay my price.

Funnily enough, I always won the auctions for between £10 and £120 but constantly sold the item for £175. Very profitable

How could this work for LLLL.com?

I'm guessing that the people who keep reading and coming back to this thread hold a lot of LLLL.com. I've got about 250.

Once all LLLL.com are gone, we can try and set a minimum price. Any under this minimum we find, we alert everyone on this thread so somebody can grab it.

Eventually, we'll have a huge collection and it will get harder and harder for anybody to get an LLLL.com for less than our artificial minimum. By that time we will be able to start steadily raise the price - price fixing if you will.

Example:

Jan 08 - all LLLL.com are gone. We set the minimum to $15. Somebody puts an LLLL.com on eBay and it is going for less than $10 - we post it here so a "cartel" member can go get it.

March 08 - We've steadied the ship, LLLL.coms no longer sell anymore for less than $15. So, we increase it - it's now $25... Rinse, repeat and so on.

In a year or so we could get it over $50 with a little work

With 250, I own 0.05% of all possible LLLL.com. We only need 2,000 people with the same number of LLLL.coms as me and then we can control the *whole* category...

Obviously we wouldn't need that many due to certain companies holding some (such as hsbc dot com and cnbc dot com etc) but how many LLLL.coms are not in the hands of end users?

Something to think about, or am I talking BS?

hmmm... why does it sounds interesting to me??? :hehe:

talking seriously... ive got a question: it is a cartel, it is illegal, wouldnt it have serious consequences for those that would be in this group?

 

[clowesy]

Ok lads/ladies,

Done a bit more looking. These are the best I can find. Opinions needed.

NamePosse.com
NameSection.com
NameFederation.com
NameCoalition.com
DomainTreaty.com
NameTreaty.com
NamePact.com

 

[GreenGambler]

Interesting thoughts index2703. If you could possibly pool 2,000 people together and get them all to agree and follow a set or instructions, it would probably work.

I don't really think it is needed though, nor do I agree with the ethics of this practice. There are few enough LLLL.coms and a big enough group of investors that I believe the prices will drive themselves up, naturally, as demand continues to grow with a limited supply of names.

 

[index2703]

Not sure about the illegal, I would call it "arbitrage".

Somebody selling a CVCV.com for $100 has the price wrong but I'm going to snap it up *immediately* to make money. I'm taking advantage of price discrepencies.

If everybody else knows what the "minimum" price is then when they buy below that price, they are just using sound business practices.

Arbitrage is used daily in the financial markets, I can't see the illegal-ness here to be honest but then... I'm no lawyer

 

[bro]

inamegroup.com available

 

[Markith]

Index I like your thinking....I own about 100 LLLL.coms, most being premium names.

Supply and Demand...can be a beautiful thing. Wish I had bought more good ones back in February when there was 50,000 left

 

[c4smok]

I picked up Nameic.com and NameInterchange.com the other day =)

 

[index2703]

If you could possibly pool 2,000 people together and get them all to agree and follow a set or instructions, it would probably work.

I don't really think it is needed though, nor do I agree with the ethics of this practice

We wouldn't need 2,000 people because I know there are people on these boards with a whole lot more than 250 LLLL.coms to their name! It'll probably happen naturally anyway.

As for ethics, it's already occurring and no-one seems to be saying that it is wrong.

There is a particular type of dot com which has been granted a "minimum wholesale price" that nobody is going below. And I mean nobody. If anything, this minimum is too low and the actual rock-bottom price is about $1,000 more.

Estate agents drive up the price on houses constantly. All assets are worth only what somebody is willing to pay. If, when the LLLL.coms run out, people are willing to pay $15, $25, $50 or more for the crapiest 4l.com then we aren't doing anything wrong by grabbing those that are priced underneath the particular "minimum".

No ethical problem here as far as I can see... but I could be a ruthless businessman (who seems to be avoiding the huge riches that come with it )

 

[DomainMagnate]

Wish I had bought more good ones back in February when there was 50,000 left

Don't we all


I've regged quite a few domains recently as well, but I mostly try to keep the better quality ones. I got only about 100 LLLL's now, but most are good/great quality, check out the portfolio here www.4ldomains.com sorry for the shameless plug :hehe:


I'm afraid we can't create any cartel here.. there are half a million LLLL domains out there, even if we collectively own 5%, which is about 23K it's still a very small share.
But the market will dictate the prices and, as with any other domains, the prices should go up. This no different than LLL.com: there are much less LLL's, but there were also much less domainers back then

~MG

 

[Pred]

Sorry , shameless plug for L-L-L.com, but you only need to own 1.7k & you own 10 % for them, which is frankly amazing.
Qulaity beats quantity. Nothing wrong with having both though :sold:

 

[c4smok]

Hey there are just
11,881,376 (5 letter .coms)
308,915,776 (6 letter .coms)

 

[GreenGambler]

Sorry , shameless plug for L-L-L.com, but you only need to own 1.7k & you own 10 % for them, which is frankly amazing.
Qulaity beats quantity. Nothing wrong with having both though :sold:

On that logic, what about L--L.coms, you only have to own 67 to control 10% of that market.. Ahh.. the niche within the niche I do own a few of these and like them alot.

Also the N--N.coms, you only need 10 to have 10% of those! I own only 1 (4--0) but hey that's 1% of the market.. LOL

 

[xman]

I think the price of LLLL.com will rise in value no matter what. I started collecting them early this year and by april I started to pick up more. By mid 2007 I started buying some pronounceable in TDNam and they were very cheap back then. You could get some VCVC around $5 - $10 but now you can't even get them for $50 - $100. When you look at TDNam now more than 90% are just Offer and the asking price are in $x,xxx. I am holding about 200 LLLL.com now. If the price of the LLLL.coms are expensive now and we are still in an early stage I could only assume the price few years from will be much much higher.

 

[Pred]

Hey there are just
11,881,376 (5 letter .coms)
308,915,776 (6 letter .coms)

ROFL

On that logic, what about L--L.coms, you only have to own 67 to control 10% of that market.. Ahh.. the niche within the niche I do own a few of these and like them alot.

Also the N--N.coms, you only need 10 to have 10% of those! I own only 1 (4--0) but hey that's 1% of the market.. LOL

Actually, they dont look bad lol, dont get me started!
:sold:

 

[DomainMagnate]

Also the N--N.coms, you only need 10 to have 10% of those! I own only 1 (4--0) but hey that's 1% of the market.. LOL

Nice! are any of these still left? I want to be a share holder

If not than maybe N---N.com :hehe:

~MG

 

[Pred]

I think the price of LLLL.com will rise in value no matter what. I started collecting them early this year and by april I started to pick up more. By mid 2007 I started buying some pronounceable in TDNam and they were very cheap back then. You could get some VCVC around $5 - $10 but now you can't even get them for $50 - $100. When you look at TDNam now more than 90% are just Offer and the asking price are in $x,xxx. I am holding about 200 LLLL.com now. If the price of the LLLL.coms are expensive now and we are still in an early stage I could only assume the price few years from will be much much higher.

Incidentally, if anyone is looking for a good name to sell their LLLL's on then just checked &:


LLLLMonster.com is free to reg. Feel free to send some np$ if you nail her :hehe: :sold:

 

[DomainMagnate]

LLLLking.com and 4Lking.com is available too
probably not for long ..

~MG

 

[xman]

If you really wanna set the price up for LLLL.com I would suggest that we should start appraising them in a much higher value. We can talk about all we want in this thread about having the crappiest letter for $20 - $50 and then when someone ask for an appraisal in the appraisal section the appraiser tend appraise it between $0 - $10.

The way we appraise these LLLL.coms in the appraisal section can have a big impact with the price IMO.