Short Domainers: Who are you?

[VURG]

Are you a short domainer? Do you love short domain names? Why? What types of short domains do you specialise in? What opinions do you want to share about short domain names?


When I started domaining, I wanted to start a business trading with short domain names. It was easy selling short domain names so I kept buying more and more. However, I started diversifying in short domain names away from LLLL.com and started losing money with other types of short domain names. I liked the C--C.com domain names but bought too many and lost enough money to put a lot of stress on my domaining budget.

As I am a statistician, I started putting statistics on the numbers of LLLL.com remaining in a thread called LLLL.com countdown. When this thread started ~23% of LLLL.com were unregistered. As the LLLL.com started running out, this thread became more and more popular and the short domainers who loved LLLL.com started continually writing about LLLL.com on Namepros every day. This repetitious style communication that short domainers have on namepros of staying on one thread was annoying other domainers who weren't short domain name buyers and so the short domainers started lobbying the Namepros owners to create a section of Namepros devoted to short domain names. I joined in on the lobbying and those of us involved at the time were excited to have our own part of the forum.

When the LLLL.com ran out on Nov 2nd 2012, there were many of us who were watching history in the making. This started the bubble that burst a couple of months later where people were paying $40+ for LLLL.com with the expectation that all LLLL.com were going to be backordered. This was not the case. The GFC had made it's mark on the LLLL.com market which hasn't changed a lot since then.

I made more money than I lost with short domains but not more money than I do at my day job and so since 2007 my domain name collection has shrunk steadily from more than 1000 to around 12.

When I joined Namepros, I used the username Vurg after my first LLLL.com that I purchased for reg fee around 2003. I later sold the name for high $XXX. I am a bit concerned for the future of short domains (especially non .com) with the introduction of hundreds of new extensions but I am optimistic that there are still some good short domain bargains out there.

After domaining for years, my favourite part of domaining was the friends I made at Namepros. I don't recognise a lot of you now but I still see some of the domainers that I used to communicate with more regularly.

I am interested in who is interested in short domains and what goals you have specialising in them.:hi:

 

[999names]

I believe with the population of Chinese being online and getting stronger each day short domain prices will go higher. They love love short domains BUT they love short numerical domains or mixed. I love 3 letter .coms myself Honestly I wish back in '98 I would ve started registering all three NNN domains. There were many many available to hand reg in .com No one really cared at the time for numerical domains.

 

[Kate]

I think short domain names have been overrated by domainers. There are plenty of different types of 'short domains'

LL/LLL domains are popular simply because they are used for company acronyms.

4L/5L/6L+ are completely different beasts. They don't often make good acronyms, when they do there are very few possible buyers. The good brandable are long gone, what remains is junk in general.

The so-called 4L.com buyout was ridiculous. Domainers thinking that by creating artificial scarcity they would create value. It's a flawed idea that seems to persist to this day. At the end of the day, you are piling up domains hardly anybody wants (other than the occasional fluke here and there).

IMO the pure statistical approach won't work because the market is illiquid and unpredictable, and it's not like all domains are equal and have the same potential for resale

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

I'm 5 feet, 4 inches, so I'm not a short or tall domainer.



Okay, I know what you mean...



I LOVE short domains, especially LLLL pronounceables (even with "undesirable" letters).

In case you haven't noticed, lately, a lot of LLLL have been at Godaddy expiring auctions, and I have picked up a few, even a few BIN closeouts (that opportunity seems to be gone now).

In the past week, someone has been placing backorders on thousands of expiring LLLL, no matter the quality. If you bid on one of those, you might even get it cheap ($15.00); this crazy backorderer tends not to get in a bidding war. I have picked off some nice ones via this method (I wait until the last minute to place my bid).

Personally, I would stay away from any LLLL that has no meaning or is not pronounceable.

*

 

[rngrdanny22]

I like short names and have built a decent NNN portfolio of .US and .INFO.

BUT, sadly, I think it was mostly pointless. The values have stagnated and I'm stuck with 50+ NNN domains that are still worth about what I paid for them, sometimes less.

If you're talking NNN or LLL in .com, that's the way to go. I see these becoming highly valuable in years to come. With LLLL.com's, I think it's going to be hit and miss. Quad premiums will always have value, but alot of the ones I've seen for sale lately are laced with Q's and Z's, which I think will eventually drop in value if they haven't already.

 

[xman]

I am big fan of short domains. I used to owned about 1500 names that includes both long and short domains. Now my portfolio is down to approximately 300 and about 150+ short domains. I've been buying some quality 4L .com in the past couple of months. 85% of my sales were short domains ranging from $x,xxx - $xx,xxx in ccTLD and $xxx - low $x,xxx in .com. I love short domains and will continue to collect them.

 

[cache]

Vurg,
I recognize you. Most small holders of LLLL come and go over the years. Only those large holders remain. In my opinion, you made a mistake not continuing LLLL.com, something you spent the time and learned it well. We need to be patient and persistent, otherwise no reward later on and you always wish you invested early on and kick yourself for the doubts.
Some people prefer stock market investment, I think because the stock market is liquid, and market is "efficient", it is pretty much a gamble. However since the market for domain is not as liquid, market is not as efficient, statistician like yourself could do better.
Anyway, I am not investing in any stocks, I am counting my retirement in the domain and internet business.

 

[srisri24]

Nice read after many days on domaining in general and short domain in particular.

At one point of time i used to own about 280+ LLLL.com domains. Half of them are hand regged and remaining are purchased in the aftermarket around buyout. In the after market i spent anywhere between $30-$80 for each name.

Renewals for a period of 5 years costed me a lot. The same names when i am trying to sell, i am not getting more than $15. There are few domains i sold for $100 plus but they are in single digits. Overall in the last five years of i lost a lot of money. I wish i had entered now, if people enters now and can hold for 4-5 years, they are the ones who are going to get benefited.

My short domains count reduced from 280+ to 40+. and my over all domains count reduced from 800+ to 78. I am planning to bring this count to 50 over next few months.

 

[Kate]

...
Overall in the last five years of i lost a lot of money. I wish i had entered now, if people enters now and can hold for 4-5 years, they are the ones who are going to get benefited.

If you say you lost money in the last five years, what makes you think you are not going to lose money in the next five years, assuming you get started today.
Moreover, the market used to be more buoyant than it now is, at one point there was bubble among domainers so you could resell bad 4L combos for $200 or something, but not anymore.

Years ago, A Dicker (DNF owner) bought the remaining LLL.ca (5000 of them) and he ended up dropping them (or at least many of them) after a few years. I think it's the same flawed logic as the buyout: creating artificial scarcity to boost prices. That doesn't work with domains.

My conclusion is that there is not enough demand in that market to play the numbers game, it's not like LLL.com where there is more liquidity.

 

[biggie]

:talk:

though i have quite a few short domains (4 characters or less), they still cost the same to renew as long domain names do


and when comparing the differences, the long names actually bring in more revenue than the short names.

go figure

 

[SlimPickins]

i am still a believer in short domains, and have so far only stuck with 4 letter coms.... i definitely see value in 3 letter nets, and would love to have a portfolio of 3 letter .coms but simply see a better chance for return, at least with my budget, by purchasing several quality 4 letter .coms with potential than investing several thousand in one domain and hoping/waiting for the enduser that has the budget to make it worthwhile to sell.

i really "found my niche" with 4 letter .coms.... looking back, as much fun as the "bubble ride" was, with chances for small to decent returns on quick flips on the reseller market, now that i have a better idea how to identify domains that have solid potential (vs grading domains based on "domainer" criteria like letter quality), I am positive that I let go of many gems for a small return.... then the learning process of taking domains that had LESS potential that were overpaid for (ie bought at bubble prices but not able to be sold on reseller market even near the same price after the financial crisis wave reached domain land) and aggressively marketing to the smaller pool of possible endusers to make a sale/cut losses.

Short domains are still my favorite area for a few reasons:

1) new possible endusers are being created everyday, ie new businesses/organizations coming into existence or established ones finally making the leap into having an internet presence or wanting to shorten it to a more memorable and brandable domain

2) always the chance to develop it with flexibility into virtually any vertical for monetization, since we can "define" what keywords the acronym stands for

3) as the internet space gets more cramped with more and more domains of every length and keywords jumbled and twisted around each other with and without hyphens, the desire to be short and memorable will most likely increase

4) they are global and not language specific/dependent, allowing for a larger enduser market

I really have no energy on the "buyout".... in my opinion the fact they are "sold out" would only be of interest to collectors, not an enduser interested in a specific domain for its specific letter combination..... there the scarcity is already painfully obvious.

I think, aside from a radical shift impacting domains/internet addresses as a whole, that short domains will continue to be in demand, but their "value" as such will, on the reseller market, remain much lower than bubble prices and their "potential" value only being based on what a specific enduser is willing to dish out - for how much/ how long a domain investor is willing to hold onto it for.

 

[.NJ]

My conclusion is that there is not enough demand in that market to play the numbers game, it's not like LLL.com where there is more liquidity.

This is very true. Especially with random LLLL.com's

Todays market value for these "random" LLLL's are $10-$30 for the most part.

Now even if they double their value in the next 5yrs or so, you still only looking at $20-$60.

So in the end, the profit margin vs the renewals = a poor investment IMO.

Premium LLLL's and true pronounceables are worth the investment at the right price.

But all others will just continuously get thrown around from domainer to domainer for the same low and uneventful sales price.

 

[jmstax]

its not the number its the quality

I like short domain names that make sense as I need the memory jog. Did not have much luck finding these shorties, however, I am really good at finding and procuring long tail domain names. Collected about 200 plus until some of my gurus started telling me how silly it is to keep these domain names. Most all were dot com, so this year I started letting them go. It is hard to let them go, I struggle each month - should I or should I keep it?
this month I decided to keep them. Just learning about reselling domain names. Hope to learn more here.

 

[george2]

We like short domains- .be and .ca domains

 

[Tia Wood]

Are you a short domainer?

Yes. I'm 5' 2''

 

[Kate]

Yes. I'm 5' 2''

Other domainers are short on funds.

 

[surprise]

i am still a believer in short domains, and have so far only stuck with 4 letter coms.... i definitely see value in 3 letter nets, and would love to have a portfolio of 3 letter .coms but simply see a better chance for return, at least with my budget, by purchasing several quality 4 letter .coms with potential than investing several thousand in one domain and hoping/waiting for the enduser that has the budget to make it worthwhile to sell.

i really "found my niche" with 4 letter .coms.... looking back, as much fun as the "bubble ride" was, with chances for small to decent returns on quick flips on the reseller market, now that i have a better idea how to identify domains that have solid potential (vs grading domains based on "domainer" criteria like letter quality), I am positive that I let go of many gems for a small return.... then the learning process of taking domains that had LESS potential that were overpaid for (ie bought at bubble prices but not able to be sold on reseller market even near the same price after the financial crisis wave reached domain land) and aggressively marketing to the smaller pool of possible endusers to make a sale/cut losses.

Short domains are still my favorite area for a few reasons:

1) new possible endusers are being created everyday, ie new businesses/organizations coming into existence or established ones finally making the leap into having an internet presence or wanting to shorten it to a more memorable and brandable domain

2) always the chance to develop it with flexibility into virtually any vertical for monetization, since we can "define" what keywords the acronym stands for

3) as the internet space gets more cramped with more and more domains of every length and keywords jumbled and twisted around each other with and without hyphens, the desire to be short and memorable will most likely increase

4) they are global and not language specific/dependent, allowing for a larger enduser market

I really have no energy on the "buyout".... in my opinion the fact they are "sold out" would only be of interest to collectors, not an enduser interested in a specific domain for its specific letter combination..... there the scarcity is already painfully obvious.

I think, aside from a radical shift impacting domains/internet addresses as a whole, that short domains will continue to be in demand, but their "value" as such will, on the reseller market, remain much lower than bubble prices and their "potential" value only being based on what a specific enduser is willing to dish out - for how much/ how long a domain investor is willing to hold onto it for.

Good post but what are the odds that an enduser ends at your door step for your random llll ? there is 26X26X26X26 = 4L domains , unless u have a meaningful 4l or at least memorable brandable catchy short domain , the odds is against you , you would be better of with 3 keywords domains .

 

[Gaqua77]

I like the short domains comprising of makeup & beauty related keywords.

 

[VURG]

Vurg,
I recognize you. Most small holders of LLLL come and go over the years. Only those large holders remain. In my opinion, you made a mistake not continuing LLLL.com, something you spent the time and learned it well.

Thanks for your comments. All my spare money is in my mortgage at the moment. I did well by getting into the real estate market when I did. I may return to take domaining more seriously when I have a smaller mortgage. I still have a strong belief that nobody has created a good liquidation marketplace for domain names and I'd love to try to if there is still a good opportunity in the future. I recently got a good LLLL.com which I intend to develop.

I'd love to have some spare money to buy LLLL.com at the moment. There are a lot of bargains available.

 

[Natcoweb]

I'd love to have some spare money to buy LLLL.com at the moment. There are a lot of bargains available.

How much have you paid for that?