The 4 Letter .COM Domain Debate

[VURG]

I think that 4 letter .COM domains are a good buy and I've read many views on this and most people seems to disagree with me but I'll put my argument forward as to why I take my view. In my opinion there are 8 categories of 4 letter domains

1. Obvious Words & Acronyms (e.g. word.com)
2. Spelling Mistakes of Obvious Words & Acronyms (e.g. wurd.com)
3. Four digit numbers (e.g. 1267.com)
4. Not so obvious Words and Acronyms (e.g (four letter foreign language word).com)
5. Fictional Words (e.g. Vurg.com)
6. Boring Acronyms (e.g. SJZQ.com)
7. Interesting Number Letter Combinations (e.g 0bee.com)
8. Boring Number Letter Combinations (e.g. 0Q7P.com)

Categories 1 - 3 are virtually all gone and if you did find one you would be very lucky. Category 4 requires some special knowledge for you to determine if there is something worth going for. In my opinion this leaves category 5 domain names as the best 4 letter domain names to go for. My guess is that there are a few thousand available. There also would be some good category 7 domain names available.

There are 10000 number only 4 letter domain names.
There are 456496 letter only 4 letter domain names.
There are 1213120 number&letter 4 letter domain names.

I read recently that there are around 150000 4-letter domain names left to take. This means that less than 9% of the 4-letter domain names are there for the taking. After this they will only be available to those who will sell their domain name to you. At this point 4-letter domain names will rise in value to over $100 relatively quickly. In terms of getting a return of over 10% per year, I think that you could be pretty happy with buying the right 4 letter domain names and selling them in 3 - 10 years. There definately is a growing demand for these products.

I know many of you disagree with me but time will tell. Personally, I think the fact that most of the number&letter 4 letter domain names being taken is evidence that the demand for 4 letter domain names is huge. (Over one million taken and most look boring)

Note for 4 letter domain name investors: I registered vurg.com/net/org/info/biz and ws. In retrospect, I would recommend against doing this. I would rather hold on to as many 4 letter .COMs as I can and after they are all gone start going through what I have to see which domains I can add .net/.org & .info to enhance the collection.

Do you have an opinion on 4-letter .COMs?

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I happen to be a proponent of your position.

I have mentioned this more times than I can count (But by-golly it's worthile so I'll mention it again ), Doritos is now using a 4 letter.com in their newest ad campaign that has no intrinsic meaning to it (innw.com , they were able to hand-reg it from what I can tell).

4 letter.com's are still available (Heck, I'll attach to this post the roughly 2500 4 letter.com's that are still available that start with the letter "A". I'll have to run them all again soon, haven't done that in about a week methinks.) while 3 letter .com's go for tens of thousands with decent letters (Bet you can't find one for less than $1,200 anymore, no matter how poor the letters).

4 letter.com's are typically memorable (my multiple typos before getting innw correct, not withstanding) and a lot easier to fit on a business card than IfNotNowWhen.com

My vote: 4 letter.com's have good potential, just stay away from any that I might still want

-Allan

 

[equity78]

I think you first three categories are very good the others have very little value IMO, certainly not $100. And when does one just say like wow 5 is just one more letter than 4 and $100 vs $6.75 Unless it fits your first three I think one would not pay a premium. IMO

 

[Taboo]

2 letter > 3 letter > Everything else.

After 3 letters the "pure" type-in value is lost, especially if you are looking for valuebal 4 letters, which you will not be able to find at reg-fee. Developing them is obviously a different story, but I wouldn't go around registering them as if they are worth more than a 20 letter.

 

[daddypi]

2 letter > 3 letter > Everything else.

After 3 letters the "pure" type-in value is lost, especially if you are looking for valuebal 4 letters, which you will not be able to find at reg-fee. Developing them is obviously a different story, but I wouldn't go around registering them as if they are worth more than a 20 letter.

Off topic - but are you the same Taboo from GFY?

 

[Wesley]

I think four-letter domains are decent - several reasons. First off, they're good for acronyms. There's also the fact that all radio stations have four-letter codes (WMZQ, WTNT, WMAL, ect.), so the ones that fit the government regulations on those could be profitable if they remain available. However, I do think that dictionary words and three-letter domains are much more profitable, but four-letter domains can be easy profit.

 

[VURG]

Just to clarify things. When I said the following:

At this point 4-letter domain names will rise in value to over $100 relatively quickly.

my definition of relatively quickly may differ from many people. I consider 2 - 3 years to be quick. In terms of getting a high ROI, I consider that buying a domain name now that will sell for $100 in 6 years time a good investment as the average ROI is higher than 20%/year. (3 years names to run out, 3 years for demand to grow) I don't consider that a 4-letter .COM is always the best domain name available but I do think that one of the key advantages of the 4 letter .COM over other domain names is that the minimum value of the domain name will be very predictable and so you should know how much you can sell the name for if needed.

At the moment I wouldn't consider a 4 letter domain name to have any real value over registration price but I think that it is only a matter of time.

 

[nRnF]

I don't have much time today, so only a few lines on the 4 letter domains.
Maybe tomorrow i will follow up, cause my main strategy since 2003 are 4 letter domains

a) I agree totally that 4 letter domains have a very good ROI.
b) I only go for 4 letter .com/.net/.info
c) You can buy great 4 letter coms in the aftermarket or expired auctions.
d) For 4 letter domains it is easy to find a "end user"
e) Best 4 letter domins are the fictious ones (your category 5)
f) Stay away from letter&number combos.

PS:
None of my 4 letter coms sold under 500 USD
.net and .info go generally for arround 200-600
(I only go for nice sounding and pronouncable 4 letters)

 

[VURG]

I'm very interested to hear what you have to say nRnF.

 

[dweeb]

7 and 8 seem crappy to me. i assume you have vurg.com?
4 letter words would definitely be worth the most. too bad there are so few left.

 

[birdman5]

Not looking for an appraisal, but what category would you put "finq.com" in? (As in "Think.com")

2 or 5?

 

[nRnF]

OK,
as promised some more lines.
May of this applies not only to the 4 letter names.

First of all let me say, that the selection of any 4 letter domain has
to be carried out very carefully if you specualte on a sale without
having a developed site or traffic.

Why 4 letter ?
OK, better are the 3 letter, but you know they are gone or will cost
you conciderable money, wich will raise your risk substancially.
Neverless the ROI of a 4 letter (in %) will beat the ROI of a 3 leter
in most cases.
Good 4 letters are available at 10$ to 150$. So if selected a good name
you will end up with ROI of >300%
(This really my vary to each portfolio, and selection criteria)

General selection rules:
- No numbers or IDN just pure letters.
- As many 4 letters are fictious the name should be pronouncable and
have a nice sounding.
- And for shure try to avoid branded & TM names.

What Extension ?
You should go only for the .com/.net/.info names (shurely .com preffered).
org, .biz .us, etc.. should be left over for others.

Where to buy ?
As many of you may have noticed, there are still many 4 letter doms available,
but are they suitable (sounding, pronouncable) ? Most available for regs are not !
So a good choice for obtaining good 4 letters are the known aftermarket places
(Sedo, AfterNic, Ebay & Co). Also the dropcatcher (Pool, Snapnes) are a good
source.
Neverless I got best results as a buyer within the different forums cause to
lower asking prices (trader to trader).

-------

IMO the sucess resides essentially in the sales preparation I want to go a second "off topic". This appies especially to 4 & 5 letter domains, as IMO you can create a part the market if done well.

Where/how to sell ?
As usual list on the aftermarkets.
But have patience with the bigger places, as many of you know the offers are
not very frequently at those places, and 4 letters are difficult to search
within the site, as many are fictous names, so buyers just dont find your name.

How about self promotion ?
Self promotion is the best way to sell a domain quickly and at decent prices
(IMO Forget all active/featured promises of the knowen aftermarket places).

Here goes one of my preffered strategies when doing self promotion.
Set up a list with Emails of potentil buyers.
(do a google & acronymos search with your domain), examine the resulting
websites and gather the corresponding Emails.
For a sucessful campain, you should get at least arround 100, but the more the better.
Prepare a online auction (e.g. at ebay)
DO NOT JUST LIST AT A FOR SALE PAGE you will need a AUCTION WITH FIXED END DATE
to create the "Act now or gone foreever" effect in the buyers mind.
Start the auction (e.g. 10 to 15 day duration)
Send out a personalized Email to each of the potential buyers.
IMPORTANT:
Personalized (one by one mail - no multiple recipients)
Indicate at least your name & telephone within the mail.
Do not use yahoo or gmail adresses (best is to use the in the WHOIS stated Email)
Take especially attention to this Email as your success depends 90% on it.
Also you must avoid that you can be called a cybersquatter.
Hints how to do it the best way are available at NP (just do a serach)
And of curse once the auction is running post it in the specialized forums.
If your name belongs to a certain keyword category you may concidder a a
Google Adwords campain with tose keywords announcing the sale/auction.
(I got great results with this)

I am running the 4 letter strategy since 2003 and get very good results.
So Here I are some real stats for the last 12 month (com/net/info):
Median portfolio of 4 letters: 86 (mainly .com)
Median aquisition price: 45-130USD (depending on extension)
Median sales price: 250-700USD (depending on extension)
Median time in portfolio: 1,5 years

And here some recent offers/sales during the last 3 month:
zazo_com - SOLD 5500 EURO
inri_com - Best offer so far 1500$ but I want more ....
inka_net - Best offer so far 1001$ but I want more .....
cuex_com - Best offer so far 169$
texl_com - Best offer so far 99$
waly_net - Best offer so far 80$

In general I have noticed a huge jump in 4 letter prices during last 6 month,
expecially at the drop auctions like Pool or Snapnames.

PS:
If you see me bidding at Snapnemes or Pool please stay away

 

[Midano]

Good read nRnF.
Thank for sharing. Sending you some NP$.

Given your denial of .org's, what do you think of fogy.org and winy.org (I do own them), which are not just pronounceable, but dictionary words?

 

[nRnF]

....Given your denial of .org's, what do you think of fogy.org and winy.org (I do own them), which are not just pronounceable, but dictionary words?

I do not deny .orgs, but it is really difficult to sell them. I mean the time you have to put in VS return.
I think, that any sale under 100USD is a waste of time, and loss of money.
Also IMO a dictionary word is not automatically a good word.

If you want a quick appraisal, in your particular case I would say try to sell them for anything >10 or let them expire when due to renewal.
Maybe you can give it a try on the com/net owners ?

PS:
thx for the NP$

 

[VURG]

Allan

I checked your list. 141 of those names are no longer available. At this rate the letter A, 4 letter domain names will be gone this time next year.

 

[jaikini]

i have NYRY.COM which can be newyorkrailway or newyorkrealty
is this name good.please comment

 

[VURG]

You could get good money if you found somebody who wants it. RY could mean a lot of different things. I don't think that would be easy though. Holding onto it may be good. Low to medium xx's

 

[mindblend]

Off topic - but are you the same Taboo from GFY?

Lots of GFYers on the domain boards these days...

 

[namethreads.com]

liut.com

I have just registered liut.com -- it appears to be the name of a Hockey palyer and some other people, plus it is a rare indonesian word.

I have no idea if this is worth something....... :hi:

 

[nRnF]

I have just registered liut.com -- it appears to be the name of a Hockey palyer and some other people, plus it is a rare indonesian word. I have no idea if this is worth something....... :hi:

Nice name, and definetly used
http://www.google.com/search?hl=es&q=liut&btnG=Búsqueda+en+Google&lr=
Take your time selling it

 

[Ray]

I understand what your trying to say, but i feel that 4 letter domains dont have that much vaule.

 

[Spaz]

I agree. One character off from a 3 character. If 3 characters can be worth that much, then 4's can be up there too. For instance.
I registered ktjo.com for my friend and she never used it so now I'm selling it.

http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=123296

 

[Archangel]

I think I'll add a little something to this thread:

It's obvious that 2 char/3 letter names are worth more but what about 4 LLLL? It depends on many factors that have been explained above. I once owned XALM.com/,net and tried to get $100 for the pair. I managed to do just that but it took me a long time to do. I posted appraisal requests on here and no one replied to them (not that I recall). LLLL is a good investment if you can get thm cheap but unless you have name.com or similar, you shouldn't expect a 4 letter domain to be worth much at first. If you have the patience, grab 'em now. They'll be worth far more later. For now, I think 4 letter .coms are worth it but only if you otyherwise get an extremely great one or if you get a poor one & wait a few years for the value to come to them. And even with the latter, nothing is guaranteed.

 

[VURG]

Just thought I'd mention that I have noticed that it is harder to find good unregistered 4 letter domains than when I started this thread months ago.

 

[KingDon]

3 months ago!!! When this place started, 3 letter domains were going for a couple hundred bucks. How I kick myself now thinking back on all the desperate people PM'ing me trying to sell them cheap just to unload them.

Stick to .com's, the rest are just fertilizer.