Your domains of choice

[Redman]

Just out of interest, what types of domains are people buying these days? What TLDs are popular, and what market/genre of domains are most popular among buyers? Thanks all.

 

[peaudecastor]

the Dot COM TLD as definitively the most value..

 

[Elefekt]

It all depends. There are buyers out there looking for anything. Currently I am looking for some domains I have an idea on how to develop. .com of course has the most value at the moment.

 

[jj2ii3344]

I still think that the .COM has the most value! My definite choice!

 

[alltlds]

I agree with everyone else here .com fetches the best return.

 

[Chris Matthers]

.com by far the best

 

[pelican]

either .com or your local ccTLD.

 

[Artico]

Yes, .com holds the most value, however otehr extensions are worth the same when it comes to Countries or Places. :tu:

 

[redhippo]

all the best .coms are gone

i'll go for myname.tld if i am going to develop my site.

better than gtx2.com:tu:

selling that's a different kind of fish

 

[DavidH]

All of my recent retail sales have been two word dot coms, less than 10 letters, no numbers or hyphens, where the name actually says something (eg shipsearch, getshares, etc).

Each time I have been approached by the end user out of the blue.

I am now tending to specialise much more when looking for names - try to find a niche industry or hobby that you know probably better than most (and with respect to everyone, you probably know more about domain names in your industry than almost anyone else) and find out what the key phrases or words used in that industry are. Then go look for names with those words.

(Also, try to find a unhyphenated name where the hyphen version is is use, or the singular name where the plural version is in use. These two methods have also got me sales as the public are often lazy when it comes to hyphens or plurals (missing off the s) and you get a steady stream of emails to your name. Forwarding them politely to the user of the other name pays dividends and has got me two reasonable retail sales recently.)

IMHO, at my level, no one is buying retail dot nets. Dot orgs are moving in the wholesale world but my initial efforts at marketing them retail are not having positive results but it is early days yet. With dot orgs I am now only looking for single words.

I have little or no experience with ccTLD but, at least with .co.uk, there is more paperwork and cost involved when transferring names so I have tended to shy away from them.

Good Luck!

DavidH

 

[Jeff]

Excellent read, David! :tu:
Thanks for sharing.

Also, try to find a unhyphenated name where the hyphen version is is use, or the singular name where the plural version is in use.

In fact, I am working on two just like this right now at the End user level ... and the "campaign" will likely begin over the weeked (fine-tuning a targeted, personalized Marketing letter(s) now).
I have also had great success with owning the ".COM" where ONE entity owns both the ".NET" and ".ORG", as well as owning the ".COM" and another entity owns the ".CO.UK". Having folks approach you is the icing on the cake, IMHO.
See you soon.

 

[redhippo]

ditto. David's clear explaination.thanks
you too, CH.
would like to hear more from David, of his searches for pure names

 

[Jeffrey]

.Com is still has the value, followed by .Net and .Orgs.

 

[DavidH]

Originally posted by redhippo
would like to hear more from David, of his searches for pure names

I use the power search at www.deleteddomains.com a lot for ideas. Search using your preferred keywords, keep the number of characters relatively low, get rid of hyphens and numbers (unless you are specifically looking for them) and search for names deleted anytime.

My latest name using this method is KoiTalk.com - koi are big business and this name sounds quite good to me although I have not yet got a buyer in mind. 8840 pages on google for the phrase, which seems to be used quite a lot to explain the different terms and names used in the koi business, especially translating from Japanese.

Another way to get ideas is to use www.whois.sc and again put in key words and see what free domains pop out.

PackEquipment.com is another new one for me - good horsey name that has 9530 pages on Google and appears to be a fairly commonly used phrase.

This is also a good way to find names where the .com is free but other extensions are taken. Always check to see if the name is actually free as the database they use is not always up to date.

Trawl through www.namewinner.com and www.pool.com to see if any expiring names take your fancy. Most of them are going for ridiculous amounts of money right now but just occasionally you can get a good name, especially if it has a specialist or local meaning that most people may not appreciate. Yesterday I picked up elvet.org - probably has no meaning for most people but I am near Durham, where the name originates (the Elvet Bridge in the city was built in 1160) so I am sure I can find a market for it locally. Another one I picked up recently was mence.com - again probably of no interest to most but a very common surname in this part of the UK.

In the shipping world which is my preferred speciality I have picked up rustbucket.com (tickled my sense of humour since this is the word that describes an awful ship and my day job is organising surveys on ships for a marine insurance company !) and fastferry.net. Unfortunately channelferry.com went the other day for too much for my pocket just now.

Monitor what new developments are going on in your chosen industry and grab the right name before anyone else. Security in the shipping industry is a big thing right now (after 9/11) and a new security code has recently come into force, so I picked up ISPScode.com ! Now many of the other extensions have been taken!

Dont just think in English (or American); there are other languages out there which can make a name worth more than just the English meaning. I picked up Pour.org - "pour" is an unassuming English word but "pour" is also French for "for" and there are 70 million pages on Google for the word! Be aware of the difference between English and American spellings - the American "center" is much more popular than the British "centre" but would probably not sell very well on this side of the Pond. Perhaps in this respect, as I work in an international industry, I am used to seeing words in other languages - I also have avendre.org (for sale in French) and ouverte.org (open); aika.org is a Finnish band and Breskens.org is the name of a place in the Netherlands (full of local shipowners).

Let your imagination run riot, think outside of the box, but always be aware - is this name one that someone would actually buy AND pay good money for? Would they be proud to use that name for their business or organisation? Is it short and memorable?

Apologies for rambling on - hope some of this may be of help.

DavidH

 

[THESTOKIE]

.com/co.uk then .net

 

[delta4]

i think .com and then .net

and after that local country domain.

 

[Ron Jackson]

I have now sold over 430 domains in the last 13 months. In my personal experience, .com leads as it does for everyone else, followed by .org which is miles ahead of .net in both wholesale AND retail sales for me. I have averaged selling at least a couple of .orgs for three figures every week (the latest being YourMoney.org which I sold today for $199). I have sold a grand total of ONE .net for 3 figures in those same 13 months. I have found end users to have almost no interest in .net unless it is a 3-letter or one word domain so I have just about quit buying them all together.

We are starting to see some new extension sales now and I think those will grow rapidly in the years ahead. Amplifer.info just went for $2100 on Afternic and they sold a couple of 3-letter .us in the last 24 hours (one for $350 and one for $200). I expect .us to pass .net with American buyers in the next few years. About Half of our weekly Top Ten sales chart at Domain Name Journal has been claimed by major industrial nation country codes. Worldwide they are the clear 2nd choice to .com. I don't expect the U.S. will be any different once our country code becomes familiar to people. It doesn't carry all of the .net baggage of being meant for ISP's and the poor cousin to .com.

 

[redhippo]

Great thoughts!!!! five stars

thanks david
thanks duke,

this what i like to see,
philosophy and strategy of buys/sells.

helps me see some light in all this domain biz.

learn lots:bingo:




:gl:

 

[Webtwink]

opinion

Originally posted by Elefekt
Currently I am looking for some domains I have an idea on how to develop. .com of course has the most value at the moment.

I second that opinion

 

[Ron Jackson]

Here's something interesting I noticed tonight. Afternic lists their recent sales on their site. In the past 14 days they have made 50 sales. 41 of those (more than 80%) are .com. After that, .net (despite having a 10-year head start) has only one more sale than .US, 4-3.

 

[redhippo]

Originally posted by Duke
Here's something interesting I noticed tonight. Afternic lists their recent sales on their site. In the past 14 days they have made 50 sales. 41 of those (more than 80%) are .com. After that, .net (despite having a 10-year head start) has only one more sale than .US, 4-3.

interesting. how are the stats aquired??:cy:

 

[Ron Jackson]

Not too difficult - They are on Afternic's front page!