Domain Flips (PayRocket.com, EIQ.com, HILI.com) and Flops (HASN.com, Z7Z7.com)

Below is another look at a few recent domain flips and flops, with data courtesy of NameBio.

Flips

PayRocket.com sold for 4,246 USD recently at NameJet, vs 1,000 USD on 2015-08-07 at Sedo. Two word brandable domains are now selling for a wholesale price of $4k? I personally don’t see enough upside, and I understand ‘pay’ and ‘rocket’ domains are hot. The current lander says the domain is available for $25,000, but what are the odds it sells at that price in the next 5 years? The odds aren’t great in my opinion….there are so many brandable alternatives.

If I play out a hypothetical, maybe it doesn’t look quite as awful. Let’s say you buy 100 similar names at about the same price, so your investment is $400,000. IF (big if) you can sell two a year at $25,000 each, that’s about a 12% annual return on your initial investment, with a payback in 8 years, at which time you’ll still still have over 80 names left. LOTS of variables and assumptions here, and I’d argue that the assumptions in my hypothetical scenario are way too aggressive.

EIQ.com sold for 30,200 USD recently at NameJet, vs 24,600 USD on 2015-11-03 at NameJet. A thin one….around a $1k profit assuming a 15% commission.

Vivado.com sold for 11,156 USD recently at Sedo, vs 4,400 USD on 2015-07-11 at Sedo. Nearly 3x after commission in just over a year.

KRKZ.com sold for 1,200 USD recently at NameJet, vs 500 USD on 2015-08-26 at NameJet. LLLL.com domains have received alot of press about their price drop from the peak, but this is still a double after commissions in a year hold.

HILI.com sold for 12,000 USD recently privately, vs 3,200 USD on 2014-04-25 at NameJet. Solid 3.7x return, and per the placeholder logo (below) and site, a predominantly Chinese-language shelving site is in the works.

Flops

HASN.com sold for 560 USD recently at Sedo, vs 2,101 USD on 2016-04-28 at NameJet. What was this person thinking with this 4 month hold, and a loss of over 75%?

Z7Z7.com sold for 500 USD recently at GoDaddy, vs 808 USD on 2015-08-27 at GoDaddy. The domain looks cool, but selling at a loss isn’t cool.

Based on the acquisition platforms and prices, the next few are likely a result of an end user purchase and a business plan gone awry.

ClassicCollision.com sold for 501 USD recently at DropCatch, vs 3,815 USD on 2015-09-18 at BuyDomains.

ManagedServiceProvider.com sold for 458 USD recently at GoDaddy, vs 2,488 USD on 2009-11-11 at Afternic.

SinglesNow.com sold for 230 USD recently at GoDaddy, vs 5,188 USD on 2013-08-26 at Afternic.

LakesidePizza.com sold for 175 USD recently at GoDaddy, vs 2,088 USD on 2013-03-11 at Afternic.

Note: I didn’t do an exhaustive search of the ownership history of each domain. There are likely cases where there were multiple owners between the sales prices I list.

You can find past Flips and Flops posts here.