Yesterday Domain Investing had a post asking the question “What is the floor price for an LL.com?” The answer came in a comment from the person that probably knows more about LL.coms than anyone in the world lately, Andrew Rosener. His comment is worthy of it’s own post. Here is Andrew’s comment
Media Options is in a unique position unlike any other brokerage firm in the industry in that we have focused on short domains (2 and 3 letter .com primarily) since our inception, not only for brokerage but also for our owner operated portfolio. One could say, “we put our money where our mouth is”. In total we have bought, sold and/or brokered around 30 LL.com domains and several hundred LLL.com domains. We still currently own three LL.com domains and ultimately I wish we’d never sold any (hind sight is always 20/20), all of which receive daily offers, primarily from the Chinese investor community as of late.
LL.com domains have seen unprecedented value growth in the last 18 months. The true wholesale floor value has escalated from $125,000 about 18 months ago to around $350,000 today. I know of one LL.com in the market currently at $275,000 – however, this one has been on the market and shopped around extensively and there doesn’t appear to be much demand for this letter combination. I suspect most investors evaluate these combinations on the potential number of large end users (over $100 million market cap) who could be seen as acquirers in the future, for which that particular letter combination doesn’t have many. Outside of this, there are maybe only a couple at $300k – $350k (2 or 3 I’d say – all of lower quality and lesser used letter combinations). Beyond that all are $450k plus.
On the flip side (the buy side), I can say with experience that the investors are regularly offering between $350,000 – $500,000 at the wholesale level (almost daily), with offers varying in that range relative to the letter combinations it seems. So the liquid value is in that range depending on the particular letters.
WI.com (the State abbreviation for Wisconsin) which we are brokering on behalf of MasterLock, currently has several offers between $350,000 – $425,000. However, we will continue our efforts to find an appropriate end user before considering a sale to an investor – per our mandate from our client. Although all offers are welcome as always!
Itis my opinion, much like Dave, that all of the remaining LL.com domains have a true intrinsic value in the seven or even eight figures and with each new sale and further decrease in supply, the value increases incrementaly. But in an illiquid market like domain names, only time and patience will allow those remaining domains (or the market really) to mature and achieve such value. For varying reasons, investors, including us, sell these assets below their true value in order to raise capital or take advantage of other opportunities. These sales are the ones which set the floor.
For an endless number of reasons which I’ve documented on our own blog, I believe that 2 Letter domain names are one of the most under-appreciated and under-valued assets today. If there were a single class of domain name which I were most confident in the future value appreciation of, it would most certainly be two letter .com domains – even more so than 2 number .com domains, despite their being even more scarce, simply because the letters have a more global appeal and reach and numbers are primarily focused and value based in China and other Asian markets. If the Chinese economy tanks, so does demand for 2 number or numeric domains in general. Although due to the incredible scarcity of those domains like 50.com which we are also selling, it is also highly unlikely that the values will decrease any time soon and only continue their incredible value growth over the coming months and years.
LL.com domains are truly unique tools, assets & investment vehicles that are unmatched, particularly in the world of domain names. It seems the world is starting to take notice of this value discrepancy and for this very reason the Chinese among others, in an effort to find a place to invest their money in assets, particularly foreign, have driven up the values so quickly over the last 18 months in a race to get their hands on these scarce commodities. But because of the scarcity and lack of leverage, I don’t think we’ll see any downward pressure on these values any time soon – if ever. I think quite the opposite. I think within 6-12 months you’ll see a $500k floor value on any LL.com at the wholesale level.
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Here are today’s names
DaddysLove.com And the creepiest domain name/email ever goes to………..
SHHB.com 60 bids. Not bad for an LLLL.com
MiamiPainter.com No bidders. If I’m a painter in Miami then I’d take it for $69 or a little more
PiaoJi.com To visit a prostitue in Chinese. You think all these bidders know that?
ShouJiao.com “A professor, to instruct” in Chinese. Again, lots of bidders
Klauss.com Lots of people, places and things with this name
BestRingtones.com Ringtones used to be huge money. Anyone still doing these? According to the bids, some are
Sorento.com Pending delete. Surprised there are so few bidders. Maybe they don’t want to compete with Kia
SurfMagazine.com Another pending delete. Sounds official. Even if you run it from Central Illinois
Excellence.org I listed this the other day but I really do like it. I think I may buy it
Pander.com I really like this one. Pandering is usually considered a negative term but it really means selling. Only at $1000 at press time
Heels.net Would have been at 20 times this a few years ago
Divorcing.com Half of all married couples will be
Russians.net Not getting any love. Obviously they haven’t been to Russia and met the girls. Many would love to meet a foreign man and get married. Great site for teaching them how. $10 at press time
FileBackup.com Going to sell because it’s met reserve. Great CPC with backup names
GameReviews.com It’s a website as well. Eric Borgos has a real winner with this one
VisitRome.com Eric has a ton of domains at auction today and every one is a good one. This one included
Autopsies.com A pretty gory buildout
NEW FRIDAY!!!! Working Godaddy Domain Code of the day. 33% off new purchases. Great for new gTLDs CJCRMN33
Claim.net 17 years old and only one bidder. Does nobody want dot net?
FreshMonkey.com Yep. FreshMonkey has a lot more bids than Claim.net . Monkey names are hot
BoredInVegas.com Not a ton of value but at $12 would make a memorable Vegas Entertainment site
1777.net One of the best NNNN.nets out this year. Will do very well
IAMG.com 10 years old. G for group
TGNU.com Under $50 at press time
AppLife.com Is getting the most love of all the names on the board today
Motion.me Not going to make you a millionaire but may make you a hundredaire since it’s cheap
Humiliate.me Godaddy says it gets over 300 visits a month. Love to see what they were looking for.
Have a name at auction and need more exposure? Send me an email. We may be able to help. If you have an auction you want to promote, email us for details. *All names chosen by me, Shane, and the goal of this list is to have all links be paid through commission . (ie you click through and purchase a name you like) or an occasional paid listing. Everything I say is based on my own research or is opinion. Do your own due diligence. That means look it up yourself if you don’t think the stats or my opinion is correct.
Why but a LL.com for 350k when you can use that money to buy thousands of .xyz domains
On a serious note ak.com is on the market for about a mil
Thanks Shane – just calling it like I see it…