I exchanged messages with King on DN Forum (his forum handle is B. King) after learning about his success selling three letter .com domain names. This type of domain name is one of the fastest appreciating sectors in the domain industry. According to the frequently referenced price guide on 3character.com, the minimum observed prices for this type of name is now $6,000, up from $5,500 just last month, and up consistently over the past few years. While this may not reflect the actual value of all three letter .com names, it can be indicative of the market value for this type of name.
Because of his success with this type of name, I asked King to write about three letter .com domain names and to discuss the recent sale of one of his names, BCF.com.
(Editor’s Note: Although I can’t argue with the numbers, I think people should evaluate why each LLL.com domain name has value before shelling out thousands of dollars for it.)
From King on DN Forum:
“I was asked by Elliot , to write about LLL.com’s in general and in particular about my end user LLL.com sale.
As I am certain most of you are aware that 3 letter .coms are the fastest growing domain investments in this incredible domain market. As we approach the end of year I would like to recap the market – a year ago the minimum price for 3 letter .coms was $3,050 , as of December 1, 2007 the minimum stands at $6,000 , that represents an almost 100% growth. Now some might suggest that this is hollow growth and that LLL.com’s have mostly been doing hot potato between domainers. However I believe that the increase in value has been backed by strong end user sales. While most of these sales go under the radar, the ones that I am aware are as follows:
AMT.com 100,000 Advance Media Technologies
RCS.com 95,000 to RCS International
BCF.com 71,200 to Burlington Coat Factory
HBL.com recently acquired by the largest bank in Pakistan. Upon enquiring with some contacts there, they have indicated that they have paid $100,000 for it (keep in mind this is a bank in a third world country and they still see the value in a $100k domain).
IFP.com to the Institut Français du Pétrole . price is unknown
Since I was the seller of BCF.com, I’ll let you guys in on the incredible auction that went down on Sedo. I had initially listed BCF.com on a popular domain forum and put it up for sale under $20,000. However, desired bids were not reached and I sent the domain in to Sedo auction with a reserve of $20,000. On the third day of the auction in the middle of the night I received a call from a gentleman asking to talk to me. After introducing him self as the head of IT in a large public listed Australian company www.bcf.com.au. He told me that he had heard rumors that BCF.com was up on auction on “EBAY” to which I corrected him and told him that it was auction on Sedo. He offered to buy the domain straight away, but i told him that the reserve on the auction was already met so I was obliged to sell through Sedo only and that he could place his bids there. From that point onwards, I was feeling good about the auction and thought that the auction would go well and would manage to get a few K over reseller value. To my surprise the BCF.com had already entered the $40k range in the last hour of the auction , and after a bidding war the auction ended at $71,200.
At that point I was certain that there was more than 1 end user present at the auction, and indeed that was the case. Burlington Coat Factory had won the auction from www.BCF.com.au. To me this auction goes to show that poular 3 letter .coms are extremely desirable and there is usually more than one end user for them.
At the end of this article , I would like to add that I think LLL.com values will continue to rise at a rapid rate through out 2008 , both in reseller terms and in End User terms. LLL.coms offer a unique opportunity’s as the entry point in LLL.coms is comparatively much lower as compared to generic .coms and yet they are premium and have as much probability of making an end user sale as a generic .com .
Happy Domaining!!!
B.King”
