The December 2008 LLLL.com price guide looks at LLLL.com performance in November 2008. November was an interesting month, marking the one year anniversary of the LLLL.com buyout and an end to the decline in LLLL.com prices we had seen up to that point since February. Looking through the sales results visible by expanding this post, we see that the cheapest LLLL.coms have been hit far harder than the medium and higher quality LLLL.coms. Indeed, the pronounceable LLLL.com market has been negligeably hit — likely due to increased LLLL.com end user demand at the higher end. While domain name investor to domain name investor prices have fallen considerably for most LLLL.coms, end user sales haven’t fallen to near the same extent — presumably because most end users (corporations) are highly unlikely to have been affected by the 2008 recession to the point that smaller domain name investors (comprising a significant portion of the LLLL.com market) have. Read on for a complete breakdown of LLLL.com performance and sales results.

We’ve heard some interesting opinions over the past year — both overly optimistic and pessimistic, and while the LLLL.com market fared worse than most LLLL.com investors would have hoped over the past year, all signs point to the buyout holding.

After a dismal performance in October 2008, LLLL.coms have begun to appreciate once again, with the minimum wholesale being approximately $4 today, up from $2 in October 2008 (both figures based on LLLL.coms about to expire).

November 2008 started out strong, seeing average prices of $19.56 at eBay, $38.09 at SnapNames, and $38.67 at TDNAM (outlier $200+ sales removed) during the first week, for an overall average of $25.94 across 242 sales for a total of $6278.26 in sales under $200.

Median sales ranged from $14.20 at eBay to $28.00 at TDNAM, with SnapNames seeing the median sale bring in $19.00 and the median across all venues coming in at $21.00.

All told, 124 sales were reported under $20 and 115 more between $20 and $100 (1:1.08 ratio). Sales were distributed largely between eBay, TDNAM, and SnapNames, with both eBay and TDNAM resulting in 93 reported sales each and SnapNames reporting 62 sales. NameJet was a distant fourth with 13 reported sales.

Week 2 in November brought in stronger results, with $10,941.60 in sales under $200 bringing in an overall average sale of $30.91 and median of $19.40. Averages and medians were closer between venues this week, with eBay reporting a median of $20.50 and an average of $27.79 on 191 sales. SnapNames reported median and average LLLL.com sale prices of $19.00 and $23.00 respectively and TDNAM reported median prices of $18.00 and average prices of $28.77 on 131 sales.

There were 197 sales under $20 and 141 more between $20 and $100, with 39 (10%) reported sales above $100. Fifteen LLLL.coms were reported sold for $500+ this week, with DN Journal reported several more (included at the end of this article).

Week 3 saw a median of $19.00 and an average price of $32.43 across 231 sales, bringing in $7490.82. Ebay saw an average of $22.60 and median of $16.67 on 112 sales, SnapNames saw 62 sales with an average of $17.63 and median of $15.00. TDNAM saw an average of $28.00 and median of $18.00. It was another good week for quality LLLL.coms and end user sales, with 14 LLLL.coms reaching $500+.

Week 4 saw 44 reported sales above $500, led by Vida.com and Loto.com on Namejet for $50,100 and $91,331 respectively and followed by nineteen 4 figure LLLL.com sales by Afternic — these are of course all excluded from analysis, along with all other outliers and foreign language dictionary words, however they deserve mention nevertheless. The lowest reported sale during Week 4 was mvqb.com for $8.50 on eBay, however many firesale LLLL.coms are currently for sale on TDNAM for $5 without takers, so this suggests the minimum wholesale is still below $5 on LLLL.coms which require immediate renewal. The average sale under $200 came in at $27.04, with the median for the week being $18. Ebay saw 86 sales, averaging $17.40 (median $12.50) and TDNAM saw 112 sales averaging $26.26 (median $18).

Compiling all the results, average sale price was $29.30, with median $19.50, classifying sales above $200 as outliers. Using $500 as our benchmark outlier, the average LLLL.com price soars to $42.99. There were $47,206.17 of reported LLLL.com sales under $500, Afternic alone surpassing that figure with enduser sales.

There were 596 reported sales in the month of November under $20, with 395 more between $20 and $100. There were 83 sales above $500, representing ~7% of total sales.

Suggested Minimum Wholesale: $4.00

5th Percentile: $10.01

10th Percentile: $11.63

25th Percentile:$16.00

Median: $21.00

75th Percentile: $40.02

90th Percentile: $237.00

Buyout names will typically find themselves between the Minimum Wholesale and the Median, with the Minimum Wholesale being approximately $12 for fresh renewals, versus $4 for expired or LLLL.coms near expiry. Renewal fees are factored into sales which require renewal (eg. all TDNAM expired domain purchases), otherwise, they are not. Renewal fees are assumed to be $8.00. Registrar prices will vary.

Quad Premiums saw a minimum of $149 in November, something which has held relatively constant oevr the past couple months. Most quad premium sales are currently falling between $160 and $240, depending on overall quality. The worst premium letters are, on average, F, G, and H. Looking at the quad premium sales results, it’s not difficult to see this holds true, with most of the lower quad premium sales having at least 1 of those letters. If your quad premium LLLL.com has no F,G, or H, it’ll likely be able to fetch at least $180. Remember that Letter Quality is just one factor we need to look at when attempting to evaluate the worth of a domain and it’s a small factor at that — it’s really a quick cheat to determine the value of an LLLL.com without putting in the work which will be elucidated in the bulleted points soon to follow. Triple letters saw JIJJ.com report the lowest sale at $195 and ZXZZ fetching $200 — neither of which is a bottom of the barrel triple letter and I suspect the minimum is approximately $140 at present. Triple repeats saw SQQQ.com fetch $210 and YYYN.com $260, suggesting a minimum wholesale of about $200. Again, overall quality is of the utmost importance when analyzing sales results.

• Pronounceability (does it pass the radio test?)

• Memorability

• Brandability

• Likelihood of an existing or future enduser

• Traffic/Revenue

• Anything else which differentiates it from other LLLL.coms

At the end of the day, an LLLL.com is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. This guide cannot unfortunately predict that, nor can any guide or person. The best we can do is observe past sales and what made them desirable (see bulleted points above) and attempt to apply these principles to our LLLL.coms.

In excess of 99% of LLLL.com data we use on LLLL.com is sourced from public sales. Private sales are only considered for inclusion if they come from reliable sources or if proof of purchase/sale is provided. All private LLLL.com sales are clearly marked “Private Sale” to avoid any confusion and allow easy elimination should you choose to conduct your own research on the numbers presented here. Sales above $200 were excluded for all calculations of averages, so as to not heavily skew results. Median prices included all results in the calculations (the outliers of course being removed in the process of calculating the median). End user sales are not reflective of what domainers can typically expect to receive for their domains and with that in mind, please view the sales above $200 with caution, especially if they appear to be of low quality — similar domains won’t necessarily sell for similar prices, especially if you’re not aware of the reasons behind a seemingly bad LLLL.com selling for a seemingly good price. Loto.com, Vida.com, and Juzi.com in example are common dictionary words in foreign languages — similar domains which aren’t dictionary words won’t fetch remotely close to as much.

While I strive to report accurate sales results, please understand that I can’t take responsibility for any errors or omissions, nor do I recommend making investment decisions based solely on the data provided on www.LLLL.com. The Catch-22 with domain name price guides is that those invested in what they report on often have a bias and those who report on what they’re not invested in often don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. I admit to being invested in short domains myself and have included all sales that I’m aware of above, allowing you to do your own research if you believe mine to be biased in any direction. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. Past performance may not be indicative of future results.

End of Guide.

Released: December 1st, 2008.

Related posts:

1. December 2007 LLLL.com Price Guide
2. January 2008 LLLL.com Price Guide
3. Some LLLL.com Data