Tuesday, October 25, 2011

NNNNN.com Buyout Update

NNNNN.com domains (five digit .com domains) remain all bought out.  The buyout has held for nearly a month.

What's more, supply is tightening as well.  The number of daily drops has fallen off a cliff, in the five days from October 24th to October 28th,  only 107 domains will drop, which represents an average drop rate of around 21 domains per day.  This compares to an average drop rate over the past few months of more than 60 per day. 

With such a small drop rate the buyout is certainly sustainable.  It remains to be seen whether the drop rate will stay this low.  To put the numbers in perspective, the number of LLLL.com's dropping over the same 5-day time period will be 149. 

However, it is likely that even if the drop rate does not stay this low, supply will continue to tighten compared to historical averages.  There have been several hundred auction sales of NNNNN.com domains this year, mostly on Chinese auction sites like 4.cn, and the average sale price is well over $100.

Continued growth of the Chinese internet, strong sales of the domains, tightening supply, and a buyout that has been foreseeable since summer has probably convinced many holders to renew their domains.

2 comments:

Shane said...

I used to go to this site all the time. I've been starved of numeric domain information lately, so I'm glad you're posting again.

The buyout news is interesting. I only own one, mediocre, five digit dot com, so my knowledge of that particular numeric category is somewhat limited, but I like reading about them anyway. :)

Regarding numeric domains drying up in general; You'll get no arguments from me. Peruse the archives of any domain marketplace and you'll see that fewer and fewer get put up for sale each year... I know less about 4.cn, but I've noticed a slight downward trend in the NNN.coms that make an appearance... although that could be my imagination.

I'd predicted to myself a while ago that all NN.coms and most NNN.coms would be developed out by now. However, the shear number of parking pages that still persist has proven otherwise. If a numeric development trend were to begin, then I could definitely see the market in the aformentioned numeric categories drying up. Regardless of their development future, there is one thing I'm certain of; It's difficult to find cheap ones. :)

rkbdomain said...

Development is low in part because traffic is very high. Any NNNN.com or fewer number domain will earn its reg fee and more in traffic, and many NNNNN.com's do so as well, so the incentive to develop is not there.

Also, a not-insignificant number of numeric domains are developed. With the 5n's, a lot are developed as zip code sites (foreign and US), Chinese sites, and other types of sites.

I think buyers of these domains also see internet trends in China (most are Chinese themselves) and know that in 5-10 years the development landscape for these domains will be much different. Numerics have much more meaning to Chinese internet users than western internet users, and that is reflected both in development and registration rates.