I had my first debate/discussion via Twitter (albeit a short one) yesterday about whether numeric domain names can be considered an emerging trend. I read Inside Domaining’s tweet about the topic, and I disagree because values are stagnant and down for most numeric names (as they are just about across the board). I cited my experience selling 887.com late last year as evidence of a difficult market, and I also have experience selling 4 number .com domain names and 3 number .net domain names in the past.
Inside Domaining countered back that 2 and 3 number .com domain names were selling great last year, which is something I do not dispute. However, they sold well last year because TJ Demas bought many of the big ones for huge prices for a special project. IMO, this doesn’t make for an “emerging trend” simply because one buyer bought some names and had to pay a huge sum to get them (ala Rick selling iReport.com for $750,000).
Just as when the 4 letter .com domain names sold out last year, the perceived values went through the roof and they were selling for great sums. Now that people are realizing most are useless, prices are bottoming out. The buyers are disappearing and people are realizing that rarity does not equate to value at all times, and some domain investors lost a lot of money.
I believe if someone pays a considerable sum for a numeric domain simply because TJ bought several last year for his project, the buyer will probably lose money. IMO, this is like a person owning toy-related domain names claiming that toy names are an emerging trend simply because Toys R Us paid $5.1 million for Toys.com (which I am sure will happen).
This industry isn’t like real estate where you can look in the MLS for neighborhood comps. All domain names have unique values.
So… what do you think… Are numeric domain names an emerging trend or not?
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