LLL.com Prices Falling
June 26, 2008 · Print This Article
On June 7, 2008, I blogged that I thought LLL.com prices were about to fall. It has indeed started to happen. It looks to me like prices have fallen about 10% since that post.
According to the June 1, 2008 3Character.com Price Guide, the minimum wholesale price (regardless of letter combo) of three letter dot com domains is $7,600. However, in the last week, there have been a number of LLL.com sales at or below this amount.
The first one I noticed was at Bido. On June 20, 2008, RYY.com closed at $7,124. At the time, I thought that this was simply the venue – Bido is a new place and this was one of the first auctions they held. However, I now think that Bido indeed obtained fair market value for the domain, and the lower price was because the market had fallen. This is because over the last few days, there have been several sales of three letter dot com domains below or at the $7,600 mark.
Other recent LLL.com sales that I’ve seen include XKD.com for $7,100, IQD.com for $7,600 (not below $7,600 but a very low price for a domain with two premium letters), JUA.com for $7,600 (again, not below $7,600 but a low price for a domain with one premium and one semi-premium letter), and BIY.com for $7,400.
In rough terms, that’s about a 10% drop since I wrote that blog post. I still believe that LLL.com domains will continue to fall, and I still recommend selling them, as current prices are inflated. If you sell your 3 letter domains in the next little while, you should still do well.
As in my previous post, I want to emphasize that long term I’m bullish on LLL.com – I’m no LLL.com hater. However, there is no sense holding on to them when you will be able to rebuy them at much lower prices in the near future.
Written by admin · Filed Under Domaining
LLL.coms values are intrinsically linked to their rarity factor. Having so many go to auction in one week,(I counted 12) has had an effect on sales prices. In the next few weeks, it looks like, the supply will dry up again as only one LLL.com is available at Sedo RLU.com, 5 days to go and at $7,500, and one at drop auction BSF.com at snapnames. If supply goes back to the normal rate of 2-3 a week, prices should hold and will still increase.
Hold…
Agreed with Jamie, at times like this, Its best to hold on to your LLL.coms till the market picks up again
Inciting a flood of LLL.coms on the market isn’t exactly going to help their value, unless of course you’re trying to cause a price crash so you can buy them 😉
@Graham – there’s something to what you say, but at the end of the day if people thought the domains were worth more, I’m sure they could have come up with an extra few hundred dollars to bid them up.
@CB – The purpose of my blog is to educate domainers, particularly people just starting out. This is my opinion and advice based on my experience and after looking closely at this segment of the market for a long time. When prices do go down, it won’t be because of this blog post. And when I think it’s time to buy LLL.com’s, I’ll be posting that here as well.
In reply to admins comment ‘@Graham – there’s something to what you say, but at the end of the day if people thought the domains were worth more, I’m sure they could have come up with an extra few hundred dollars to bid them up.’
Do not forget, at the end of an auction there is only 2 bidders willing to pay top dollar and both of those highest bidders are being asked to cough up top dollar on all 12 names; this is asking a lot. The value in LLL.coms is their rarity, making 12 available in 1 week makes them seem less rare and therefore less valuable. Very few (2-3), of the auctioned 12 LLL.com names, ended up being under valued against the previous month’s values.
Graham, that’s right, but it’s true for all auctions. Ultimately, it is the people who have the cash that are the ones who are setting the prices.
The trouble with three letter domains is pretty evident if you think about it. The trouble is they usually can be mistaken for so many different companies and this also means brandability goes out the window. Only very large companies might be interested in these LLL. and for search engine purposes they have little value.
Law firms seem to love them. Dewey, Suham & Howe becomes DSH.com.
The $ value of the LLL.com’s is determined in many times by the sellers – if they are in desperate need of $ they will list the reserve price at the minimum and sell the domain name cheap (at websites like sedo / afternic or online auctions like moniker or other places).
The LLL.com’s are very valuable and in 5 years time they will sell for at LEAST $100 thousand per one LLL.com.
Patience is a VIRTUE which only good men have (they will cash in big time in 5 years).
Good Luck