Wholesale Value of Premium 3-Letter .US

[Duke]

I have a large number of 3-letter .US with decent letters. However, I started buying too late to register names that had all premium letters, for example, something like ACS - all very commonly used letters. Most of these were taken on the opening day of .US registrations. (There are still a lot of unregistered .US 3's, but virtually all have undesirable letters - especially q, x, y and z).

Now I am thinking about going into the aftermarket and picking up some of these names while they are still affordable. I have seen several go on the new Afternic for $200-$350 retail. One of the owners there has dozens of nice combos, all with a minimum offer of $200 and an asking price of $495.

My question is, what would be a reasonable wholesale price to pay for these combos. It's a new market so there isn't much to go on, but I am guessing $50-$75. I would like to know what other .US fans think about this.

Again I am looking for fair wholesale pricing on 3-letter acronyms (not words of course, which would be more valuable), ALL premium letters, like ACS, CSA, ESC, etc. Thanks!

 

[Duke]

OK, I didn't get any feedback on this so I went ahead and bought a domain of the type cited above - APS.us - which would be one the best of it's kind - 4 full pages of acronyms at Acronym finder, 2 million pages at Google, 13,500 at Overture and taken in virtually every extension large and small. Paid in the wholesale range I guessed at above. Still interested in knowing what wholesale value .US fans would put on these premium 3's.

 

[DrWho]

<$200 is a good investment

 

[DaddyHalbucks]

I wouldn't pay anything for them.

I don't own any DOT US domains.

Speculating in DOT COMs is hard enough, why would you want to waste your money?

 

[bidawinner]

Yeah, it's getting tough Duke ..

I am in the same position.. But I am not discounting all the one's you are calling "undesirable" ..

I am looking at it from the perspective of $10 a piece and even the "undesirables" will at LEAST double in price by next year.. so I am looking at at least 100% returns on those..and even 200% .. I know I will be able to get $20-$30 a pice min for them.. I'm certainly not going to get those resluts in the stock market anytime soon..

now I understand your looking at even higher returns for the "desirable" one's and dont blame you..I have not been able to talk anyone under $100 a piece for them...I simply cannot afford that..

If I had the cash ..I think they are a steal for $100 a piece.. considering of course you are doing the proper research and are really grabbing nice ones.

Dotcomcowboy is still in the dark..he is a stubborn one.. still having trouble in .com but refuses to look at other markets..

How long before the Cowboy realizes he is riding a dead horse ?

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by DotComCowboy
I wouldn't pay anything for them.

I don't own any DOT US domains.

Speculating in DOT COMs is hard enough, why would you want to waste your money?

Didn't know you could see into the future DCC (you have certainly NEVER demonstrated that capability before). Interesting you would say this when you were on here touting your .MD names a few months ago :laugh: . Did you ever get the five figures you tried to convince people those were worth? Haven't seen you talk much about them since you were laughed out of the forum and returned to your preoccupation with porn names.

I don't see how anyone with an ounce of intelligence and the ability to read the news about this extension can fail to see what is coming - but you have already amply demonstrated your lack of wisdom with respect to domains. I thought I asked for comments from .US fans (I already know what people with their heads stuck in the sand think) - obviously you failed to read that too, so no surprise to me that you are so poorly informed.

Other people who take the time to stay on top of things are doing very well in other extensions. NamePopper and I are both having very nice luck with .ORGs, DryHeat has made great sales with .info, etc. So, you just keep doing what you have been doing and you will keep getting what you have got - nothing.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by bidawinner
I understand your looking at even higher returns for the "desirable" one's and dont blame you..I have not been able to talk anyone under $100 a piece for them...I simply cannot afford that..

If I had the cash ..I think they are a steal for $100 a piece.. considering of course you are doing the proper research and are really grabbing nice ones.

Thanks for your input bid, I think that sounds reasonable. I will try to land some a little lower as I was fortunate to do today. I like the ones I have that are decent but want some that are really strong so I will be positioned as .US takes off.

 

[Duke]

edited out double post

 

[DryHeat]

I don't know what would be a fair "wholesale" purchase price for this name (since I've never bought or sold one on wholesale price) but I can tell you this.... as soon as this dark cloud of war and bleak economy clears up you can count on selling this name for at least $1-2K....btw, the one I am most familiar is APS.com which happens to be one of Arizona's two major energy companies..

 

[timechange.com]

How much would you value REX.us then?

 

[Duke]

Thanks Heat, that is encouraging. I agree with you which is why I am making an effort to get a few of these now. Looks to me like the last shot before they head skyward.

 

[DNS Kidd]

Duke - I think IBM.us might be a good one, may pay more thn wholesale for that

I would be interested in marketable names, ones with good Google numbers.

 

[DryHeat]

I notice that all of these desriable three letter combos, obviously not surprisingly, have several active trademarks....can there be any issues? Asking since I've never regged and hence never studied TM issues in this situation.

 

[Duke]

Heat - I think I read in the legal section that it is next to impossible to trademark a 3 letter acronym. Companies don't own the alphabet. Otherwise you wouldn't have dozens of companies sharing the same 3-letter acronyms (as is the case with APS for instance). Obviously you couldn't use the acronym for the same line of business. They can be trademarked, just like words, for a specific line of business.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by DNS Kidd
Duke - I think IBM.us might be a good one, may pay more thn wholesale for that

I might at that...but I don't think the current registrant (IBM) will be putting it on the market anytime soon!

 

[Biggie]

Hey Duke

You always present a good case for reasons why you buy a particular domain. As I really feel you should be in the law biz.

The presentation that you bring with your product is often very convincing, even when they may have no value, to the over all community.

IMO, the value of 3 letter.us domains should increase in value.
However, the policies of Bush may alienate the .us extention if there is no turn around. Many USA citizens are against the pending war with Iraq and globally it isn't much better.

Those who associate .us with USA, may be turned off as a result, should war break out.
The .us tld is similiar to high risk stocks within the stock market, IMO and with the .com deletions still on hold,many will rush to pick those tld's first before going to .us tld's.

So for the rest of this year, I don't think the value of .us will increase that much. Although prime 3 letter .us may have some resale value.

I too have some .us domains and hope the value will increase.

Good Luck with your speculations

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by biggedon
the policies of Bush may alienate the .us extention if there is no turn around. Many USA citizens are against the pending war with Iraq and globally it isn't much better.

Bush has nothing to do with the acceptance of .US. Pride in the extension is based on pride in America, not any partisan individual. It is based on the fact that we have the FREEDOM to openly oppose our own president if we want to. It is based on this being the dominant market in the world - one that offers spectacular business opportunities that cannot be matched anywhere else.

From what I have learned about usage and planned usage for the extension tells me all I need to know. I don't really even feel the need to debate it anymore. It's here and it is only going to get bigger. As I noted in my opening post, my time will be better spent rounding up as many premium names as I can now. This window of opportunity will be closing very soon as sellers begin realizing what their names are going to be worth.

 

[DNS Kidd]

Duke - Well said. I like the .us extension, and think it has great potential in the future.

3 letter .us has the advantage of almost a guaranteed increase in value, based only on its length and common categories of letters. These will gain and maintain value, just as 3 letter .com names have.

 

[bidawinner]

I dont think patriotism has anything(well very little) to do with the .US extension anymore than .DE or .JP.. they are simply used for marketing purposes.. to either state your company is based in a specific country OR that you can do business in a particular country.. a local connnection..

where'as with .com you are left with a more general term..

You know what .DE means.. it is a pointing signature for German markets .. the same will apply(does apply) for .US..

Companies dont do business out of "patriotism" or pride..they do busiess where there are Markets..

The more specific you can be about where you do business... the better ROI you will have .. you are then targeting (the costs) for targeting a market can be more specific whioch means it can roi will be higher than if you are using 1 address whether it is a .com, .net etc... where you are trying to cover all the markets from one general point...

Think or your websites that bring in the best returns.. they are USUALLY your websites that target a specific market..not you website that try's to be everything to everybody...

Pride Patriotism is great.. but that isnt why Businesses are buying .US and it isnt why I am buying .US..

Thats not to say that Companies wont use "patriotism" in there advertising themes ..when the country is in that "mood" ..but for the most part you wont see that style of advertising for the everyday marketing IMO

 

[Biggie]

Originally posted by Duke
Bush has nothing to do with the acceptance of .US. Pride in the extension is based on pride in America, not any partisan individual. It is based on the fact that we have the FREEDOM to openly oppose our own president if we want to.

When Bush came on television and made the speech relating to the .us extension for kids.us. It was big news for .us speculators,
and it added to the tld's registration numbers.
It seems contrary to make the statement that he has nothing to do with the acceptance of .us.

As far as freedom to openly oppose our own president. Freedom's in America are not what they used to be.

I was trying to be supportive in regards to your initial post, as well as pointing out my own perspective.As I stated, I have .us domain names also