The domain market in China has exploded. Short domains, mostly 2 to 5 numeric domains and 2 to 4 letter .COM domains have skyrocketed in a few short years due to the growing demand of investors and companies in China. Although short domains have always been in demand worldwide, the emergence of China’s economy in the technology sector has added even more fuel to the fire.
When I previously wrote about premium letters in short domains, I didn’t take into account the Chinese market because quite frankly I had little knowledge of it. Now, it can’t be ignored. And, I’ve learned that the Chinese view and value letters differently than we do. This is also true for how the Chinese view numbers — especially numbers. In China, each number has a specific meaning. I am still far from being an expert of the Chinese market because I don’t know much about the language, but by reading discussions on domain forums and blogs, you can learn a bit.
Here is what member, DotCN, shares with us via some posts on NamePros forum:
CCCC .COMs with no vowels (A, E, I, O, U) or V are generally the most valuable in China.
But ‘Z’ is really welcome here in China, because “ZhongGuo” is China in Chinese PinYin.
And Chinese like “Middle” very much, “Zhong” means “middle” in Chinese PinYin. Many many Chinse company name has “Zhong”…The other most popular letter might be X, Y, S, C, …
We Chinese like to divide the 4L into two parts, the first two letters and the last two letters.
If the first two is Big city of China, it will be very welcome, Such as: BJ(BeiJing), SH(ShangHai), GD(GuangDong)…
If the last two letters is some kind of business, such as: LC(LiCai, finance), ZX(online), KJ(Tech), SJ(Data), which would be very welcome.And also “CN” is very popular in China so my ID is DotCN
No Chinese “words(PinYin)” starts from U, V, O and I, but there ARE some words start from A & E, so A, E is not very bad for Chinese market.
Had I known this a year or two earlier, I would have invested more in 4 letter .COMs that Americans and non-Chinese were selling off for low to mid $xx.
According to DotCN, “The lowest price of Chinese premium LLLL.com (without a,e,i,o,u,V) is about $300USD now.” He is probably in the right ballpark… and in recent times, I’m seeing higher sales numbers for short .COMs all across the board.
Here’s a few current examples from GoDaddy Auction:
- ZJGS.com is currently at $1,580 with 15 bids.
- QSBB.com is currently at $,1525 with 13 bids.
- WSZX.com is currently at $830 with 31 bids.
As you can see by American standards, these would not be considered premium. But by Chinese standards, these domains could have greater meaning. This double standard is a good thing. It brings up the value and demand for all short .COM domains regardless of the letters.
Thanks for this great, helpful post.
Nice article. Nice to learn more on these short domains as I might start acquiring a few of these soon.
How about five letter domains for Chinese market? I recently acquired BJCNT.com which has many premium letters for Chinese market.
IMO, I don’t think 5 letters will ever become hot commodity, even with Chinese-preferred letters. There are 11,881,376 possible combinations of LLLLL .coms. I would not consider that rare at all. A big part of what is driving the LLLL market is the supply/demand factor.
The exceptions are pronounceables, brandables, and dictionary words.
How much would ZXLC.co be worth (Online Finance – if you are to go by what you have stated above?).
Thanks
Richie
Hi Richie,
As far as I’ve seen, there is no demand for LLLL .CO’s yet. Unless you have premium LLLL, there is little to no value.
I have a llll.com domain and it is jukp.com please can you tell me the actual worth.
Hi Okey,
JUKP.com is a not a Chinese premium LLLL .COM. This puts the floor price right around $340 in the current market. This is not to say that you can’t sell it for more – just the floor price. Also keep in mind, prices can change quickly, so keep updated.
The floor price is well under $340. You can easily buy dozens of 4L for $260 to $300 on NamePros.
LLLL.com is worth a lot xx.xxx it’s just funny that people sell them for pie nuts in 6 months everyone will cry.. Look at the time chart.. Value is growing in every life’s corner. Need to be patient.. Soon people will pay thousands for 5L and 6L random words…
I have domain TXBM.com and I have recently gotten offers to buy it for between $500-$1500. How do I determine a reasonable price for the domain? To be fair, I had never considered selling, but with offers coming in I want to make sure I sell for the right price. It won’t bother me to keep it a while longer either.
Hi MOB,
$500-1500 is too low for that domain in the current market. I suggest following the market at least weekly for sales numbers/comparables. Look at sites like Namebio or LLLLSales.com. That’ll give you a better idea of how much your domain is worth. Also, it would help if you understood the Chinese meanings of the letter combination for your domain. If you have a good combo, it could fetch a lot more money.
Your TXBM domain is currently worth between 1900 and 2200 USD.
How bad (or good) is the letter ‘e’ in front of a 4L.com for the chinese market?
Let’s say, for example, what value would have eNew.com on the chinese market?
I think a 4-letter domain like enew.com would have more value in the Western world than the Chinese market.
e + short dictionary word
Agree, but depends on who has the money… 🙂
eNew has 2 vowels out of 4 letters. China is not the targetted market. The high value potential lies in the word “New” which would attract a lot of bidders if put in auction.
Unfortunately it’s not that simple with eNew.com . There are about 3L words in english. Less than 100 are good for domaining… 10-20 of them are strong. I see the word New among the best 20. Suitable for almost anything, because any field has sometimes something new…
In the meanwhile New is not like Bet…
Sorry,
* there are about 1,000 3L words
What about Luuu.com ? What’s your opinion regarding the chinese market? May be you’ve heard about John Luuu. So, it’s kind of chinese name. And yet has vowels…
There are exceptions to every rule, but if you want to target chinese market, follow the right path. No vowels and no V. All others can find a buyer, but its not as certain.
Now a days 6N, 7N, 8N and even 9N are soaring. IMO, still the time is to buy short names and hold on for some time to get decent return.
Where would you price XCUL.com at?
XCUL.com is not a Chinese Chip, so I would say around $280 to 350 in the current market.
I sold 135 cccc.COM’s to a broker in China. The next month the price had quadrupled. Now, I wonder if China will want combinations of consonents and numbers, for instance, J6R.com or 3t88.com. What about a word plus number, say dot88.com? Thanks. Just got an offer for 280 each for LLLL.coms with vowels. Seems low?
NLL, LNN, NNLL, LLNN, LLLL, NNNNN, LLLLL … all this short domains are in high demand and their prices is not easy to follow. You have to really study the current sale price. Use NameBio.
LLLL.com for 280 not a bad offer. Of course not if you have a CVCV or a pronounceable or Western-Quad Premium. But for random letters with vowels, 280 is ok.. anything between 275-300 is ok.
Here is a link to Namebios CHiP domain name sales report for those that are seeking up to date sales information : http://namebio.com/?s=QMzgjNxUzM
Hi, what about zsr.co ? LLL.co What’s your opinion?
Chinese market regarding domain name value are different. They would spend thousands of dollars on domain name on which other domain investor’s wouldn’t even want to pay for hundred bucks. Chinese domain market is really skyrocketing and there is no doubt on it. I think they just love to buy domain name which has numbers in them.
I own DZMZ.COM. Could you tell me what its worth? So far the highest offer I received is USD1800. Thanks
That is a decent combination for a Chinese Chip, with repeat letter “Z”. Chips have gone down slightly recently, but I think for this particular combination you should be able to get $2,100 to 2,500… maybe more at the right marketplace.
Any opinion about YunQi.bet and HaoYun.bet ?
Thanks.
I own xelo.com, but I have no idea how to find out if there is a chinese city code or anything useful in there. ANy opinion on that domain?
Hi B. Dunning,
What you got there is a CVCV (Consonant Vowel Consonant Vowel) .com, which has more Western appeal. Those are worth quite a bit of money. Check here for some price comparables: http://shortnames.com/llll/sales#6cS
Xelo is also a brandable. I would value this at a minimum of mid $x,xxx.
What about MPSQ.COM, which has no vowels and is four characters?
MPSQ.com is a Chinese Chip. I believe this one is worth around $900 to 1,000 in the reseller market.
Market update:
Values of LLLL .com Chinese Chips have dipped quite a bit over the last 6 months or so. I think they’ve lost about half its value since the peak which was around $2,000.
Values of Non-Chinese Chips have dipped as well in recent months, losing about 1/3 since its peak value. Currently they’re priced at around $190 to 200 in the reseller market.
What would Aina.com fetch. Ai in Chinese means love
Difficult to tell. It is aged and pronounceable. Did you try listing it anywhere? May be 4.cn?
I am selling 4 letters domain now like qaqs.com gxxo.com what may be price
Typically between $400 to $450. GXXO.com may fetch more and the other may go less because of the “q”s. The market of Chinese and non Chinese, both have come down. I recommend that you hold them.