WordDial drops over 1,000 numeric domains

We've noticed that WordDial is dropping domains from its vast numeric portfolio and many of these drops will be available for hand-registration in a week or two. Just type in a common generic wordnumber into any whois (domain) search engine and you'll likely see one or two domains flagged for 'redemption period.' These are WordDial's.

The number of drops appears to be over 1,000, and if you have cash on hand you might want to do some research and regging. This certainly signals a (economic-related slimming) shift at WordDial, which has had a reg-it-and-stick attitude since its inception. With rising domain regging fees from registrars, coupled with a slow adoption of the wordnumber concept, etc... this asset-shedding-activity shouldn't come as a surprise to most investor-types.

To give you an idea of what's being dropped, we found the soon-to-be-deleted dotcom wordnumbers for Handrails, ArtSchool, Guidance, Liquorice, Stoppers, Fountains, MoneyTransfers, Promoter, Registers, Planters, Shutters, Overseas, Terrazzo, MonsterTruck, Entrances, Jointing, Thrusting, and Spinning, and their variations (i.e., MoneyTransfer, Spinners, etc...). The above list was generated after just 20 minutes of searching. The total tally of dropped domains might be well into the 'many' thousands.

There's probably a diamond or two in the 'WordDial-droppings' out there. Congrats to those who find it!

[And can anyone figure out, and comment below, what the 'dropping' 36837946.com spells?]

What if you forgot why you registered a numeric domain?

Imagine getting an email from your domain registrar of choice that your numeric domain 936367.com is up for renewal.

You ask yourself, 'What was that one?' and after a few moments kick yourself for never writing it down anywhere. (Maybe just maybe NuDoms aren't the best organized lot of domainers).

And, so, you proceed to use your own set of numeric domainer tools of the trade to figure out what 936367 spells on a keypad.

There are plenty of such tools, both shared (public) and not shared (owner-developed), to take on such a task. Jamptap has recommended in the past phonespell.org, the Google-Number-Search function 'num:' (try it out num:936367), and sites like DigitURL.com. Some of the key players in the NuDom industry have developed their own algorithms and scripts to do more number-to-letter and letter-to-number translating functions than you probably ever imagined.

But, after trying out your own favorite sites and algorithms, what if you come up blank?

You then start asking dumb questions based on what you found: does 936367 translate to Yendor, or Zendor, or Yemens? Is Yemens.com a future mobile-destination? Was it from a press-release? Or Moconews.net? Or is the site now dead?

Depending on how many of these numeric-domain-'I-dunnos' renewal-email-alerts you receive each year, you may need to set a threshold for how many you drop or renew. Or start keeping a numeric domain registration log. (What a concept!)

If you do renew, the objective is only this: to wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, and wait some more until some kind soul emails you inquiring about your domain. And then you can try to 'squeeze' your lost information out of them, ala meeting someone in the supermarket who walks up to you and says 'Hi John! Remember me?' and you bluff, saying 'Oh, hey! I keep wanting to call you Betty but I know that’s not right...'

And when that day comes:

Buyer: 'Is your domain 936367.com for sale? What are you asking for it?'

Reply: 'Yes it's for sale. I get a lot of offers from people who tell me that it's a good one, the only one that spells the word...well, you know! Out of curiosity, what do you plan on using it for?'

Buyer: 'Just a mobile website. My company is still in the nucleus stage, so I can't tell you much more. Will you take $500 for it?'

Reply: 'I was expecting much more. At least from the developer of the .com alpha version of 936367. Unless that's you. What kind of company are you?'

Buyer: 'I believe there's tons of brands that correspond to the 'alpha version of 936367.' And I can't tell you more about my company. Have you considered my $500 offer?'

Reply: 'Yes, I'm considering it...but what I'm talking about is the obvious alpha version of 936367. Which brands are you talking about?'

Buyer: 'Are you serious about selling your domain? You haven't made a counteroffer or replied to my offer yet.'

Reply: 'Oh. Yeah. I just wanted to convey my expectation for the domain.'

Buyer: 'Well. My offer of $500 stands. Let me know.'

WordDial co-founder poised to start dedicated numeric domain forum and association: domains registered

Dean Kilworth, a co-founder and director of New Zealand-based WordDial, recently became the registrant of several domains that imply that there may one day be a forum and industry association for numeric domainers.

The domains in mention, Numericdomainersforum.com, Numericdomainersassociation.com and Numericdomainassociation.com, were registered earlier this month via Dotster on December 12 and 13. Although the domains - seven in all including .net and .org tlds - are parked, there is one thing we learned about the WordDial folks: they've bought more domains than perhaps any entity on this earth and they don't register domains for no or little reason. These domains were apparently registered for their intended purpose.

Is there a sufficiently large interest group out there to take advantage of a dedicated numeric domain forum or association? The discussing and posting of sales listings of numeric domains already takes place daily on various domain forum websites including DNForum.com, however serious analysis of the industry only occurs here at Jamptap and at Numericdomains.com run by Scott Smith, a numeric domain name investor and blogger. From our perspective, there are two categories of numeric domain investors: those who hold dotcom wordnumbers and those who own numeric domains that don't spell common brands and generic words (often these are NN.tld, NNN.tld, and NNNN.tld domains). Potentially these two types of investors may be in large enough numbers that a centralized forum - where discussion is centered on news, issues and most importantly buying, selling, trading and also appraising numeric domains - would be worthwhile.

The idea of an association for numeric domainers, however, is even more interesting. Think power in numbers. If the constituent 'forces' came together within the numeric domain industry, which comprises investors and internet companies like WordDial and others whose existence depends on the successful uptake of the wordnumber idea, perhaps they could break down the walls of resistance. Mobile users, wireless carriers and internet companies might be convinced to shed their addiction to lengthy web addresses (e.g., URLs requiring tapping 10 or more times for the combined 2nd and 3rd level domains) and instead take advantage of numeric domains if all numeric domainers were on the same page. For instance, press releases and other communications could be coordinated within a cohesive strategy of marketing the idea of wordnumbers (including dotcom wordnumbers) and the ease of its application to the mobile web. Membership dues could be put towards advertisements on mobile content news sites and blogs. The association could serve as a trusted third-party for overseeing contracts, negotiations and disputes for lease and partial ownership deals between companies whose numeric domain portfolios are far from complete and numeric domain investor members.


Data from website ranking company Compete shows that WordDial, which has waited a very long time for the market to ripen, is experiencing declining unique visitor counts since this past summer. In light of this disappointing statistic, perhaps WordDial's decision to seek new alliances is a step in the right direction. Collaborate and together numeric domainers will find success.