Two Good Numerics Available

It's simple. Here's two numerics, good investments, available for hand-registration:

2522523779.com (BLACKBERRY)
3687778273.com (FOUR SQUARE)

Doin' the numbers: Sedo's numeric auction

The winners at Sedo's first numeric domain auction here

Wordnumber numeric domains: landrush not over yet

There's a poll and short discussion at Namepros about the gaining significance of numeric domains. The domainer who started the thread, 'evirtual1,' interestingly, owns 4636.info, which he/she writes is associated with its wordnumber - '4636.info = info.info on a phonepad'. Certainly 'evirtual1' knows there's more to the rise in the news, auctions and blogging of numeric domains than just short ones (e.g. NNN.com). Wordnumbers, numeric urls that spell words on a phone keypad, are also gaining traction as companies such as Target are buying up ccTLDs of their wordnumber. Target owns a bunch of tlds of 827438 (they couldn't, though, get 827438.com, owned by WordDial). Several search engines such as Google and ChaCha forward their dotcom wordnumbers, 466453.com and 242242.com, respectively, to their sites. The list goes on and on. The point is that while all this attention is on NNN.com's selling for 5 and 6 figures, there are less fish in the wordnumber pond and good domaining opportunities abound. For instance, TDBanknorth, a leading U.S. bank, is changing its name soon to TDBank, and its wordnumber is unregged. That list goes on and on too! There aren't and will never be opportunities to grab short numeric domains at affordable prices, yet as long as new companies keep popping up on the internet, there will always be wordnumbers fresh from your registrar of choice at rock-bottom prices.

WSJ explores numerics

It's officially now hip: numeric domaining. That is thanks to the Wall Street Journal, which came out today with its piece 'What's in a Name? More and More, a Number', all about short numeric domain names. The piece touches on the benefits of numerics compared to their alpha counterparts, the growing popularity of 2 or 3 digit numeric domain websites, prices they command in the aftermarket, and exploring the concept of numeric domain parking. It comes on the heels of Sedo's numeric auction that didn't have many bids that exceeded reserves, including 88.com, which had a high bid of $325,000. It's reserve price range was 500,000 - 999,999 USD.

SNAPSHOT of bid page for 88.com:
88.com | Bidding History
Current Bid: 325,000 USD
Reserve not met
Estimated end time:
0 day 3 hours 55 min.
(Dec/04/08 01:00 PM EST)

Bidding History
Bidder Date Amount Info
Bidder 3 Nov/29/08 05:24 AM EST 325,000 USD
257.467 EUR
220.070 GBP

Bidder 2 Nov/27/08 02:25 PM EST 300,000 USD
237.661 EUR
203.141 GBP

Bidder 2 Nov/27/08 02:04 PM EST 200,000 USD
158.441 EUR
135.427 GBP

Bidder 1 Nov/27/08 01:14 PM EST 5,000 USD

Don't lose 20% of your nest egg each month: buy numeric domains

If you've lost money in the stock market, you did so because you didn't want to do the work of researching stocks and you gave that job to a company that screwed it up for you. And, worse, they even made a commission off your nest egg by losing you money!

What are you going to do now? Put your smaller nest egg in the hands of another complete idiot? No! You need to do the investment research yourself. You need to not be foolish ever again with your hard earned money. You need to do your homework.

So let me tell you in a nutshell about the profits that can be made in domaining. You ought to know that - first of all - the cost of a domain name is the annual registration, or about $9. That's your cost. Done. When you sell that domain privately, meaning without a broker or a third-party website (and many domainers sell privately), you keep all of the profits. You just need to pay taxes on that as business income/capital gains.

Second thing you should know: being a domainer is also about being forward-thinking. Since Jamptap is all about purely numeric domains, I'm going to tell you how to be forward thinking as a NuDom (numeric domainer). (There are tons of other blogs about non-numeric domaining.) Although two (i.e., 23.com), three, four and five digit dotcom numeric domains are all sold out, you may be able to find some good deals in the domain aftermarket (buying from individual domainers with or without using a broker).

To give you an idea of how hot three-digit domains are now, an auction at Sedo.com for 867.com ended yesterday (October 14) at 8,200 GBP or about $14,268. That's a huge profit if the seller bought it for $9 years ago! 867, in case you don't know, is a Canadian area code.

A very similar domain, 887.com, is now for sale, and was first listed on a domaining forum on October 11th. If you're interested, just type 887.com in Google.

If you want to grab numeric domains though that are only 9 bucks, meaning brand new from a domain registrar like GoDaddy, you should know this: there are literally thousands of six digit or more numeric domains that spell common words and brands that aren't bought yet. Go to a bunch of very new Web 2.0 social networking or e-commerce sites, then translate the brand to a wordnumber (what it spells in numbers on a keypad), and see if it's bought (using the free site domaintools.com).

There are several domainers that focus exclusively on this niche but they haven't bought all of the good ones -- this is where and how you can get in on the action.

Third thing to know: numeric domaining is a long-term play. Sit on the sidelines. Wait a few years. And if for some reason you lose, know that you haven't paid a commission to some investment idiot. You just lost a few $9 domain registrations.

Think about it. Read our blog. And go domaining!

Analysis shows .com numeric domains grows 200% every 2 years

The analysis completed by Law9.com shows that numeric domains in 'the .com has surged from a [sic] 2500 $ to 7500 $ in 2 years.'

I'm not sure where the data is really coming from, but if it's right, then that's 200% per every 2 YEARS! Although the analysis has a small sample size and unclear source data, it's great to see more analyses on number domains of the sort we usually see at Nnnnndomains.com.

Read Law9.com's analysis here

So investors are considering numeric domains, what now?

Markets are crumbling, investors are fleeing. A bunch of individual investors begin investigating other asset classes. And a few read about numeric domaining (yeah!).

So how do we convert them? How do we convince Joe Investor who just closed out his mutual fund portfolio on Wednesday and has $350,000 in cash coming to him soon that numeric domains are a safe investment that can bring a good ROI, or return on investment?

Even though sophisticated investors (of all types) likely acknowledge that domaining is a 'long-term play,' the problem is that the numeric domain market is illiquid. There's not an adequate marketplace of buyers for most numeric domain types, and so that presents lots of concerns. (NN.com's and NNN.com's are probably the only exceptions.) If there was a more liquid marketplace, then outside investors could (1) better appraise our numeric domain holdings for purposes of making an offer, (2) see that there are some serious profits being made already and (3) know that they won't be stuck in 1, 2 or 10 years holding an asset they can't get rid of.

Until Bear Stearns kicked the bucket and the stock market started tanking, investing in stocks made sense on all three accounts: the market price of just about any stock was well-defined, there was a history of long-term profitable returns for most diversified stock portfolio types, and shares have been usually very liquid (you can sell most stocks in seconds or minutes, and the spreads were small).

NOW, all that's changed. Stocks are plummeting because no one knows companies' exposures to real-estate derivatives products that aren't liquid, the profit-potential of stock-market investing is in serious question, and people are worried that if a company goes under their shares will be worthless.

Numeric domainers may, in the end, have to solve liquidity problems themselves before attracting investors. And increasing trading may be the answer. If numeric domainers increase the volume of transactions then that might attract outsiders if enough trading brings sufficient liquidity, more clearly defined domain values and a track record of steady profitmaking.

Sell all your stocks and invest in numeric domain names

Jim "Mad Money" Cramer come out today with a heck of a surprise statement: “Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week. I do not believe that you should risk those assets in the stock market right now.”

Jim cares about you, and so do we. So when you ask 'What to do with the money?,' we advise you to do just one thing: Buy numeric domains! Learn about numeric domaining here and at NumericDomains.com.

Jamptap has no domains for sale, but we do have the most extensive blogging archive on the topic where you can learn about this niche; afterwards, you'll have no problem finding sellers out there who are willing to let their domains go for bargain prices.

The Numeric Domain market is showing signs of strengthening in an otherwise sour economic environment. Three-digit numerics (NNN.com) are going for $XXX,XXX these days, NNNNN.com's COMPLETELY SOLD OUT in 2008, and wordnumbers, dotcom number domains that stand for words (466453.com = Google.com), are going to be the best investment of all.

Why will dotcom (and other dotTLD) wordnumbers be the best investment of all?

Because check this out: all of these companies: Google, ChaCha, Expedia, 4Info, Sony, Reuters, and Yahoo; they all own a .com/.net/or .mobi wordnumber domain. Yet thousands of upstart Web 2.0 companies don't. They're clueless. They'll kick themselves when they realize you got in on the action before they did. So cash out those wretched stock portfolios and buy numeric domains before the landrush is, well, over. Start your journey today!

NuDom Firm Launches, Goes Public, Wows the Sector

Scott Smith, who probably should be considered a veteran NuDom, recently launched his new company, Skias Management Corp. Smith is past founder of AcrNum, which partnered with a large media company to launch a successful mobile gaming portal for Sudoku fans that utilized one of Smith's prized numeric domains.

Unlike his first company, Smith's new firm, Skias, is publicly traded. Jamptap found it listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at this link and trading for about 0.50 Euros/share. The stock was admitted to the bourse on August 21, 2008, with a 'First Price' of 0.55 Euros.

Congrats to Scott's IPO!

Numeric domain speculators would be FOOLs to not realize the incredible portfolio amassed by Smith and the opportunity to buy into a slice of his enterprise. Why? Because when people say 'all the good numeric domains are gone,' it's Smith who's smirking because he got in early on brand dotcom wordnumbers. Smith also has an unsurpassed grasp of this niche industry.

This is your chance to place your long-term 'bets' on Smith's ability to leverage his unparalleled portfolio to create a respected and profitable full-service mobile website development firm.

Numeric domain properties: the next 5th Avenue

If registration of a plurality of TLDs - for a brand, word, name, phrase, etc... - is any indicator of the perceived value of a domain, then numeric domains that spell common brands and words have been growing in value over the past decade and skyrocketing over the past 2 years.

A few years ago, only a fraction of the dotcom wordnumbers for the top ranked websites in the U.S. were registered. The past 48 months or so has seen the registration of the .com and slowly the .net, and in some cases .mobi and other TLDs, for the wordnumbers of the top 10 and many of the top 100 most visited websites in the U.S.

Below is the list of the top 10 most popular websites in the U.S. per the ranking company Alexa. Next to the brand name is the number of TLDs (com/net/org/info/biz/us) that the corresponding wordnumber has been registered (including the .com).

Google 4
Yahoo 6
Myspace 2
Youtube 3
Facebook 3
Live [Windows] 4
Ebay 5
Wikipedia 2
MSN 6
Craigslist 2

For the top 10 websites in the U.S. per Alexa, each brand's wordnumber is registered at least in the .com and .net, and in some cases registered 'across the board' of TLDs, as is the case with 92466, Yahoo's wordnumber.

If we expanded this analysis beyond the top 10 websites, it would yield few surprises. We know that well over a thousand wordnumbers for brands and many tens of thousands of wordnumbers for generic words have been registered in the .com TLD and that it's rare to see more than that (the .com) registered. So, when we learned that ChaCha owned its wordnumber in the .com TLD, 242242.com, as well as all other common TLDs and also a few dozen typo-variants of 242242.com, we thought that was a special item to report, especially since ChaCha.com isn't a very popular website. Today, Alexa gives it a rank of 27,317. By most accounts, that ranking is a pretty disappointing one for an alternative search engine that is trying to break out of the pack. And it is probably deserved too. I tried ChaCha this past week for the first time. My inaugural query was a simple one: what is the toll for the Tappan Zee Bridge? The answer came back within 45 seconds and stated that the toll was $4.00. I'm glad I didn't count exact change before leaving to get in my car because when I arrived at the toll both, I learned the toll was $4.50.

ChaCha registered 242242.net/org/info/etc... late last year and bought the 242242.com domain not from us, but from a relative of Scott Smith, who is CEO and President of NumericDomains.com.

A first: ChaCha invests in its dotcom wordnumber variants

ChaCha Search, Inc., the internet corporation known for its human-powered search engine at ChaCha.com, which recently launched a 'mobile answer service,' appears to be the first company to apply the traditional corporate domain acquisition strategy of registering trademark-domain variants to dotcom wordnumbers.

The dotcom wordnumber for ChaCha is 242242.com (242242 spells ChaCha on a phone keypad), which Scott Smith of numericdomains.com said earlier this month on his blog was owned by a family member who received an anonymous offer through a broker late last year. Smith believed, at the time, that the broker was the proxy for ChaCha, and made the decision to sell. Smith turned out to be right - it was a broker for ChaCha - and ChaCha added 242242.com to its portfolio of numeric domains relating to its wordnumber that it had been building that included 242242 in 'TLD and CC extensions including .net, .org, .co.uk, .info, .biz, .mobi -and potentially others.'

Jamptap has just discovered that last week ChaCha Search, Inc., bought two typo-variants of 242242.com. Those domains include 2242242.com and 2422422.com, which were registered on January 14, 2008. While researching domain registrations, we also learned that in October 2007 ChaCha registered 224242, 242422, 244242, 242224 and 422242 in the following TLD extensions: .com, .net and .org. Other permutations may exist.

Also, we found that last week ChaCha registered 8002242242 (800-2-ChaCha) in at least 5 TLDs, which may indicate that ChaCha is considering providing a breed of toll-free voice-activated search in the future.

What does this all mean? As we learned from the happenings of New Zealand-based WordDial, when a company realizes that a domainer/company/investor beat it to its own dotcom wordnumber, then they tend to over-react. When Yahoo, Inc., discovered that WordDial registered (before it did) the domain 92466.com , which spells among other things 'Yahoo' (which has several definitions in the dictionary, not just 'a leading search engine'), Yahoo, Inc., proceeded to buy 92466 in every other TLD and an incredible array of ccTLDs as well.

Our impression is that ChaCha reacted in a similar fashion. ChaCha even succeeded in purchasing its dotcom wordnumber. Yahoo didn't but has a continuing content partnership with WordDial.

The difference between the ChaCha and Yahoo 'case studies' is that ChaCha bought not only its dotcom wordnumber in various TLDs but also mistypes of its numeric domain. This is a development in the numeric domain field that is significant for two reasons. First, by registering the many typo-variants of 242242.com whereas no other company is known to have done this (with dotcom wordnumbers), ChaCha is demonstrating an elevated intention of actually using 242242.com as a mobile portal since the company is apparently concerned with redirecting (type-in) traffic from mistyped URLs to its mobile webpage. Second, and perhaps most interesting, this new piece of information may mean that since ChaCha is registering these typo-variants, then there could be a market for dotcom wordnumber mistypes in the foreseeable future.

ChaCha's actions indicate that its dotcom wordnumber is not some 'crazy' idea but that it is serious about using 242242.com as a key part of its mobile strategy. ChaCha's actions, therefore, may serve as a catalyst to the numeric domain land rush and inspire investors and internet companies alike to not only put their money into numeric domains but, like ChaCha has done, also numeric domain variants.

A numeric domainers association as a means of raising industry stature

Last week we reported on the idea of a professional association for numeric domainers, which was prompted by the discovery of several recently registered domains by a WordDial co-founder. The block of registered domains includes monikers that you'd associate with a professional association including the actual phrase 'Numeric Domain(ers) Association' and also 'forum' and newsletter (we discovered another domain in the block, DailyNumericDomainer.com).

Professional or industry associations generally serve to elevate the skill sets, networks, ideas exchange, and careers of its members and also promote trade and good business practices (ethics) in the marketplace. An industry association is the first place the public often goes to seek general information, consultant or business referrals, jobs, learning opportunities, license verifications, and even position statements. All of these services increase the visibility, professionalism and stature of the field.

Visibility, professionalism and stature is what the numeric domain industry needs most and for two main reasons.

First, the visibility (and stature) of the numeric domain industry needs to be raised because a significant amount of investment and web development related to numeric domains has occurred yet it hasn't been enough to garner the attention or interest of news outlets, large internet companies and wireless carriers. Of great concern to numeric domainers is the lackluster marketplace and lack of liquidity for numeric domain properties in general.

A second reason the numeric domain industry needs added visibility, professionalism and stature is that numeric domainers automatically inherit the lack of trust the public places on all members of the domain industry, which has a tarnished image from the actions of cybersquatters and trademark violators. Numeric domainers ought to be viewed as upstanding businesspersons who follow best business practices, business ethics and all applicable laws. This is one of the core goals of the DNOA (Domain Name Owners Association): 'the building of trust and professionalism of its members.' DNOA's webpage is littered with confidence-inspiring words and phrases such as honesty, integrity, ethics, scoundrel-free and professionalism. Although a few nice-sounding adjectives on a website won't build trust, a code of ethics abided by all members would help. So would a dispute resolution service. Another way to significantly boost the numeric domain industry's image is by emphasizing the fact that numeric domainers have immunity from copyright and trademark violations - this would add much needed legitimacy to the efforts of current and prospective numeric domain owners and web developers.

Certainly a numeric domain association would help by educating the public about all the reasons why one ought to invest in numeric domain properties. It also could help match buyers and sellers via an online marketplace or auction events.

If numeric domainers want investors to realize the utility and worth of their properties or products, it will help to raise the industry's visibility, professionalism and stature. An industry association is the obvious means to those ends.

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.