March 6, 2017

Domain investors in China should buy Western Premium domains

written by

Joe Uddeme

Joe Uddeme

Domain investors in China should buy Western Premium domains

Memo to Chinese domain name investors: NameExperts.com Director Joe Uddeme thinks you’re missing a trick if you limit your portfolio to local names.

 

Most Chinese investors tend to shy away from Western-type domain names as they don’t have meaning in mainland China – names that contain vowels and the letter “v” in particular.

Are they limiting their long-term growth potential? Some would say sticking with Chinese domains is a safer investment. As seasoned domain name brokers, however, we disagree. Here’s why…

Key Takeaways

  • New TLDs are not a good long-term play
  • Aftermarket prices for .com names remain high
  • Work with a broker if you need help with domain portfolio management

 

Background – understanding the Chinese domain name marketplace

For those of you that follow the domain investor market, specifically in China, you can see all types of newly minted investors looking for the next great domain name investment. Most Chinese investors are focused on the domain names that have relevance inside of mainland China.

The most popular investments in China are the short acronym domain, or simple numeric domain names as they translate to meaning to the Chinese culture. Some examples include the following (N = number; L = letter):

15.com (NN.com)

123.com (NNN.com)

TR.com (LL.com)

TYPL.com (LLLL.com)

6N.com (LN.com)

N6.com (NL.com

 

Chinese domain investment trends

As domain investments continue to increase in China, we are seeing many investors branching out into some of the newer GTLD extensions as alternative investments including; .club, .top, .wang.

They are acquiring these names for much lower costs than the typical .com investment. Is that a solid investment? We say: no.

The Chinese investor is savvy, but they are limiting their investment opportunity. In most instances, domain investors in China are only focused on these types of names because they create liquidity and are very attractive to the Chinese on a quick-flip model (check out our guide to domain name investing).

Additionally, the Chinese investor should look at the plethora of available .com domain name inventory on the aftermarket. Tons of fantastic domain inventory is readily available. Short, generic and easy to spell English words that are solid investments.

The saturation of the internet continues to precipitously grow year-over-year, with 78% of the Chinese population now online. When you do the math, it’s easy to see the longer-term opportunity.

Should you limit yourself as an investor? Not with the .com market  stronger than ever – with fantastic acquisition opportunities and names that ultimately have a global appeal and market reach.

We believe domain investors in China will start to acquire short, generic .com domains as trillions of dollars are available for private Chinese investors. Way back in 2017, George Kirikos had a fantastic post on Twitter, referencing 12,000 startups being created every day in China.

The domain investor continues to evolve and grow. Investors should look at the longer-term investment opportunity and acquire names that are globally acceptable and not limited to mainland China.

 

How a domain broker can help

Friends in the right places are always good to have, and most international domain brokers would gladly help Chinese companies and individuals who want to buy domain names. Domain brokers help buyers of any nationality to understand current market trends and navigate the sometimes complex world of domain acquisitions.

NameExperts.com is one of the world’s best-known brokerages, offering personalized boutique services that include domain name strategy, portfolio management, negotiation and stealth acquisitions.

Vibrant Chinese city at night

 

About the author

Joe Uddeme is Director and Principal of Name Experts, one of the world’s leading domain name brokerage services. He has overseen domain name sales and acquisitions totaling more than $150 million and is renowned worldwide as a go-to expert in buying and selling premium domains. He advises clients globally. Contact us at: [email protected]

Subscribe for More Domain Buying & Selling Advice

Related posts

Close up of hands at a computer keyboard
The Complete Guide to Buying Short Domain Names

Unlock the branding power of ultra-short domain names with help from industry expert Joe Uddeme. Discover why they matter, how to buy them, and what makes them valuable. When it comes to domain names, less is most definitely more. Most of the time, the shorter the name, the higher the price tag – because short domain names represent prime online real estate. Some of the most expensive domain names ever sold were four letters or less. These concise, memorable web addresses garner immense interest from businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors eager to build recognizable brands and carve out a market edge. Over recent years, most of the world’s shortest, most meaningful domains – especially those made up of just two or three characters – have been registered and are now labeled as “premium domain names.” If you want to buy a domain name that fits this bracket, their scarcity has driven demand and prices sky-high, turning the quest for short domains into a battleground for major brands and agile startups alike. In this post, we’ll look at great short names (and why some are less great), and we’ll delve into how buying one that has been registered for decades (and is even being used) might not be impossible. We’ll also look at the stories behind some of the largest deals – and, trust me, the sums involved will make your eyes water! Key Takeaways Short domains remain highly coveted assets for businesses seeking brand authority and a memorable web presence. Most premium short domains are already registered, but expert brokers can unlock rare buying opportunities through negotiation or connections. The real value of a short domain hinges on global usability, inherent meaning, and extension – some “short” names are more valuable than others. High-profile, big-money sales prove the ROI for companies investing in ultra-short web addresses. If you own a short domain, strategic sale planning and the right partners can help you capture maximum value.

Image looking over a person's shoulder to indicate anonymity when securing a domain name
Domain Privacy and Protection: How and Why to Hide WHOIS Information

If you don’t tread carefully, anyone in the world can find out who bought the web address you just snapped up. Domain name expert Joe Uddeme shares his top tips for staying out of the limelight.   In the rush of excitement that comes with securing a name – especially a desirable, premium domain name you’ve been after – it’s easy to overlook one of the most basic elements of name registration: shielding your identity. Millions of people before you have forgotten to do it – precisely because it is so easy to overlook. Or perhaps you spotted the option to stay anonymous but didn’t quite understand what it meant – or felt it wasn’t worth the cost. Here’s how to stay out of the WHOIS database when buying a domain name – and why you might want to. Key takeaways: Understanding your Domain Privacy options Discover which countries keep your name secret by default The benefits of keeping your information private How to ensure your name stays out of the picture Discover Domain Privacy FAQs   What Is Domain Privacy? Domain privacy is a service domain registrars offer customers to hide their information from the public WHOIS database. Customers pay for privacy from their registrar, which replaces their contact information in the WHOIS database with a forwarding address.   What Does Domain Privacy and Protection Do? It removes a domain owner’s information from the public WHOIS database and preserves their privacy. The WHOIS database is a vast database operated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is the agency that oversees domain names, and every individual or company that buys a domain name must provide their contact information to this agency. ICANN, in turn, lists all contact information in a public database called WHOIS. Anyone can search the WHOIS database to get the contact information of a domain’s owner. Many owners are uncomfortable with their contact information being listed publicly, so they pay their domain registrars for domain privacy and protection. The registrar replaces the customer’s contact information with a forwarding or proxy address on the WHOIS database, so people can’t look up the real contact details.   Do I Need Domain Privacy? You need to pay for privacy protection if you’re uncomfortable with your email address or phone number being posted online. Many spammers and telemarketers scour the WHOIS database for the contact information of domain owners to sell them products. Domain name privacy protection prevents this from happening. People residing within the European Union (EU) don’t need to pay for domain privacy because they get it by default. On 25 May 2018, the EU passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ruling. This ruling mandated companies serving EU residents to give customers control over their data. EU customers were granted strict data privacy under this law, so domain registrars began hiding their information from the WHOIS database by default. Many other countries have passed laws similar to GDPR, such as Turkey, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil. The United Kingdom (UK), a former EU member, also passed a similar law. You may not need to purchase a domain name private registration if you reside in these countries. However, customers in other countries need domain privacy and protection to hide their contact information.   How Important Is Domain Protection? It is important because it lets you hide your contact information from the public view. Without this protection, your personal information will be available to anyone who wishes to find it, and malicious actors may take advantage of this freedom to target you with cyberattacks and domain name scams.   Benefits Of Privacy Protection 1. Protects Personal Information Buying privacy protection when registering a domain removes your personal information from the public eye. People won’t be able to find your contact information by looking up your domain name on the WHOIS database. Instead, they’ll see the contact information of your domain registrar, which they can’t trace back to you. 2. Minimizes and Prevents Spam Spam is the biggest problem on the internet. It refers to any irrelevant and solicited message sent over the internet, usually to advertise products or steal information via phishing. Spammers search every possible medium to harvest emails and phone numbers, including the WHOIS database. Domain protection hides your details from this database so spammers can not target you with unsolicited messages. 3. Anonymity Many people are uncomfortable with their personal information being on the internet for whatever reason. Domain privacy and protection grants you anonymity even when you control many domain names. 4. Prevents Competitive Data Mining Businesses often mine public databases for information about their competitors. For example, if you run a popular blog anonymously, rival blogs may want to discover your identity and research potentially damaging information about you. Domain privacy and protection ensures that competitors can’t trace your identity through your domain name. 5. Prevents Domain Theft Hackers often target owners of valuable domain names with phishing messages to steal their registrar login details. They do this by sending a link to a website that looks exactly like your domain registrar’s page but is actually a different web address. The end game is to log into the owner’s registrar with the stolen details and transfer their domain name to another account. Purchasing domain privacy means that hackers won’t find your contact information in the first place. You can hold onto your valuable domain names without fear of being targeted by sophisticated cybercriminals. (Check out our post about what to do if you lose your domain name). How To Get Domain Privacy And Protection When Buying a Domain Most registrars display the option to add privacy protection to your cart when you choose to buy a domain name. It’s an effective method of upselling because they know many customers want privacy. Look for “hide WHOIS information,” “domain privacy,” “domain protection,” or a similar phrase on the domain registration box and select it. Head to the checkout page and pay for the registration, privacy protection, and any other item you selected. After paying, you’ll automatically have WHOIS protection for your new domain. Add To An Existing Domain You can always buy privacy protection for a domain name you already own. Follow these steps; Log into your domain registrar account. Head to the domain management section. Click on the specific domain name you need privacy for. Open the Security tab, and you’ll likely find a button that prompts you to buy WHOIS protection. Click on the button and proceed to your checkout page to pay. Wait for some time after the payment confirmation for your registrar to update the WHOIS database information. There are dozens of domain registrars, and the steps to add privacy protection to an existing domain are similar to what we explained above for each of them.   FAQs on Domain Privacy Should I add privacy protection when buying and selling domains? Yes, you should add the option to hide domain registration info because it has many benefits. It prevents spam, competitive data mining, and potential domain theft. It also guarantees anonymity on the WHOIS database, which is desirable for privacy-conscious customers. If you are working with multiple domain names, especially high-value ones, an experienced domain consultant can ensure all of this is taken care of on your behalf. How Do You Buy A Domain With Privacy Protection You’ll usually see an option to buy privacy protection on the page where you search for an available domain. Add the privacy protection item to your cart alongside the domain name and pay, and you have successfully acquired privacy protection for your new domain. Is privacy protection available on all domains? It’s available for most domains, but there are some exceptions due to government rules. These include .US., .CA, and .FR, among others. Is there a cost to domain privacy and protection? Most registrars charge between $10 and $20 annually for privacy protection while registering a domain. However, a few offer it for free, e.g., NameCheap.   About the author Joe Uddeme is Director and Principal of Name Experts, one of the world’s leading domain name brokerage services. He has overseen domain name sales and acquisitions totaling more than $150 million and is renowned worldwide as a go-to expert in buying and selling premium domains. Need help? Contact us at: [email protected]

Default alt text
Top 6 Hidden Domain Name Opportunities for 2026: How to Find and Acquire Off-Market Gems

Are you looking for hidden domain opportunities for 2026? You’ve come to the right place. In this post, domain name expert broker Joe Uddeme delves into the many possibilities that await the canny investor.   Introduction: why 2026 is a big year for domain names I often think of the global domain name market as being a bit like an ocean-bound oil tanker. Not only is it bigger than many people can imagine (annual global sales are more than $2 billion), but it can seem to take an age to change course. That’s not to say it does not change course. Like everything, the domain name market evolves with time – although the fundamentals of domain name investing rarely alter. In this post, we’ll take a look at the trends for 2026 that look set to shape the market. The biggest of them is likely to be a shake-up of TLDs (the bit at the end of a domain name such as .com or .org). We will get into this fully in the post, but in simple terms, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is set to allow a whole slew of new domain name extensions in 2026. Exciting times – and if you are looking to acquire a premium domain name for your business, there has perhaps never been a better moment. Unless you can invent a flux capacitor and go back to 1993, of course!   Key takeaways Why 2026 could be a pivotal year for domain investing Industry-specific TLDs make their mark New short keyword opportunities in tech The.com TLD remains strong, but faces stiff competition (and may be overpriced) Expired domains for sale – a hidden goldmine?

Why Work with Name Experts

Name Experts offers personalized domain brokerage services, assisting clients in buying or selling premium domain names with expert appraisal, negotiation, and complete transaction management while ensuring confidentiality.

Some of our most
successful stealth acquisition and sales

Aid.com

Fit.com

Mine.com

GLD.com

Jeff.com

Fora.com

Nori.com

Secure.com

Guitar.com

F*ck.com

Radian.com

MetaData.com

Prize.com

Link.com

Loop.com

Programs.com

Claim.com

Quince.com

Hook.com

QXO.com

NQ.com

Rest.com

Humani.com

Max.com

Need help buying or selling premium domains?