of course, lasik.com is better for the particular subject. i think the thread was about a domain that is available for an auction. if lsk.com is, while lasik isn't, then i'll go for the one that is available...
That's my point. They go for alot, but they shouldn't. It's a form of Tulip Mania where there is bound to be a bubble bursting. There is no intrinsic reason why a non-descript 3 letter domain should be worth more than the reg fee. MSN had a search engine way before Google came along, and they had a ton of money behind it as well. Yet somehow this 6 letter domain has managed to completely trounce a 3-letter one. Why? Because MSN sucks, that's why. And so does AOL. And that's why only grandmothers use them. The only reason they are valued and sought after is because they are rare. People have a tendency to think something rare must be valuable. But it isn't. Koala shat is rare. I don't see people falling all over themselves to stock up on it though. So why are people so enamored with 3 letter domains? Supply. So what will happen to prices when people realize they are holding Koala poo and the demand drops. Read up on the Dutch Tulip bulb mania and you'll see for yourself. There, I'm done. Now go waste your money on JXz.com, or some other nonsense.
LOL! I completely agree regarding LLLL & LLL domains. They are only worth what the market will bear unless they mean something. Single and double keyboard letter domains are extremely rare and they receive a LOT of traffic. Unfortunately, it is difficult to monetize that traffic unless you get a certain letter(s) that actually might mean the same thing to everyone. For example, I have the Cyrillic letter domains Ñ….tv and Ñ…Ñ…Ñ….tv and, luckily, most visitors are looking for adult material. The Greek letter Eta (×”.net) gets traffic, but it is unfocused. Same with the rest of my single letter domains.
To each his own. A single keyboard letter is a real domain. Just because it isn't in your language does not make it ridiculous. We both have our own interests. I can see that you have LLL.COMs in your sig, and you know I have single, double, and triple letter domains that are not ascii. It would be interesting to hear the opinion of someone who has both.
I didn't say IDN's were ridiculous. I'm saying to compare the two is ridiculous. I know people who have one "letter" IDN's and can't get rid of them. I'm saying the market is completely different.
The people who have single letter IDNs that won't sell are trying to sell non-keyboard letters or symbols. Those are not comparable, I agree. No one wants to buy something that can't be typed in. I don't know anyone who would part with single keyboard letter dot coms or dot nets unless the buyer pays a LOT of money. Most would never sell - just like the people who have the two letter ascii domains. Those are some pricey domains! I cannot imagine what they will charge if they ever release single ascii letter domains. Anyway, single/double/triple letter domains in Cyrillic, English, Greek, or whatever are truly rare. They are priceless if they mean something. My point is really that I believe the current LLLL hype to be silly given that there are hundreds of thousands of combinations. That is not really 'rare'. I have some three character ascii domains (LNL) only because I know they will sell if I ever need a few hundred bucks. They are a legacy of my early domaining days. Most two and three character ascii domains always get plenty of traffic. It is not so easy to monetize that traffic. The inherent value of them is the rarity, not that they actually mean something. Most of them.