In 2015 the emergence of so called ugly 4L.com names started their rise. People started posting wanted threads on Namepros, “Looking for 4L.coms no a,e,i,o,u,v.”
The prices started to pick up pretty rapidly, I owned two 4L.coms and the first one I auctioned on Namepros and it sold for $335. I auctioned the other on NameJet a couple months later and that sold for $1,500.
Prices continued to pick up and a ton of interest was laser focused on the niche. Tim Schoon a domain investor and owner of PEJ.com Private Equity and Brokerage, coined the phrase “Chips.”
Frank Schilling told Domain Sherpa he sold 2,000 4L CHIPS for 3 Million dollars.
The price of Chips in 2017 are nowhere near where near they were in early 2016.
You can use Namebio and put in PPPP to hone in on just Chips and see the trends.
Recent 4L Chip sales
kkwd.com 961 USD 2017-10-15 NameJet
xbxy.com 950 USD 2017-10-15 NameJet
qcfs.com 940 USD 2017-10-15 NameJet
dwpp.com 925 USD 2017-10-15 NameJet
cbyh.com 944 USD 2017-10-14 NameJet
mhgr.com 892 USD 2017-10-14 GoDaddy
cpjj.com 2,200 USD 2017-10-13 NameJet
gfjf.com 923 USD 2017-10-13 NameJet
hqft.com 892 USD 2017-10-13 GoDaddy
hkpx.com 956 USD 2017-10-12 NameJet
ghdd.com 940 USD 2017-10-12 NameJet
gbnd.com 923 USD 2017-10-12 NameJet
tpqr.com 912 USD 2017-10-12 GoDaddy
jdqc.com 1,612 USD 2017-10-11 NameJet
zsds.com 1,000 USD 2017-10-11 Sedo
czgj.com 965 USD 2017-10-11 NameJet
xccj.com 949 USD 2017-10-11 NameJet
smnb.com 939 USD 2017-10-11 NameJet
kfyn.com 932 USD 2017-10-11 NameJet
hwry.com 927 USD 2017-10-11 NameJet
sfxs.com 1,108 USD 2017-10-10 NameJet
ytrr.com 932 USD 2017-10-10 NameJet
rcxm.com 924 USD 2017-10-10 NameJet
stpx.com 924 USD 2017-10-10 NameJet
Looking back at 2015
qmcc.com 2,671 USD 2015-12-31 NameJet
rndp.com 2,085 USD 2015-12-31 NameJet
qscm.com 2,000 USD 2015-12-31 Uniregistry
qncm.com 2,000 USD 2015-12-31 Uniregistry
dpsc.com 4,100 USD 2015-12-30 NameJet
jdjw.com 3,300 USD 2015-12-30 NameJet
yzcp.com 2,530 USD 2015-12-30 GoDaddy
yrkk.com 2,214 USD 2015-12-30 GoDaddy
mwqf.com 2,120 USD 2015-12-30 DropCatch
ktqj.com 2,036 USD 2015-12-30 4.CN
mcln.com 2,001 USD 2015-12-30 Flippa
zkng.com 1,926 USD 2015-12-30 GoDaddy
fbjg.com 1,900 USD 2015-12-30 NameJet
kzxn.com 1,801 USD 2015-12-30 NameJet
cdlc.com 4,544 USD 2015-12-29 NameJet
pbdx.com 2,600 USD 2015-12-29 NameJet
So now a thread emerged on Namepros asking if 4L Chips were the best example of a Pump and Dump?
We are all now familiar with the term “PUMP and DUMP” which we daily see in crypto currency markets.
Looking backwards into the time of Chinese premium and 4L domain names reaching $2,500 and then coming back to the floor, don’t you think it was the perfect example of pump and dump?
Pumping the price continuously higher and higher and when a peak was attained, dumping it slowing back to the floor price.
My answer would be that’s too simplistic, it was much more complicated than that and things were not orchestrated on a grand scale, there was separate thought processes taking place all over the place.
There were plenty of small domainers who never made much in domaining that all of a sudden woke up to major profit. The demand coming from China and those looking to get rich quick created a bubble. Everyone likes to pick where they told everyone to stay away. Truth is some people who brag about “I knew it was hype” or “I said run for the hills” started saying that at $50 and then $500, eventually they were right to a certain degree, but if the small timers had listened to them at $100 – $300 they missed out on making a fortune.
In November of 2015 I wrote an article, There will always be someone holding the bag. People always want to get rich quick and get caught up in a speculation that’s getting frothy.
It has been a very eventful 2+ years in that niche but a LOT of people made a lot of money, and they weren’t just the biggest players. It’s been very interesting times.
