My fascination ith numbers in Chinese culture started in front of a nespaper stand in Shanghai. I as about to purchase my first Chinese sim card associated to a phone number and the clerk presented me ith a number of options. Oddly enough, I noticed that the numbers had different prices, ith the numbers containing more 8s being priced higher.
I asked the reason hy – my Chinese friend promptly explained to that the number containing more 8 ere more expensive because consered lucky. Coming from Italy, hich is a very superstitious country here e usually think about luck: It’s not true – but I believe in it, I resorted to paying the equivalent of $7 to get a phone number containing 3 consecutive 8s.
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THE MARKET OF NUMERIC DOMAINS
Coming back to the domaining industry, Elliot Silver recently quoted in a recent blog post that the value of numeric domains seem to have peaked in the past fe months. Almost every broker or aftermarket nesletter is no featuring premium numeric domains for sale at increasingly higher prices.
I think there are several reasons for this peak in value:
1. Liquity
The ability to quickly cash in on an asset conserably increase its value. If you add to this the buzz about bitcoins and other forms of virtual currencies you understand hy numeric domains are becoming so popular. There are only a fe domains that have this attribute, namely LL.com, LLL.com and CVCV.com – ith numeric domains being the more appraisable ones. The current market FLOOR prices (using very conservative values) for these type of assets are:
NN.com – $100k
NNN.com – $15k
NNNN.com – $2k
2. High Demand/Limited Supply
Numeric domains are sought after mostly by Chinese buyers – e can safely say that 80% of the players in this market come from China. The reason for this is because Chinese businesses have historically used numbers or pinyin versions of Chinese characters to brand their ebsites. English keyord domains are difficult to remember for native Chinese speakers, therefore most of the popular ebsites in China use numbers (eg 163.com) or pinyin (Bau.com, Youku.com etc.). Add to this the limited supply of only 100 NN.com and 1000 NNN.com, then you can quickly understand the rising value.
3. Recent Transactions
We have seen quite an increase on the average price of numeric domains recently ith some of the most notable transactions including:
The domain name 1001.com sold for $100,000.
Frank Schilling’s Name Administration sold 88888通博傳票.com for $245,000.
114.com sold in early 2024 for 2.1 million doll通博 優惠ars, getting in the top 5 disclosed transactions in 2024.
55.com to this date is the numeric domain sold at a highest price – $2.3 million in 2024.
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MEANING OF NUMBERS IN CHINESE CULTURE
A couple years ago I had a conversation ith one of my Chinese clients – hen asked about his criteria to price numeric domains he sa: you should spend many more years in China to understand the meaning of Chinese numbers.
Not discouraged by his statement and, feeling a bit like in the movie Lost in Translation, I made my on research. While it is impossible to cover the hole subject in a blog post, this is hat I found:
LUCKY NUMBERS
0. The Number 0 (零 or 檸, Pinyin:líng or níng) is a hole number and it is also an even number for the money ends ith 0.
2. The number 2 (二 or 兩, Pinyin:èr or liăng) is most often consered a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying: good things come in pairs. It is common to repeat characters in product brand names, such as double happiness, hich even has its on character 囍, a combination of to 喜.
3. The number 3 (三, Pinyin: sān) sounds similar to the character for birth (生, Pinyin: shēng), and is consered a lucky number.
6. The number 6 represents ealth in Cantonese, this number is a homophone for (祿 Lok). 6 (六, Pinyin: liù) in Mandarin is pronounced the same as liu (溜, Pinyin: liù) and similar to flo (流, Pinyin: liú) and is therefore consered good for business.
7. The number 7 (七, Pinyin: qī) symbolizes togetherness. It is a lucky number for relationships. It is also recognized as the luckiest number in the West, and is one of the rare numbers that is great in both Chinese and many Western cultures. It is a lucky number in Chinese culture, because it sounds alike to the Chinese ord 起 (Pinyin: qǐ) meaning arise, and also 氣 (Pinyin: qì) meaning life essence.
8. The ord for eight (八 Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the ord hich means pro通博娛樂城sper or ealth (發 – short for 發達, Pinyin: fā). There is also a visual resemblance beteen to digits, 88″, and 囍, the shuāng xĭ (double joy), a popular decorative design composed of to stylized characters 喜 (xĭ meaning joy通博出金 or happiness). The number 8 is vieed as such an auspicious number that even being assigned a number ith several eights is consered very lucky. To give you an ea about the obsession that Chinese have ith the number 8, here are a fe interesting facts:
Most airlines, including United Airlines, KLM, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific and Singapore airlin通博娛樂城(現金版)es reserve their flight numbers starting ith 8 for flights to Asian destinations, especially China and Korea.
A telephone number ith all digits being eights as sold for USD $270,723 in Chengdu, China.
The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm local time (UTC+08).
A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for RMB 1.12 million (roughly $164,000 USD).
The Petronas Tin Toers in Malaysia each have 88 Floors.
Even the online poker and casino operator 888 Holdings (oner of 888.com) chose its brand carefully to attract Asian gamblers.
9. The number 9 (九, Pinyin: jiŭ, jyutping: gau2), as historically associated ith the Emperor of China, and the number as frequently used in matters relating to the Emperor. It also symbolizes harmony.
UNLUCKY NUMBERS
4. The number 4 has such a negative implication that Asians in general, and in particular Chinese, go as far to have a pathological fear called Tetraphobia. The reason is because the number 4 has the same sound of the ord death (死 pinyin sǐ). Due to that, many numbered product lines skip the 4″. In East Asia, some buildings do not have a 4th floor. (Compare ith the Western practice of some buildings not having a 13th floor because 13 is consered unlucky.). In Hong Kong, some high-rise resential buildings omit all floor numbers ith 4″, e.g., 4, 14, 24, 34 and all 40–49 floors, in addition to not having a 13th floor.
5. Five (五, pinyin: ǔ, jyutping: ng5) is associated ith not (Mandarin 無, pinyin ú, and Cantonese 唔). If used for the negative connotation it can become good by using it ith a negative. Also, any number of repeated 5s: 五 (ǔ) sounds like an onomatopoeia for crying, and is sometimes used in internet slang to express unhappiness.
(Source: Wikipedia).
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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR NUMERIC DOMAINS?
No you might be thinking – ok, this is interesting, but hat are the real life application hen buying or selling a numeric domain?
The general guelines for pricing a numeric domain can be summed up in 8 lucky rules:
The less digits, the higher value. This is an obvious rule – there are only hundred NN.com versus a thousand NNN.com and so on. Therefore 75.com is more valuable than 750.com.
Numeric domains ending in zero have usually a higher value. The more zero’s at the end, the higher the value (i.e. 800.com is more valuable than 810.com etc).
Conversely, numeric domains beginning ith a zero have usually a loer value. A domain like 065.com ould usually bear less value than 650.com.
Loer numbers are usually more valuable than high numbers. The reason for this is the Benford’s La (link) hich explains ho lo numbers are more frequent than higher numbers in a variety of data sets like street addresses, stock prices, population numbers, etc. Therefore each domain starting ith 1 is usually more valuable than a domain starting ith 2; each domain starting ith 2 ill have a higher value than a domain starting ith 3 and so on.
Numbers that appear in a sequence are usually more valuable than numbers ith no specific order. For example 123.com is more valuable than 132.com or 231.com.
Pairs are consered lucky and therefore more valuable, i.e. 2233.com is more valuable than 2273.com or 3223.com
Any numeric domain containing a 8 has a higher value. The more 8s in the domain, the higher the value: 888.com > 788.com > 718.com > 712.com.
Domains containing a 4 have a loer value. Any 4 decreases the value of the domain up to 50-70% less than a similar domain ithout a 4 (eg. 672.com vs 674.com).
If you like to consult ith us about ho to invest in a numeric domain and hat are the available opportunities on the market, just send me an email to giuseppe@domainholdings.com
Right no e have available one of the luckiest domains on the market, 80.com. And, if you are ondering about my US phone number, it contains three 8s as ell
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