UPDATE: The final closing price was $10,000.

The domain name HongKongHotel.com has reached $5,000 in pre-bidding over at NameJet, with over 100 bidders.  Estibot gives this name an appraisal of $75,000.   The Global Monthly Search volume for this exact phrase last month topped 33,000.   HongKongHotels.com has very few U.S. visitors per month according to DomainTools, but the search term "hong kong hotel" on Google search has nearly 10 pages of Sponsored Links, so with the right development, this could be a moneymaker.  

This name will be fun to watch, and we will make sure to tweet the final sale price and update this post.  If you want to place a pre-bid, backordering for this name ends at 11 PM PST tonight.

A little more background information can be found at Domain Tools.  Apparently, the name was first registered in 1998 but was allowed to expire.  And as many domainers have been pointing out, Bing is alot more domainer-friendly.  If you type the search term in Google versus Bing, the results are very different.  Depending on whether you type it with or without quotes, sites with the keyword phrase in their name, definitely appear higher in the search results.  Below is a screenshot from the first page of Bing search results for the search term "Hong Kong Hotel":

Swiftrank, who own internet properties like NewYorkRestaurants.com, 5StarHotels.com, SpaResorts.com and over 9,000 other domains are the proud owners of HongKongHotel.com which was won at NameJet last week for $10,000. And the name isn't sitting parked - the website is already up and running.  Swiftrank didn't waste any time leaving their investment parked.  

Swiftrank runs thousands of luxury travel and lifestyle websites using fantastic keyword domain names.  They get it.  

According to their website:

SwiftRank owns the world's finest portfolio of 9,000+ luxury travel and lifestyle domains and websites.

Whether its luxury or boutique hotels, resorts or spas, shopping or fine dining, yacht charter or car hire, SwiftRank owns not only the best industry search term domains but has built these domains into highly ranking websites across all of the major search engines.

UPDATED:  Final auction closing prices updated below.

Prices of category-killer domains, often fetch great prices, no matter where they end up.  On the aftermarket when a name expires, it's not the owner who gets paid unless they're listing the name themselves, but often the registrar who sent the name to auction takes a share of the profits.  In the case of ProteinBars.com, Genisoy - the original owner - let the name expire and since it hit the auction block the price has been skyrocketing. We've been tracking the pre-bidding and auction and it's been exciting to watch.  With less than 1 hour left in bidding, the name has reached $30,000.  It will be interesting to see if the price goes higher, and if it does, will the transaction be completed.

The auction for ProteinBars.com has finally closed at $56,900.  Both ProteinBars.com and ProteinBar.com were in an extended bidding war.  The bidding had been intense and lasted for a couple hours now.  [kssr] had the high bid on both names for nearly an hour, but [juggernaut] had been fighting for the same names.  The bidding for ProteinBars.com which hit over $30,000 a couple hours ago, jumped much higher once the extended bidding started.  [kssr] was the winning bidder for ProteinBars.com and ProteinBar.com.

Other Auctions That Close Today

ProteinBar.com - From $6,000 to $20,100 in the final hours of bidding [Auction Closed]. This name went to kssr as well.

EnergyFoods.com - $4,088 [Auction Closed]

CarSurvey.com - $10,641 [Auction Closed]

CreditLawyer.com - From $2,000 to $6,300 in the final hour of bidding [Auction Closed].  This name finally went to juggernaut after a bidding war broke out between kssr and juggernaut. 

More Names from Genisoy

Genisoy also allowed some of other category-killer names expire that are up for auction at NameJet as well, that close in the next day or so:

NutritionBar.com - over $1,000

NutritionBars.com - over $3,000

UPDATED:  NutritionBar.com sold for $3,912, while NutritionBars.com sold for $7,000.

We live blogged yesterday's bidding war with ProteinBars.com and ProteinBar.com.  Now that those auctions have winded down, today's NameJet auctions should be just as competitive.  NutritionBars.com and NutritionBar.com both end today at 1:06 PM PST, but will likely head into extended bidding like yesterday's auctions.

We've got a breakdown of other NameJet auctions from yesterday here.  

Genisoy the company that produces all sorts of products such as protein bars, shakes and more, somehow allowed these names to expire.  The list of names includes ProteinBar.com, ProteinBars.com, NutritionBars.com, NutritionBar.com, Nutrition-bar.com, Nutrition-Bars.com, EnergyFoods.com, Protein-Bar.com, Protein-Bars.com, and possibly several more.

These are some of the best examples of category-killer names in their market.  What's in store for the names once they change hands to the new owners?  We'll keep you updated.

Watching the bidding on names like these that skyrocket, typically drive interest to that niche of names.  For example, when Candy.com sold, registrations with the keyword candy increased.  The interest in protein, organic, soy and other types of snack bars even drove us to hand register a few names for fun:

SoyProteinBar.com - Frank Schilling owns SoyProteinBars.com

Organic-bar.com and Organic-bars.com - deleted and available again, so we hand registered the names

OrganicSoyBar.com and OrganicSoyBars.com - never registered before, so we hand registered the names today

Category-killer domain names ProteinBar.com and ProteinBars.com have returned to auction after NameJet was unable to "award" the previous winner the names.  A couple weeks ago, we had suspected both these names would head back to the auction block since the names had sold on NameJet in early September, but hadn't finalized.
 
ProteinBar.com sold for $20,100 and ProteinBars.com sold for $56,900, while NutritionBar.com sold for $3,912 and NutritionBars.com sold for $7,000 by the time the auctions finished in heated bidding wars.  That was early September, it's now closing in on mid-October.   With the exception of NutritionBar.com, the Whois Records of all the other three category-killer names remain with Pending renewal or Deletion on Network Solutions.   And none of the URLs resolve.   Do deals of this size typically take this long through NameJet?  Is Genisoy trying to get the names back?  Did the deals fall through?

Buzz Not Lacking for Category-Killer Names

We had covered the auctions of these names extensively, with both auctions ultimately going to the same NameJet user [kssr], but for whatever reason, the winning buyer wasn't awarded the names.

The auction for ProteinBars.com has finally closed at $56,900.  Both ProteinBars.com and ProteinBar.com were in an extended bidding war.  The bidding had been intense and lasted for a couple hours now.  [kssr] had the high bid on both names for nearly an hour, but [juggernaut] had been fighting for the same names.  The bidding for ProteinBars.com which hit over $30,000 a couple hours ago, jumped much higher once the extended bidding started.  [kssr] was the winning bidder for ProteinBars.com and ProteinBar.com.

Fun to Cover

Auctions like these are so much fun to cover because they made us research more about "protein bars" and other energy foods which helped us track down several "deleted and available" Dotcom names like SoyProteinBar.com [Frank Schilling owns SoyProteinBars.com] and a few more.  Frank Schilling who knows "Domains" and is widely respected in the Domaining Industy loves long-tailed names.  As a rule of thumb for us, any time we encounter a "Frank Schilling" page, we check to see if the singular or plurals of the Dotcom are available, and we also check Dotnet and Dotorg.   

These auctions should be fun times again, especially for bidders who thought they missed their chance to win the names.  Some previous bidders might be frustrated.  We're just anxious to see what happens with the final prices.  Both auctions end on Oct. 26th.

NutritionBar.com and NutritionBars.com apparently were awarded to the winning bidder of those particular auctions, which closed at $3,912 and $7,000.  Both of those names are currently parked.

We find it good to review our portfolio once in awhile, to see what we've been buying.  Like many new Domainers, we own hundreds of names (not Thousands), and we often find some of the BEST DEALS on the Aftermarket.  We love to continue to hand-register names, particularly because we're on a budget, but also because thousands of names are deleting and not being renewed on a daily basis.  And just because they're deleting and not being renewed, doesn't mean they're all BAD names.  Not all the GOOD names that expire necessarily get bids or even end up on sites like NameJet or SnapNames.

We've stopped our BUYING FRENZY in the past few months as we focus more on development, but now we are focusing on more strategic purchases to bolster our portfolio.  As part of our regular review, we're taking a look at names that we've bought on NameJet.  And as we take a look, we remind ourselves that buying on NameJet has still offered us some of the BEST DEALS around.

Here's a Look at some of our Favorite Picks in the Past Year

FieldSales.com - $720

PocketPair.com - $429

EngravedLocket.com - $69

PostageLabels.com - $69

EarNoseandThroatdoctor.com - $69

LoanHeaven.com - $69

We've purchased dozens and dozens of names in the past year, with our largest purchase being Tweetups.com.  We consider this name to be one of our BEST INVESTMENTS.  With Twitter traffic growing at an incredible rate, so will "Tweetups".  And we aim to build the BEST Tweetup news, gadget and event site.  Facebook has reached 200 million users, Twitter is getting there.

The domain name DevelopingDomains.com is on the auction block at NameJet.  The original owner had a website online over the last few years that apparently offered domain development services to people looking to build an internet presence.  We pulled up their original site using Archive.org to take a look at what was originally planned.  As the site stated, "If you are interested in an internet presence with name recognition, credibility, and search engine priority for your product information, advertising, product reviews, etc., please contact us. We offer many internet related services including web design,web hosting, graphics, and domain services."

The group held the name and dozens if not hundreds of their own domains that they had reserved for future development, including names focused on the professional audio industry such as DVDAudioMastering.com and GrandPiano.org. 

We scanned several of their names listed on their defunct website such as Sauted.com, Litterbag.com, EverythingUnderthesun.com, FiveaDay.com, DisabledVet.com, and RioDeJaniero.net - but the majority of names are parked.

Litterbag.com is a developed site that looks to be owned by Ultra Marketing Concepts.  EverythingUnderthesun.com is an affiliate landing page. DisabledVet.com is a personal site that provides information for disabled veterans where the author shares his experience about being a disabled veteran.  

The Domain: DevelopingDomains.com

The name barely registers a blip on Google's AdWord: Keyword Tool.  It gets 12 Exact Searches Globally, and doesn't even register anything locally. 

Search terms that do have a decent volume really don't show up unless you switch over to something like Website Development, which gets 33,100 Exact Searches Globally.

DomainDevelop.com sold for $520 on Afternic back in April.  The site has WordPress installed, but the owner hasn't created any content except the boilerplate information that appears with the WordPress theme they're using.

The NameJet Auction

If you are interested in bidding on the name, it's currently up to $256 with nearly 50 bidders.  You need to place your bid by the Backorder Due Date which is Nov. 27th 800 PM PST.

The price is sure to go up with all the buzz about domain development and certainly because of the number of bidders.  We have no plans to bid on the name, but we're watching the auction just to see what the final sales price turns out to be.

We wrote about the auction of DevelopingDomains.com last week - in this updated post - the auction has closed and the buyer has paid for the name.  There was 70 bids from 61 bidders.  The price is much more than we expected it to sell for - but chances are the buyer is probably a domainer or even an individual or organization planning to offer web development services.  Currently the name is parked and the Whois information is privacy marked.

The final sale price:  $2,300.

As we mentioned in our last story, the phrase "Developing Domains" barely registers a blip on Google's AdWord: Keyword Tool.  And it only gets 12 Exact Searches Globally, and doesn't even register anything locally.  "Domain development" is a fast-growing market though --- while domains have been developed since the beginning of time, there are Domain Portfolio owners with hundreds and thousands of names looking for solutions that cater to the unique needs of Domainers in order to rapidly develop their names in response to the dwindling PPC market - similar to companies like DDC.

Other related tidbits

- DevelopingDomains.net, DevelopingDomains.org and nearly every other extension of DevelopingDomains.com is available for hand-registration.

- Developingrelations.com, the only other domain listed on namebio starting with the keyword 'Developing' sold for $1 in 2007 on bazaar.afternic.com. 

- DevelopMyDomains.com redirects to DomainerTV.com - but they don't offer any services for developing domains.

- DevelopDomains.com redirects to restaurants-for-sale.com

- DevelopingDomain.com is parked.  American Marketing the company that owns DevelopingDomain.com, also owns thousands of premium names like Applauding.com, Blowing.net, WashCloth.net, Disbursement.net and Asked.org.  

- Mike Berkens of TheDomains.com - owns dozens of domain names with the keyword "Developing" such as DevelopingaWebsite.com, DevelopingaResume.com, and DevelopingThat.com.

There are some aftermarket opportunities over at NameJet.com, with some great domain names up for auction ranging from Peruvian.com to Orbiting.com, and GreaterSeattle.com to BattleMind.org.

BattleMind.org appears to have been a Walter Reed website that provided Battle mind information and training to the Military and the site was online since 2006.  Unfortunately, the domain name has now expired and it's up for auction.  Army.mil even backlinked to the website (check out the photo above found on Army.mil that linked to BattleMind.org). Though BattleMind.org is offline, the Army does have thier own site at battlemind.army.mil.

If you're not familiar with Battle Mind training, it "Reflects a strength-based, positive psychology approach to Warrior behavioral health. It is designed for Warriors, Leaders, Spouses, Families and behavioral health providers. Training and information is targeted to all phases of the Warrior deployment cycle, Warrior life cycle and Warrior support system."

In September 2009, the site's traffic was nearly 3,000 unique visitors per month according to Compete.com.

Peruvian.com actually registers some traffic and over the past year unique visitors per month has reached as high as 600. 

Peruvian.com already has 114 bids at the time of this posting. While BattleMind.org has 25.

If you plan to bid on these names, you'll need to place your bid by 11 PM EST.

The Domain Name FirstNationalBank.com has expired and is up for auction on NameJet.  This domain name gets some serious traffic and earlier this year hit over 12,000 unique visitors in May.  The auction has drummed up serious interest on NameJet - with nearly 100 bidders and a current bid of $860.  

There are several "First National Banks" - the most prominent ones include FNB.com and FirstNational.com - even BankatFirstNational.com.  The list is endless.

If you plan to bid on this name, you need to place your pre-bid by 11 PM EST (December 16th) on NameJet.com.  And this name is sure to reach the $XX,XXX range.  However, it might not be such a good investment for the winner, unless of course the winner is one of the many "First National Banks" in existence.

A quick glance as the United States and Patent and Trademark Office though, shows quite a few marks that are Active for related marks - so this name might be tricky for the new owner -- but who knows...

Some History On the Domain Name FirstNationalBank.com

Originally registered in 1998, The name used to be owned by First National Bank & Trust of Indiana - who were acquired by Harris Bank in 2006.  The screenshot was taken from Archive.org.

But instead of keeping the domain name and tons of leads - it looks like Harris Bank finally allowed it to expire, instead of using it, and potentially hundreds, if not thousands of new customers.  Harris uses HarrisBank.com.   

Here's a snippet from the Press Release published in 2006:

CHICAGO, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Harris today announced a definitive agreement to purchase central Indiana-based First National Bank & Trust for $290 million, furthering the personal and commercial banking presence for one of Chicago's largest financial institutions outside its traditional market.

First National Bank & Trust is a 32-branch community bank with locations in Indianapolis and the surrounding communities of Kokomo and Terre Haute. With $1.3 billion in assets, $920 million in deposits and $500 million in trust assets, First National Bank & Trust offers a range of retail and commercial banking products, as well as trust, investment and insurance services.

"This is truly a milestone event for Harris as we move toward our goal of being the leading personal and commercial community bank in the Midwest," said Ellen Costello, Chief Executive Officer, Harris. "We are pleased to bring our customer-focused, community-based approach to the First National Bank & Trust customers. Indianapolis is the second-fastest growing market in the U.S. Midwest and, with a population of about 1.7 million, it presents wonderful opportunities as we pursue our goal of doubling in size in the next five years.

Other Related Tidbits

Bank.com is owned by First Place Internet Inc. who own other category-killer names like Stock.com, Cartoon.com, Govt.com, irs.org, eCard.com and other top internet domains.

Bankruptcy.net sold this past October for $56,250 on SnapNames. It was actually purchased by Bankruptcy lawyers.  While the domain is parked, the lawyers who purchased the name run Doyaga & Schaefer.

Dozens of dotinfo domain names have turned up at NameJet.  The list of names includes: voip.info, hobby.info, scottsdale.info, aircraft.info, ranking.info, rig.info, and goya.info - and those are just some of the top names with a deadline of December 19.

Every TLD has their fans and the big appeal with dotinfo names is their low upfront investment cost compared to other toplevel domain extensions.

Other OK dotinfo names on NameJet with few or no bidders at the time of this posting also include:  FDW.info, Sheesh.info, THH.info.

Related Dotinfo News: Afilias Announces Winners of the 2009 .INFO Awards

In November Afilias, who provides registry services for dotinfo, announced the results of its 2009 .INFO Awards for the best .INFO sites on the internet. 

First Place:  thueringen.info (a travel information portal)

Second Place:  gps-tour.info (p2p file sharing service)

Third Place: turkel.info (travel and marketing agency)

Other Notable 2009 Dotinfo Sales

Tchat.info sold for $18,000 on Sedo on Nov. 27, 2009

Tagesgeld.info sold for $16,905 on Sedo on Sep. 16, 2009

BodyBuilding.info sold for $13,500 on Sedo on Aug. 2, 2009

MCAT.info sold for $4,250 on Afternic on Jul. 21, 2009

Another typo domain name hits the auction block over at NameJet.  Bissel.com recently expired.  It's a popular typo of the vacuum Cleaner Bissell, which has been around for more than 130 years.  The correct spelling BISSELL, which is owned by the Vacuum Cleaner company, gets a WHOPPING 300,000 unique visitors per month. 

The typo Bissel.com: hit 12,000 unqiue visitors in Nov. 2009 according to Compete.

At the time of this posting there are currently 25 bidders.  The highest bid is $69.  To participate in the auction you must place your pre-bid by Dec. 20, 2009 11:00 PM EST.

Keep in mind, we DO NOT encourage registering or purchasing Blatant Infringing Domain Names, but we certainly find these stories as Domainers interesting -- especially how it illustrates the power of type-in traffic. 

Other Related Tidbits:

Bissell.com hit nearly 500,000 unique visitors in Feb. 2009.

Bissell.com also owns WooliteCarpet.com. 

BISSELL, the company, was the very first American company with a female CEO.

The domain name, VacuumCleaners.com, was first registered on Dec. 31, 1995.  The domain name currently doesn't resolve.

Anything.com Ltd owns VacuumCleaner.com, along with other category-killer names like 10.com, Home.com, Gadgets.com, Songs.com, and nearly 2,000 more names.

Vacuum.com was first registered in 1997, nearly two years after Vacuumcleaners.com was registered.

VacuumParts.com sold for $1,900 on NameJet in 2008.  The name is currently parked.

The search phrase "Vacuums" had nearly 1 MILLION Exact Searches Locally last month according to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool.  "Vacuum Cleaners" had 550,000, while Vacuum had 450,000.  "Vacuum Accessories" had 110,000.

Breaking the Top 100 Chart of 2009 Domain Sales, FirstNationalBank.com sold on NameJet.  In a year of high bidding in the last full week of 2009, FirstNationalBank.com ended with a $69,100 sale price and over 200 bids from 122 bidders.  The winning high bidder: demand

More Details on the Domain Name

We wrote about the auction of this name earlier in the week, and included some history and statistics on this traffic/lead generating domain name.

This domain name gets some serious traffic and earlier this year hit over 12,000 unique visitors in May.  The auction has drummed up serious interest on NameJet - with nearly 100 bidders and a current bid of $860. 

There are several "First National Banks" - the most prominent ones include FNB.com and FirstNational.com - even BankatFirstNational.com.  The list is endless.

Originally registered in 1998, The name used to be owned by First National Bank & Trust of Indiana - who were acquired by Harris Bank in 2006.  The screenshot was taken from Archive.org.

But instead of keeping the domain name and tons of leads - it looks like Harris Bank finally allowed it to expire, instead of using it, and potentially hundreds, if not thousands of new customers.  Harris uses HarrisBank.com.  

Jump over to the full story.

There are some odd bids occassionally on the Aftermarket.  Now to the buyer with a plan, these types of bids might not seem odd, but to outsiders like us who are relatively new to the Domain industry and still learning the ropes --- they definitely catch our attention. 

GEPLAC.org and other Odds bids on NameJet

Does it seem odd that GEPLAC.org currently has a high pre-bid of $980 and there are currently 24 bidders?  Maybe the organization that allowed the name to expire wants it back, but GEPLAC.org isn't exactly the only domain name with odd bids.

One of our readers from Product Domains shares why this name is getting so much interest  --- Looks like bidders want the name for its "link juice".  GEPLAC.org is current Page Rank 6/10.  Why is this important?  PageRank is an important factor in how well a particular web page ranks in Google search results.  Thanks to Product Domains for shedding light on this.

In case you're wondering what GEPLAC stands for, it represents the Georgian European Policy and Legal Advice Centre.  Could it be GEPLAC.org is gunning to get their name back after it expired? Or are there others who want this name for another reason?

What makes the price even more strange, is that the name gets zilch traffic and at the time of this posting the Dotcom and DotNet extensions of GEPLAC are available for hand-registration.  What does the GEPLAC do?

Georgian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre (GEPLAC) addresses the needs in terms of legal, economic policy and trade policy matters as expressed by the Georgian State Chancellery, in a formal submission of March 1996 to the EU Commission, for deepening and broadening the scope of contribution initiated by the Tacis-EES policy advice over the period 1994-1996.

Following a tender in summer 1997, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, has been contracted by the European Commission to establish Georgian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre (GEPLAC) and to manage independent policy and legal advice activities within the framework created by the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

With the Ordinance N 317 (from July 24, 2000) on the Promotion of the Implementation of PCA, the President of Georgia established the Governmental Commission for the Promotion of Implementation of PCA, which at present is beneficiary of GEPLAC.

Other Odd Bids

When we purchase names on the aftermarket, we don't go too high in the bidding since we have a small budget, but we also check alternate extensions.  For example HalloweenPictures.com is owned by Frank Schilling - could we afford the $10,000 minimum bid to obtain the name? Of course not, but we can certainly afford to pay reg-fee and develop a simple picture site on HalloweenPictures.org.  

While owning the Dotcom is important, it's not critical to the success of the name, especially if you have plans for development.  We typically target the dotcom when we plan to make it a brand like Tweetups.com (we own several of the alternate TLDs) or StudentLoanCenter.com (we own the dotorg also).

But we eliminate names from consideration when it goes beyond our budget and becomes hotly contested.  However, if the alternate extensions are available we occassionally hand-register the dotnet or dotorg for under $20.  Often, we see names go in the hundreds on NameJet, while some of the top level extensions are still avaible for hand-reg fee.

Even if we pay for a dotcom within our budget, we still check the other TLDs, and often register them for SEO purposes and for defensive reasons. 

Every buyer and bidder has their own reasons for why they must have a name and it will be interesting to see where GEPLAC.org finally ends up.

Here are some other bids on NameJet with high bids, that seem odd.

IPPSXX.org (current high bid $780, dotcom and dotnet still available for hand-reg).  This domain name is also page rank 6/10.

MarkWatch.com (current high bid $430, but the dotnet and dotorg are still available for hand-reg. This name is interesting because it did have traffic in the hundreds back in Sept. but the bidders who are bidding on this name, don't seem too interested in the dotnet and dotorg).  The domain's page rank is 0/10.  But the domain name used to be a fully developed web site that dealth with Trademarks. 

Bissel.com, the typo of the popular Bissell vacuum cleaner, sold on NameJet.  Bissel.com ended with a $10,088 sale price and 118 bids from 74 bidders.  The winning bidder was 8d3e6emd52

A Typo that Bissell Let Expire

There are domain disputes over typo-squatting resolved by the UDRP.  Trademark owners have been able to reclaim names.  It seems a name like Bissel.com might be difficult for the new owner to keep if Bissell the Vacuum Cleaner company ever decides to file a dispute.  

However, the original owner of this typo domain "appears" to be Bissell.com, so could they win a dispute since they no longer wanted the name themselves?  If you check bissel.com on Archive.org, for the last several years it has re-directed to the company's website: Bissell.com. 

It looks like Bissell Homecare simply let the name expire - whether on purpose or by accident, they don't seem to put a lot of importance on domain names. 

12,000 visitors per month, is a lot of lost leads.

More Details on the Domain Name

We wrote about the auction of this name earlier in the week, and included some history and statistics on this high traffic domain name.

It's a popular typo of the vacuum Cleaner Bissell, which has been around for more than 130 years.  The correct spelling BISSELL, which is owned by the Vacuum Cleaner company, gets a WHOPPING 300,000 unique visitors per month..."

Jump over to the full story.

Back in June 2009, the domain name eHelp.com sold for $42,801 on NameJet.  The auction involved 244 bids from 208 bidders.  The domain name that already came with tons of traffic, has now been developed into a website.  The idea behind the site: "Ask questions on any topic and get free answers from real people, you can also share your knowledge with other people".

Back in June when the name was sold on the NameJet Aftermarket, traffic to the site hit 4,000+ unique visitors per month.   With a full fledged website online now that is driven by its community of users, the site recorded over 8,000 unique visitors in November.

In comparison, KGB.com which has been a longtime brand online with a texting service and more (that charges for answers), only gets about 30,000 visitors to its online web site.  Considering eHelp.com is just getting started, they're certainly off to a good start.

A little history on eHelp

The great domain name used to be owned by eHelp corporation that was acquired in 2003 by Macromedia in a $65 million deal.  The picture above is from 2002 taken from Archive.org.

Apparently, Macromedia let the great domain name expire.  Along with all it's type-in traffic. And even a page rank of 7/10.

According to WikiPedia:

eHelp Corporation (formerly Blue Sky Software) was co-founded by Jørgen Sigurd Lien and Trond Bergquist in 1990, and headquartered in San Diego, California.

Prior to acquisition by Macromedia , eHelp Corporation was the worldwide leader in automated user assistance software for applications, intranets, and the Web.

eHelp provides the foundation to more than 250 million online Help and user assistance systems currently in use around the world. eHelp serves a diverse customer base ranging from Fortune 500 companies such as Cisco Systems, Inc., to government agencies such as the United States Coast Guard, to large educational institutions including University of California, San Diego

ButtMaster.com, which had a website online for nearly ten years starting in the late nineties, leads today's NameJet bidding charts - right next to Midwestflyfishing.com and MountainSky.com.  At the time of this posting, ButtMaster.com has nearly 50 bids with a high pre-bid of $250.

Valuate.com surprisingly appraises the name at a whopping $1,200 - and the .net and .org are both taken.  While the name has no page rank and barely registers a blip on Compete.com's traffic meter, the name certainly has branding power for an adult website and would likely make a great name for an exercise machine that you'd see on a late night infomercial.

NameJet actually has a lot of "Butt" domains coming up for auction including: BigOleButts.com, BigOldButts.com, Butt-Buddy.com, ButterBaby.com, and literally dozens more over the next 30 days. 

Other Notable "Butt" Sales

Headbutt.com sold for $2,149 in July on SnapNames

ButtCheeks.com sold for $8,003 in 2007 on SnapNames

BubbleButts.net sold for $2,250 in 2006 on SnapNames

BigButtAmateurs.com sold for $4,000 in 2007 (location unknown)

Buttpads.com sold for $1,300 in 2008 on NameJet

2211.com with 129 bids at a current high pre-bid of $2,500 leads the list of names today over at NameJet.  Other listings with interested bidders include Hamstring.net, Faster.net, OnlineUniversityDegree.org, SqueezePageTemplates.com, and LordofRings.com - a name with several hundred type-in visitors each month according to Compete.  LordofRings.com has been registered for years, and though it's been parked, it registers decent traffic.  It's one of those names that could spell trouble for the new owners, considering there are dozens of trademarks on the term "Lord of the Rings"  - and lordofrings is confusingly similar.

2211.com is positioned to move up in price as soon as soon as it hits the private auction.  Number domains seems to generate some nice interest, and cash.

Other Notable 4 Number Sales

1159.com sold for $2,034 on NameJet in July 2008

3000.com sold for $12,000 on Sedo in February 2007

8500.com sold for $2,360 in 2007

5000.com sold for $14,000 on Sedo in 2007

8585.com sold for $2,500 on Afternic in November 2004

0937.com sold for $2,100 on NameJet in October 2008

7777.com sold for $55,556 in a Private Sale in August 2008

7888.com sold for $4,300 on NameJet in June 2008

8808.com sold for $51,111 through Marchex in August 2008

8008.com sold for $58,889 through Marchex in August 2008

Other Top Backordered Names

The list of names with backorder due dates of Jan. 11, 2010 8 PM (PST) include:

gbt.net $501
irt.net $303
harmonicdrive.com $234
norwegianity.com $210
interactionmagazine.com $200
hmg.org $150
lovecompany.com $139
vintageredux.com $125
faster.net $116
newmember.com $113
xchangemaster.net $101
hispanicpr.com $100
rcaa.com $100
thequoteboard.com $100
pagh.com $85

There is an interesting name listed for Auction over at NameJet: Wickes.com.  The .ORG is owned by none other than Frank Schilling and the pre-bidding has reached nearly 100 bidders with a high bid of $2,000.  Backorder deadline ends Jan. 16th at 11 PM EST. What's the intrigue?  Does this name have trouble written all over it?  There are some compelling reasons for interest in this name; pagerank 4/10, a WHOPPING exact global search volume of 550,000 and much much more. 

For potential buyers, here's some information on the name.  There is a possibility this name could spell trouble, so you should do your homework before bidding on this one.  Whatever the case, this name is generating some serious interest.

Some Background on Wickes.com

Wickes Lumber owned the .COM name going back to the nineties and had an active web site online as early as 1995.  According to reports in September 2004, the company went bankrupt:

 In a liquidation move that spells the end for Vernon Hills, Ill.-based Wickes Lumber, the pro dealer recently agreed to sell off all of its remaining 59 locations to Redmond, Wash.-based Lanoga Corp.; Broken Arrow, Okla.-based Hope Lumber and Supply; and Avenel, N.J.-based Bradco Supply Corp. Wickes, which reached a high point of 115 locations in 2002, originally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 20, and although the company secured a debtor-in-possession credit line of $115 million in March, it was still unable to reorganize operations sufficiently enough to exit Chapter 11 as originally planned.

There's another established Wickes, that's ACTIVE

Wickes is also a do-it-yourself retailer based in the United Kingdom, and they have a trademark.

An established brand in the do-it-yourself (DIY) market in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Wickes stores are designed to appeal to serious DIY customers who carry out more complex projects and tradesmen who undertake general repairs, maintenance, and improvement projects for households. The company has a portfolio of 171 standard and eight Extra stores and boasts one of the leading sales-per-square-foot rates among DIY retailers.

Additional wickes-related tidbits

Valuate.com Appraisal $11,000

.NET. ORG as well as other extensions taken. .NET is a school website based in Wickes, Arkansas.

WICKES has a live Trademark for retail furniture store services.  Other marks go back to the 1950s for Wickes Lumber.

Traffic to the URL according to Compete in 2009 reached nearly 2,000 visitors, but as of the last Compete update, only 17 visitors were reported.

Wickes.co.uk is the top Google Search Engine Result for the search phrase Wickes. 

NameJet, one of the most popular domain name aftermarket auction companies recently got an upgrade to help bidders get more information in one place.  If you're a regular user, chances are you've come across the changes and you already know exactly what we're talking about. 

There are some new user interface enhancements.  There is now a simplified listing page that includes the Simple Search and Advanced Search above the listings page.  In addition, there is now more information in the list that includes the number of bidders, the minimum bid, the high bid, the type and the order by deadline.  While there appears to be a number of enhancements, we're more interested in the features they still haven't incorporated.

Features We Think Would Be "Nice to Have"

Social Media

While NameJet unveiled its newest version of the site, there are several features that might help it connect better with users, like some social media.  The company basically has no interaction with users, unless you submit a trouble ticket.

In terms of letting users know about the upgrade, we had no clue until we visited the site.  There  is no News or Announcements page that communicates these items.  Whether they integrate social media or not is probably not that Critical for their business model, but a simple News with current information would be sufficient.

Watch Pre-Release Names

You can watch names in "Public Auction" on NameJet, but the feature would be nice with Pre-Release Names.  We got a lot of names at NameJet for $69, but that's because we watched the names on our own separate spreadsheet.  If you place a bid on a name too early, it sparks the interest of other bidders and the chances of you getting the name for $69 drop considerably, unless you place the bid 1 minute before the backorder due date.  Why do all the hardwork of finding a name, only to let others know about it.  But they're a business, and our guess is they don't allow "Watching" on pre-release names to avoid lower bids. 

NameJet Affiliate Program

A lot of domainers work hard to cover aftermarket auctions that send traffic and bidders directly to their website.  Earning commission on sales, similar to programs that other Aftermarket sites offer --- might make them more money with webmasters sending targeted traffic to auctions, but more importantly would also reward webmasters who already do a lot of the work.

A group of KILLER names has hit the auction block at NameJet.  Among the list of domain names at the Aftermarket web site, Childhood.com which expired on January 18, 2010 and is pending renewal or deletion is one of the top names in the list.  Back in 1999, Childhood.com was set up as a family web site and the name has been inactive over the years until finally expiring last month.  

Valuate.com appraises Childhood.com at $122,000.  OnlineBanking.net at $43,000, and many other names in the list below are fetching Valuate.com apprasials in the four and five-figure range.

Surprising List of Domain Names
 
The list of domain names up for auction between now and the next several weeks is an amazing list that is certain to grab the attention of new and longtime domainers alike.  Here's a look at some of the interesting names below.

MyHeart.com
Historia.com
Corks.net
Susanna.com
Childhood.com
ForeclosureListings.net
Pollution.org
Fathers.org
SBC.org
on3.com
CochlearImplants.com
eCorporate.com
River.net
Smokin.net
Position.org
BestinShow.com
PublishArticles.com
Practica.com
AccountingBusiness.com
jj3.com
OnlineBanking.net
FilmEquipment.com
TravelSchedule.com
TaxLawAttorney.com
Subcontract.com
CreditChecknow.com
BulletVibrator.com

Online dating sites are on the rise and so are opportunities for domainers and internet marketers looking to cash in.  If you've been looking to get in on the action and use some great domains that already come with traffic, page rank, huge amounts of search volume and more - here are some domain names that are expiring that will be up for auction over at NameJet.

GreatBeginnings.com
 
In 1999, GreatBeginnings.com was a website dedicated to facilitating connections between ideas and people and to increasing the quality of connections that people make within and across cultures.  GreatBeginnings.com gets over 1,000 unique type in visitors per month and in 2009 had some months near 2,000 visitors.  The URL GreatBeginnings.com has a page rank value of 4 from 10 possible points.

LoveNow.com 
 
Going back to the late nineties through 2005, LoveNow.com was an adult oriented site and the site provided listings of adult products and services.  Lovenow.com doesnt' register any traffic with Compete and has a page rank score of 0, but it's a great domain for branding a dating or adult web site.  Lovenow.net is listed as a Premium Domain for sale at GoDaddy for $1,688.

AdultPersonals.net
 
Since the early days of the internet, AdultPersonals.net has been just that - a website for helping people looking for love for every need, lifestyle and fetish.  The website was a simple 1 page landing page with a lot of affiliate links to a variety of Adult Friend Finder websites. Since April 2009, the site's traffic has been flat and the page rank is 0, but the Monthly Search Volume Globally for the term "Adult Personals" was over 60,000 in January.  That's Exact Match Type.

AdultDating.org
 
While this is a .org, the term "adult dating" had a Global Monthly Search Volume of 1,500,000 in January 2010.  That's over 1 million exact searches globally.  Locally, it was nearly 75,000.  That's a killer name.

1Love.com
 
1Love.com has been on the web since the nineties and comes with a page rank of 3 out of 10.  The URL receives hundreds of type in visitors per month, and could definitely help an individual or organization looking to make a splash in the online dating scene.

MyHeart.com an expired domain name that recently went to NameJet auction, is currently bidding at $3,933 with still a day to go.  The name has over 200 bidders. 

There are several good .TV domain names on the drop, and many of the domains that are going to auction in the next few weeks have very few bidders, most with only 1 bidder.  .TV domain names aren't for everyone, but over the years, many of them have fetched thousands of dollars on the aftermarket.  Fight.tv sold for $18,000 on Sedo in 2008 while China.tv sold for $100,000 in 2003.  Even sciences.tv and DebtConsolidation.tv sold for over $5,000 in the last few years.  You can scour NameBio for past sales of .TV domains.

If you're curious about what .TV names are available on the drop, check out the list below we quickly pulled from NameJet.  Nearly every name listed below only has 1 bidder at the time of this story with Antarctica.tv taking the most bidders at 7.  

Antarctica.tv
Roses.tv
SportsTraining.tv
Taliban.tv
WorldHunger.tv
BabyAdoption.tv
BallGames.tv
DryCleaning.tv
Luscious.tv
Circumcision.tv
Dollhouses.tv
Plate.tv
GameConsole.tv
Humanities.tv

We own very few .TV domains ourselves, with Evangelist.tv being one of our top .TV names in our portfolio. We picked it up on the drop last year on NameJet for $69 and we were more than happy to pay that small price considering Evangelist.info sold for $4,500 in 2006.

Out of the list above, BallGames.tv is one of our favorite picks for under $100. Right now there is only 1 bidder.  Globally, the term "ball games" gets nearly 20,000 Exact Searches, but given the multi media nature of .TV domains, this name has a lot of possibilities --- Base.BallGames.tv, Basket.BallGames.tv, Foot.BallGames.tv and so on.