sales - Ten of the Best Domain Hacks in Active Use | Page 6

A domain hack uses content from both sides of the dot to form a word or phrase – for example: s.top. While domain investors have created many imaginative domain name hacks, the number in actual use is much smaller. In this post, I look at a selection of short single-word domain hacks currently in business use, either as a main site or for redirection. I also offer tips for finding domain hack sales history and pose the question about whether we should change the name for this category of domain names, given the historically-negative connotations associated with hacking.

A Selection of Short Domain Name Hacks

In this article, I’m interested in domain name hacks of a single short word that spanned the two sides of the dot. I only included domain names that are in active use. While multi-word domain hacks are certainly possible, I want to highlight some of the best short single-word hacks. It’s likely that all of these domain names sold for 5 figures or more, although in a few cases I could not determine the exact price.

Ta.co
This superb domain hack is used for redirection by Taco Bell. The use of the name was recently shared on Twitter by the .co registry, but I could not find a publicly-announced sale of the domain name. It is currently listed as their website on Taco Bell’s Twitter account.

T.win
This has to be one of the best domain names in the .win extension. The name sold earlier this year for $22,500, and it’s already in redirection use by the Twin online casino business. It will be interesting to see if ultimately they use it for their main site or simply wanted it for redirection.

S.top
The .top new extension makes for numerous great hacks, including this one that is in direct use by the Chinese Super Token cryptocurrency site. The domain name sold for $161,684 in 2017 direct from Jiangsu Bangning. This could have been a superb domain name for many different types of businesses, and it’s not surprisingly the highest-value sale of a domain hack in the NameBio database.

Me.me
This interesting domain hack is also a domain twin, a repeated word on both sides of the dot. It is in use by a site that sells various meme-themed merchandise. There is currently not a public record of its sale price.

Local.ly
The .ly extension is used in many domain hacks, including this one that sold for $100,000 in 2011. It is currently used for redirection to the products page at Infor, a hybrid cloud artificial intelligence products promotion company.

W.et
This domain hack sold late in 2017 for $25,000 at Flippa. While it has an almost endless number of possible uses from pools to waterparks and swimwear to diving equipment, it is currently used by Jon Buch for redirection purposes to the .com of his own name. He is a founder at Vio Publishing and previously was a creative director at Gigya. Gigya is now part of SAP.

Ma.de
The German .de extension makes for lots of good hacks, such as ma.de that sold for $25,000 at Sedo in 2012. The domain name is used for the main website of MADE, a talent curation company.

A.top
The word “atop” means simply on top or first, and this domain hack is used by the A.top Asian digital asset exchange. The domain name sold for $96,670 in 2014 at Com.top.

Di.et
Not surprisingly, this descriptive domain name is in use for a diet site. The domain name sold for $10,000 in 2016.

Movi.es
The .es domain extension can be used for plurals of various words. The domain hack movi.es sold in 2009 for $10,695 at Sedo. Wisely, it is in use by Netflix as a redirect.

Discussion of Domain Hacks

There have been a number of discussions about domain hacks on NamePros over the years, including this thread started in 2010 that asks Are domain hacks good? Some posts in that thread indicate differences in opinion over what is a domain hack. Some domain investors use the term more generally, for example, considering two words split by a dot also to be a hack, while some experts have referred to that as expanding the dot. An interesting question is whether the demand for domain hacks changed with the introduction of the new domain extensions.

Finding Domain Hack Sales

A little known feature of NameBio is that you can easily search domain hack sales history. From the main menu, select Niche under the Category field. Then select Domain Hacks within the Subcategory. Note that you can use any of the other NameBio features to narrow your search, such as domain hacks in a particular extension, price, or date range. You can even view the full list of NameBio-listed domain hacks. NameBio currently shows 594 domain hack sales with an average price of $3872. The highest NameBio-listed domain name hack sale was s.top at $161,684. Many of the high-value domain name hack sales listed are not in use with a number of them currently listed for sale.

Time for a Name Change?

The word “hack” has, at least historically, had a negative connotation since it has usually been associated with someone improperly gaining control, although the negativity is waning due to tech communities, such as Hacker News, hackathons, programming, and companies like Facebook with their headquarters located at 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA, USA.

I think the domain community should come up with a more positive name. What about unidot or trans-dot domain names? I am sure readers can come up with better possibilities! Why not share them in the comments?

Have Your Say!

Please provide your input in the comments.

What great single-word domain hacks in current use are missing from this article?
Do you invest in domain name hacks? Have you sold any yet?
Do you think domain hacks are more popular in certain geographical regions or subject niches?
Do you think that the new domain extensions have decreased or increased interest in domain hacks?
What would be your choice for a better name for domain hacks?