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Sell-Through Rate

The share of a domain portfolio that sells in a given period — a key liquidity metric for investors.

FBFenwei BianAuthorVZVictor ZhouEditorJune 22, 2026
  • glossary

Sell-through rate (STR) is the percentage of names in a domain portfolio that actually sell within a defined period — typically a calendar year — and it serves as a practical measure of domain liquidity for an investor's overall book. Even large, reputable portfolios rarely achieve an STR above a few percent annually; a 2–3% sell-through on a well-curated .com portfolio is considered healthy, meaning most names must be carried for years before finding a buyer. A low STR relative to holding costs signals that a portfolio needs pruning — dropping marginal names before their renewal fees erase returns. Tracking STR alongside average sale price and holding period gives investors a clearer picture of their real return on capital deployed in the aftermarket.

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Contributors

Fenwei Bian

Software Developer & Writer • Namefi
Author

Fenwei Bian is a software developer in her thirties who spends her working hours in pull requests and her weekends with her hands in soil or sawdust. Years of open source on GitHub taught her that names are interfaces: a good one is clear, honest about what it does, and kind to whoever has to use it next.

She gardens because it rewards patience and punishes wishful thinking, and she does woodwork because a joint either fits or it doesn't. Both habits show up in how she writes about naming — measure twice, check the source, and don't sand over a rough spot and hope no one notices.

For Namefi she writes about how domain markets actually move, the practical trade-offs of tokenizing and flipping names, and picking a domain you'll still be glad you own in twenty years.

GitHub

Victor Zhou

Founder & Standards Editor • Namefi
Editor

Victor Zhou is a technology founder and standards editor focused on digital identity and trust. He founded Namefi, edits Ethereum Improvement Proposals, and previously led smart-contract architecture work at Google Labs.

His work sits at the intersection of naming, ownership, and the systems people use to establish identity online. That perspective makes him especially interested in the way names move between personal meaning, public recognition, and digital infrastructure.

For Namefi, Victor edits and writes about domains as durable digital identity: how names become ownable onchain assets, how tokenization changes custody and trust, and what naming can learn from the systems people use to establish identity online.

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