To have ICANN even look at your application costs $2500, and they reserve the right to deny your application without refunding your expenses. A LOT of time should be spent on the business plan to have investors on your side, and if you're going for the top ten you'll have to hire some highly skilled developers. I assume you've thought this through, so I wish you the best of luck.
Not sure what can be bigger and better. Dot com's are only $7 as it is at Godaddy and even cheaper at name.com and other places. Not sure how offering cheaper prices would make more money. As it is, registrars have tons of little guys out there reselling domains for them... so..
Its sort of like starting a new search engine... its possible, but why would anyone use yours when there are tons of other ones.
Thanks for the thoughts, I know it would be hard but I think its achievable, take time and hard work and start one place at a time i.e take over the UK and then europe then us the asia?
Well keep the thoughts comming,
Rob
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But your strategy with starting small and targeting one country at a time is not good in my opinion. This is the net, why restrict/limit yourself to one geography, when you can as easily target a continent at a time?
I am a reseller offering end user accounts and reseller accounts. It was a big step for me to go in for reseller account from end user account. Then to promote it all the way to have decent customer base that I have today and do good volumes to get cheap prices myself.
You need to have real deep pockets to plan and execute what you are talking about. Team of dedicated pros working for you + marketing costs. It means expenses from day 1 - even before your launch and break even itself might take few months. To sustain the kind of costs, you need real patience and more than that solid financial backing.
Not trying to discourage you but just my thoughts. Anyway, all the best.
It's a great idea, but I agree with most of the advice and feedback you have been getting. There was just an article about this in the latest issue of Domainer's Magazine where they talk about what is involved and the cost. You can now become your own registrar, not a reseller, very cheaply if you use Rebel.com. But that still costs $3,000 a month.
Part of the problem is that the wholesale cost of a domain is about $6. If you charge low prices, that doesn't leave much money for things like the servers you need, office space, office staff, telecommunications equipment, a merchant account, office furniture, and all the other things that go with running a business.
I'm not saying it can't be done, but you need to do your homework and make a feasible plan or at least start one before you will get many people interested. There are a number of ways it could work. For example offering domain parking services that are not like any offered today. The parking service income could help finance the domain registration business that won't be making much money. And a marketplace that is as good as Namepros, but as easy as TDNAM to use (mostly automated) would be a real winner. Sure, I could easily see something like that working, but it's going to take people that are smart, honest, experienced, and determined to make it work.
You need to figure out if you are really serious, and if you are get organized. You can start with setting up a mailing list and telling me so I can sign up. :-)
If you can become a major registrar in your country already is a great thing. Local registrars always have more chance to comunicate and serve better with the customers of that country.
If this was a standard business where you sold physical products and you would have extra expenses if you went international, then you are correct.
You are thinking of a normal business, where one start local and expend gradually. Country, region, continent, international.
But remember this is online, you dont have a physical product, it doesnt mind who buys your product it cost the same for you. You dont have shipping/packing expenses.
You pay the same fee to be allowed to sell domains, whether you only sell it in England or you sell it worldwide.
How many have choosen to register a domain with a site, because they have seen an add in a local magazine or newspaper.? Was it because you saw it on TV you choose to reg. and 1and1, GoDaddy, Moniker f.ex.?
Not in my case, I found them through the internet. So your branding of your product must be online not physical.
Just my opinion, but Chris seems like he knows one or two things about this, so maybe he can say his opinion in this matter?
i am interested in setting up a new domain registrar and similar to this in future,not now.i don't have enough money now.i would like to start it individually.
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robfer is talking about starting only targetting Scotland then next step, I quote "england and wales, then move to ireland and paris etc etc etc"
With an online digital non-physical product that doesnt have major extra expensenses if it is Scotland or USA you are targetting, there is no reason to start only targetting one little country with 5 mio. population.
Economicly it is not wise. Im not talking about the yearly fee one has to pay ICANN, thats the easieast and cheapest part of it. You have to have the infrastructure/back end technology to handle what is needed to be a registrar. The expenses to that is the same if its a small country or a big country, it doesnt matter.
Thats what Im saying will be an economic disaster and unrealistic.
Who in NamePros has chosen the domainregistrar they are registering their domains in, just because you have seen it in a local/country specific ad?
Im not talking about a big country like USA or China, these target groups alone is enough for a Registrar.
Im talking about only targeting a 5 mio. population, and first after establishing this country, then take the next step to a 50 mio. population and then take the next step to paris (come on) why not the whole France
I just cant see why restricting one self and do it in so many steps, with so many expenses in every step. Why is this needed, when the expenses would be the same if you use the money you planned to use in all these steps to just do it in one single step instead? imo, it would not only be cheaper, but also save you time. All these steps will take 5-10 times more then if you just took one step.
Its not like it is a new product you have to test in a small market, then take the next step when everything is fine.
We are talking about domains, a non-physical product which only exist online.
But thats just my opinion, if I was so smart I would have been Bill Gates.
