discuss Generally...Are New gTLD's Becoming Mainstream?

[Silentptnr]

I think there is progress!

Couple of large sales suggest that people may be getting used to the new gTLD's.

Do you agree?

 

[Kate]

a) New gTLDs are not yet mainstream, but are heading to this direction - you can like it, or

In 100 years ? Mainstream should mean they are commonplace and part of daily life, I think not everybody has the same definition of mainstream. I don't think it's happening, .com and ccTLDs are outpacing nTLDs. Registration figures in nTLDs are actually declining

d) Registrars, registries, ICANN, new gTLD investors AND END USERS - they all find gTLDs beneficial. No end user will ever complain that there are more options to name their business. If they do not like those options, they can ignore them, no problem.

Not everybody is happy. TM holders are not all happy. Sysadmins are not happy. Some registries are downright shady and engage in predatory practices. Examples: the racket business model of .sucks. Some TLDs seem to exist for the sole purpose of spamming and rogue pharma (it's not me saying that).

Most end users don't care and don't find them beneficial, they find them useless.

No, personally I have not seen many people praising new extensions for their contribution toward a better domain name ecosystem. Those praising new extensions are the registrars and the registries, and a few branding companies. The insiders. And most of them are on .com anyway.

e) If you builded large .com or ccTLD portfolio over the years you can naturally have some issues with new gTLDs - it is not fun for them to see part of the money redirected to new gTLDs. So this is the only group of people who can complain, which is fully understandable.

Redirect is a bold keyword, trickle-down maybe ? But if there had been a shift then we should be seeing a lot more reported sales of nTLDs. There are maybe 3 sales in DNJ this week and this is considered a great week. They are virtually absent there rest of the time.

And domainers like to boast about the big sales they make. Again, there is no reason why nTLD sales would be reported less often than .com. The big sales are almost all reported by registries, there must be a reason.

How many sellers of nTLDs run a real-life business on a new extension ?

 

[Silentptnr]

What's interesting to me is that back in the old days, some people were confused by sub-domains. You know, like [email protected]. It took years for consumers to absorb that a sub-domain is really the same domain and how that works.

I see nGTLD's much the same. It takes consumers a long time to adjust to seeing a different kind of string in front of them.

I am no big gTLD investor and I don't have a particular interest in them as I try to invest in shorter term liquidity, but I am very strong in the area of human behavior as it relates to marketing.

If these new extensions are around long enough, and consumers start seeing them, they will be accepted. I certainly don't see them being rejected by consumers in the future.

 

[Silentptnr]

In 100 years ? Mainstream should mean they are commonplace and part of daily life, I think not everybody has the same definition of mainstream. I don't think it's happening, .com and ccTLDs are outpacing nTLDs. Registration figures in nTLDs are actually declining

Not everybody is happy. TM holders are not all happy. Sysadmins are not happy. Some registries are downright shady and engage in predatory practices. Examples: the racket business model of .sucks. Some TLDs seem to exist for the sole purpose of spamming and rogue pharma (it's not me saying that).

Most end users don't care and don't find them beneficial, they find them useless.

No, personally I have not seen many people praising new extensions for their contribution toward a better domain name ecosystem. Those praising new extensions are the registrars and the registries, and a few branding companies. The insiders. And most of them are on .com anyway.


Redirect is a bold keyword, trickle-down maybe ? But if there had been a shift then we should be seeing a lot more reported sales of nTLDs. There are maybe 3 sales in DNJ this week and this is considered a great week. They are virtually absent there rest of the time.

And domainers like to boast about the big sales they make. Again, there is no reason why nTLD sales would be reported less often than .com. The big sales are almost all reported by registries, there must be a reason.

How many sellers of nTLDs run a real-life business on a new extension ?

They really don't seem to rank well in google serps.

 

[Silentptnr]

There is one name I am eyeing now. I am almost tempted to register it, then focus on selling it and see how I do. Based on my normal research, it should be a no brainer to sell it. I can identify many potential end users. So why am I hesitant to spend 39 bucks on it?

 

[Casey L]

Well (as a person who is heavily invested in new gTLDs) I can tell you following:

As for 2018, imho:

a) New gTLDs are not yet mainstream, but are heading to this direction - you can like it, or not.

b) Number of offers/sales are getting larger year by year - I can feel it myself in my portfolio. End users like unique and cool names.

c) We see some record sales of new gTLDs publicly announced, and this is just a beginnig - I would not be surprised to see some new gTLD sales larger then 1 mil until end of 2018.

d) Registrars, registries, ICANN, new gTLD investors AND END USERS - they all find gTLDs beneficial. No end user will ever complain that there are more options to name their business. If they do not like those options, they can ignore them, no problem.

e) If you builded large .com or ccTLD portfolio over the years you can naturally have some issues with new gTLDs - it is not fun for them to see part of the money redirected to new gTLDs. So this is the only group of people who can complain, which is fully understandable.

f) New gTLDs are just another investment instrument in domain space - as for private investors, most profit will be done, imo, by pre-mainstream investors. Logically, no one can seriously expect to get great name for $1 AFTER they becomes fully mainstream. In the process of investing there will be (are) some losses too, as everything is still in process and we need to learn everyday.

g) It is not true that all good names are hold by registries as stated by one of OPs above - you can see TONS of amazing names in private hands, with regular renewals or very reasonable smaller premium renewals attached to them - people who do their analysis and work are doing well. When you study in WHOIS who owns great gTLDs combos, you will find people from all around the planet, PLUS some clever and rich .com investors as well, who have diversified their domain portfolios.

Just IMO

Do you have any real evidence to back any of this up? Outside of holding up registry sales as your own?

 

[Silentptnr]

Here are this years nGTLD sales according to Namebio:
smartenergy.xyz 300 USD 2018-01-22 Sedo
home.loans 500,000 USD 2018-01-21 Donuts
the.club 300,000 USD 2018-01-21 Brandaisy
vr.berlin 7,321 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
ethereum.uno 300 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
maps.amsterdam 8,540 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
orthodontist.amsterdam 6,100 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
amr.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
msi.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
goo.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
ait.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
lifi.cool 280 USD 2018-01-13 Flippa
trump.xyz 110 USD 2018-01-13 Sedo
btc.network 999 USD 2018-01-12 Flippa
kids.show 2,980 USD 2018-01-09 Sedo
ancient.city 102 USD 2018-01-09 Dynadot
talk.show 50,000 USD 2018-01-07 Pvt Sale
smc.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
partners.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
ideas.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
cts.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
shop.yoga 5,000 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
aloyoga.store 2,408 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
buy.game 8,880 USD 2018-01-04 Sedo
mikes.pub 5,000 USD 2018-01-03 Sedo
mr.pizza 184 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot
us.today 121 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot

These numbers are not great, but they are selling. And I'm sure many more unreported sales are out there.

 

[JB Lions]

What's interesting to me is that back in the old days, some people were confused by sub-domains. You know, like [email protected]. It took years for consumers to absorb that a sub-domain is really the same domain and how that works.

I see nGTLD's much the same. It takes consumers a long time to adjust to seeing a different kind of string in front of them.

I am no big gTLD investor and I don't have a particular interest in them as I try to invest in shorter term liquidity, but I am very strong in the area of human behavior as it relates to marketing.

If these new extensions are around long enough, and consumers start seeing them, they will be accepted. I certainly don't see them being rejected by consumers in the future.

I don't think they ever really absorbed sub domains. I had a coupon site, so hundreds of merchants, and I can't recall merchants using them. If they did, it would be the exception more than the rule. You also have to think just how much exposure consumers have had to something.com/keyword. Thousands of sites, some of the biggest in the world, billions in advertising etc. Sometimes I see people getting excited with a big sale here and there or some random site using a new gtld, but it's really a drop in the bucket to getting consumers used to these.

 

[dordomai]

Here are this years nGTLD sales according to Namebio:
smartenergy.xyz 300 USD 2018-01-22 Sedo
home.loans 500,000 USD 2018-01-21 Donuts
the.club 300,000 USD 2018-01-21 Brandaisy
vr.berlin 7,321 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
ethereum.uno 300 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
maps.amsterdam 8,540 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
orthodontist.amsterdam 6,100 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
amr.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
msi.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
goo.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
ait.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
lifi.cool 280 USD 2018-01-13 Flippa
trump.xyz 110 USD 2018-01-13 Sedo
btc.network 999 USD 2018-01-12 Flippa
kids.show 2,980 USD 2018-01-09 Sedo
ancient.city 102 USD 2018-01-09 Dynadot
talk.show 50,000 USD 2018-01-07 Pvt Sale
smc.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
partners.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
ideas.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
cts.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
shop.yoga 5,000 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
aloyoga.store 2,408 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
buy.game 8,880 USD 2018-01-04 Sedo
mikes.pub 5,000 USD 2018-01-03 Sedo
mr.pizza 184 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot
us.today 121 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot

These numbers are not great, but they are selling. And I'm sure many more unreported sales are out there.

it is a small market really, the entire domain market is not big

 

[Kate]

If these new extensions are around long enough, and consumers start seeing them, they will be accepted. I certainly don't see them being rejected by consumers in the future.

Like .biz or .info. After 15 years of existence they are finally gaining momentum
They are trusted too

More seriously, I have sometimes seen nTLDs on print (in magazines), but doesn't mean I will want one.

 

[JB Lions]

Here are this years nGTLD sales according to Namebio:
smartenergy.xyz 300 USD 2018-01-22 Sedo
home.loans 500,000 USD 2018-01-21 Donuts
the.club 300,000 USD 2018-01-21 Brandaisy
vr.berlin 7,321 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
ethereum.uno 300 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
maps.amsterdam 8,540 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
orthodontist.amsterdam 6,100 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
amr.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
msi.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
goo.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
ait.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
lifi.cool 280 USD 2018-01-13 Flippa
trump.xyz 110 USD 2018-01-13 Sedo
btc.network 999 USD 2018-01-12 Flippa
kids.show 2,980 USD 2018-01-09 Sedo
ancient.city 102 USD 2018-01-09 Dynadot
talk.show 50,000 USD 2018-01-07 Pvt Sale
smc.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
partners.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
ideas.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
cts.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
shop.yoga 5,000 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
aloyoga.store 2,408 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
buy.game 8,880 USD 2018-01-04 Sedo
mikes.pub 5,000 USD 2018-01-03 Sedo
mr.pizza 184 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot
us.today 121 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot

These numbers are not great, but they are selling. And I'm sure many more unreported sales are out there.

One thing you notice pretty easily are Registries are moving them and most sales are 1 word. Besides 1 or 2, that whole list was 1 worders or 3 letters. No dashes or putting "the" in front of keywords.

 

[Silentptnr]

well, it is not too good if us.today sold for $100.

 

[Casey L]

People forget there are companies that have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just to maintain a single new extension. Unless each registry pulls off a home.loans type sale, they’ll be lucky to stay in business for more that a couple years. So it’s idiotic to pour money into .whatevers when some of the registries themselves are already failing. If already some of them are failing, what is the likelihood you won’t?

 

[Silentptnr]

People forget there are companies that have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just to maintain a single new extension. Unless each registry pulls off a home.loans type sale, they’ll be lucky to stay in business for more that a couple years. So it’s idiotic to pour money into .whatevers when some of the registries themselves are already failing. If already some of them are failing, what is the likelihood you won’t?

Cost is a huge factor. I still don't get the prices. Donuts seems to have lowered some premium prices.

 

[Silentptnr]

I just renewed my only premium for $72 for the first time. I didn't think twice because I get lots of offers. Decent offers but I'm hoping for more down the line.

I will say that my few new g's are getting more action than many of my cctlds.

 

[Silentptnr]

Sometimes I ask myself, why am I adding all this to my keyword just to get a .com when the exact word with a make sense extension is available? For now, I answer myself saying, they just aren't selling much yet.

But could they be similar to the Investments made by pioneers years ago?

 

[Silentptnr]

Funny enough .info is moving more than ngTLDs I think.

 

[Brands.International]

There is one name I am eyeing now. I am almost tempted to register it, then focus on selling it and see how I do. Based on my normal research, it should be a no brainer to sell it. I can identify many potential end users. So why am I hesitant to spend 39 bucks on it?

No Idea friend why you are hesitant, IF it is really good You can pm me first with details - I promise I will not take that name, I can just tell you some remarks from my perspective.

 

[Lox]

I still don't get the prices. Donuts seems to have lowered some premium prices.

to fill in Q4 2017 and to keep the stock price as high as possible. Later, D should revert the renewal settings back to "give me more".

 

[Silentptnr]

No Idea friend why you are hesitant, IF it is really good You can pm me first with details - I promise I will not take that name, I can just tell you some remarks from my perspective.

Pm sent.

 

[Arca]

Here are this years nGTLD sales according to Namebio:
smartenergy.xyz 300 USD 2018-01-22 Sedo
home.loans 500,000 USD 2018-01-21 Donuts
the.club 300,000 USD 2018-01-21 Brandaisy
vr.berlin 7,321 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
ethereum.uno 300 USD 2018-01-21 Sedo
maps.amsterdam 8,540 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
orthodontist.amsterdam 6,100 USD 2018-01-14 Undeveloped
amr.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
msi.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
goo.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
ait.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-14 DotGlobal
lifi.cool 280 USD 2018-01-13 Flippa
trump.xyz 110 USD 2018-01-13 Sedo
btc.network 999 USD 2018-01-12 Flippa
kids.show 2,980 USD 2018-01-09 Sedo
ancient.city 102 USD 2018-01-09 Dynadot
talk.show 50,000 USD 2018-01-07 Pvt Sale
smc.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
partners.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
ideas.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
cts.global 4,800 USD 2018-01-07 DotGlobal
shop.yoga 5,000 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
aloyoga.store 2,408 USD 2018-01-05 Sedo
buy.game 8,880 USD 2018-01-04 Sedo
mikes.pub 5,000 USD 2018-01-03 Sedo
mr.pizza 184 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot
us.today 121 USD 2018-01-02 Dynadot

These numbers are not great, but they are selling. And I'm sure many more unreported sales are out there.

Paltry results when you consider that registries practically own hundreds of ENTIRE EXTENSIONS. Where they can put unlimited domains in their portfolio at no cost. All "premium" new gtld domains owned by registrars likely amount to more than a hundred million domains, so in view of how many ngtlds are for sale at premium pricing, they hardly sell any.

 

[JB Lions]

But could they be similar to the Investments made by pioneers years ago?

It could be just similar to people investing in other bad extensions over the years. These new gtlds aren't the first time new extensions have come along. There's hope and hype, they sell some at the beginning but then dip. Whatever new extensions you're investing in, look at the data available. Are regs going up or down? Down is not a good sign. How about reported sales from year to year. Are there more or less sales from year to year, for how much etc. Is there real development with the extension? Not talking about some domainer's Wordpress site, I mean big sites that people visit and bookmark. That's the major way consumers are even aware of them, sites. Then the major metric, you own investments. I think some are actually making some profit, most probably aren't. Only they would know for sure. If you're truly making more than you're spending, that's the goal.

 

[Silentptnr]

Paltry results when you consider that registrars practically own hundreds of ENTIRE EXTENSIONS. Where they can put unlimited domains in their portfolio at no cost. All "premium" new gtld domains owned by registrars likely amount to more than a hundred million domains, so in view of how many ngtlds are for sale at premium pricing, they hardly sell any.

I was surprised at the lackluster search results on Namebio. I thought there would be many more considering how many are out there. cctld sales substantially eclipse the ngtld sales.

 

[Lox]

Verisign working on petition for removal of the price cap (under current contract) and draft agreement with ICANN (under new contract). If the NTIA don't give permission (2018), I'm sure ICANN (2019) will be hungry enough to give a go. The nGTLDs can take advantage but if they are not “smart enough” they will not be able to succeed & expand. imo

 

[Brands.International]

In 100 years ? Mainstream should mean they are commonplace and part of daily life, I think not everybody has the same definition of mainstream. I don't think it's happening, .com and ccTLDs are outpacing nTLDs. Registration figures in nTLDs are actually declining

Not everybody is happy. TM holders are not all happy. Sysadmins are not happy. Some registries are downright shady and engage in predatory practices. Examples: the racket business model of .sucks. Some TLDs seem to exist for the sole purpose of spamming and rogue pharma (it's not me saying that).

Most end users don't care and don't find them beneficial, they find them useless.

No, personally I have not seen many people praising new extensions for their contribution toward a better domain name ecosystem. Those praising new extensions are the registrars and the registries, and a few branding companies. The insiders. And most of them are on .com anyway.


Redirect is a bold keyword, trickle-down maybe ? But if there had been a shift then we should be seeing a lot more reported sales of nTLDs. There are maybe 3 sales in DNJ this week and this is considered a great week. They are virtually absent there rest of the time.

And domainers like to boast about the big sales they make. Again, there is no reason why nTLD sales would be reported less often than .com. The big sales are almost all reported by registries, there must be a reason.

How many sellers of nTLDs run a real-life business on a new extension ?

There are 2 main reasons imo why new gTLD sales are publicly reported in lesser extend atm, comparing to legacy extension sales, and why my guesstimate is that 95% are unreported:

a) competition is atm huge - people are backordering, dropcatching and trading good new gTLD names massively. By good names in this context I mean: good name PLUS reasonable renewal.

b) when new gTLD investor (private person) make larger sale, they usually think twice if to go public. If you do not understand why, read comments by some 'experts', usually anonymous profiles, towards buyers of new gTLDs, mainly when sale is larger - it is lot of transhing and lot of trolling, name calling, buyers are 'advised' to buy only legacy extensions, sales are called fake, etc. Personally I decided not to report ANY of my sales until there is a change of this - I do not want to report it and then have my buyers reading some troll comments. It is not necessary and I am sure many new gTLDs investors decided the same.

Registries are in different position - it is their business after all, and they should inform about larger sales as much as possible, as it directly supports their further business. But private investors have almost no incentive to report anything. As what would they get in return ? Trashing of their buyers by couple of profiles in the forums, so called 'experts' , and competition knowing what sells and registering quickly similar names in the niche. And what positive new gTLD sellers can get, maybe some ego boost? No thanks, I guess it is reasonable to pass that for now

 

[Silentptnr]

Who said ICANN isn't putting money into advertising. Look, they made a video...3 years ago!