question FM.co and FR.co - Virtual TLD or Flip

[aishwin]

I need some advice.

I have owned 2 great 2Letters.co domains for a couple of years now:

FR.CO
FM.CO

I periodically get low /mid-5-digit US offers for them from qualified buyers.
To date, I never sold it. One reason for not selling them is because I am intrigued by the possibility of seeing these short domains turned into TLDs. The FR.CO is particularly an obvious one. #dotfr
.FM #dotfm is also a very popular extension

I recently moved these 2 names to #Epik because Epik has enabled virtual TLD capability to any potential domain. There are no setup fees for producing these virtual TLD's and they work on a revenue-share using API and WHMCS. Resellers can now sell virtual TLD's directly to end-users and charge them monthly or forever registration fee.

This is pretty cool.
Check this us.tv which is a portal but is also a TLD at Epik.com designed so that video operators can get their own us.tv.

Curious to hear what others think about directly selling of virtual TLDs to end-users for FM.co and FR.co OR just flipping it out.
@Rob Monster — apologies if I leaked anything strategic about what is coming from @epik

 

[Rob Monster]

Thanks @aishwin. All good.

I do like the idea of .FR.CO as a virtual TLD targeting French buyers with emphasis on Forever registrations. I think we are finally going to see some breakthroughs with registries stepping up with Forever registrations. Details to follow but the plan we pitched in Fall 2018 is finally bearing fruit:

https://epik.com/blog/forever-domain-registrations.html

I suspect that many of the folks who are approaching you to buy your short domains have their eyes on doing virtual TLD development. FR.CO seems a logical one since .FR is so crowded. It is a large market that is very focused on being French.

As for technical feasibility, we could have .FR.CO as a virtual TLD in a couple of days. The technical parts are straight forward. The real key would be the go-to-market strategy targeting persons who own .FR domains with a pitch to secure .FR.CO Forever. I think it is a worthy initiative.

The obvious downside is that once you go down the route of launching this as a virtual TLD, you are truly locked in to that plan, i.e. unwinding a TLD is a giant mess for everyone involved, and so it really needs to be pursued with commitment.

As for FM.CO, it is harder to envision a story on that one. That seems like a worthy flip in mid-5 figures.

@Gube - To note on .FR.CO.

 

[equity78]

I need some advice.

I have owned 2 great 2Letters.co domains for a couple of years now:

FR.CO
FM.CO

I periodically get low /mid-5-digit US offers for them from qualified buyers.
To date, I never sold it. One reason for not selling them is because I am intrigued by the possibility of seeing these short domains turned into TLDs. The FR.CO is particularly an obvious one. #dotfr
.FM #dotfm is also a very popular extension

I recently moved these 2 names to #Epik because Epik has enabled virtual TLD capability to any potential domain. There are no setup fees for producing these virtual TLD's and they work on a revenue-share using API and WHMCS. Resellers can now sell virtual TLD's directly to end-users and charge them monthly or forever registration fee.

This is pretty cool.
Check this us.tv which is a portal but is also a TLD at Epik.com designed so that video operators can get their own us.tv.

Curious to hear what others think about directly selling of virtual TLDs to end-users for FM.co and FR.co OR just flipping it out.
@Rob Monster — apologies if I leaked anything strategic about what is coming from @epik

I would just sell them, I don't think in a world of 1000 tld's anyone wants to build their website on a FR.co. I would sell to a company that will pay you top dollar for those premium domain names.

 

[biggie]

Hi

maybe you can negotiate something with CentralNic.com for fr.co

they have history with such extensions

imo...

 

[Keith]

These are worth mid $xxxx imo. Good luck!

 

[gilescoley]

I would sell these and reinvest the $$

I see most of the LL.co sales have been in the low xx,xxx range so if you sold them both for that you could reinvest that into one or a few really good name(s).

Good luck

 

[Most Bay]

I need some advice.

I have owned 2 great 2Letters.co domains for a couple of years now:

FR.CO
FM.CO

I periodically get low /mid-5-digit US offers for them from qualified buyers.
To date, I never sold it. One reason for not selling them is because I am intrigued by the possibility of seeing these short domains turned into TLDs. The FR.CO is particularly an obvious one. #dotfr
.FM #dotfm is also a very popular extension

I recently moved these 2 names to #Epik because Epik has enabled virtual TLD capability to any potential domain. There are no setup fees for producing these virtual TLD's and they work on a revenue-share using API and WHMCS. Resellers can now sell virtual TLD's directly to end-users and charge them monthly or forever registration fee.

This is pretty cool.
Check this us.tv which is a portal but is also a TLD at Epik.com designed so that video operators can get their own us.tv.

Curious to hear what others think about directly selling of virtual TLDs to end-users for FM.co and FR.co OR just flipping it out.
@Rob Monster — apologies if I leaked anything strategic about what is coming from @epik

Congratulation.
But if I were you, I prefer to sell these name to enduser...

 

[Sam]

I use to own the domain co.ki with similar aspirations. With a $1000 annual fee, dropped it the next year. I'd advise selling to the right buyer. How did you manage to aquire the LL.co?

 

[ksusha64]

Sell them to the highest offer!!!!!