discuss .Online Domains - Why 3,634 and counting

[ThatNameGuy]

NamePros member @DirkS has requested that I provide an explanation for why I've registered over 3,600 .online domains in the last six months, so here goes;

First and foremost I'm a visionary. I've started dozens of business in my life. I'm 73 years old, and I started my first business while still in college in 1970. Sure I could just be saying this, but if you have doubts I would strongly suggest that you check me out.

Having learned about this industry just over three years ago I've found the .com extension for most new business names to be both unavailable and unaffordable. I've learned that if I were to start a new business today it's unlikely the name I choose for my business would be available or affordable.

Most important, like zip codes and area codes there are literally hundreds/thousands of alternatives, and .Online just so happens to be one of the alternatives. What initially attracted me to the .Online extension was when NamesCon Online (aka NamesCon.com) made the decision to have Radix (aka Radix.online) be a sponsor. Radix then created the domain NamesCon.online to compliment/match NamesCon.com.

When I realized how the .online extension matched up with names like Reservations.online, Shopping.online, Learning.online and Domains.online, I just knew i was on to something Note that names like Reservations.com, Shopping.com, Learning.com and Domains.com are not only "unavailable", even if they were available, they'd most likely be "unaffordable"

Ironically about the time I noticed the .online extension, Go Daddy and Radix partnered and made .online domains available for a first time annual registration fee of .99 cents, and an annual re-registration of just 49.99 thereafter.

I've spent over a thousand hours in the last six months buying mostly one and two word .online domains, so if you were to add my time to the approximate $4,200 I've paid Go Daddy, I have over $20,000 invested in my portfolio of 3,634 domains.

My critics will say things like, you'll never be able to afford to renew all your domains at 49.99 each to which I have a twofold answer; #1 i don't need to renew a single domain and #2 whose to say the renewal fee isn't negotiable....as a businessperson I've learned that pretty much everything is negotiable.

Of importance to me is the fact that "if" my .online domains were .com domains my portfolio would be "valued" at over twenty million dollars. Yes, that's $20,000,000 or 20M

Now is where the rubber meets the road meaning, how do I plan to sell these domains? I just started listing them with the likes of Go Daddy where my current pricing ranges from a low of $199 to $999 and I'm looking to have an annual renewal of $99.....remember, everything is negotiable.

I plan to experiment with financing, leasing/renting and licensing my domains. I also plan to form a "users group" where end users actually have an interest in promoting the .online extension to the world.

Few domains and especially .online domains will sell themselves Thus I plan on having an "outbound" sales/marketing team who share my vision to make .online both available and affordable.

Finally, I owe a bit of gratitude to the monopoly Verisign for confirming my suspicions about the nature of the .com beast. While the beast is slowly dying, alternative solutions are ready, willing and able to take over.

Thank you!

 

[ThatNameGuy]

You say that the .com's are out of reach but I assure you there are many 2 word available to hand reg, which will cost allot in the future, so to me .online is not worth much, only some one word would make sense.
But of course you want free advertisement on NP forum, which I m sure many already understand.
P.s. (If you know the future you can beat the present. by iTesla)

iTesla.....i tried to make it clear the "good" two word domains are out of reach or unaffordable. Example; LocalSports.com is valued at $13,839 at GD, and if you were to call GD like I did you will find the owner is asking 10M, yes that's ten million dollars for his/her domain.

To add to this story, a friend of mine Scott Cash has been a local sports announcer with WVEC TV an ABC affiliate in my area for the last 30 years. Scott will be retiring in a year or two, and since he does such a great job covering local sports I looked into buying for him the domain LocalSports.com. I'll agree that LocalSports.com is better than LocalSports.online, but 10M for LocalSports.com compared to 2K for LocalSports.online doesn't compute in my mind.

I think it was Brad who said comparing .com to .online is a lot like comparing a Ferrari to a Volkswagen or similar to comparing a Tesla to a Prius. I see his point, but understanding they're both modes of transportation the purpose of which is to get you to a destination (website), renders his point moot/useless when you consider the price tag

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I cannot speak for everyone Brad, however from my GTLD investments over the past 5 years; I have done better then if I had invested w/ Berkshire Hathaway and gained a 20% ROI annually

Over the last 5 years w/ my partner I have achieved a 3000% ROI across the board, how about them apples

All that said, we should support each other in their own respective investments, these investments only highlight the domain industry further and bring value to both sides of the fence, wether you are a GTLD investor, a TLD investor, or a CCTLD investor

If you are going to invest in GTLDS though; I’d stick to exact match popular keywords in valuable industries

movies.online

cars.online

insurance.online

etc.

Allessandro....the only thing I might add, there are some two keyword domains like LifeInsurance.online that can be an affordable option when LifeInsurance.com isn't available.

Note....LifeInsurance.com forwards to NorthwesternMutual.com.

Thanks for your observations and analysis.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Sorry your statement made me chuckle.

“There are plenty of valuable two keyword.com domains to hand reg” ... lmfao no there aren’t and I gladly test you to provide examples here,

Verisign lost in court 5 years ago against .xyz because the Verisign team could not even hand reg a premium or sub premium domain upon searching In court ... Verisign finally admitted at the beginning of the year that they have simply run out of .com domains to resell and that the majority of the market was now held by endusers who did not want to sell or investors who have priced their domains in retrospect of being unattainable ... And hence Verisign has secretly bid $165M for ownership of .web and paid $100M + for .tv in the year 2000

Allesandro....as you know I've been saying this for years, thus the reason for 3,783 .online domains or 119 more then when I started this thread. Speaking of two word domains, just today I registered BuyFresh.xxxxxx, GetHome.xxxxxx and GetCar.xxxxxx and Single Malts Online

Verisign said in 2019,

"Domain speculation, or “domain scalping,” as some call it, has become a highly
profitable industry unto itself. Flipping domain names or warehousing them to create scarcity adds nothing to the industry and merely allows those engaged in this questionable practice to enrich
themselves at the expense of consumers and businesses."

While I may be a little ahead of my time, it was statements like this that confirmed my suspicions about the industry, and especially .com.

Good luck to you and your family Allesandro and i just registered Tuscany Wine .Online for you if you want it

 

[Future Sensors]

Verisign said in 2019,

"Domain speculation, or “domain scalping,” as some call it, has become a highly
profitable industry unto itself. Flipping domain names or warehousing them to create scarcity adds nothing to the industry and merely allows those engaged in this questionable practice to enrich
themselves at the expense of consumers and businesses."

While I may be a little ahead of my time, it was statements like this that confirmed my suspicions about the industry, and especially .com.

https://domainnamewire.com/2018/11/...ut-domain-scalpers-and-its-biggest-customers/

Verisign has been catering to this market for years. Sponsoring its conferences, promoting domain investing, creating the very tools designed to let domain investors know which domains to register…and now it wants to pretend it has nothing to do with this “questionable practice”. C’mon.​

 

[NickB]

Allesandro....as you know I've been saying this for years, thus the reason for 3,783 .online domains or 119 more then when I started this thread. Speaking of two word domains, just today I registered BuyFresh.xxxxxx, GetHome.xxxxxx and GetCar.xxxxxx and Single Malts Online

Verisign said in 2019,

"Domain speculation, or “domain scalping,” as some call it, has become a highly
profitable industry unto itself. Flipping domain names or warehousing them to create scarcity adds nothing to the industry and merely allows those engaged in this questionable practice to enrich
themselves at the expense of consumers and businesses."

While I may be a little ahead of my time, it was statements like this that confirmed my suspicions about the industry, and especially .com.

Good luck to you and your family Allesandro and i just registered Tuscany Wine .Online for you if you want it

You probably own more .online domains then any other individual , if not you are one of the biggest holders of .online domains......so when you spout off about "domain scalping" it's a bit rich.....Rich....

I have highlighted above what you yourself are doing with .online

So........you are "domain speculating" with the intention of "flipping" them to make a profit and "enrich" yourself (no matter how small or large) You have have also created "scarcity" by holding so many

Pot kettle black springs to mind........

 

[ThatNameGuy]

You probably own more .online domains then any other individual , if not you are one of the biggest holders of .online domains......so when you spout off about "domain scalping" it's a bit rich.....Rich....

I have highlighted above what you yourself are doing with .online

So........you are "domain speculating" with the intention of "flipping" them to make a profit and "enrich" yourself (no matter how small or large) You have have also created "scarcity" by holding so many

Pot kettle black springs to mind........

who do you think you're talking to? I'm not creating scarcity, but the .com speculators are by "hoarding" their domains. Sure I plan to make money, but at the expense of the real scalpers and hoarders. Would that be you Nick

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Verisign has been catering to this market for years. Sponsoring its conferences, promoting domain investing, creating the very tools designed to let domain investors know which domains to register…and now it wants to pretend it has nothing to do with this “questionable practice”. C’mon.​

That's exactly right....we don't disagree, but I intend to use it to my advantage

 

[NickB]

who do you think you're talking to? I'm not creating scarcity, but the .com speculators are by "hoarding" their domains. Sure I plan to make money, but at the expense of the real scalpers and hoarders. Would that be you Nick

I'm talking to a guy who thinks it a good idea to register 1000s of 2 word .online domains

Of course you are creating scarcity - you own over 3000 of them - what about that poor little business who can't register there perfect .online for a penny....they now have to deal with the main .online scalper - ThatNameGuy who is one of the top .online "hoarders"

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I'm talking to a guy who thinks it a good idea to register 1000s of 2 word .online domains

Of course you are creating scarcity - you own over 3000 of them - what about that poor little business who can't register there perfect .online for a penny....they now have to deal with the main .online scalper - ThatNameGuy who is one of the top .online "hoarders"

LMAO Nick....so the "poor little businessman" can either pay the "super hoarder" a Million dollars for a premium .com domain like QualityHomes.com, or pay me a Thousand dollars for QualityHomes.online.

At least my homes are available and affordable Nick, whereas your homes aren't affordable at all

 

[noneisnone]

@ThatNameGuy or he could pay that same thousand for Quality.Homes no ? with the way things are going soon each keyword will have it own extension ^^

 

[bmugford]

You probably own more .online domains then any other individual , if not you are one of the biggest holders of .online domains......so when you spout off about "domain scalping" it's a bit rich.....Rich....

I have highlighted above what you yourself are doing with .online

So........you are "domain speculating" with the intention of "flipping" them to make a profit and "enrich" yourself (no matter how small or large) You have have also created "scarcity" by holding so many

Pot kettle black springs to mind........

This has always amused me.

If you buy .com domains in order to sell them for a profit, that is "hoarding" and "scalping" according to Bulloney.

If you buy .online domains in order to sell them for a profit, that is not "hoarding" and "scalping" according to Bulloney.

The logic totally makes sense!

 

[ThatNameGuy]

@ThatNameGuy or he could pay that same thousand for Quality.Homes no ? with the way things are going soon each keyword will have it own extension ^^

Maybe so, but a name like QualityHomes.online is certainly better than QualityHomes.icu or QualityHomes.top. Note, the new gTLD .online is growing exponentially.....check it out here; ntldstats.com

 

[ThatNameGuy]

This has always amused me.

If you buy .com domains in order to sell them for a profit, that is "hoarding" and "scalping" according to Bulloney.

If you buy .online domains in order to sell them for a profit, that is not "hoarding" and "scalping" according to Bulloney.

The logic totally makes sense!

So what's the problem Brad? According to you, I must really on to something Care to join me

 

[bmugford]

So what's the problem Brad? According to you, I must really on to something Care to join me

You are actually hoarding more than .com investors, because they actually make sales once in a while.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

You are actually hoarding more than .com investors, because they actually make sales once in a while.

How do you know what my sales are? If you say you do you sir are a LIAR!

 

[bmugford]

How do you know what my sales are? If you say you do you sir are a LIAR!

Oh, they must all be subject to NDA I guess...

How are your .homes and .realty sales going? I am old enough to remember when you were pumping those.

Brad

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Oh, they must all be subject to NDA I guess...

How are your .homes and .realty sales going? I am old enough to remember when you were pumping those.

Brad

by that you mean my Non Disclosure Agreement....every domainer worth their salt has an NDAonline.

 

[bmugford]

by that you mean my Non Disclosure Agreement....every domainer worth their salt has an NDAonline.

For sure. From my experience those $XXX and low $X,XXX sales really require a lot of signed NDA.

I am sure buyers of two word .online really appreciate their privacy. It would be embarrassing for anyone to know they paid a premium price for a two word .online.

Brad

 

[ThatNameGuy]

For sure. From my experience those $XXX and low $X,XXX sales really require a lot of signed NDA.

I am sure buyers of two word .online really appreciate their privacy. It would be embarrassing for anyone to know they paid a premium price for a two word .online.

Brad

What is a "premium price" for a two word .online domain like LocalSports.online where LocalSports.com is actually priced @ 10 Million Dollars. Anyone?.....Seriously

 

[NameBuyer.com]

$10 .net vs $999 .online

They would just register the .net, which is a far more well known and used extension for $10.

Even the best salesman would do better with better products. .Online is nothing special.

The sad thing is you could probably do well with your sales experience and in demand domains, instead of trying to re-invent the wheel pushing extensions that have virtually no end user demand.

This is just wasting valuable time and resources. You are swimming upstream for no reason.

Brad

I don't want to weigh an opinion on the .online discussion, but as far as business choices when it comes to picking a domain name, I think it doesn't match the theoretical choices above. What businesses are doing in practice 80-90% of the time, from what I've seen when trying to put together contact lists in the past, is sticking with a .com domain no matter what. If they don't want to spend $1,000+ on a domain and are going to be cheap, they typically just add a word to the .com domain. Anything from "try" at the beginning to the city name at the end.

So as domain investors we shouldn't think of there being one .com choice and after that the buyer is going to pick our extension. The buyer has almost an unlimited choice of alternative variations in the .com extension alone. There are certain buyers that will pick other extensions, but from what I see, 80-90% end up sticking with .com because the other extensions are not even on the table for many businesses.

For the pacific wine example, you can see this below. The "merchants" and "services" addition likely wasn't because they loved a super long name, but because it was a cheap alternative to acquiring pacificwine.com.

In the last example, they could actually get a shorter name by registering pacificwine.services for $7.99, but very few businesses (or people) are familiar with new extensions and to this day most of them avoid anything but a .com, even if they have to pick a longer .com domain.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I don't want to weigh an opinion on the .online discussion

In all do respect Garett you have shared your "opinion" on the .online discussion. As you know I subscribe to your domain appraisal service, and I'll start by pointing out that both pacificwineservices.com and pacificwinemerchants.com appraise for < less than $500 whereas pacificwine.com appraises for $29,500.
Furthermore the domain pacificwine.com is for sale at GD, and is unaffordable for most end users.

You may also note that Pacific Wine Services started in 2006, and Pacific Wine Merchants started in 1995 many years before .online became an extension. I believe in the .online extension enough that I just purchased PacificWine(s).online to see if either of these businesses are interested....so thanks for the idea Garett As you know I'll be telling these businesses that .online is a new extension, and it's been growing exponentially ever since being introduced in 2016. I haven't decided yet, but I'll probably be asking $299 for the singular PacificWine.online and $299 for the plural PacificWines.online.

It will please you to know that I'll also be sharing Nameworth's appraisal of $29,500 of the .com version, and pointing out the FACT there's zero technical difference between using .com and .online for they're only a means to an end/website

There's my opinion Garett, and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for your opinion

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Well, my personal opinion is that the pacificwine.com would be similar in price to pacific.wine. I was just noting what I've seen businesses using 10+ years after most of these extensions were released. So I would expect pacificwine.com to sell before pacific.wine if listed at the same price.

But as far as .online, I can see potential as there have been a number of .com sales ending in online in the last 5 years. I just haven't put a lot of thought or research in that area so didn't want to give a real opinion beyond sharing that many businesses seem to add words to the .com to make new options. In these cases there probably isn't any resale value with the .com version anyway as they are just looking for a cheap domain.

I don't have an opinion about .online specifically, but on the topic of nGTLDs, in general, I did lose about $7,000 as well as as losing about $28,000 in opportunity cost because I could have bought .com domains that I statistically know would have sold in the same time period. But I didn't give it a lot of time, so maybe I was bad at it.

I have a few detailed posts here.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/no...ened-by-new-gtlds.1147822/page-2#post-7342190

 

[Windoms]

But as far as .online, I can see potential as there have been a number of .com sales ending in online in the last 5 years.

Having sales ending with online doesnt mean there is potential in online.

The extension is too long, strange by default.

PacificWine.online
PacificWineOnline.com

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Well, my personal opinion is that the pacificwine.com would be similar in price to pacific.wine. I was just noting what I've seen businesses using 10+ years after most of these extensions were released. So I would expect pacificwine.com to sell before pacific.wine if listed at the same price.

But as far as .online, I can see potential as there have been a number of .com sales ending in online in the last 5 years. I just haven't put a lot of thought or research in that area so didn't want to give a real opinion beyond sharing that many businesses seem to add words to the .com to make new options. In these cases there probably isn't any resale value with the .com version anyway as they are just looking for a cheap domain.

Garett....the one thing I do know is unlike .coms, new gTLD's don't sell themselves. Why? Because "end users" simply don't know about them or understand them. A friend of mine owns a multi million dollar specialty sandwich business called "Taste" for which he has a registered TM Taste Unlimited®. Now he does own the domain TasteUnlimited.com (for over 20 years), and guess where it forwards to?....Taste.online

btw, I didn't sell this to him, or even recommend it for that matter. He registered the name in 2015 long before I picked up on it in January of this year. Obviously he would have preferred Taste.com, but 500K was pretty steep even though I know my friend could afford it.

Garett....i've now talked with enough business peers and potential "end users" who think the extension .online is pretty cool, and especially if their business is 100% "online".

extensions like .xyz, .icu, .top and even .com mean absolutely nothing when it comes to a name for a business that's 100% online. However .online is an extension that actually makes sense when you think about it

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Having sales ending with online doesnt mean there is potential in online.

The extension is too long, strange by default.

PacificWine.online
PacificWineOnline.com

technically it matters not the length of the extension. However, the length of your business name matters a lot......"Pacific Wine"