Axel Inverted
Established Member
- Impact
- 166
I've been analyzing this problem for months, and it's a constant thing to keep in mind when registering, but it became a particularly difficult problem today when I picked up a domain that can be easily misspelled, as well as appropriate in multiple extensions. If you have a very strong domain name in .com that is either commonly misspelled or works really well in other extensions and could pose a threat, how do you handle all the new extensions or misspellings? Do you worry about brand protecting it, and if so, how far do you go?
Say you are the owner or fur.com for example, they are dead set on hanging on to it until they get what they want and clearly .com is king, but given the opportunity, would you also register additional new gTLDs like say fur. shop? What would be the risks if a major company came in and decided, you know what, we are strong enough that we can establish ourselves at fur.shop and furshop.com and go ahead and pick up the xyz, online, etc, use the million dollars to bulk up our inventory and advertise, and take our chances for now on the domain. Or it could be a small business that simply doesn't have the money for the domain at the moment, but they end up growing into their new extension and become massive. Perhaps they don't need it anymore. You missed a sale on the .com from one of the largest buyers and now have to settle for a smaller buyer.
Would you consider that business's establishment to negatively affect the value of your com when you attempt to sell it say 3-5-10 years from now? I've found some companies out there that are either dealing with unique services or names that simply work well in other extensions, establishing themselves in .org, .net, even new extensions like .space for example, and the .com is still available for a handreg because it just works for them and they don't care.
I've even found some space companies that do own both, and simply chose to have established themselves in .space and not even using the .com as a redirect. One that comes to mind is www.zero2infinity.space. They own the .com, and they don't even bother redirecting it. Some companies only own the .space, didn't pick up the .com as it's still parked. I'm guessing they figure "if we trademark our unique brand, and we are in .Space, let someone try to use the same brand, in the space industry, in .com. We'll sue the crap out of them." They can protect themselves just from a trademark standpoint, and you'll certainly have a much harder time convincing another space company take up your premium .com and risk having to deal with that.
I try to brand protect/misspell protect as much as possible, within reason, but come renewal time, I know I'm going to find the renewal fees of brand/misspell protecting it to really eat up into cash flow and profits, especially if you are talking about $1,000-$9,000 sales if you are talking a couple of hundred bucks a year.
I also do this for some brandables that I consider particularly strong and unique, but again, this is very costly and doesn't make a lot of sense to do for all domains. I do consider it a service however, that can be uniquely offered to an end user, when you can offer them this peace of mind and protection. Not very many companies get to own their unique bandable or common misspelling in multiple extensions. Plus I consider it more valuable if the first time a company steps into when they buy your premium there isn't another company out there using the same brandable in another popular extensions that they have to deal with.
I'm also trying to think of it from the perspective of the end user and the service I bring to them. If there's a particular slogan that works really well in another extension, giving them the choice of using the slogan can be a plus. So you are really doing them a big favor of offering them that choice if you have done the leg work to pick them up. Not to mention, can you really risk your top buyers taking a look at your $50k domain and seeing that out there or even registered by someone else? Can you still justify your price tag it if the particular new extension really takes off and perhaps even brings authority to the domain name like is the case with how some companies view the .space extension?
For me, it definitely complicates long term domain investing, due to the uncertainty they bring, makes it more difficult as well as for the end user, and is definitely going to be impacting profits and cash flow. On the other hand, if you are lucky enough to brand protect your domain in the right extension, I feel it will justify an even higher selling price. That is if the renewal fees don't kill you until you sell it.
How does everybody deal with these scenarios with all the new extensions and the cost it involves? Do you pick the most popular extensions, do you choose the ones that make the most sense? And given the choice would you rather own the common misspelling in .com or the correct spelling of the domain in an appropriate new gTLD? Or both?
Say you are the owner or fur.com for example, they are dead set on hanging on to it until they get what they want and clearly .com is king, but given the opportunity, would you also register additional new gTLDs like say fur. shop? What would be the risks if a major company came in and decided, you know what, we are strong enough that we can establish ourselves at fur.shop and furshop.com and go ahead and pick up the xyz, online, etc, use the million dollars to bulk up our inventory and advertise, and take our chances for now on the domain. Or it could be a small business that simply doesn't have the money for the domain at the moment, but they end up growing into their new extension and become massive. Perhaps they don't need it anymore. You missed a sale on the .com from one of the largest buyers and now have to settle for a smaller buyer.
Would you consider that business's establishment to negatively affect the value of your com when you attempt to sell it say 3-5-10 years from now? I've found some companies out there that are either dealing with unique services or names that simply work well in other extensions, establishing themselves in .org, .net, even new extensions like .space for example, and the .com is still available for a handreg because it just works for them and they don't care.
I've even found some space companies that do own both, and simply chose to have established themselves in .space and not even using the .com as a redirect. One that comes to mind is www.zero2infinity.space. They own the .com, and they don't even bother redirecting it. Some companies only own the .space, didn't pick up the .com as it's still parked. I'm guessing they figure "if we trademark our unique brand, and we are in .Space, let someone try to use the same brand, in the space industry, in .com. We'll sue the crap out of them." They can protect themselves just from a trademark standpoint, and you'll certainly have a much harder time convincing another space company take up your premium .com and risk having to deal with that.
I try to brand protect/misspell protect as much as possible, within reason, but come renewal time, I know I'm going to find the renewal fees of brand/misspell protecting it to really eat up into cash flow and profits, especially if you are talking about $1,000-$9,000 sales if you are talking a couple of hundred bucks a year.
I also do this for some brandables that I consider particularly strong and unique, but again, this is very costly and doesn't make a lot of sense to do for all domains. I do consider it a service however, that can be uniquely offered to an end user, when you can offer them this peace of mind and protection. Not very many companies get to own their unique bandable or common misspelling in multiple extensions. Plus I consider it more valuable if the first time a company steps into when they buy your premium there isn't another company out there using the same brandable in another popular extensions that they have to deal with.
I'm also trying to think of it from the perspective of the end user and the service I bring to them. If there's a particular slogan that works really well in another extension, giving them the choice of using the slogan can be a plus. So you are really doing them a big favor of offering them that choice if you have done the leg work to pick them up. Not to mention, can you really risk your top buyers taking a look at your $50k domain and seeing that out there or even registered by someone else? Can you still justify your price tag it if the particular new extension really takes off and perhaps even brings authority to the domain name like is the case with how some companies view the .space extension?
For me, it definitely complicates long term domain investing, due to the uncertainty they bring, makes it more difficult as well as for the end user, and is definitely going to be impacting profits and cash flow. On the other hand, if you are lucky enough to brand protect your domain in the right extension, I feel it will justify an even higher selling price. That is if the renewal fees don't kill you until you sell it.
How does everybody deal with these scenarios with all the new extensions and the cost it involves? Do you pick the most popular extensions, do you choose the ones that make the most sense? And given the choice would you rather own the common misspelling in .com or the correct spelling of the domain in an appropriate new gTLD? Or both?
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