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discuss Will the Coronavirus increase demand for domain names?

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Doron Vermaat

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As some of you know I have been living and working in Hong Kong for quite a while.

Hong Kong is a so-called special administrative region with over seven million residents and sits right up against China's Guangdong Province, which has had more than 1000 cases of the virus. As schools were closing, everyone on the street started wearing surgical masks and people started to clear supermarket shelves, my wife and I decided it was time for an extended vacation and we left the city with our daughter and dog for the Netherlands a couple of weeks ago.

With the virus now spreading across the US and many European countries reporting increasing numbers of cases it has become obvious that this will become a global health crisis.

Now, personally I am not too worried about the virus itself, but more so about the impact the outbreak will have on the global economy and people's livelihood - Hong Kong's economy, for example, has been dragged down significantly by the outbreak. And a suffering economy is bad for business and what's bad for business should be bad for the demand for aftermarket domains, right?

A Skype chat with a fellow domain name nerd today got me thinking however as he mentioned that the current situation should increase domain values and drive more demand for the middle to the lower end of the market because the outbreak of the virus has given enormous rise to remote work, e-commerce and the use of remote tools to hold meetings, e-schooling and much more.

It's most likely too early to tell but personally I had a very good February with 6 end-user sales, averaging $4,100 per domain, including a .hk domain name that sold to a local entrepreneur in the midst of the crisis. I know many other investors who had a very profitable month as well.

So let's discuss, do you think the Coronavirus outbreak will increase the demand for domain names, even if the economy takes a dive?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Covid-19 is looking more and more like it's going to be a significant world changer. It's likely domain sales will slump a bit as people adjust to the new normal. But eventually a changing world needs new products, services and businesses .. which means new names, brands and domains.

Ultimately I think the sky-high sales (1 word .com's) will taper a bit for a while as the big companies and big spenders take more time to pick themselves up, wipe off the dust, and figure out what's next. However I do like the medium-term future for good two word brands in the $1500-$5000 range ripe for start-ups. Which is thankfully my own personal wheelhouse.



The general trend as observed in China and Singapore is its span of 45 days from beginning to peakout phase or the blowout phases and then taperout...going by that standard, US just completed the first 10 days and approx anothe 30 plus days of enduring and entrapment before it tapers off..so next 4 weeks all hell might break loose and the demand for masks, sanitizers , tissues and whatnot might skyrocket

Don't kid yourself .. China was 45 days because they took it extremely seriously and totally clamped down on freedom of movement by about 99%!

It's going to be much worse for the rest of the world. Look what's happening in Italy with a significantly lower population. The rest of Europe is preparing for something not seen in our lifetimes. We have a small chance to avoid what's happening in Europe .. but we wasted precious days/weeks thinking it was "other people's problems" .. but it's certainly our problem now.


Sure, you will get ignored a lot but if the alternative is to do nothing, well, that seems like a bad ideas. After all, regardless of epidemiology, the fallout of this is very possibly measured in years not weeks.
yeah .. I agree certainly not weeks .. and it'll only be "months" if we're lucky. The key is that we have it under control before the flu season next year .. otherwise it's pretty much going to be something we'll need to accept as part of life. Let's hope it turns out to be something people who recover at least develop an immunity to and that there isn't too much mutation.
 
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The shutdown trend appears to be accelerating. The knock-on effects are starting to look systemic.

While many folks are bemoaning their lack of toilet paper, canceled travel, or reduced retail options, keep an eye on the banks. Epik country manager in India, @Pat8, told me this morning that last week Yes Bank in India was taken over by regulators. It was a classic "bail in" where depositors are allowed to withdraw up to $650 (50K INR) per month no matter how much was on deposit.

For those of you who have lawns or gardens with good sunlight, you might want to pick up some extra garden tools and some vegetable seeds. Both are reasonably priced. For the moment, the stores have plenty of supply. I could see that changing quickly. Worst case, you have extra vegetables, a bit of extra fresh air, and perhaps less grass to mow this summer.

Related commentary in @OnlineDomainCom's blog thread:

https://onlinedomain.com/2020/03/15...-pay-for-domain-name-renewals/#comment-440887
 
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According to my personal experience...
I have more than 3,000 domains, normally I would get about 10 offers & enquiries every week for my domains, however, I got only 2 low-ball offers in the past 7 days... it is very unusual.
So I think that the demand is decreased for domain names during the coronavirus epidemic.
 
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According to my personal experience...
I have more than 3,000 domains, normally I would get about 10 offers & enquiries every week for my domains, however, I got only 2 low-ball offers in the past 7 days... it is very unusual.
So I think that the demand is decreased for domain names during the coronavirus epidemic.

True, but eventually people will get back to work because (1) it sucks being bored at home, and (2) they need to make a living. Right now you have a lot of folks just trying to prepare and adjust.

One of our daughters works for a large Seattle-based tech firm. She is ahead of plan for the month and having a record month. She is mainly selling cloud software solutions into the healthcare vertical.

Yes, people will have to hustle more, but those who approach the situation with optimism and diligence will likely come through. And, yes, it helps to have faith.
 
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... demand is decreased for domain names during the coronavirus epidemic.

... re/registrations continue with business as usual. March 10: Whale/s Day (y)
comreg.png
 
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There is no evidence of a slowdown for new .COM registrations:

I agree

cuz, I registered at least 5 in last 30 days, compared to maybe same amount all year.

also, recently passed on a few 4 figure offers, for some 3 char.com.
so value and demand is still there.

additionally, got $7 click other day at voodoo, so ppc still works

umm.org what else....

there was bread in the store but no honey wheat bread (aldi.us), and all the eggs were gone .

got toilet paper, plenty of credit, some cash, a gas mask somewhere, my gat, and what goes in it.
also got bud from dispensary, got some food in da fridge and cans goods on the shelf

and.... gasoline prices have dropped at least $0.35 gal. on the corner
all due to saudie and russie playing oil games.

lastly, i went to vote today, in primary election, the polls had been open since 6am
yet at 11am, they were just getting ballots and machines, supplies to set-up.

so, went back 1 hr later, cast my ballot, but the machines that scans the ballots didn't work.
meanwhile, some other states postponed their elections.

gotta love the system....


imo...
 
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According to my personal experience...
I have more than 3,000 domains, normally I would get about 10 offers & enquiries every week for my domains, however, I got only 2 low-ball offers in the past 7 days... it is very unusual.
So I think that the demand is decreased for domain names during the coronavirus epidemic.

As I posted earlier in the thread, I'm experiencing the same - reduced sales, and more people asking for discounts as well.

I finally made some 4 figure sales again and a couple in negotiation/pending close. It's been a while since I'm THAT happy about sales. It's definitely a bit of a relief knowing that demand is still there and it hasn't fallen to nothing.

I also think that in short term, there's definitely a bit of a shock factor impacting every industry, can definitely see the shock reaction in the stock market, and people are uncertain and scared. But I don't think it will last for very long at least for domains. Yes this year might be slower, recession might really be here, but when people get over this "shock" period and get more or less used to how things are, things should bounce back a bit.
 
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People's activities might be greatly affected by this epidemic but life has to go on. Business as usual for those individuals who work from home. Majority of the world's population have to stay or prefer to stay at home nowadays imo. This is where internet thrives and this is where domains reside. Domains therefore would always be in demand although somewhat less as we speak due to the current situation.

In spite of all the negativities we have seen or heard from all over the place, I guess being optimistic plays a vital role in our lives. This thing that's causing havoc on the face of this earth isn't permanent as nothing is permanent in this world. So meanwhile I believe working hand in hand on what's best for all of us for tomorrow might perhaps make a difference.
 
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Just what I'm seeing on my side.

For over 6 months I've been using a piece of code in Golang, with some algorithms as formulas, to filter domains from the daily pending drop list.

Over 99% of the domains were catch by backorder services for the past 6 months.

Starting 9 March, the domains caught have drop to ~10%, leaving them free to hand-reg.

Just my personal experience.
 
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Just what I'm seeing on my side.

For over 6 months I've been using a piece of code in Golang, with some algorithms as formulas, to filter domains from the daily pending drop list.

Over 99% of the domains were catch by backorder services for the past 6 months.

Starting 9 March, the domains caught have drop to ~10%, leaving them free to hand-reg.

Just my personal experience.
Very interesting statistics. Thanks for that. So much less backorder action?
 
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The following has been circulating on social media and apparently is a summary of a Goldman Sachs Investor call where 1,500 companies dialed in.

The key economic takeaways were:

  • 50% of Americans will contract the virus (150m people) as it's very communicable. This is on a par with the common cold (Rhinovirus) of which there are about 200 strains and which the majority of Americans will get 2-4 per year.
  • 70% of Germany will contract it (58M people). This is the next most relevant industrial economy to be effected.
  • Peak-virus is expected over the next eight weeks, declining thereafter.
  • The virus appears to be concentrated in a band between 30-50 degrees north latitude, meaning that like the common cold and flu, it prefers cold weather. The coming summer in the northern hemisphere should help. This is to say that the virus is likely seasonal.
  • Of those impacted 80% will be early-stage, 15% mid-stage and 5% critical-stage. Early-stage symptoms are like the common cold and mid-stage symptoms are like the flu; these are stay at home for two weeks and rest. 5% will be critical and highly weighted towards the elderly.
  • Mortality rate on average of up to 2%, heavily weight towards the elderly and immunocompromised; meaning up to 3m people (150m*.02). In the US about 3m/yr die mostly due to old age and disease, those two being highly correlated (as a percent very few from accidents). There will be significant overlap, so this does not mean 3m new deaths from the virus, it means elderly people dying sooner due to respiratory issues. This may however stress the healthcare system.
  • There is a debate as to how to address the virus pre-vaccine. The US is tending towards quarantine. The UK is tending towards allowing it to spread so that the population can develop a natural immunity. Quarantine is likely to be ineffective and result in significant economic damage but will slow the rate of transmission giving the healthcare system more time to deal with the case load.
  • China’s economy has been largely impacted which has affected raw materials and the global supply chain. It may take up to six months for it to recover.
  • Global GDP growth rate will be the lowest in 30 years at around 2%.
  • S&P 500 will see a negative growth rate of -15% to -20% for 2020 overall.
  • There will be economic damage from the virus itself, but the real damage is driven mostly by market psychology. Viruses have been with us forever. Stock markets should fully recover in the 2nd half of the year.
  • In the past week there has been a conflating of the impact of the virus with the developing oil price war between KSA and Russia. While reduced energy prices are generally good for industrial economies, the US is now a large energy exporter, so there has been a negative impact on the valuation of the domestic energy sector. This will continue for some time as the Russians are attempting to economically squeeze the American shale producers and the Saudi’s are caught in the middle and do not want to further cede market share to Russia or the US.
  • Technically the market generally has been looking for a reason to reset after the longest bull market in history.
  • There is NO systemic risk. No one is even talking about that. Governments are intervening in the markets to stabilize them, and the private banking sector is very well capitalized. It feels more like 9/11 than it does like 2008.
Source.
 
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nobody wants to spend money now.
so my opinion is that we shouldn't expect any end-user sale increment as long as there is no cure for the virus yet.
 
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My personal opinion matches many of the posts above... On the gambling (especially sports betting) side of things, domain offers and sales will likely slow down during this time of uncertainly for us. But I'm seeing an increase in esports related domain activity.

That said, it's just like any market. After things take a "dip", activity and interest will come back strong (at some point). So it's a matter of riding out this wave. How long? Time will tell.

On the flip side, the next few months is a great time to acquire, buy and invest if you are fortunate enough to be able to.

Stay safe everyone!
 
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I sold a .biz domain for mid 3 figures to Russians today. It looks like Russians are immune to Corona. Or they know how to cure it. They have s400 missiles which can take down any foreign missile, maybe they have nano version of it as well.
....
If I create a ton of colloidal silver and cure everyone, would BgPhrma invent a new virus just for me, or would I go to prison for mistreating people b/c I'm not an MD. (I don't know if c.s. would cure corona, but I think if it is used correctly it would..)
....
Dogs, cats eat bitter/sour plants when they get sick. Maybe people should try the same.
 
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Just what I'm seeing on my side.

For over 6 months I've been using a piece of code in Golang, with some algorithms as formulas, to filter domains from the daily pending drop list.

Over 99% of the domains were catch by backorder services for the past 6 months.

Starting 9 March, the domains caught have drop to ~10%, leaving them free to hand-reg.

Just my personal experience.

Thanks for sharing the interesting stats. I don't know about your algos, but I'm not seeing that much change on that front personally with names that I sorted out with my algos. I also use my own scripts to filter out domains to buy/catch, and I'm still losing 30-50% of the ones I like using the Dropcatch discount backorder (for less competitive names that I know are not likely to go to public auctions), sometimes more. The majority of them to "partner" Huge Domains of course, if I use discount backorder instead of regular backorder, and some to higher discount backorder bids. At least Huge Domains hasn't slowed down on that front. One day I forgot to put the orders in, and most of the names I picked out were caught by the time that drop session ended.
 
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It's long overdue, and I've been meaning to share more about my journey, hopefully I will find some time to do that soon.

:glasses:
 
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With many people in home quarantine, maybe half of the globe persons, the internet will be the only channel companies can reach the buyer of their product. Domains for Ecommerce, Online Groceries, Online Business, Logistics, Air Freight, Homeworking Apps and Homeworking Control Systems and Progress Control will expand heavily as the world soon faces logistics crises and a new ways of working. Very soon there will be a need of these domains and we already see that the sales of these domains is increasing heavily.
 
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Email from flippa today:
""As digital asset buyers and sellers, we are lucky to be in an industry that allows us to work from home. Internet activity has increased recently, and domain names and online businesses are in demand now more than ever""

Right now internet seems to be the only way to reach customers, and domains is the gateway to internet. Or the bottle neck. Those comanies that are early out will get the best domains cheap, while those late out will get the bad ones for a high price.
 
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2 ways to think about that:

  • Businesses will face shortage of funds. Demand would be less, with business deteriorating as some companies might have to cease their ops fully or, partially. Average sale value might decrease as such.
  • 2nd way, the optimistic way to think about the situation is. As more companies go (fully) remote: there maybe a culture to take offline parts of their businesses online who might need a brandable identity of their own, subsequently leading to an increased demand of brandable domains ;)
Which do you think can happen? The remote push is definitely gaining ground and after the Corona gets over (hopefully), by that time a lot of companies would be willing to take some of their businesses fully remote and look for brandable domains which means an increased demand for end users. That's hypothetical but is that going to happen, maybe?
 
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When business grinds to a minimum, would you generally look at your savings (if you have any) and say ”How can I invest this”?

The move online was already in an accelerated phase.

Budgets are slashed and redisposed to life support.

Sales and inquiries are down. It would be very odd if they were not.

There is bound to be a bounce back, sure, but when is very uncertain.
 
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Time flies and a lot has changed during the past two months. It has now become pretty clear that most investors saw a big drop in activity during March and then a very noticeable uptick in April that has continued into May. I highly recommend everyone to read the latest DNjournal piece on the state of the domain market in the Covid-19 crisis in which Drew Rosener and a number of other high-profile brokers such as Alan Dunn and Sedo's Dave Evanson share their thoughts on the current market.

Personally, after having a month without a single sale in March I closed 6 end-user sales in April and 7 end-user sales so far in May which is well above average. One of the most recent sales I just closed was an inquiry that came in March, so in some cases, I've seen longer sales cycles. This particular company is active in the cycling sports industry as the inventors of an endurance challenge called "Everesting" and because of the coronavirus they suddenly saw a massive increase in activity and decided now was the time to acquire the matching .com (they operated on a .cc).

How has everyone's April and May been so far?
 
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