Another Long One...But a Good On This Time...Or Am I Crazy?

[Dustie]

Most of you know my story by now. 20 years ago I purchased dustie.com. I checked and dusty.com was available then too, but seeing as how domains were 100.00 a pop and I had just bought a new computer for 2,000.00+ (Remember those days?), I decided against buying it. If I remember it was about three months after that, 3 months of having to tell people how to spell my email address ([email protected]) umpteen times, I decided to go for it after all, but guess what...it was gone by then!

I have regretted that decision ever since. In the last 20 years I've spent spelling my name to folks who wanted my email address. It's the same as Recons.com said in the Dustie.com thread... having his name saves him a bunch of time spelling his email out. In my case, over 20 years, that's a LOT of time!

Well, when I thought dustie.com was gone for good, I went searching for another name in GoDaddy and, to my delight, I found that dustie.art was available for 9.99! I snatched it up...and then went looking for dusty.art immediatly after. Godaddy said it was not available. Figures...

But then, reading in here, and following links to read about the .art domain, it wasn't long before I discovered that, just because GD said it wasn't available, didn't mean it wasn't available! It could be that it was a Premium .ART name and GD wasn't carrying these premium names so simply said they wern't available when searched

So I went to .art...and sure enough, dusty.art was available...for £1710.00 (about 2200 in us dollars). I checked other registrars, and some had it 300 to 400.00 dollars higher then that price... and none had it lower. I just couldn't swing it.

Last night I went to look again on .art, and they still had it listed for £1710.00. This time I decided to click through to "purchase", choosing .art as the reigistrer, (you can choose others from .art's site) to see if maybe I could find out what renewal costs would be, knowing I'm not actually buying it until I pay for it.

Imagine my surprise when, on the next page .Art said "buy this domain for $1600.00/yr with 30.00 renewal! What? Really? That's nearly a 600.00 saving from what it had been just two pages back and for the last two days I'd been checking on it. OH, My Gosh... should I??? That's a lot of money...

Since I'm an artist, and want to use [email protected] for my art business, I would absolutely love to have dusty.art too. I'd never have to spell my name for [email protected]! All I have to do is have two emails that merge to the same email account.

So it was time to have a heart to heart with my husband, a non computer guy who I thought for sure would think I was crazier then a loon! I explained it all to him, and, partly because of how distraught I'd been over the dustie.com situation I'm sure, he agreed it would be a good name for me to have (Ok, so I took advantage of him at a weak moment...name a wife who hasn't!). He said that if that was what I wanted we could make it happen. After all, what are credit cards for, right?

Wahoo!! And to think...only two weeks ago I WAS totally DISTRAUGHT and DUSTYLESS! All three dusties are going to be under Lock and Key (have to find out how .art locks their domains now).

Am I crazy for going in hock and spending 1,600.00 on a .art domain name??? Probably...but I'm feeling a pretty happy crazy about it right now...

 

[equity78]

@Dustie If you are happy and can afford it, that's the important part. I would not do it or recommend it to a client that they do it. Not if the name is Dustie, .art domains don't get a lot of type in traffic. Also when it comes to email a lot of times people overlook your new gtld and put .com, so I would spend another $9 right now and get DustieArt.com that's the real name you want to backup Dustie.art.

 

[bmugford]

You might still want to keep it, but I just wanted to point out .art has a 4 day "Deletion Grace Period", which means you should be able to get a refund if you wanted to do that.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

You already own Dustie.com and .art.

You could have also bought a suitable .com for under $10. Sorry, but it seems like a major waste of money imo.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

I mean getting DustieArt.com for reg fee is a no brainer.

If you are going to brand under "Dustie" I don't really see the point of spending that much money on what is essentially a typo domain for your usage. How much traffic do you really think is going to be lost?

I would just build on Dustie.com if I was you. That is your best domain by far.

Brad

 

[SuperBrander]

Big companies sometimes buy similar domains to avoid confusion and protect their brand. But a $1600 purchase of a name that isn't your name in an extension that at least for now isn't exactly doing well and like many other new extensions might never do well... is something a person who didn't experience what you did with Dustie.com wouldn't have done. Using Dustie.art could be an artistic choice, and that's cool but buying Dusty.art for a premium price isn't logical.

Ultimately it's your money but you have the best possible version of your name at Dustie.com. I think it's safe to say that .art wont be the next .com so compensating now for not registering Dusty.com 20 years ago isn't exactly redeeming of that non-purchase and will just leave you with a dusty domain you'll keep renewing for no reason.

Adding the subdomain art to your domain (art.dustie.com) or adding an art page (dustie.com/art) are the most logical things to do. As @Kate wrote to you in a different thread after you wrote that you bought Dusty.art (which apparently didn't go through):

"It's not registered...
But dustie.art was registered on 09 April.

You can register dusty.art at Dynadot for less:
$966.00
Renewal $36.00

(Seriously, don't do it)"

These new extensions are pricing some domains as premium and waiting for people to make irrational decisions to help them keep afloat. A typo buy for anyone who isn't a big company or celebrity simply makes no sense. My 2c worth anyway.

 

[hookbox]

If you had $1600 to waste on this .art domain then you should have kicked back @maxtra at least a few hundred bucks for giving back Dustie.com for nothing. Just sayin'

 

[equity78]

Most of you know my story by now. 20 years ago I purchased dustie.com. I checked and dusty.com was available then too, but seeing as how domains were 100.00 a pop and I had just bought a new computer for 2,000.00+ (Remember those days?), I decided against buying it. If I remember it was about three months after that, 3 months of having to tell people how to spell my email address ([email protected]) umpteen times, I decided to go for it after all, but guess what...it was gone by then!

I have regretted that decision ever since. In the last 20 years I've spent spelling my name to folks who wanted my email address. It's the same as Recons.com said in the Dustie.com thread... having his name saves him a bunch of time spelling his email out. In my case, over 20 years, that's a LOT of time!

Well, when I thought dustie.com was gone for good, I went searching for another name in GoDaddy and, to my delight, I found that dustie.art was available for 9.99! I snatched it up...and then went looking for dusty.art immediatly after. Godaddy said it was not available. Figures...

But then, reading in here, and following links to read about the .art domain, it wasn't long before I discovered that, just because GD said it wasn't available, didn't mean it wasn't available! It could be that it was a Premium .ART name and GD wasn't carrying these premium names so simply said they wern't available when searched

So I went to .art...and sure enough, dusty.art was available...for £1710.00 (about 2200 in us dollars). I checked other registrars, and some had it 300 to 400.00 dollars higher then that price... and none had it lower. I just couldn't swing it.

Last night I went to look again on .art, and they still had it listed for £1710.00. This time I decided to click through to "purchase", choosing .art as the reigistrer, (you can choose others from .art's site) to see if maybe I could find out what renewal costs would be, knowing I'm not actually buying it until I pay for it.

Imagine my surprise when, on the next page .Art said "buy this domain for $1600.00/yr with 30.00 renewal! What? Really? That's nearly a 600.00 saving from what it had been just two pages back and for the last two days I'd been checking on it. OH, My Gosh... should I??? That's a lot of money...

Since I'm an artist, and want to use [email protected] for my art business, I would absolutely love to have dusty.art too. I'd never have to spell my name for [email protected]! All I have to do is have two emails that merge to the same email account.

So it was time to have a heart to heart with my husband, a non computer guy who I thought for sure would think I was crazier then a loon! I explained it all to him, and, partly because of how distraught I'd been over the dustie.com situation I'm sure, he agreed it would be a good name for me to have (Ok, so I took advantage of him at a weak moment...name a wife who hasn't!). He said that if that was what I wanted we could make it happen. After all, what are credit cards for, right?

Wahoo!! And to think...only two weeks ago I WAS totally DISTRAUGHT and DUSTYLESS! All three dusties are going to be under Lock and Key (have to find out how .art locks their domains now).

Am I crazy for going in hock and spending 1,600.00 on a .art domain name??? Probably...but I'm feeling a pretty happy crazy about it right now...

Equity78... If they write [email protected], I will get the email. If they write [email protected], I will get it, and if they misspell my name (which most people do) and write [email protected], I will get it. It's a win/win/win as I see it. I'd love to have dusty.com too, but that chance flew out the window 20 years ago I'm afraid.

Then I would get the dustieart.com because I can tell you for fact many times people see [email protected] and think you made a typo and send it to [email protected].

 

[cabotower]

seems to me that this was more than just a business purchase, it was personal and most of the people replying don't get that. when it comes down to it, it's your money and you can spend it on whatever you want.

 

[SuperBrander]

By the way, @Dustie you could create a subdomain at Dustie.com- Art.Dustie.com and put your art there. Buying a $1600 typo in the .art extension is definitely a waste of money as Brad said. But I'm sure you made a lot of people in the .art extension dance in joy. Not sure if the Grace Period Brad mentioned applies to Premium domains but you might want to look into that. If you're happy though, that's the most important thing.

 

[bmugford]

But I didn't buy a typo. That's the point. I bought the common spelling of Dusty for $1,600.00...probably more then that after I get the card paid off. Good thing it's a low interest rate card. It's correct spelling of Dusty that I should have bought as a .com when it was available 20 years ago.

Unless you are branding as "Dusty" and not "Dustie" I would consider it a typo for your usage. If you are using both it just introduces brand confusion.

Having a unique name like Dustie is often a benefit to artists.
I think personally that Dustie.com is the one to build on.

Brad

 

[Name Trader]

I just don't get this infatuation with Dusty.Art, AT ALL. You have Dustie.com, and Dustie.Art. And your brand is Dustie, not Dusty. I would also protect my brand by also registering DustieArt.com. I would be openly grateful with whoever screwed up the credit card charging (even if it was yourself... which would be fate). You could have both Dustie@ AND Dusty@ email addresses on all 3 domains. That should be enough email addresses to stop worrying about people mispelling your name. And only 1 reply email address [email protected]. Save you money and concerns. We are only trying to protect you from your own worst excessive behavior. Truely.

 

[Name Trader]

My final piece of advice would be to get some business cards printed. So that you don't have to go thru the "ie" explanation in person. They are a small expense (unlike buying Dusty.Art) and would probably solve more than 50% of the time you encounter this problem. No problem to have both emails on the same card, if you wish. It might even promote your art site.

 

[SuperBrander]

Yeah, I agree with @equity78. You should have probably just bought DustieArt.com and DustyArt.com and used DustieArt.com instead of the .art extension which very few people use or even know exists. You should probably still buy them if you're that worried about people being confused. But... at least that's the good kind of trouble. Good luck!

 

[Dustie]

Well, Dang...after all this chitter chatter and re-reading through all this, I've gotten buyer's remorse. Received a credit card payment request from .art. Seems that I didn't finish the purchase by putting in my credit card information. I am figuring now that it was a slip and that perhaps I really didn't want to be spending that much on a domain name...even a name that will prevent me from having to spell my name everytime I give out my email. So I wrote to .Art to see if i could cancel the transaction.

I will be watching .Art though, and that name. Perhaps it will come down further and I will be able to grab it at a better price before someone else gets it. If it turns out that they won't let me cancel it...then the decision will not be mine and I'll still be glad to have the name! Oh...I'm back on that darned roller coaster again. I need to take Frank Germany's advice and relax!

I think I'm still too emotional to be making any kind of decisions like spending 1,600 on a domain name anyway, right?

 

[SuperBrander]

@HotKey She didn't pay a premium price for her name Dustie. She paid a regular price for Dustie.art. She wanted to pay a premium price for the version she thinks people will confuse her name with- Dusty.art.

 

[Dustie]

 

[NameAcquisitions]

Dustie.com is by far the best domain name you have IMO. It is short and authoritative.

I would NOT start using anything .art. Or anything dusty___.com or dustie___.com

 

[Dustie]

BTW.... .ART was quite obliging to allow me to cancel dusty.art. I do appreciate that, very much.

 

[Recons.Com]

Think of it this way:

Would Amazon move its main site to, say, .shop?

Is it really big deal that few people mistyped your email? Are you really losing deals? I never had issue with it, as normally people already have the spelling of my name in front of them and all I am telling them is my first name at my first name .com and then in few minutes I have email either in inbox or spam folder.

Focus on dustie.com, don't create confusion.

Google owns bunch of names and could buy almost any name, but they often choose subdomains or folders of google.com like /drive etc.

Just think why they do it.

You own your brand in .com without any long tail, that is all you need. Focus on creating content and upping the authority of your site and then enjoy the results.

 

[Dustie]

My my problem has always been that everyone wants to spell my name with a y, rather then and ie. Dustieart.com and Dustyart.com would have worked, but Dustyart.com wasn't available either. I would have had those as my art long ago if it had been. So now I have Dusty.art and after a year and it's all paid off, it will be water under the bridge and I'll be Dustie.com / Dustie.art / Dusty.art... I'll always be found... And I do like that .art domain name for artists. It tells a story...

 

[Dustie]

I don't know... I'm not keen on dustieart.com. I've always been one who pretty much just used Dustie. I'd not want to use dustieart.com in place of Dustie.art. Dustie.art just sounds artistic! The purchase of Dusty.art is mainly because 4 out of 5 people want to spell my name with that Y. So now when I tell people to email me at [email protected], they will, most likely try to email me at dusty.art and that will be just fine with me! Time will tell if I'm Crazy.

Then there's always the fact that, if you look up Dusty Artist in Google, there are 47,700,000 results. There are a whole lot of people named Dusty who are artists out there...some of them pretty awesome! Once .art becomes more well know among artists, and prices come down further... and i predict that will happen, Some Dusty Artist just might come knocking on my door. However, if they don't, or in the meantime, I don't have to tell people how to spell my name except when I'm giving out my dustie.com name. I sure like that.

 

[bmugford]

I don't know... I'm not keen on dustieart.com. I've always been one who pretty much just used Dustie. I'd not want to use dustieart.com in place of Dustie.art. Dustie.art just sounds artistic! The purchase of Dusty.art is mainly because 4 out of 5 people want to spell my name with that Y. So now when I tell people to email me at [email protected], they will, most likely try to email me at dusty.art and that will be just fine with me! Time will tell if I'm Crazy.

Then there's always the fact that, if you look up Dusty Artist in Google, there are 47,700,000 results. There are a whole lot of people named Dusty who are artists out there...some of them pretty awesome! Once .art becomes more well know among artists, and prices come down further... and i predict that will happen, Some Dusty Artist just might come knocking on my door. However, if they don't, or in the meantime, I don't have to tell people how to spell my name except when I'm giving out my dustie.com name. I sure like that.

The decision to not spend 10 bucks to register DustieArt.com seems silly to me. I think people are just as likely to type DustieArt.com as they are to type dusty.art when you tell them your domain.

Many people don't even realize the .art extension exists.
It has been around for about 2 years now and NameBio shows 1 reported sale.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Ok...I guess this wasn't a well thought out as I thought it was. My credit card hasn't gone though according to them. They sent as they me an email requesting payment last night. So I wrote and ask that they cancel the transaction, that I had made a mistake. Hopefully they will do this when the request to cancel came in less then 24 hours and my card wasn't charge. Tried to read if there were a grace period as Data Cube reported but I couldn't find any information on that policy.

The domain was not registered. It seems the transaction was never completed in the first place.
I am not sure how they could force you to pay.

Brad

 

[HotKey]

Ok...I guess this wasn't a well thought out as I thought it was. My credit card hasn't gone though according to them. They sent as they me an email requesting payment last night. So I wrote and ask that they cancel the transaction, that I had made a mistake. Hopefully they will do this when the request to cancel came in less then 24 hours and my card wasn't charge. Tried to read if there were a grace period as Data Cube reported but I couldn't find any information on that policy.

If payment hasn't gone thru, I don't believe you have anything to worry about. There is no grace period on a domain that hasn't been registered. In fact, you can probably just safely ignore the whole transaction, nothing to cancel.

@HotKey She didn't pay a premium price for her name Dustie. She paid a regular price for Dustie.art. She wanted to pay a premium price for the version she thinks people will confuse her name with- Dusty.art.

Oh. I understand now. Totally agree, complete waste of money to purchase a domain just to cover mix-ups, particularly premium priced. It could become never-ending, might as well start worrying about plural spellings too and whatnot.