Can development harm domain values?

[armstrong]

I own two single-letter Mexican domains - Q.com.mx and Z.com.mx. Sure, I could quickly develop these into something along the usual - perhaps a forum, a webhosting company, or a free web-based email company - that I think can become profitable by the sheer market focus and brand-recall of these domains.

However, I'm inclined to think that such prior use would damage the marketability of these domains to big business. Reason being such companies would naturally prefer 'clean slate' domains with no prior brand recall or market perception. Would it be better then to just mothball these names until the right high-value buyer comes knocking?

All opinions would be welcome and much appreciated!

 

[Elefekt]

i can see both sides of the story. I think that in my case i would probably hold it for a while. then on the other hand you might be able to develop it and get a quicker sale. it all depends on the buyers thoughts imo but developing it into a high traffic domain is never bad.

 

[kohashi]

I think .com.mx is pretty ugly and you shouldnt be expecting a big buyer any time soon. So I dont think it matters, development would at least add some value imo.

 

[FruitFish]

Originally posted by kohashi
I think .com.mx is pretty ugly and you shouldnt be expecting a big buyer any time soon. So I dont think it matters, development would at least add some value imo.

I agree...

 

[armstrong]

Thanks for inputs so far.

Personally, I believe the com.mx namespace will someday become popular. Being a NAFTA-member country with 100 million people and a gross domestic product slightly larger than Canada (in 1999), and one of the top ten oil producers in the world, Mexico has real potential. But I can't complain about your attitude towards the namespace, as this is precisely the reason people like me were able to secure such great domains. There are still seven unregistered single-letter com.mx domains, but guess what - just like in .com you can't register them anymore. As others expire, the registry just gobbles them up, never to be seen again.

The ones I have are Q and Z. I find it truly serendipitous that 2 of three remaining registered .coms are also Q and Z. What will happen when these big-business .com owners decide to take a walk down Tequila country, as has already been done by google with google.com.mx?

(takes gloves off ...) If you can be truly honest to yourself for one moment, then you'll see that there's more potential to these two domains than there are to 2-letter .net's with truly ugly letter combinations!

 

[Elefekt]

I agree that these have potential but at the moment .com.mx is not to popular. Someday someday. Back to the point as I said earlier go and develop

 

[armstrong]

I'll think about developing one of them, perhaps as a free email site for the Latin market. Then if it becomes successful, it can help boost general awareness for the tld.

What else can I try that can have widespread impact?

 

[redhippo]

Originally posted by Elefekt
I agree that these have potential but at the moment .com.mx is not to popular. Someday someday. Back to the point as I said earlier go and develop

are these second level country domains? where
can I find the main registrar? just curious.
first time I have heard of such domains.

do other countries have such .com.cc?
:tu:

 

[armstrong]

Originally posted by redhippo
are these second level country domains? where
can I find the main registrar? just curious.
first time I have heard of such domains.

do other countries have such .com.cc?
:tu:

com.mx can be purchased from enom, but at $75 per year, minimum 2 years; plus I had major problems when I tried to register through them. They can be had for less at nic.mx (only $35 per year for 1 year, and less for multiple years), but you'd need to have some grasp of Spanish to get through the forms.

Some countries have these, some don't. SOme of the most popular ones are co.uk and com.au. Try going to safenames.net and you'll see a good list of what's out there. Note: safenames is quite expensive, so I recommend buying from them only after considering other options.

Good luck!

 

[DomainSage]

I would say that developing them would not harm the value, as long as you stick to sites that are pretty neutral ( I can see that if you developed a porn site on them then that would put off potential buyers who would not want to be associated with such sites ).

The new buyer will probably spend at least a few months developing the site, giving plenty of time for the current users to be notified of it's impending change ( if you target your site at the Mexican audience it might actually help ).

Just my worthless opinion

All the best with them.

Richard

 

[armstrong]

Originally posted by bitshack

Just my worthless opinion

Your suggestions are quite logical, actually. As long as I am careful to develop it into a general website, and attract as many Mexican users as possible, then it should improve the domain's value. So the next domain owner wouldn't need to spend as much for marketing.

I'm starting to think that free email may be out, as it may anger the subscribers if and when the next owner decides to remove free email.

Thanks, all. Good stuff.

 

[Guppy]

Originally posted by kohashi
I think .com.mx is pretty ugly and you shouldnt be expecting a big buyer any time soon. So I dont think it matters, development would at least add some value imo.

Unfortunatly i have to agree... it's only a matter of time before they bring out the shorter.mx extention just like when they shortend .com.cn to .cn

Good luck thought!
Jon

 

[bensontwenty]

Originally posted by Guppy
Unfortunatly i have to agree... it's only a matter of time before they bring out the shorter.mx extention just like when they shortend .com.cn to .cn

Good luck thought!
Jon

Surely though if this was the case, the owners of the existing .co.mx would be contacted and would have first rights - a grace period for registering the equivalent .mx

Country TLDs are much maligned imo. From a develpment point of view it makes sense to register the country TLD as well as the .com. I am in the process of developing a number of websites and have made sure that for every .com I have, I also have the equivalent TLDs for any country I am launching the service in.

Nice thoughts Armstrong on the 100million people - a vast market although I think it will be some time before it takes off.

Good Luck
b20

 

[armstrong]

Originally posted by Guppy
Unfortunatly i have to agree... it's only a matter of time before they bring out the shorter.mx extention just like when they shortend .com.cn to .cn

Not gonna happen without some major shakeup, as .mx moved away from flat .mx domain registrations to com.mx fairly recently. If they move back to flat .mx, then they will lose a certain amount of credibility.

I'm convinced that this domain format makes the cctld somewhat more attractive, as this way the cctld domains have the well-known .com in there for all to see.

 

[pelican]

i prefer to develop it and bring traffic into it.