.co .CO - The Discussion, Showcase and Sales Report Thread

[TOXX]

Well, it seems like Colombia will be releasing .CO to the internet market:
...
http://www.mincomunicaciones.gov.co...ge=./mods/contenido/noticia_user_view&id=1043
...
This could truly be a big competitor to .COM (especially being a "typo").
I would say with proper guidance .CO could REALLY have a bright future!
...
Let me know your thoughts please.

 

[the_poet]

I think to summarize the climate of .co for domainers is this. The aftermarket sucks. It sucks because it's controversial. There are many vocal detractors in the community, some of them very high profile (Rick!). He has a lot of influence in the community...a lot of sycophantic fanboys. This is what is keeping the decent sales limited to end users ONLY

To a certain extent, it's not necessarily a negative thing. I would immagine that if he and other "influential gurus" of the industry endorsed investing in .CO there would be a domain bubble, lots of newbies spending everything they have on hundreds of useless keywords. I remember when, during the Gulf oil spill, he posted about how .com was still offering opportunities and he listed his handregistered domains containing TM-infringing keywords like BP. Of course the fanboys commenting on the posts emulated him.

 

[Keith]

Not correct. All the buyer has to do is say something went wrong with the transaction and paypal will freeze the funds to investigate, and as the seller you had better hope you come out on the right end of the investigation or the buyer will get his money back.

Incorrect. I've had personal experience with this issue as a buyer and more than one PayPal rep explained the policy.

Domains are not considered tangible items and therefore not covered if anything goes wrong. Call PayPal, they'll tell you. That's why thieves always ask for payment via PayPal. I went round and round regarding this issue because I unknowingly purchased a stolen domain. PayPal said sorry, tough luck! I disputed it with my CC company and they credited my account the funds. But, I had to prove that the domain was stolen by providing documentation from Godaddy as well as jumping through other hoops!

 

[johname]

A paypal transaction can blow up for either the buyer or the seller. Problems: A domain not being a thing you can hold in your hand, put in a box and mail with proof of delivery and insurance means PP treats it differently then even the poorest ebay situation/ And you as a seller cant pull it back on a string after a transfer/ And credit card chargebacks. Makes paypal scary way to do a domaining transaction.

 

[Keith]

A paypal transaction can blow up for either the buyer or the seller. Problems: A domain not being a thing you can hold in your hand, put in a box and mail with proof of delivery and insurance means PP treats it differently then even the poorest ebay situation/ And you as a seller cant pull it back on a string after a transfer/ And credit card chargebacks. Makes paypal scary way to do a domaining transaction.

Agree. PayPal is scary for domain transactions. Buyer pays, seller could say screw you! Seller transfers after payment, buyer does a chargeback. The real solution would be for paypal to offer real protection but they'll never do it.

 

[JB Lions]

"Since Rick's recent post about O.co's bleed to O.com that's been the argument of the day."

That's been the argument and problem with the extension since the beginning and his post is based on information from a company with real experience with the problem. Now we have some real numbers behind the argument. They had a 61% bleed out rate and they put some advertising dollars behind it. I expect it to be more with most other companies or sites. The reality has always been that .co is the closest extension as far as letters to .com. Some thought that was a good thing, except they were wrong, especially if you're actually going to develop on that extension. It's just going to be a bleed out to the .com, there's just no getting around it. People when they type the c then the o are so used to typing the m out of habit. And now you have numbers backing it up.

 

[johname]

Did they state how they came up with the 61% bleedout rate?

And you would have to expect the rate to be high with this situation, One letter domain of a very well known brand in which it would only be natural for the average person to assume overstock owns o.coM

Are we talking overstock again? lol

 

[Blitz]

Incorrect. I've had personal experience with this issue as a buyer and more than one PayPal rep explained the policy.

Domains are not considered tangible items and therefore not covered if anything goes wrong. Call PayPal, they'll tell you. That's why thieves always ask for payment via PayPal. I went round and round regarding this issue because I unknowingly purchased a stolen domain. PayPal said sorry, tough luck! I disputed it with my CC company and they credited my account the funds. But, I had to prove that the domain was stolen by providing documentation from Godaddy as well as jumping through other hoops!

"As long as he's the seller there is no worries. It's the buyer who should be cautious when using PayPal. "

It is very correct. The buyer can say he never received the domain and then paypal has to freeze the funds and investigate. It happened to me a while back. Your example is you being on the buyer's side. It is not wise to use paypal for any higher priced domain sales based on thinking you can just trust someone buying a domain from you. Not good for either side (buyer or seller) if one is wanting to scam you

That is why there are escrow companies. Sedo is very expensive, but there other options beside them.

 

[the_poet]

Jason Calacanis Moves Launch Festival Website to Launch.CO

 

[emjohn]

Two big sales at GoDaddyAuctions:

MesotheliomaAttorney.co $10,300
MesotheliomaLawyer.co $10,300

Confirmed by DNJournal

Very high CPCs. Nice sales.

More .co sales at Sedo:

mev.co $2,905
neuro.co $1,000

---------- Post added at 04:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 AM ----------

Recent sales are proving that .co is a great alternative for companies and start-up companies that are on a limited budget. The price ranges are testament to that.

 

[the_poet]

Two big sales at GoDaddyAuctions:

MesotheliomaAttorney.co $10,300
MesotheliomaLawyer.co $10,300

Confirmed by DNJournal

Very high CPCs. Nice sales.

More .co sales at Sedo:

mev.co $2,905
neuro.co $1,000

---------- Post added at 04:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 AM ----------

Recent sales are proving that .co is a great alternative for companies and start-up companies that are on a limited budget. The price ranges are testament to that.

Really nice sales!

 

[the_poet]

New .COs for $7.99 at GoDaddy with coupon cjc799CCb1

 

[NielDLR]

I'm seeing more and more .co's being registered by normal people. This is especially true when the .com is already taken. Just now a friend shared a link on FB to a micro online fashion commerce site (vintage clothing etc) that had a .co extension. I checked the .com. It was parked and unavailable. What struck me more was how actually "cool" .co looks for me, especially if you are trying to be trendy. Startups and brands will dig .co.

I'm not sure about keyword domains just yet.

 

[the_poet]

Hanwei.CO currently on Sedo auction at $1,000 (to the mods: not mine).

 

[JB Lions]

Jason Calacanis Moves Launch Festival Website to Launch.CO

I checked out the “Launch 2012 Companies that have launched” on the launch.co site and broke them down by extension being used:

.com – 25
.me – 2
.net – 1
.co – 1
.is – 1
.io – 1

 

[Kate]

I'm seeing more and more .co's being registered by normal people. This is especially true when the .com is already taken.

There will always be people registering alternative extensions. That's why we have more than 2 million .biz registered.
But you will seldom see high-profile websites on a poor TLD.

Those people wanted a domain for regfee, they had no intention of buying on the aftermarket or from domainers. They might as well have picked another extension, or moved on to the next one until they find their choice of keyword available.
That's why there are much fewer sales in alternate extensions, when you have a budget for a domain purchase you naturally prefer to have a great domain in a solid extension.

---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:25 PM ----------

I checked out the startups on the launch.co site and broke them down by extension being used:

.com – 25
.me – 2
.net – 1
.co – 1
.is – 1
.io – 1

Why was Calacanis using a .is domain, I don't think his company is Icelandic ?
I would say .co is almost an improvement then (the extension is a bit less irrelevant).

 

[JB Lions]

There will always be people registering alternative extensions. That's why we have more than 2 million .biz registered.
But you will seldom see high-profile websites on a poor TLD.

Those people wanted a domain for regfee, they had no intention of buying on the aftermarket or from domainers. They might as well have picked another extension, or moved on to the next one until they find their choice of keyword available.
That's why there are much fewer sales in alternate extensions, when you have a budget for a domain purchase you naturally prefer to have a great domain in a solid extension.

---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:25 PM ----------


Why was Calacanis using a .is domain, I don't think his company is Icelandic ?
I would say .co is almost an improvement then (the extension is a bit less irrelevant).

The one .is in the list happens to be copper.is. Have no idea why he was using a .is. Launch.com just redirects to music.yahoo.com, so that was probably not for sale. So they'll benefit from the bleeder.

There's also a section on the site - DEMO Pit Company Profiles

All .com's then:

.me - 1
.us - 1
.de - 1
.at - 1
.ly - 1
.co - 2
.tv - 1

 

[DU]

Why was Calacanis using a .is domain, I don't think his company is Icelandic ?
I would say .co is almost an improvement then (the extension is a bit less irrelevant).

I think that there are many things people wonder about what Calacanis is doing these days.

Seems to be playing poker more than anything.

 

[emjohn]

The launchis with the Calacanis... Kind rhymes, doesn't it?

There will always be people registering alternative extensions. That's why we have more than 2 million .biz registered.
But you will seldom see high-profile websites on a poor TLD.

Those people wanted a domain for regfee, they had no intention of buying on the aftermarket or from domainers. They might as well have picked another extension, or moved on to the next one until they find their choice of keyword available.
That's why there are much fewer sales in alternate extensions, when you have a budget for a domain purchase you naturally prefer to have a great domain in a solid extension.

---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:25 PM ----------


Why was Calacanis using a .is domain, I don't think his company is Icelandic ?
I would say .co is almost an improvement then (the extension is a bit less irrelevant).

 

[the_poet]

BizX.CO on Sedo auction at $1,000 (to the mods: not mine)

 

[.NJ]

BizX.CO on Sedo auction at $1,000

Must be an existing end-user. Or someone who has alot of money to waste. IMO