question Domain industry is dying slowly?

[souren]

Since beginning of the internet .com .net .org were always the best option for any business or personal use
names were too limited in a sense that generated a solid valuable market for the domaining business
and domain investors

Most of us as the people who are buying this so called land , imo are unaware of the fact that everyday new lands ,are being generated by the Icann ( Internet's Allah )

every year 10 to 20 new domain extension were being released to the public witch in my opinion wouldn't create a serious problem
until 2014 and beyond where +400 tld has been released to the public witch followed similarly and here were are in 2017 with 882 domain extension
witch in my opinion make owning a premium name easy,cheap, for any potential buyer
witch at the end will affect the tld market valuation
imagine if you own solarenergy.com in 2000 and the value would be a good $$$,$$$
then time passes and here we are in 2017 where you can have names like
solar.energy energy.solar and more.. combinations for
a reg fee or very cheap price
Then it would seriously affect the valuation of solarenergy.com
I see a world (in near future )where anyone can have a short and premium looking domain
that he just registered for 10$
and a market witch looses it's value everyday


That's just my thought about the future of this industry
What you guys think about this?

 

[souren]

And my main concern is not for today
It is for tomorrow
To me it's a matter of time until people start to use other domain extensions

And i am not worried about most of the garbage extensions that there is
I am concerning of new ones like .app
and many more
I believe it can make ultrapremium .com names less valuable over the time
That's just my opinion !

 

[souren]

even if 99% of the new ones are considered garbage
we still have few solid extentions every year that going to compete with .com
Of course .com is solid and will always be
But i mean domaining wouldn't be as good as it used to be like 10 years ago
and every year it become tougher imo

 

[souren]

The vast majority of those initial registrations were opt-out forced registrations @ Network Solutions. It is well documented.

They went from a peak of 6.8M regs to 2.2M now.

Basically since day 1 .XYZ has tried to use every trick in the book to manipulate the numbers to show far more demand than actually exists.

Brad

didn't know that
Thanks

 

[Kate]

To me it's a matter of time until people start to use other domain extensions

It is happening, but the critical mass just isn't there. It's lots of low-key websites - there are not so many prominent end users.
And people are not really paying attention, in America they are usually familiar with .com/.net/.org/.edu/.gov, while in other countries people are familiar with .com and the local ccTLD and they ignore most other extensions (and won't want to buy them).

And for each site built on a new extension, you have dozens more on .com, so new extensions remain oddities, or novelty if you prefer. They are not getting mainstream.

Of course, people will sometimes see a .whatever advertised in a magazine or on a billboard. Even if they visit the site they will ultimately forget the extension and probably the whole domain, and even if they see a .whatever it still doesn't mean they want to own one.
The only thing that could tip the balance is massive usage, and sustained advertising.
Had there been more strings available in 1995, thing could have turned out differently and there would be more diversity today. It's much too late now, and there are too many strings competing against each other in the face of limited demand.

 

[Smiles76]

Stupidity and greed is what is killing the domain industry. A 30% ROI in real estate is considered amazing. Yet, many domains will receive a 1000% ROI on their domain and still turn it down because it's not their asking price. This is why most domains will never sell.

 

[Asfas1000]

The only thing that could tip the balance is massive usage, and sustained advertising.

That wouldn't help either.

 

[bmugford]

Stupidity and greed is what is killing the domain industry. A 30% ROI in real estate is considered amazing. Yet, many domains will receive a 1000% ROI on their domain and still turn it down because it's not their asking price. This is why most domains will never sell.

Real Estate is far more liquid. Anything that is more liquid will have a lower ROI in general.

You have to account for what doesn't sell as well.

If you buy a domain for $100 and sell it for $2500 it might sound great on paper, but you also have to account for the renewal fees on 500 other domains you did not sell.

Brad

 

[garptrader]

On the days I don't lift weights or run, I will normally go for a walk. Quite often part of the walk will be along the bay in West Palm Beach. There is luxury condo complex under construction called The Bristol with a bay view toward Palm Beach island. I have seen advertisements for that location "starting at $5 million." I don't know if they will really sell for that much but they will be rather nice. Sadly, a few hundred meters north of that spot also with a bay view it is common to see homeless people who spend the night either on the sidewalk or one of the benches or even the wall designed to protect against flooding in the case of storm surge. The location is almost identical and the view not much different but those who live in The Bristol will be in a totally different world than those who spend the night sleeping on the boardwalk along the bay. That is the difference between .COM and .nTLD.

 

[killerwhale]

Domain industry is not dying. At this time, people just have more options to choose from for their online presence.

And let's be honest, what's stopping someone with a good specific idea from using a non .com domain and still get running, as long as the name is related to the business and the product, service, or information it provides is good and people buy it. I'd say it's smart for a start. You just cut down your .com acquisition costs and have that money to spend on marketing (which is the backbone of your business) instead to bring in new customers and convert them, who in turn will provide you with that capital in the long run through sales in order to acquire that .com later!

Lol, but when that end-user finally does come with a bigger pocket than before to acquire the .com, I know majority of the domainers if they owned that specific name in .com will jack the prices up. Or ask an insanely high price. The reasoning simply being it's a . com, which is fine but not having that .com didn't stop that end-user from getting running or making sales correct?

This is where new tld's fill that niche, for those small and specific related businesses. However, the new tld's worst nightmare is the scaling aspect of it, and wide spread adaption. And consumer adaption is very important, which is why .com is still the king, and will remain so for a long long long time. There is a major reason corporations and companies with a good market share in their markets use .com, or atleast come back to acquiring the .com once they scaled to the next level. It gives them that opportunity to scale, or even expand into other markets.

Point is, domain industry is not dying. Domain investors just need to be more realistic with their pricing, which might tip things around. Also supply and demand is another factor. Just look at the amount of domains registered and the amount in use. If the industry as a whole dumped all the mediocre domains and actually stuck with names that has real world use, then that demand aspect might rise, and bring more sales in the industry.

 

[Dream Domains]

You need to keep .mobi in mind.

 

[Arca]

I believe it can make ultrapremium .com names less valuable over the time

"Ultrapremium" .com domains won't be affected by the new Gs, because there just isn't any equivalent for that quality level in the ngtlds.

The only kinds of names that can be affected by the ngtlds are average quality .com domains (the kind of names that sell for sub $5000, more often sub $2500 range). Some end-users opt to buy a name in one of the new extensions instead of paying up a grand or two for an okay .com name.

After running a site on a new g for a while, they come to realize that they are guinea pigs in an unwise experiment, and gradually start learning of the massive drawbacks of running a business on a new g (NOBODY recognizes that your keyword.keyword is a domain, marketing a .unknown is highly ineffective, a .whatever at the end of a domain generates distrust, sending and receiving emails is a huge challenge, new g registrars may jack up your renewal costs etc.).

Marketing these new extensions as viable for businesses is causing a lot of damage to the new businesses opting for them, as they end up serving as an obstacle for these businesses to succeed. Running a business on a new G is an uphill battle that new businesses unnecessarily put themselves in.

While some of these issues may be sorted out in the long run, the new extensions are rapidly losing the little momentum they had. So widespread recognition is probably never going to happen, as these currently obscure (the to general public) extensions have already peaked and are now petering out.

The new extensions could have been the "next big thing", and were marketed as such (there used to be a lot of ".com is dead" threads, the new extensions is thr future, a few years ago). But as we enter the fourth and fifth years of their existence, that narrative is not going to work anymore, as the reality is becoming increasingly evident for all to see. And if they remain insignificant after several years, while reg numbers are now decreasing, and early adopters are growing disillusioned with them, there really doesn't seem to be any chance for these to succeed in a meaningful way later on.

I believe .com holders face a number of significant challenges in the coming 10-15 years, however, I don't think the new extensions are even worthy of making it into the top 5 on that list.

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

As long as there is mankind, open internet and moneyyy, the 'domain industry' will stay alive.

 

[Jim Holleran]

Since I started in this industry almost 20 years ago, 2017 is the 1st year that I have not bought any domains, nor am I even looking to buy. IMO better ROI/and liquidity in other investments right now than domaining.

 

[drakeholm]

So the pioneer days of goldrush land grabbing are over. We all know that. But the USA is still going strong a hundred years after the pioneers settled the wild West.
If the real estate comparison extends indefinitely then the prediction for future markets is robust.
But name development along the lines of site development may groom values in this unexplored country era.
When development becomes as habitually diverse as the buyers I will believe that saturation density has been achieved.

 

[Skumars]

If i just type namepros in my browser and then press "ctrl+enter", it automatically changes to namepros.com. However there are no shortcuts for any other extension...

Regarding other domain extensions becoming popular they will, but any company which has marketing managers/digital managers will strive for .com whereas single person owned businesses will mainly look for saving money.

 

[BionicMan]

Things will bite at the domain industry but it's as strong as ever - lots of buying even in .net, org, and cc lately among others.

 

[DnEbook]

The only way the critical mass would even become aware of New Gtld's is if a new entity such as Facebook suddenly took the world by storm, even then they would seek the .com equivalent after a short time. A new enduser would always seek the .com first

 

[bludex]

What if all the premium stuff is mostly taken and only he minor stuff is visibly moving between hands? This creates an impression of a downturn, in reality strong hands keep holding values that are growing. The experienced domainer sees sales like cars.com, apartments.com etc.. It's in the self-interest of most domainers also to create noise and preserve the impression that domains in general are perceived to have marginal to zero value (replacement cost). Not talking of ntlds, though..

 

[.X.]

Not Dying a slow death at all. Things are moving along as normal, It is a matter of adapting to the changes and behavior of the internet is all.

 

[Kenny]

This thread (or others just like it) pop up about once or even twice a year.
It's the same old story, the same old song and dance, my friend.

Domaining is not dying, nor is even close to it's demise.
Good names will always sell, bad names will rarely sell.
Simple.

As our good friend .X. has so clearly pointed out, it's all about finding the domains to fit the situation at hand.

Happy Domaining!

Peace,
Cy