Dot WS marketplace?

[Nam]

Hi,
I realy would like to know how about .ws marketplace today? is It the time to invest on this extention? do someones know some sales for this extention?
Thanks

 

[Grrilla]

Because you mention investing, I assume you are looking at resale potential. .ws has not done well at all, in the resellers market. My parked .WS domains rarely get visited. I have never received an offer, and the last ones I sold in the resellers market- 2 yrs ago barely covered 2 yrs reg fee and they were good-very good dictionary words. There could be a future for the market, but there are other exts that have better potential for speculation, IMHO.

 

[Nam]

Thanks for your advice. That is the reason why, there are many good names are still available for registering.

 

[Redleg]

I'm selling on average around 2-3 .ws domains in the low $xxx range pr month, and I own around 150, so I'm no getting rich (yet) on .ws.
But I get enough to cover the reg/renewal fee's, and still got a few $$ left at the end of the month..
I'm also developing several of the .ws with much better $$ success, so I'm quite happy with .ws myself.

Just finnished a $250 sale at SEDO now by the way...

Got a few .ws liste here: www.unique.ws
Several of those are under development now.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I completely avoided them at all cost until about a year ago. Mainly because they were expensive and the good names were pretty much taken. The poor resale market for them has caused more good names to drop recently, or at least made them easier to find. In the past year, I've picked up maybe a dozen or so at reg fee or on sub $50 drops or purchases. I don't think the market is quite there now, but could be in the long run for what I'd call not just good, but great names. If the names are super, you can not only sell if the chance comes along, but have the possibility of a great name to develop. I am very selectively picking up one or two a month now since prices are fairly low. I did this with .info drops two years ago when the first landrush domains started to drop, and two years later it is starting to pay off with names I paid $9 to $25 for selling for $350-600. If you need to sell in the short run of less than 18 months, I'd avoid them now. If in it for develpment or long term, its still highly speculative, but I think there is some merit.

For example of what I mean by a good quality .ws with potential are Instruments.ws, DigitalPhoto.ws, Dates.ws and DebitCards.ws which I've picked up. I think these will have an appeal to a very large audience. If all other gTLD's of a domain aren't taken and at least one or two aren't developed, I'll pass on the .ws.

I think the same holds true for .cc domains, as I really see them just about equal myself.

 

[Chappy]

To put it in perspective, the domain places.ws went today for $105. (My bid was $80!). I consider that to be a fairly good dictionary name, of which the .com would fetch $x,xxx at least. Shows the value of .ws is very low.

 

[JMJ]

I've never owned one. I'm one whos big on alt extensions but I can't seem to sell myself on the "website" gimmick.

 

[Grrilla]

'm selling on average around 2-3 .ws domains in the low $xxx range pr month, and I own around 150, so I'm no getting rich (yet) on .ws.
But I get enough to cover the reg/renewal fee's, and still got a few $$ left at the end of the month..
I'm also developing several of the .ws with much better $$ success, so I'm quite happy with .ws myself

That's good to hear. Makes you a few bucks and keeps you in the .ws game. Nothing wrong w/ that.

I still own a couple. Nothing quite like as Place.ws,- I can almost overllook the "ws" part because I think the name "place" would be so cool to develop, and if the owner didn't want to develop it, shouldn't be difficult to find someone else who did. Place is a nice, generic, direct, tight word.

We've had discussions about .ws before, and one offshoot to the topic has been the wisdom of covering oneself and holding onto a couple to act as a hedge, *just in case*. I plan to keep on paying renewals for however long it does or doesn't take and am keeping a few high quality .ws, .cc, .sc, .name, and a couple of other misc .ie one .nu. (.nu, BTW, shared the spotlight w/ .cc,. for a short stretch, and was considered by many to be one of the top, up and coming cctlds).

I've never owned one. I'm one whos big on alt extensions but I can't seem to sell myself on the "website" gimmick.

I agree. .WS has some bad karma or dues to pay. The way it was originally marketed and the original website showing a picture of two guys sitting in vets w/ goldchains just gave me a credibility problem, right off the bat- it just seemed cheesey. Than, the way that they and GoDaddy marketed it was deceptive in the way that all of their promotion was geared to "WebSite"- which appeared in emails and on the site in a size 48 font and "Western Samoa" was hidden somewhere in a size 6 font. They got off to a bad start and now I think I heard that many of the names that were held back are now avail, but w/ premium pricing, similar to .tv, (which i personally like), and WS is not nearly as well known, universal or intuitive as .TV. IMHO

 

[user-7256]

I think .ws is highly undervalued... e.g. I had eFinance.ws and it sold for $20 in less than 5 minutes and it was appraised at regfee.

So you never know!

 

[Redleg]

They got off to a bad start and now I think I heard that many of the names that were held back are now avail, but w/ premium pricing, similar to .tv, (which i personally like),

They've actually been reserving several premium names for a long time now, but they've not officially put any prices on them (or put out much info about it).
You have to mail them for each individual name and ask them for a price..

Here's a list of some pretty decent names they own, and I wouldn't mind to own a few of them myself..
http://www.games.ws/

Whois information for GAMES.WS:

Domain Name: games.ws
Registrant: Ritz Marketing, LTD.

Administrative Contact:
7604764100
[email protected]

Domain created on 09-MAR-00
Domain last updated on 25-NOV-02

Name servers:

ns3.dns.ws
ns4.dns.ws

I believe that another NP member has mailed them before and asked about Games.ws, and they wanted around $5,000/year for it..

http://website.ws/utilities/lookup.dhtml

 

[randomo]

We've had discussions about .ws before, and one offshoot to the topic has been the wisdom of covering oneself and holding onto a couple to act as a hedge, *just in case*. I plan to keep on paying renewals for however long it does or doesn't take and am keeping a few high quality .ws, .cc, .sc, .name, and a couple of other misc .ie one .nu. (.nu, BTW, shared the spotlight w/ .cc,. for a short stretch, and was considered by many to be one of the top, up and coming cctlds).

I like the way you think! I've got several excellent .ws names, mainly as a hedge, as you put it. If I can pick up, say, pager.ws for $15 (as I recently did), it seems a pretty good gamble -- little lost, maybe a lot to gain!

Think I should add a few .cc to my portfolio too? Some great names are still available for reg fee there, too (though they cost twice as much as .ws at GoDaddy; haven't looked at other registrars yet).

 

[TLDnetworks]

We've had discussions about .ws before, and one offshoot to the topic has been the wisdom of covering oneself and holding onto a couple to act as a hedge, *just in case*.

I too have a few that I've held on to "Just in case" (but would sell it a decent offers comes in).
Snore
Copiers
nalu
swell
tropics
Surfboards
SurfCam
SurfReport
ScrapBookSupply
OfficeSupply
Coaches
Getaway
Surfers

I started off thinking the general public would adopt the "Web Site" pretty easily, but with out the right promotion from WS (based about 4miles from my home), and support from GOOD developed sites and companies it has not proliferated.

:imho: Developed, promoted, supported - .WS could be a winner.

 

[Grrilla]

I like the way you think! I've got several excellent .ws names, mainly as a hedge, as you put it

I'd like to take full credit, but I distinctly remember, (don't ask me how), the conversation, (or, at least one of them), being initiated by AdopableDomains^^ so let's give him the love for being the first, (and quickest- hehe) to talk about hedging as a viable strategy for the .ws (and other) namespaces. (Over the yrs, I've had too many people take credit for ideas that I had initiated- so am overly anal about it.)

I started off thinking the general public would adopt the "Web Site" pretty easily, but with out the right promotion from WS (based about 4miles from my home), and support from GOOD developed sites and companies it has not proliferated.

Developed, promoted, supported - .WS could be a winner.

I agree.

I have 4-5 .ws but will have to look them up. 2 that come tomind are:
BioTechnology_WS and Newspaper_WS- both were purchased from members here at NP.

One thing I don't like about them is that I have to keep them at GoDddy/Gddy resellers. My normal registrar, enom, doesn't deal w/ them.

 

[bidawinner]

I have all these developed to some degree in .Ws

Airlines.Ws
AirlineTickets.Ws
Airfares.Ws
AirportHotels.Ws
BeachHotels.Ws
CollegeDegrees.Ws
Concerts.Ws
Conferences.Ws
Donations.Ws
Employment.Ws
Fhal-Loans.Ws
Teleconferencing.Ws
Transplants.Ws

That is .Ws greatest use .. development

I've also sold 6 .Ws in 2005 for 2k TOTAl ..so you're not going to get rich buying and selling them ..lest wise not yet .. My development in .Ws makes me a very nice living though ..buying and seling them is just a hobby aspect .

I own many more ..all in line waiting to be developed .. I wish we would see more people were actually developing in .WS..thats how demand will come about


And as Grrilla was pointing out..register .WS only at places you like because you cannot transfer them out.. it's asecurity feature of sorts ..you cant steal what cant be transfered out

 

[budget]

i have few WS but cant develop so i just over price them and leave them on afternic. Im in no to rush to sell that's why i over price them.

heres a few.
sportsbetting
horseracing
grandprix

and others.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Like any speculative investment, speculation = gambling to a certain degree. Don't gamble what you can' afford to lose.

Even if .ws never becomes viable for commerical sites where the real money is, people will always want nice short domains for email and personal sites. They won't usually bring 4+ figures, but most people would spend a couple hundred on a sport, recreation, or activity they love. Certainly more than reg fee and profitable, but not going to make you rich. I think you have to take a stand on your purpose. If you want to ensure a profit, price to sell quickly so you don't have too many renewals. If you can afford to speculate or plan on development, you can just park, or price to keep hoping for the big one.