discuss Gem vs Fake Gold - What do you think makes new gTLDs valuable?

[Brands.International]

What do you think makes new gTLD domain name a gem, from domain investors point of view, and which ones are fake gold domains?

Few hints: must sound good, should have very broad appeal to lot of end users, or alternatively, should have appeal to few, but very rich end users, should have reasonable renewal fee, not much alternatives exist to end users to this domain name, should be TM free?

The purpose if this discussion thread is to establish together some kind of consensus in 2020 as of which new gTLD names are gems. This will also help us not to load our portfolios with "fake gold" domain names.

Definition of new gTLD GEM domain name: domain which is really an asset from financial point of view - it will bring great money profit sooner or later to it's holder.

Definition of new gTLD FAKE GOLD domain name: is a domain name which looks to us like a gem on first glance, but after a time you discover you are actually loosing lot of money with it.

Your opinions please - let's discuss

 

[Internet.Domains]

Gem - Keywords that go well with the extension. Examples being Home.Loans, Vacation.Rentals, etc., etc.

Fake Gold - Everything else.

 

[Brands.International]

Gem - Keywords that go well with the extension. Examples being Home.Loans, Vacation.Rentals, etc., etc.

Fake Gold - Everything else.

Thanks. So, in theory, if the names you mentioned were free to register now, and with renewal of $10 / year, you would think of them as gems . And I definitely agree with that

But would that change, if the renewals were not $10, but let's say $1000 / year? Or maybe 50 000 / year? Would they still be a gems from domain investor's point of view under such circumanstances? And is there a way how to quantify that?

 

[Internet.Domains]

Thanks. So, in theory, if the names you mentioned were free to register now, and with renewal of $10 / year, you would think of them as gems . And I definitely agree with that

But would that change, if the renewals were not $10, but let's say $1000 / year? Or maybe 50 000 / year? Would they still be a gems from domain investor's point of view under such circumanstances? And is there a way how to quantify that?

Definitely anything in the $1000 plus range is not for investors. However, maybe in the $100 range it could be if the domain was one of the best keywords available for the extension.

 

[oldtimer]

Just wondering what everyone thought of single letter New gTLDs ,

I have noticed that many single letters are currently available in extensions such as .Recipes .Florist and a few others. Would these be considered to be gems and if so how can so many of them be available to hand register now.

IMO

 

[Brands.International]

Just wondering what everyone thought of single letter New gTLDs ,

I have noticed that many single letters are currently available in extensions such as .Recipes .Florist and a few others. Would these be considered to be gems and if so how can so many of them be available to hand register now.

IMO

I will just give my personal view - if someone starts with something like "single letter domain is a gem, just because it is single letter and thus thre are limited number of those", this clearly shows on what I would call "legacy mentality". This thinking was valid when we did not have hundreds of various new gTLD extensions, but we had only .com, .net, .org and that was it.

Now, if there is some nice semantic context, like with letters i, e, a or d, I would say there is definitely some good value, particularly when it comes with suitable extension. Something like i / flowers or d / pub. But what about something like (randomly choosen) k / flowers? I do not feel much value there, as semantic context is missing, and it does not matter whether it is 1 letter domain name or not. New gTLDs are all about meaning.
Just imo

 

[bmugford]

I agree. It is hard to consider most single letter new gTLD domains that unique when there are thousands of them.

Single letter domain, z.cashbackbonus

Brad

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Just wondering what everyone thought of single letter New gTLDs ,

I have noticed that many single letters are currently available in extensions such as .Recipes .Florist and a few others. Would these be considered to be gems and if so how can so many of them be available to hand register now.

IMO

I would say it depends on the letter and extension. For example I is a great letter with many extensions, and it was not surprising that $10,000 was offered for it with .rent TLD in the NamesCon auction (although refused as insufficient by seller). I would say most other letters would have far less value with that TLD.

Some other extensions, like xyz or company or solutions, probably have many single letters with high value (if they allow 1L). With just 26 1L possibilities they of course have scarcity going for them.

Bob

 

[Ntmt]

There are slow ngTLD extensions which just do not sell. I read at some investor's blog that he dropped all his .photo since photographers are not willing to pay money for domain.

We should consider trends in registrations ammount in given ngTLD and I like reports from here:
https://www.jovenet.consulting/new-gtld-reports

I suspect that descriptive keywords work better than brandable words combos and hacks in ngTLD nowadays. So I whould not invest in brandables in ngTLD but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[oldtimer]

Below is a list of some of the single letter gTLDs that I found to be available when I checked about a week ago, it might not be a complete list and it’s only posted here for discussion and not to encourage or discourage anyone from registering them ( they ranged from $77 to a little over $400 at Epik).

Although most of these prices sound very reasonable for a single letter domain, but in general were a little out of the range that I wanted to spend on New gTLDs and so I ended up registering this instead:

SmartHome.ForSale


Single letter New gTLDs (double check all spellings):

d- Florist
d- Christmas
g- Careers
g- Florist
g- Recipes
g- Cheap
g- Exposed
g- Center
h- Center
h- Florist
h- Recipes
h- Cheap
h- Exposed
L- Pics
L- Center
L- Florist
L- Recipes
L-Exposed
L- Photo
j- Center
j- Builders
j- Recipes
j- Exposed
k- Center
k- Florist
k- Recipes
k- Cheap
k- Exposed
k- Pics
m- Florist
m- Recipes
n- Gripe
n- Recipes
n- Singles
n- Exposed
n- Gift
n- Pics
n- Christmas
o- Center
o- Careers
o- Florist
o- Recipes
o- Singles
o- Christmas
r- Center
r- Florist
r- Singles
r- Cheap
r- Gifts
r- Exposed
r- Pics
r- Christmas
p- Builders
p- Florist
p- Recipes
p- Singles
p- Exposed
p- Gift
p- Pics
q- Gripe
q- Careers
q- Florist
q- Recipes
q- Cheap
q- Exposed
t- Gripe
t- Recipes
t- Cheap
t- Exposed
t- Pics
s- Florist
s- Singles
s- Pics
s- Christmas
u- Florist
u- Recipes
u- Graphics
u- Christmas
w- Florist
w- Exposed
w- Pics
y- Builders
y- Careers
y- Florist
y- Recipes
y- Singles
y- Exposed
z- Florist
z- Recipes
z- Singles
z- Cheap
z- Exposed
z- Christmas

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for the great list @oldtimer

There are in addition some single letters available in the .care extension.
C, H, L, P, Q, S, Y, Z at registry premium wholesale to registrar of $400
O is at $3000 wholesale
R, X at $4000 wholesale

The same prices apply in later years, so very tough to make investor math work imo. If I was considering one it would be q for quality.

Bob

Ps also some in .best, all at $799 wholesale. H, L, M, Q, T, V available

 

[oldtimer]

The same prices apply in later years, so very tough to make investor math work imo.

Bob

I don't currently have any single letter domains, but for those who operate at higher levels and can justify paying the extra cost (not only for registration, but also for future renewals) there might still be a few good choices available to consider, although most of the best ones are already either reserved or taken a long time ago and are probably at much higher prices by now and for this reason I believe I am going to stick to regular keyword domains for now. Off course if the second round of New gTLDs ever comes around and they offer some good single letter domains for low prices I don't mind getting a few, but I doubt that that ever is going to happen because the registries by then have gotten a lot of experience and probably won't be releasing any of the good ones for cheap anyway although it doesn't hurt to be hopeful and wait for a miracle.

Also as I said before there might be some that are not listed here, so you might need to do your own search to see all of them.

IMO

 

[HotKey]

Best way to describe a "gem" of a name, is a domain that is highly valued, but not readily discovered. Domains that have flown under the radar, overlooked maybe, and then made suddenly available can be described as gems. When you're talking about gems vs fake gold, I think a better way to to put it is gold vs fool's gold. Because that's where it can take a keen eye to differentiate between the two.

Classic examples would be taking singular words and then adding an "s" and making them plural, or vice-versa, hence totally screwing up the pairing with the extension. Another example would be exactly like pointed out, single-characters. Mostly, these are pointless with new gTLDs. What is the point? To shorten the the domain name? When you have an extension longer than 3 characters, it loses its shortness anyways. Plus it looks ridiculous. gTLDs are for the most part meant to be descriptive and accurate, you want a good pairing. There are a few exceptions where single-characters work good with the new G's, but let's not give everything away here..

The rules we are used to for .com, .org etc vs new G's whether it's single-characters or gems or fake gold are not totally the same. Rarity for one thing. Any Joe blow can go and hand-register a single character new G. Good luck with that with traditional extensions, or good luck even getting a single character EVER on the aftermarket. It is RARE for its attainability. Single characters on the .net, .com or .or or even ccTLDs look awesome too. But they don't have the same oomph with new Gs. They don't have the same staying power.

I find it hilarious registries put premium pricing on something like s.house

Other examples of fake vs real, is looking at huge words such as hotels, cars, houses and crypto and pairing them with an extension just because it is available, rather because it makes sense. Houses.agency is no where in the same league as Houses.forsale- even though imo the .forsale extension itself is kind of horrid.

Twist the wording around a bit, and you have can something that works in multiple extensions: Home.Agency and Home.Forsale. Now, what about fake vs real gold? This is where Lolwarrior is getting to the nitty gritty. It can come down to a matter of personal taste, but I'm seeing gold in the .forsale name here. Why? Another reason is fees. A real gem of a name doesn't have a premium renewal fee attached to it.

Where we had "blanket" scenarios with the legacy extensions, eg words that work across the board, I think the new gTLDs needs a different lens and you have take into consideration every name by its own.

 

[Internet.Domains]

I registered some single letter NewG's when the program started. I was able to sell some in the early days for profit. Since then I have dropped the others within the last few years as the inquiries went cold. That's my experience. We all have a different journey. Enjoy yours!

 

[oldtimer]

It's obvious that the New gTLDs are a whole new ball game and the old mindset and mentality of the legacy extensions might not work when trying to decide what is good as a domain name in New gTLDs and for this reason I have lately been thinking of a whole new angle when it comes to all the New gTLDs that perhaps might be considered fools gold or fake domains.

We all have heard of Matter and Antimatter, but is there such thing as Domain and Antidomain when it comes to the New gTLDs

We all know that if the left of the dot and right of the dot are perfect match for each other that that can make for a good name, but what about the exact opposite when the left of the dot and the right of the dot have absolutely zero correlation like for example "Mortgage . Recipes" , would such a domain ever rank for the keyword Mortgage and if someone owns a thousand of this kind of domains for the most popular and highest paying keywords would that be a viable strategy for ranking on the search engines, I don't think any one is willing to register a 1000 of this kind of Antidomains and since we are thinking with a whole new mindset here when it comes to New gTLDs makes me wonder if there is some potentials for the fake or fools gold domains here after all which I like to coin as Antidomains.

Supposedly Google is not considering the extension when it comes to ranking so logically "Mortgage . Recipes" has an equal chance to rank for the keyword Mortgage.

Disclaimer: I am not recommending for anyone to register any of these Antidomains, but theoretically it's something that I have been thinking about.

IMO

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Antidomains is an interesting idea sort of like an oxymoron word. I am not sure if I would try any, but as a thought exercise like the idea. Like worst.best, agony.fun, many.one, etc. One along these lines I like is problems.solutions, not exactly anti but a related progression.
Bob

 

[oldtimer]

Antidomains is an interesting idea sort of like an oxymoron word. I am not sure if I would try any, but as a thought exercise like the idea. Like worst.best, agony.fun, many.one, etc. One along these lines I like is problems.solutions, not exactly anti but a related progression.
Bob

Bob those domains all sound kind of nice, you might want to register them before someone else grabs them.

Just kidding of course (although I have to do a little more analysis about this, now maybe I have discovered a whole new category of New gTLDs. )

I should have kept the Antidomains a secret, now the registry is going to make all of them premium domains.

IMO

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Actually I just checked problems.solutions but it is taken. After buying some .ca lately not allowing myself buy anything new until I sell something. I am going to try to find something like problems.solutions that is available when I do have some cash. Thanks for triggering idea.
Bob

 

[oldtimer]

Actually I just checked problems.solutions but it is taken. After buying some .ca lately not allowing myself buy anything new until I sell something. I am going to try to find something like problems.solutions that is available when I do have some cash. Thanks for triggering idea.
Bob

You might want to check some of the top keywords with totally unrelated extensions to see if they are already taken (good subject for one of your blogs maybe).

Again this is just a thought experiment and so I am not recommending to anyone to start registering a bunch of Antidomains at this time (I might register a couple of them myself later on just to test them out).

IMO

 

[oldtimer]

On the subject of fools gold what do you guys think of adding prefixes such as "My", "Your", "The" to some of the popular domains that are considered to be real gold, does that turn them into fake gold or maybe gold plated that still has some uses and potentials.

For example we all know that a domain like "Healthcare .center" is good, but what about "YourHealthcare .center" which I just registered recently, did I waste $5 on fools gold or would you consider that to be a good deal.

I also have:

"YourMortgage .center"

and

"YourInsurance . center"

considering that the renewals for .center are very low and I got these when they were on sale for a few dollars would you consider these to be fake gold or gold plated (or maybe real gold).

 

[Reddstagg]

Thanks. So, in theory, if the names you mentioned were free to register now, and with renewal of $10 / year, you would think of them as gems . And I definitely agree with that

But would that change, if the renewals were not $10, but let's say $1000 / year? Or maybe 50 000 / year? Would they still be a gems from domain investor's point of view under such circumanstances? And is there a way how to quantify that?

Good afternoon,

In lieu of any scientific facts I would suggest that if the the initial registration costs were higher then the expected value of the domains would increase too, although it would be hard to guesstimate by what factor.

There is a new breed of end users emerging from the .com embers and we are continually seeing the sales of non .coms rising in value. This is not speculation. This is proven by facts...i.e the amounts of money that people are paying for non .coms. That, for the non-believers is a FACT.

 

[Brands.International]

On the subject of fools gold what do you guys think of adding prefixes such as "My", "Your", "The" to some of the popular domains that are considered to be real gold, does that turn them into fake gold or maybe gold plated that still has some uses and potentials.

For example we all know that a domain like "Healthcare .center" is good, but what about "YourHealthcare .center" which I just registered recently, did I waste $5 on fools gold or would you consider that to be a good deal.

I also have:

"YourMortgage .center"

and

"YourInsurance . center"

considering that the renewals for .center are very low and I got these when they were on sale for a few dollars would you consider these to be fake gold or gold plated (or maybe real gold).

Personally I think it will not work so well. I have tested it myself extensively with dozens of domain names, and it is simply too soon for "the", "my", "your" prefixes to be really profitable.

Maybe in 10-20 years when all great domain names will be distributed, some people will need to opt for prefixed domain names, but at the moment end users can still get good combos for 5k-10k, which is bargain, so they do not need to go for prefixed domain names. IMO

 

[Brands.International]

You might want to check some of the top keywords with totally unrelated extensions to see if they are already taken (good subject for one of your blogs maybe).

Again this is just a thought experiment and so I am not recommending to anyone to start registering a bunch of Antidomains at this time (I might register a couple of them myself later on just to test them out).

IMO

I like the name "antidomains"...this type of domain I named in some previous articles "pizza / diamond" type of domain names, but I like your new naming a lot better

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I view pizza/diamond as not so much an antidomain but rather an unrelated across the dot. As you stressed in your writing years ago, most of these have no value (despite GoValue not realizing that!).

I think the market for antidomains will be almost entirely a few small creative agencies and a new type of marketing. A contrast helps make a domain name memorable. Thanks again for introducing the name @oldtimer.

Re adding things like My, having tracked new gTLD sales, or at least those on NameBio, for a few years, it seems to me unlikely these will have much traction in the next 2-3 years. Possibly long term they would, and if the renewal cost was minimal, I might consider a small number of very good phrases. But as of now, almost all new gTLD sales are word.word with a good match or acronym.TLD. Yes, a few 2 word and brandable names, but very few. yet. My view is similar to @Brands.International on this.

Bob

 

[Brands.International]

I view pizza/diamond as not so much an antidomain but rather an unrelated across the dot. As you stressed in your writing years ago, most of these have no value (despite GoValue not realizing that!).

I think the market for antidomains will be almost entirely a few small creative agencies and a new type of marketing. A contrast helps make a domain name memorable. Thanks again for introducing the name @oldtimer.

Re adding things like My, having tracked new gTLD sales, or at least those on NameBio, for a few years, it seems to me unlikely these will have much traction in the next 2-3 years. Possibly long term they would, and if the renewal cost was minimal, I might consider a small number of very good phrases. But as of now, almost all new gTLD sales are word.word with a good match or acronym.TLD. Yes, a few 2 word and brandable names, but very few. yet. My view is similar to @Brands.International on this.

Bob

Oh, I get it now more clearly, so pizza/diamond domains are unrelated accros the dot, but antidomain is something where 2 words are semantically opposites, something like expensive.cheap or old.new

Saying that, I do not think @oldtimer antidomains are a way to go as well. I believe strong simple combos like green / earth or blue / world are the clear winners, in terms of future funancial profitability. It is funny though, although people are often saying "so many new gTLDs and possibilities", only few good combos are actually available in majority of extension.

I was thinking about it recently, and let's say we have maybe 700 extensions now - and let's say we have 10 very good combos per extension (if I exclude few very broad extensions like .xyz or .online) - so it is only 7000 combos for all new gTLDs, which is not that much at all...