discuss Is the enduser market for .com brandables dying?

[hookbox]

The market for top notch .com brandables will always be good but I'm not talking about top notch brandables. Second and third tier names that typically sell in the $1,000-$2,500 range are the ones I am referring to. The names on the "Big Three" brandable marketplaces have what I would consider second and third tier names. These are the group of names that most of us own in large quantities. The made up 5,6,7 letter name or the two word combo are what I'm talking about.

Every day I see more and more startups using .co, .io, .me etc........With the widespread adoption of alternative extensions, I believe, it is causing the market for second and third tier names to slowly die. It seems like many startups are choosing to go with other extensions to not only save a couple thousand dollars but also to get a much better name because the quality of unregistered domains in alternative extensions is so much better. Every time a startup chooses another extension it's another nail in the coffin for the brandable market.

What are your thoughts?

 

[headsupp]

The new gtlds must be adding pressure to the lower end domains.

 

[Mr. Meeseeks]

I / my company develops web presences. I've only recently entered the domain investment market due to the high volume of domains I have backlogged for development. I can tell you as a developer, .com(s) is still the preferred extension for developing a web presence; especially a global brand. Even for "3rd tier" as you have describe.

This is due to how Google and web browsers prefer .com(s). I can say that if those start ups that you speak of are successful, they will more than likely pick up the .com for their brand as well and forward the traffic.

 

[boker]

I don't think that the new gtld's can pressure to much the brandable market. The sales are still weak and even without the sales, you don't have to many names in each new gtld that go perfect together...the new tld's are more niche brandables then general brandables. Always, brandables were a long term investment and they sell on average 3-4 for every 100 on the market, the only difference is that lately the chips are hot stuff, every domainer investing in them and they don't have any cash for brandables, but the end user market is the same. I don't really have enough time to check, but if somebody has a list with brandable sales over 1k from each month in the last years, it could be useful.

 

[Fancy.domains]

Hello,

When 80% (?) of domainers mostly care about all these Chinese lucky characters, we will see a lower demand for ALL other names and keywords, including brandables. Ok, brandables are mostly intended for start-ups and companies, but still the majority of aftermarket domains are bought by other domainers.

Also .IO and new gTLDs etc. will have some impact.

 

[Billy Wagner]

I / my company develops web presences. I've only recently entered the domain investment market due to the high volume of domains I have backlogged for development. I can tell you as a developer, .com(s) is still the preferred extension for developing a web presence; especially a global brand. Even for "3rd tier" as you have describe.

This is due to how Google and web browsers prefer .com(s). I can say that if those start ups that you speak of are successful, they will more than likely pick up the .com for their brand as well and forward the traffic.

I completely agree. I also feel that for a global brand, .com is more recognized. There's still a lot of educating the public that needs to happen for the new extensions to become as mainstream as .com, .net, or .org, and even then, nothing will ever be as well know as "blah blah blah" .com. The new extensions are great, but for companies that plan on growing as large as Nike, Addidas, Google, ect ect .com is a must.

 

[disaac81]

New startups are still using dot coms, very few as a percentage take to another gtld. If the dot com is available they will get it at a reasonable cost, rather than appearing as second best down the line.

 

[Kate]

I always track reported sales using public sources like DNJ, and it doesn't look like the market has crashed, in spite of the new extensions. Of course, most sales are unreported, and the reported sales are not representative. But the action is still taking place in the mainstream extensions. The new gTLDs sales are more anecdotal, especially when the seller is always the registry.
Some startup are also setting up business on a .io or a .whatever, thus they 'stand out' from the rest but they are not representative either.

 

[hookbox]

I'm not really referring to the new gtlds because that is not the brandable markets competition. I'm mainly talking about .co, .io and .me. I deal mainly in startup type brandables and have watched many companies register a .co or .io instead of buying the .com. The more startups use these extensions the more credibility the extensions get.

 

[DNGear]

Then we should buy some top tier brandables in .co and .io.

 

[Fancy.domains]

I'm not really referring to the new gtlds because that is not the brandable markets competition. I'm mainly talking about .co, .io and .me. I deal mainly in startup type brandables and have watched many companies register a .co or .io instead of buying the .com. The more startups use these extensions the more credibility the extensions get.

I guess you are right, but still I've sold some new gTLDs to startups and developing existing businesses. But now we're talking perfect keyword - extension matches, which combined equals the company's name.

 

[boker]

I'm not really referring to the new gtlds because that is not the brandable markets competition. I'm mainly talking about .co, .io and .me. I deal mainly in startup type brandables and have watched many companies register a .co or .io instead of buying the .com. The more startups use these extensions the more credibility the extensions get.

I think that everybody who deals with brandables, has also some co, me and io in the bucket. I have something like simba, popeye, izzi, idda, epix , khloe and others in .co

 

[urlurl]

i wouldnt say it is slowing down as much as the competition is heating up.

I had a good number of sales on brandbucket in the past... but know with with the 10 of thousands of names listed there - a lot of my names are just lost in the shuffle.

the new extensions have also taken a chunk out of the potential buyers who are looking for a cheaper alternative... myself for any start up i would do it needs to be .com. i would only buy an alternative extension to support/compliment the .com. example *****club.com, i would also get *****.club

 

[Doron Vermaat]

I've been keeping track of and writing about newly funded startups and their domain names for almost 12 months now and the percentage of startups that choose a .com is very steady at 75%. The number of startups choosing a .io or .co has actually been declining this quarter. When you start looking at more mature startups that go on to raise a significant B round of funding the percentage that uses a .com domain shoots up even more because most startups go on to upgrade from a .io or co to a .com. When you look at the 100 or so called "unicorn" startups (that are valued at 1 billion USD or more) you will see that the percentage of .com use is close to 95%.

When a startup launches on the .io, .me or .co version of your domain you should generally be happy because chances are high they will come knocking on your door for the .com version one day if they go on to be successful.

 

[garptrader]

I have seen a dropoff in .COM sales since the launch of new TLDs. I believe this is a combination of two factors:

1) most domain sales are between domainers so with so many domainers focused on the latest new TLD launch over the last two years, they are spending thousands on new TLDs and have less money to spend on aftermarket .COMs. Of course since most domain sales are between domainers, who is going to buy all those new TLD registrations (more than ten million) when renewals come around over the next few years? Try selling a list of .Info or .Biz domains on Namepros and see the response.

2) registrars such as Godaddy are aggressively promoting new TLDs over the "premium listings" i.e. If you had a two-word .COM brandable but someone just types in the first word, Godaddy used to show a number of .COM premium listing alternatives with that keyword. Sometimes that exposure would translate into a premium listing sale. Now Godaddy just shows a list of twenty nTLDs with that keyword. Your domain only appears if the user searches for the exact two-word combo.

 

[hookbox]

I've been keeping track of and writing about newly funded startups and their domain names for almost 12 months now and the percentage of startups that choose a .com is very steady at 75%. The number of startups choosing a .io or .co has actually been declining this quarter. When you start looking at more mature startups that go on to raise a significant B round of funding the percentage that uses a .com domain shoots up even more because most startups go on to upgrade from a .io or co to a .com. When you look at the 100 or so called "unicorn" startups (that are valued at 1 billion USD or more) you will see that the percentage of .com use is close to 95%.

When a startup launches on the .io, .me or .co version of your domain you should generally be happy because chances are high they will come knocking on your door for the .com version one day if they go on to be successful.

You can't base what startups are choosing as an extension solely off only newly funded startup stats. It may be that 75% of startups that get funded use a .com but what about the thousands of other companies that don't get funded because they are using an alternate extension.

I'm not happy at all when a company uses an alternate extension of my domain because more startups fail then succeed and when they do fail I'm now left with a brand I can't sell because it's already been used by someone else. Chances are not high they will come knocking. Chances are actually slim to none.

 

[Templr]

With the adoption of premium not com being used, I see a drop in large com sales.


With more exposure clients are becoming more educated that most premium
com
domains are hugely overpriced.

 

[Silentptnr]

I've personally asked about 15 ordinary people (not domainers, just regular business people) what they think about all the new domain name extensions. Most of them don't even know anything about them. Some responded that they only really know about .com. When I explained about domain name extensions and the new gtlds, a couple thought it was silly.

Most ordinary people know nothing about gtlds. Most think everthing is .com, .net and .org.

The internet still has alot of growing to do.

 

[Matrix1976]

Most people don't even understand what a domain really is...forget about gTLDs...it's like speaking Chinese to an English cat. You only get 'the stare'...

 

[Silentptnr]

Exactly

 

[hookbox]

I am not talking about normal consumers. I understand that most consumers are clueless but that's not who I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who are creating a new startup who do understand the internet and domain names and choose an extension other than .com.

 

[Silentptnr]

If they do that (go with a gtld), they also do not fully understand the internet and domain names. The whole problem I see for startups and other businesses choosing alternative extensions is that they will ultimately want the .com.....period. In the past, bigger businesses would register .com, .net, and .org. Most still do today. I truely believe that every business using a gtld, will ultimately want the .com. I'm sure every day, those businesses wish they had the .com. Not to mention the SEO issues.

 

[RU]

I don't believe in brandables and Chips

 

[headsupp]

The demographics of funded companies are tech related. I find it hard to believe these newly funded tech savy companies do not know about gtlds

 

[Silentptnr]

All I mean't was that, the more they know, the more they must wish they had the .com . Startups need their capital for expansion, marketing and other expenditures. They usually later pay premium to upgrade to .com.