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?

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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'...

 

[golan]

People / businesses / startups who have a clue, even if they go with some fancy marketing ideas with .io, .us etc etc, will ALWAYS secure their .com for themselves. Serious people think into future. If you can't secure your .com, you don't start the business by this name. Period.

 

[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.

 

[S-B]

I see demand increasing for 1-2 word brandables.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Kate]

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.
...

I think this is a very important statement.

My theory is that the domainer market crashed because of new extensions. I would say around 2008, when the financial crisis struck. But 2008 also witnessed the crash of .mobi, a much-hyped extension in which some domainers have lost 6 figures.
There have been more extensions released afterward, roughly one every year: .tel .xxx .me .co .asia etc that are more or less all toxic, and now we have a cornucopia of new extensions that likely don't have a bright future.
Domainers have wasted a lot of money on new extensions. They have been distracted. They now buy from the registries/registrars, that are in fact the new domainers, whereas they used to trade among themselves. Ten years ago, the D2D market was livelier.

Fortunately, the end user market still exists. Buy wisely, and you'll make sales.
Brandables will always be in demand because businesses like to differentiate themselves from the competition and the key is getting domain names that are somewhat unique.

 

[NameOmnia]

I think it is a combinations of different factors.

First of all I do not think that brandable market and sales are slowing down, especially if we are talking about .com which is where serious business always end up to ( see f.e. delicio.us that had to buy the .com and become delicious.com because their users couldn't get the other one... )

I also think that way too many names on BB ( I do not even consider the other 2 ) are actually 7th 8th 9th tier domains that simply contribute to bury the decent/good ones. Their inventory has become too big.
You can find better brandables for sale on Ebay than on BB.

Domainers have less money. People have spent a lot on names that do not sell therefore there is no portfolio turnover. If, in 100 sales, 95 happen among domainers we shouldn't be surprised to see an apparent decline.
Reality is that without sales to other domainers many of us would be out of business and only those who have top premium names that REALLY sell to end users could survive.
If I look at my sales, having only worked with brandables and short names, I have had some very nice end user sales but I am honest in saying that they wouldn't have been enough to keep me going if I didn't have all the other "among domainers " sales.

Real 2nd tier domains ( but maybe we should be more clear about what we mean by this ) will sell I believe but maybe the problem is that people tend to have a very broad idea of what a brandable name is and end up calling "brandable" anything under the sun and more.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

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 believe looking at newly funded startups is a very good indicator. Companies that don't have VC backing are usually non-tech focused and I expect the percentage of .Com use to be even higher in that group. I don't see the local florist or regional law firm going for a .io or .me domain that often. They tend to stick with .com or a .net

Also, companies don't get funded based on the choice of extension of their domain name. The amount of money raised by companies that use a .Co or .Io domain is massive.

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[BrandClub.com]

People / businesses / startups who have a clue, even if they go with some fancy marketing ideas with .io, .us etc etc, will ALWAYS secure their .com for themselves. Serious people think into future. If you can't secure your .com, you don't start the business by this name. Period.

Absolutely true ...

 

[garptrader]

Last night my wife was watching a movie on the laptop while I saw a football game on TV (sound off). During a break, a Godaddy commercial comes on advertising...

Get your .COM domain for $2.99 for the first year.

Price expectations get set very low by Godaddy so small business end users have sticker shock when they are presented with actually having to pay one thousand times that for the .COM domain they want. Of course even aftermarket NTLDS are typically being priced much higher than $2.99.

 

[headsupp]

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[DNGear]

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

 

[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