new gtlds Most selling new TLD in Aftermarket is .TOP

[News]

Just about four years ago, .TOP was made available for registration by ICANN and as of Feb 2019, this new TLD has clocked over $7.2 Million in aftermarket sales, a staggering 200% more than .Club that stands at $2.4 Million as per the latest data on NameBio.

.TOP is the second most registered new gTLD ever. It has been enthusiastically adopted by small and large companies establishing themselves as a top brand in their industry including the likes of Amazon, Apple, Chanel, Google, Lego, Yahoo and more, who all have their brands registered in .TOP ...

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[bmugford]

Those numbers are really skewed by (81) 1 & 2 character sales.

While they made up only 4% of the total sales, they accounted for more than 58% of the total dollar volume.

Brad

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Exactly - so it makes me laugh when someone could imagine competing with .com without Godaddy.

Most of the .top registrations are done for scams in majoriry and it reminds me the story of the .tk.

We all know what happened to the .tk : From the Top to the Bottom - Blacklisted by Google !

End of the game.

While I like that you are active on here @Cyril.Best , and wish we had other registry CEOs, I think you should be cautious on your statements. Yes, .top has had an abuse problem but I am pretty sure your statement about "scams in majority" is not accurate. If you go to evidence, something you remind us, correctly, to do, the experts in abuse (Spamhaus) currently have .top at a score of 1.93 (it has been much higher at times of past year) which is slightly better than both .info and .us and is much better than .biz for example. Will it go up again? Perhaps (although .xyz was high at one point but has been much better than .com consistently for last two years). Comparing it to an extension which was given away and often was on the top of the worst TLD list is simply unfair in my humble opinion.

Bob

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for your detailed (and interesting) reply @Cyril.Best but my message was not about registrations (for .top and others they go up and down with discounting) or even to argue about the merits, or otherwise, of .top. It was rather to point out that you made statements about abuse in.top that were, in my opinion, not based on evidence (or worse contrary to evidence). I like .best a lot, but that is not the question, or even whether it is better or worse than .top.

I love that you are active here, and totally accept your enthusiasm for .best as something positive. What I don't like is when you venture into generalizations attacking other extensions that are not, in my opinion, supported by fact (actually I don't think they are wise for your company even if supported by evidence but particularly when not).

My goal in all things domains is to be open, fair and balanced. I am sure I fall short of that at times, as we all do. I know some prefer a more advocacy role, and that is their right, but all NPs users also have the right to read content that is accurate.

Bob

 

[Fancy.domains]

I think this list from Namebio says it all:

https://namebio.com/?s==UzNyAzN3AjM

Obviously a lot of Chinese words, with English transcription. But also a lot of short English words. Ten examples of sales in 2019:

- Smartphone.top: $121
- Perfume.top: $821
- Miracle.top: $897
- Marketing.top: $915
- Humanity.top: $887
- Madrid.top: $884
- Barcelona.top: $884
- Tumeric.top: $676
- Event.top: $6672
- Amino.top: $736

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Not much new or in depth in the article but it does draw attention to the fact that month after month .top leads (or very near top) the ngTLDs in sales volume and number of sales, and often places several of the top few sales of month.

As has been noted the registration base is more China focussed than any other extension by far (well I guess .cn would be more). This means NameBio is probably missing many sales.

I was about to point out that a number of English words do sell, but @Fancy.domains has nicely provided evidence.

The fact that Afternic do not handle the extension (at least now, surely with setting up a Chinese office they would reconsider? I have no insider information just speculating) skews Western sales prospects.

The names I have held personally, a few of which were decent, never get any offers and I only sold one for a trivial amount. I have let many of mine drop, but each month when I do stats I am impressed by how strong the market seems to be.

It is true as @bmugford points out that the sales volume in the extension has been strongly skewed by major registry sales of 2 and 3 character names. Although really, even in well developed extensions like .com in the last year 0.1% of sales accounted for 27% of the total volume in .com. Nevertheless I predict we will see a modest decrease in coming year in .top just because so many of the short premiums have now gone to end users or long term investors.

I also find the extension unusual in that the number of meaningful websites in it is much lower than for example xyz or online or club or many others. It seems to me a higher percentage are being held as investments, perhaps. It also has way worse abuse characteristics than most of the other major ngTLD extensions, another negative.

I did have a look at the NameBio data for under $100 sales in the past year. There were 138, probably a reasonable number, but mainly at low values. Most were at Dynadot. I suspect some off the registrar marketplaces that don't report also have many sales. Only 7 of the 138 were above even $25 though.

The extension perplexes me somewhat.

Bob

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

This is because GoDaddy doesn't provide .TOP registrations.
So unknown TLD in North America since the beginning.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Those sales are mostly to Chinese buyers.
Aftermarket demand outside CN is very weak...
+ Registry can't sell good English premiums even at mid $xxx.

 

[Brands.International]

Those sales are mostly to Chinese buyers.
Aftermarket demand outside CN is very weak...
+ Registry can't sell good English premiums even at mid $xxx.

Hmm, but dollars from Chinese buyers are the same as dollars from any other buyers, imo.

I think many investors from EU/US missed a train on this one a little, and I am unfortunatelly one of them
(I have 0 .top domain names, and I remember there were nice opportunities, oh well)

@DOMAIN ILLUMINATI that seems like great news for your investments

 

[Fancy.domains]

I'm shocked that there's even been 10 sales.

According to Namebio, .top is currently selling equal to (or even a little better than) .info.

 

[Cyril.Best]

While I like that you are active on here @Cyril.Best , and wish we had other registry CEOs, I think you should be cautious on your statements. Yes, .top has had an abuse problem but I am pretty sure your statement about "scams in majority" is not accurate. If you go to evidence, something you remind us, correctly, to do, the experts in abuse (Spamhaus) currently have .top at a score of 1.93 (it has been much higher at times of past year) which is slightly better than both .info and .us and is much better than .biz for example. Will it go up again? Perhaps (although .xyz was high at one point but has been much better than .com consistently for last two years). Comparing it to an extension which was given away and often was on the top of the worst TLD list is simply unfair in my humble opinion.

Bob

Hi Bob, Thanks for moderation - I agree - it was probably too pushy from my part to compare with the .tk.

But here are the stats :

March 2017 : 4.5M Domains
March 2018 : 1.8M Domains

Where do you think this domains gone ?

As for .xyz, I know that they took radical decisions to also avoid and try to eradicate this problem.

One big difference between myself and the majority of domainers is that I spent the last 5 years to discuss in details with all existing registry owners coz I was trying to buy one.

So trust me, I am probably one of the few that know exactly the dark side of the registry part.

And I am really honest on this. For instance, I really like the .club - I think the .club string is strong and they have a good strategy on the long term too.

But I think we are entering a new era in the ngtlds, most of them are simply dying because their string have no value for the users or simply no potential usage.

So when I hear generic registries trying to convince domainers that their TLD will replace the .com - I cry of laugh.

And it's a guy that just put all is money in to enter the party that say it.

But I am 100% honest on this even with the .best : .Best will never replace the .com (simply because .best is not competing with .com - it's a different usage)

Difference is : the usage !

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

.top doesn't need GoDaddy but it looks like GoDaddy needs .top because they have registered

godaddy.top

and use it actively as forwarderrr

I assume they (GoDaddy) simply fear a loss of their .com - business if they would offer it.
Or there are political reasons (.top CN / .com USA).

But anyway, I don't need GoDaddy as well, I prefer registrars that go with the timeee
Because not offering the world's #1 new TLD is like sleeping but I am sure they will wake up and then they will offer .top as well and then they will probably make more money with .top than with .commm

 

[Cyril.Best]

.top doesn't need GoDaddy but it looks like GoDaddy needs .top because they have registered

godaddy.top

and use it actively as forwarderrr

I assume they (GoDaddy) simply fear a loss of their .com - business if they would offer it.
Or there are political reasons (.top CN / .com USA).

But anyway, I don't need GoDaddy as well, I prefer registrars that go with the timeee
Because not offering the world's #1 new TLD is like sleeping but I am sure they will wake up and then they will offer .top as well and then they will probably make more money with .top than with .commm

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh : This time you killed me my friend - of laugh - literally ! I just hope Godaddy will read your quote one day. I will forward this to Tommy.

You are a sponsor of the .top - no problem with that, everybody is free to have its own business certitudes but in this business : Every single TLD needs godaddy !

Plus trust me, I know them pretty well, they don't fear anybody in this game simply coz they have one important asset better than any registry : They have the customers - I mean real customers !

I am not the advocate of godaddy but when you say that :

".top doesn't need GoDaddy but it looks like GoDaddy needs .top"

or

"Godaddy simply fear a loss of their .com - business if they would offer it"

It shows how completly out of the market you are.

Plus, you should learn that godaddy has registered all its trademark on all tlds. not only the .top

Its not to use it, it's to avoid any single bad guy to use it. It's protection !

See : godaddy.best, godaddy.online, ... those have a real forwarding usage.

All the .Best

CF

 

[barman]

I'm shocked that there's even been 10 sales.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Geos and such singulars are Premiums in .TOP in 95% of cases, then standard renewal...
Domainers don't earn anythnig with those names.

 

[Fancy.domains]

Geos and such singulars are Premiums in .TOP in 95% of cases, then standard renewal...
Domainers don't earn anythnig with those names.

Also a very important factor!

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

And Yes, .info aftermarket since 2015 degraded significantly...
The same silence as with standard .TOPs...

 

[Cyril.Best]

.Top Number of Registrations :

March 2017 : 4.5M Domains
March 2018 : 1.8M Domains

From the .Top to the Bottom : Totally Collapsing !

Honestly, I would not be the Domainers that bought this 3M .Top domains for nothing !

For the ones that don't know, the market in China is so totally collapsing that many ngtlds in China has decided to pay and invest for the renewals of their own domains !

Since 3 years for instance Daniel (.xyz) is supporting the renewals in China putting +$10M in the renewals to help west face the renewal of the .xyz in China : https://news.west.cn/5766.html

I spoke with .club recently and he confirm me that the chinese market was also down on their own.

Now .top is back to +3.8M Live domains.

So, Betting on the .TOP seems like the Russian Mountains - Well the Russian Roulette i would say.

But the killer stat is this : According to namestat, there is actually +3.8M .Top live domains registered BUT ONLY 80K Domains registered in the United States !

My friends, I say it clearly for the ones that did not get it :

"80K Domains ONLY registered in the United States in 4 years (since Jan 2015 !) "

And you want to make it a serious competitor of the .com ? Seriously ?

Now You get it : Run fast and far away before it goes "again" to the .Bottom !

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

[...] End of the game.

HAHAAHAAA

It's not the end of the game (?), its the beginninggg
And regarding the number of registrations: It's an up / down as @Bob Hawkes implied above, there will always be fluctuationnn
Time works like a filter, the "good" domain names will stayyy

.top is / does (way) better than .best and will do better than .commm

 

[Kate]

One thing to keep in mind is that China is not a natural market.
Only approved extensions can be hosted within China. That's why they use China-based extensions like .top or .ren or .vip. But outside China proper the market is virtually nil.

 

[Cyril.Best]

Thanks for your detailed (and interesting) reply @Cyril.Best but my message was not about registrations (for .top and others they go up and down with discounting) or even to argue about the merits, or otherwise, of .top. It was rather to point out that you made statements about abuse in.top that were, in my opinion, not based on evidence (or worse contrary to evidence). I like .best a lot, but that is not the question, or even whether it is better or worse than .top.

I love that you are active here, and totally accept your enthusiasm for .best as something positive. What I don't like is when you venture into generalizations attacking other extensions that are not, in my opinion, supported by fact (actually I don't think they are wise for your company even if supported by evidence but particularly when not).

My goal in all things domains is to be open, fair and balanced. I am sure I fall short of that at times, as we all do. I know some prefer a more advocacy role, and that is their right, but all NPs users also have the right to read content that is accurate.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your comments and explanations.

And I am glad that you make the balance coz my goal is not to attack other extensions.

My goal is just to give to the community a real and objective overview of what is really this market from now on a registry side coz I think this is also important for domainers in their buying decisions.

Not just for .best, or .top or whatever other tld but in general.

My arguments are only based on data (not my datas) but external datas from the experts :

See by yourlself the phising activity trends report & comments for Q3 2018 from APWG :

And this what was already the situation that I described in 2016 :

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

Unfortunately, there will always be scammers and spammersss
But their bad activities will never have real futureee
We should always stay focused on the advantages of the world wide web and one of them is that criminals get sorted out by web security systems.

I can proudly say that all my .top domain names are absolutely clean and of highest qualityyy

Another good news is, that .top is not listed in SPAMHAUS's list of the most abused TLDs.

Visit spamhaus.org/statistics/tlds to seee

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh : This time you killed me my friend - of laugh - literally ! I just hope Godaddy will read your quote one day. I will forward this to Tommy.

You are a sponsor of the .top - no problem with that, everybody is free to have its own business certitudes but in this business : Every single TLD needs godaddy !

Plus trust me, I know them pretty well, they don't fear anybody in this game simply coz they have one important asset better than any registry : They have the customers - I mean real customers !

I am not the advocate of godaddy but when you say that :

".top doesn't need GoDaddy but it looks like GoDaddy needs .top"

or

"Godaddy simply fear a loss of their .com - business if they would offer it"

It shows how completly out of the market you are.

Plus, you should learn that godaddy has registered all its trademark on all tlds. not only the .top

Its not to use it, it's to avoid any single bad guy to use it. It's protection !

See : godaddy.best, godaddy.online, ... those have a real forwarding usage.

All the .Best

CF

GoDaddy will read it for sureee
That's one reason why I posted it

I can understand that you say "... in this business: every single TLD needs GoDaddy" as CEO of a TLD that cooperates with them but in fact it is not the case (that every single TLD needs them) and the proof for that is that .top made it to the world's #1 new TLD without GoDaddyyy

Of course I know that they are registering their brand name as domain name in many (but not all) TLDs (like many companies as you know for sure) to protect / secure it - but the point is that they are ACTIVELY USING their .top domain (godaddy.top) as a forwarder instead of just registering it and not using it... ...and this says it alll

What may look like sponsoring to you is in fact investing.
I am completely in the market but it is another market than the one that you or GoDaddy are in.
It is the .top market because I have a very high domaining goal...
...it is so high that it is the highest and that's why I have to be better than best.

Well, regards best, to you and also to Tommyyy

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

[...]
Another good news is, that .top is not listed in SPAMHAUS's list of the most abused TLDs.

Visit spamhaus.org/statistics/tlds to seee

CCCORRECTION

The SPAMHAUS - link that I posted, is not correct / does not work (error 404) because it does not have a "/" at the end but it works only with a "/" at the end - so here is the correct link (c/p):

spamhaus.org/statistics/tlds/

No .top in this list nonoonooo

 

[Kate]

Why?
What will be my disadvantages if I develop a website on top extension, apart from popularity disadvantage of .top compared to .com?

You can use a .top domain, I'm just saying that the vast majority of users (and buyers) are in China.
One possible disadvantage is lower clickthrough because people are not familiar with the extension.
Technically speaking, it's one TLD like another...

.TOP Registry can set ServerHold on your domain at any time and without any notification.
I already had such case with Adult keyword... and this domain was without any content... just parked on Sedo.

Another example: https://www.namepros.com/threads/beware-top-registry-can-steal-your-domains.957560/

Indeed some TLDs do not allow adult etc.
Technically they are equivalent, but the terms are not the same everywhere so it's important to read the registration agreement.

Personally I would never take a chance with a Chinese extension.