ccTLD The Official .WS Discussion

[memorablename]

The Official .ws thread

.WS can stand for WEBSITE.

It has pros and cons as a domain. This thread is for people who wish to suggest ideas to build up and help promote the .ws domain as well as to give and receive help and advice on .ws domains in general. Some useful info contributed through this thread below. Views and comments anyone...

http://website.ws/faq/index.dhtml

The registry is now allowing .WS domain names to be transferred from registrar to registrar. It seems that most registrars just haven't updated their websites to allow this yet.

This is good news for the .ws market as this was a major factor in holding .ws back. Time for .ws to take off? Can we publicize this to help boost the market?

Wrote about this a while back -
http://www.mwzd.com/2008/01/23/the-significance-of-ws/

So why buy .ws?
1. Excellent keywords can still be regged.
2. You can buy premium keywords for $20-$50.
3. Excellent development potential, luckily goog doesn’t really care about which extension the site is on but how much content s there and how often it is updated.
4. Godaddy markets .ws - little but its a big brand
5. The ‘website’ christening seems to have more and more acceptance.
6. Its easy to get traffic and thus revenue for better keywords in .ws than a ‘bad’ keyword in .com

Some .WS sales over $200 listed below. Please post any .WS sales you know of over $200 to this thread

folder.ws$250 2008-03-05SEDO.com
reisebuero.ws$750 2008-02-23SEDO.com
cast.ws$200 2008-02-13SEDO.com
notebooks.ws$370 2008-01-07TDNAM.com
yukle.ws$62 2008-01-06SEDO.com
moshax.ws$350 2007-12-25TDNAM.com
flirt.ws$286 2007-12-24SEDO.com
washingtonstate.ws$500 2007-12-16SEDO.com
fulltilt.ws$310 2007-12-15SEDO.com
sms.ws$2,000 2007-12-08SEDO.com
liondog.ws$770 2007-12-05TDNAM.com
clipart.ws$850 2007-11-15SEDO.com
beaches.ws$250 2007-11-14SEDO.com
airport.ws$366 2007-11-05TDNAM.com
tomfelton.ws$335 2007-04-26TDNAM
london.ws $1,825 Sedo


Also from: 2004 to 2006

blogs.ws $1,600
save.ws $417
green.ws $227
Avatars.ws $400
VOIP.ws $2,000 Sedo
Game.ws $1,000 Namepros
VacationRentals.ws $800 Private
VoiceOverIP.ws $600 Sedo
PersonalInjury.ws $600 Private
NikeSports.ws ($480)
UsedBooks.ws ($240)

 

[IG72]

Major trademark issues

You really think so ?

 

[Debt.tv]

You really think so ?

Yes, it is the name of a very popular racing series.

 

[LittleBigMan]

There was an earlier reference to Green.ws selling for a couple of hundred or so, but in fact I sold this domain in May 2005 for $1250? Could have potentially got a lot more for such a great keyword, but for thetime that wasn't bad at all for .ws

Also, Flirt.ws did not sell via SEDO as the buyer had still not completed the transfer of the domain after 2 months, so SEDO apparently cancelled the deal. Its still available therefore.

I have around 60-70 good .ws and I'm confident that their time will come, as with any keyword, regardless of extension. They seem to be gaining momentum.

 

[bidawinner]

I've owned over 30 .Ws


Still own

Contract.ws
Conferences.Ws
Publications.ws

etc..


I have a fha loan ws for sale making $30 a month and no one is interested
http://www.namepros.com/established-sites-for-sale/447470-fha-loan-website-doing-30-month.html

I sold a .ws site last year for 3K I honored my No Reserve ..this was a site that made 75K the previous 3 years .. and only 1 person was bright enough to actually bid

People hate .WS ..out of ignorance

 

[LittleBigMan]

Agreed bidawinner

Ignorance is the problem and too many people are being disuaded by self professed experts who know diddlysquat about anything

 

[greenline]

Are 3chars .ws worth reggin? Or what about 2 chars?

 

[michaeldotcom]

Are 3chars .ws worth reggin? Or what about 2 chars?

Be careful about regging 2 or 3 character .ws domains. Those are actually considered "premium".

The annual renewal fee for ANY 3-character .ws domain is $500.
The annual renewal fee for ANY 2-character .ws domain is $1,000.
The annual renewal fee for ANY 1-character .ws domain is $50,000.

For more information :
http://www.website.ws/faq/pricing.dhtml

 

[greenline]

Oh, thanks !

 

[dpro]

i have domaintraders.ws n would like to sell it

 

[mwzd]

i have domaintraders.ws n would like to sell it

Not worth much sorry, even the .com would be worth mid $xxx at best, so not much hope for .ws

A good thumbrule I use to evaluate .ws is 1-3% of the .com

This % might or might not go higher over time (should though) but currently its a good ballpark.

 

[a2zofb2b]

A method I use to register .ws is to monitor the premium released names at http://www.website.ws/released.dhtml and wait for it to be available at Godaddy. When the .ws domains are released it's only available for registration at website.ws(for the first few days).

3 char or less are expensive.
Avoid Trademark names and fancy made up names.
Make sure that the keywords have commercial value.
Don't expect any type-ins, the keyword domains work well when developed and ranks well on google.com. Primarily use it for seo.
I have a dozen names (bakers Dozen)
Debt.ws
Credit-Card.ws
Interest.ws
Rates.ws
Finances.ws
Insure.ws
Dividends.ws
FreeStuff.ws
Used.ws
Supplement.ws
Callingcard.ws
Bollywood.ws
Matrimonial.ws

 

[mwzd]

A method I use to register .ws is to monitor the premium released names at http://www.website.ws/released.dhtml and wait for it to be available at Godaddy. When the .ws domains are released it's only available for registration at website.ws(for the first few days).

Thanks for the awesome tip, repped you.

Your bakers dozen is unbelievable...

Great advice, Cheers!

 

[nu-money]

acid.ws
That's the only one i own.

 

[Weber]

Be careful about regging 2 or 3 character .ws domains. Those are actually considered "premium".

The annual renewal fee for ANY 3-character .ws domain is $500.
The annual renewal fee for ANY 2-character .ws domain is $1,000.
The annual renewal fee for ANY 1-character .ws domain is $50,000.

For more information :
http://www.website.ws/faq/pricing.dhtml

This pricing scheme is "nuts" and is the biggest obstacle holding back the extention, imo. There is potential here, but the outfit running this thing seems to act like they don't care if anybody uses this extention.

 

[onlinegelir]

I have a couple of .ws domains, too:

bodyjewelry.ws
hotjobs.ws
makkah.ws
plasmatv.ws
rifle.ws
trans.ws
sleepwear.ws

 

[C-B]

header.ws

 

[onlinegelir]

Heres a new one:

gameclub.ws

 

[chandan]

i have greatest.ws
any body appraise this ?

 

[terol]

I like .WS almost as .CC, so I also own some ones...

explicit.ws

sexshop.ws

terror.ws


News about .WS transfers availability have been one of the best for me this year! :hehe:

 

[chandan]

any body transferred .ws from one registrar to another registrar ?

 

[Anish]

I've sold most of my .ws here at namepros. And have let many of them expire. Now left with only Amount.ws and Rapid.ws

 

[terol]

any body transferred .ws from one registrar to another registrar ?

Me, I transferred SexShop.WS from DD24 to Godaddy 2 weeks ago :hehe:

 

[clemzonguy]

What about moving domains away from Website.ws which charges $35/yr?

The main problem with .WS was having many at assorted wildwest reseller sites and having to remember to go to each one and renew the names.

A couple that I own include:

Investments.ws
Coupons.ws
Vitamins.ws
Apartment.ws
Restaurants.ws
Logos.ws
Learning.ws
Seniors.ws
Financing.ws
Engineering.ws
Shipping.ws
Escrow.ws
Resorts.ws
Professor.ws
Expo.ws
Lender.ws
Advertisement.ws

and many hundreds more....a few listed here
http://www.brokeringdomains.com/sale.html

I have sold....

clipart.ws for $850 sedo
founder.ws $555 sedo
franchising.ws $555 sedo
and several between $100-$500 in previous years.
turned down a few offers at sedo
$1K+ offer on a few

The major plus for .WS is that it's been promoted by a MLM marketing strategy for years, which is very succesfull for small business owners. Fortunately all the domains I own are registered at either Domainsite, GoDaddy, or resellers. The inability to not transfer the domains definitely made renewals more difficult if you were stuck at a high priced registrar. I bought many from other users on this forum and another so the moral of the story is don't wait around forever to get into a market.

 

[Redleg]

http://website.ws/faq/index.dhtml

The registry is now allowing .WS domain names to be transferred from registrar to registrar. It seems that most registrars just haven't updated their websites to allow this yet.

This certainly is great news for .ws!
Do you know when they started to allow this?
I didn't know about it until now...

Now if they just could cut the crappy prices on 2 and 3 letter .ws domains they might have a chance to compete against other ccTlds again..

I've sold quite a few .ws in the mid $xxx range the last couple of years, and I still get some offers from time to time..
Sahara (dot) ws $500
VoiceOverIP (dot) ws $600
Scuba (dot) ws $650
And several more..
Also had a $1800 .ws sale a while ago, but the buyer wanted to keep it private
I've also turned down some low $x,xxx offers on a couple of .ws last year so it's quite possible to make some nice $$$ on .ws domains..

I've bought Quotes.ws for $500 and Quotations.ws for $250 a while ago for personal use (site not done yet)

I believe I have around 120-130 .ws domains left, including:
Technology.ws
Petroleum.ws
Awesome.ws
www.conversion.ws
Climate.ws
Create.ws
Destination.ws
Documentary.ws
Economy.ws
Emoticons.ws
Fertility.ws
Heat.ws
Lord.ws
Medication.ws
Privacy.ws
Quotations.ws
Sexuality.ws
Retro.ws
Unreal.ws
Webhosts.ws

 

[bd77]

I own homelender.ws Paid $30 for it awhile back.

What to you think its worth?