The .PRO Discussion

[InvisionTech]

It seems .PRO is slowly coming out of the cage with cheaper reg prices than they were a year ago and major registrars like netsol taking notice of the extension and promoting it.

Here are some that I picked up in last couple of days:

Alexandria.pro

Anchorage.pro

Arlington.pro

Belfast.pro

Birmingham.pro

Budapest.pro

Durham.pro

Fairfax.pro

Italian.pro

Lisbon.pro

Fire away with your regs after the relaunch on September 8th, 2008.

 

[webdomain]

Cool. I own campgrounds.pro and campground.pro
I think camping.pro is a steal at 1K.

 

[terol]

Afilias Limited requests the removal of the cross-ownership restrictions reflected on the .PRO Registry Agreement dated 22 April 2010.

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-26jul13-en.htm

:wave:

 

[webdomain]

Thanks Terol, What is the Afilias trying to do with this amendment?

 

[terol]

They are trying to manage dot pro with same rules than new TLDs. :gl:

 

[webdomain]

So this could potentially mean the removal of restrictions??

 

[terol]

:bingo:

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

The biggest .PROblem - not even absolutely formal "restrictions" (random verification) but ignoring by GoDaddy, 1and1, Namecheap, Dynadot etc.

 

[terol]

Yes, you are totally right; but may be current absolutely formal "restrictions" are the reason because dot pro is being ignored by GoDaddy, 1and1, NameCheap, Dynadot, etc. :gl:

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

I'm sure: these registrars have a very weak marketing teams to understand the potential of .PRO, they just want BIG money from Afilias…

 

[terol]

Well, let see what will happen when dot pro stupid restrictions were removed! :tu:

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

I had many talks with Dyna and Namecheap about .PRO and I never heard any reference to "restrictions", they are just stupid and greedy…
.XXX is even more restricted - but they sell it!
.PRO is ignored because Afilias doesn't have enough marketing budget to attract registrars, that's why!

 

[webdomain]

How can that be Jurgen. Afilias carries many other larger extensions like .info, ect..
I've always felt the hangup with godaddy and the likes is due to restrictions that are confusing for both the registrars and the registrants. This is most likely a necessary step to open the gates.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Check this out: http://registrarstats.com/TLDHistoryChart.aspx?TLDName=INFO
.info is losing domains everyday… ~2M domains are lost during 2012-13!

p.s. Afilias is NOT so rich and powerful as you think…
They don't have money even to post on https://twitter.com/RegistryPro

 

[-EM-]

Check this out: http://registrarstats.com/TLDHistoryChart.aspx?TLDName=INFO
.info is losing domains everyday… ~2M domains are lost during 2012-13!

That's because of the difference between registration fee and renewal fee, including the reg fee increase in 2013.

(p.s. I didn't knew .name has more domains registered than .pro lol)

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

1. This difference was in 2011, 2010, 2009 etc.
Not an argument.

2. .name you can register with almost all registrars.
.PRO has a very limited list of accredited registrars.
That's why.

 

[Kate]

.name is so lame. And it has lost a lot of regs over the last few years.

Some figures courtesy of registrarstats.com:

Jul 2013
NAME 172,058
PRO 127,228

Jul 2012
NAME 205,255
PRO 139,296

Jan 2010
NAME 231,192
PRO 41,261

.tel continues to shrink too.
Then you have the more 'successful' TLD like .biz or .info that aren't so thriving.
.biz is growing but not at the same rate as other TLDs, in relative terms there is a pattern of stagnation or downright retreat.

.pro stats were skewed by the 50K+ zip code domains registered by that Cyprus entity.
Here are some figures for the past few months:

June
PRO 126,046

March
PRO 127,108

January
PRO 128,912

This not the pattern of a healthy extension. We can make excuses about the restrictions or the lack of promotion or distribution channels (registrars) but I think this TLD doesn't have a bright future, actually I don't think it has a future at all.
It's like waiting for the second coming of Jesus.

Don't ask me why Afilias bought registrypro. It must be for the same reason they bought dotmobi. Perhaps they think it's beneficial to buy other registries to kill them.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

I didn't hear anything new from you, permanent xerox of the same thougts…
Please save your and our time, thanks!

 

[-EM-]

1. This difference was in 2011, 2010, 2009 etc.
Not an argument.

2. .name you can register with almost all registrars.
.PRO has a very limited list of accredited registrars.
That's why.

.name hasn't had any promotion at all.
Are we comparing .pro with .name? :bah:

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

What promotion???
Registrants are searching for domains @registrars among available variants…
Or they are buying @aftermarket among TLDs they know.

 

[Kate]

.name hasn't had any promotion at all.
Are we comparing .pro with .name? :bah:

I think the point is, .name is available from mainstream registrars (unlike .pro) but that still didn't help.
.name has shrank by 25% in 3 years, I don't know of any other TLD crashing like that, not even .tel.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

.name is absolutely NOT interesting TLD for companies.
Only for personal use.

 

[webdomain]

Rather have .me for personal use...but .pro for business sounds really good!

 

[webdomain]

http://domainincite.com/13911-afili...ampaign=Feed:+DomainIncite+(DomainIncite.com)

Hopefully removal of restrictions enters the picture as the contract is renegotiated with icann.

 

[terol]

Cassis.pro has been sold for 2,000 EUR :wave:

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

$9.80 Reg @regtons.com
$9 Transfer @hover.com (with promocode HONEST)