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]

Yes, to become a bidder. NameJet requires bidders to signup in advance of the auction to participate.

 

[JoeBiz]

Yes, to become a bidder. NameJet requires bidders to signup in advance of the auction to participate.

Thanks !! (like I have enough money to bid. But, hmmm, my house is paid for ???)

8^X

 

[webdomain]

Ok, so concerning the .pro auction. We are day into it and virtually no activity which I would expect as like on ebay..most activity is in the last few minutes. However, what I'm not sure I like about it all is the reserve price that namejet has set. No one has yet to hit a bid high enough on the ones I'm included on to get past the reserve.

Part of me gets the feeling that if their reserve price is too high, basically non of it is going to sell..I guess I didn't anticipate them setting a reserve on these things.

 

[JoeBiz]

We need our own extension.

 

[akcampbell]

I don't understand why people bid more than $69 on Namejet before the final phase of bidding. That appears to push up the Namejet reserve price and as far as I know if you bid $1,000 and the next highest bid is $500, you still have to pay $1,000 if you win the auction.

For example, somebody has bid $1,501 for Tea.pro, $1,000 higher than the next highest bid even though it's one of the weaker .pros at auction and the fifth most bid for .pro. If I have read the Namejet bidding rules correctly, the reported sale price can be pushed up by a single bidder whereas at Snapnames you need more than one bidder to push up the reported sale price.

 

[webdomain]

So, you think the guy who bid 1,501 for tea.pro would still win the auction then. I interpreted it as the namejet reserve for the auction hadn't even been met. Thinking there was a minimum bid to even allow the domain to be sold. If you are correct, then it is dumb to bid that much higher than the next guy.

(The more I look at it, I really think that there is a reserve that needs to be met first. NameJetReserve comes in and takes high bidder spot and states that the reserve is not met.)

_____________

Below taken from the namejet help section: Details on "RESERVE PRICE" auction and bids.

What is a "reserve price"?
Reserve Bidding

When a domain name is listed for a private or public auction, NameJet may set a "Reserve Price." This is the minimum amount the domain will sell for. The actual Reserve Price is not disclosed. Once the domain goes to auction, if the highest bid does not meet that Reserve Price, then NameJet is under no obligation to sell the domain name to the highest bidder.

These domains are listed with a status of Pre-Release and are typically privately owned either by individuals, registrars or other companies. NameJet is not the registrant of these names.

We use the bidder alias "NameJet Reserve" to indicate there is a Reserve Price placed on the auction. If you enter a bid, and your bid is not high enough, you will receive the warning that your bid did not meet the Reserve Price. Once you meet or exceed the Reserve Price, you will be listed as the highest bidder at that time.

 

[akcampbell]

I see what you mean about the reserve price. So none of the .pros have met Namejet's reserve price and those reserve prices are not actually stated? All we know is the reserve is higher than the current bids? If Tea.pro was advertised on NP, it would struggle to sell for $100 so I'm surprised the reserve is higher than the $1,501 already bid.

I paid $1,800 for Loan.pro on Snapnames, why would anybody bid more than Loan.pro for Tea.pro? Loan would be worth 10 times more than Tea in .com and I would say up to 100 times more than Tea in alternative extensions.

I found this thread on the Namejet bidding process

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/423788-bidding-on-namejet-use-caution.html

This mentions my point about not bidding more than $69 in the initial phase of bidding but that assume there is no undisclosed reserve price. Would you agree that the way things are going, none of these .pros are going to sell?

The Snapnames bidding system is much fairer because you end up paying a little bit more than the next highest bidder. At Namejet, you could end up paying alot more than the next highest bidder, this significantly increases the risk of overpaying.

 

[mwzd]

I see most of the domains as already overpriced based on the recent sales figures and reserve not met / undisclosed reserve stinks as a sales technique imho.

I'm watching some of the drops for .pro and they seem better than some of the domains currently on offer unless you're fixated on the 3 letter thing.

Tea.pro is worth $xx,xxx easy, but will someone pay that much in this market?

 

[siga]

While I also dont understand why people bid more than the lowest bid. I did not expect namejet to have the namejet reserve on these auctions... was it written anywhere that these would have a hidden reserve?

I am not happy bidding in any auction with a hidden reserve this is similar to what snapnames did (and got caught out with) IMO except it is blatant.

It is possible this drums up the prices but this auction will only be good publicity if the domains sell. I do not think a registry especially one that is for "Professionals" should have any part in something which is not straight down the line.

 

[webdomain]

You are correct. Most of us are looking to pick up good names at a good price. I have to agree mwzd 'the media wizard' that there is better value off the drop list. I just picked up rims.pro 'just one letter past 3' but a decent keyword for 14.95 registration which for me is better risk/reward than spending I'm guessing 2,500+....whatever the reserve is set on the 3 letter domains.

Overall, I'm concerned this could be a real dissappointment unless either all hit the reserve and sell, or there is 1 big sale 20k+ that offsets the fact that the others didn't sell.

I figured a few 1K + sales across the board and a few higher than that would do us better than setting the reserves.

In the case, nothing sells...maybe the registry will finally get the point that akcampbell has noted often in his posts and website pushing the need for greater publicity and expanding the investor interest from just a limited few.

We'll get our answer as the auction will be closing within the next day or so.

 

[siga]

rims.pro

congrats, was wondering who had got it.

 

[akcampbell]

Tea.pro is worth $xx,xxx easy

The highest ever sale of a domain with the keyword Tea in it is OrganicTea.com at $11,112. Tea is not something a consumer would buy online because it's a low cost item. It wouldn't make sense to promote your tea brand with a .pro because very few people have heard of .pro. The highest single word generic sale of the keyword is Tea.info at $4,100. .info suits tea alot more than .pro. I can imagine people wanting information on different types of tea and their health benefits but there is no professional context or pro aspiration for the keyword tea.

To sell a domain for alot of money in an alternative extension it's got to have some of the following features;

1) Generic (brandables don't work in alternative extensions)
2) B2C business proposition (generic domain names are far less important for B2B)
3) Coveted in the US (the US domain market is far more developed than other markets.)
4) Logical association with the extension (if a keyword is available in 300 different extensions, why buy it in .average?)
5) Develop-able by somebody with average technical skills (The people out there who develop minisites the better, it bids the price up for the keyword in all extensions)
6) High PPC (the fewer clicks a minisite developer needs to recoup their investment, the more the domain will sell for.)
7) High search volumes (can SEO for a less competed for long tail variation and still get a decent volume of traffic.)
8) Popular topic commercially. (greater demand for keyword in all extensions)
9) Decent margins (more money available to bid up the price of the keyword in all domains)

Tea is weak on 3) - 8) and although it probably has excellent margins, 99.9% of people are going to be buying their tea from a supermarket for convenience so 2) and 9) don't work either. My most successful alternative extension sale was Coupons.info at $17,600. It scores well on almost all of the above points and that's why it sold for $XX,XXX. On NP, Tea.pro would sell for high $XX.

The only decent .pro in the Namejet auction is Ask.pro because you would ask a professional a question or if you ask a question so it works with .pro but it's still a brandable and they don't sell as well as a generic keyword in alternative extensions. Run.pro is getting there because it's a sport and experts are professional athletes but it doesn't quite hang right.

 

[gilescoley]

Hi all

Just curious what the restrictions are on owning a .PRO name. I live in Australia, I own a business name and ABN number?

Am I allowed to own a .PRO domain?

 

[webdomain]

A registered business license # filed with your governing authority will need to be submited through your registrar. (It's a quick electronic submittal through encirca.com)

and here is a better reason to buy .pro: ( Just posted on Encirca)

.Pro dropping its prices in January
The .Pro Registry has announced it is dropping its wholesale pricing for second-level domain names to match the dot-com registry. This change will be effective January 1, 2011.

Eligibility for .Pro is limited to licensed professionals. However, they may be from any profession and from any country in the world. There is no limit to how many domains a registrant may have. All registrants must agree to follow a Use policy for their domains.

There are about 50,000 .Pro domain name registrations today. This change should provide a growth spurt for the extension.

Recent sales of .Pro domains include: RealEstate.pro for $14,000, Insurance.pro for $6,500, and Mortgage.pro for $4,300.

 

[gilescoley]

A registered business license # filed with your governing authority will need to be submited through your registrar. (It's a quick electronic submittal through encirca.com)

and here is a better reason to buy .pro: ( Just posted on Encirca)

.Pro dropping its prices in January
The .Pro Registry has announced it is dropping its wholesale pricing for second-level domain names to match the dot-com registry. This change will be effective January 1, 2011.

Eligibility for .Pro is limited to licensed professionals. However, they may be from any profession and from any country in the world. There is no limit to how many domains a registrant may have. All registrants must agree to follow a Use policy for their domains.

There are about 50,000 .Pro domain name registrations today. This change should provide a growth spurt for the extension.

Recent sales of .Pro domains include: RealEstate.pro for $14,000, Insurance.pro for $6,500, and Mortgage.pro for $4,300.

Thanks Webdomain

 

[webdomain]

Though registry.pro press relesase is sort of a sensational statement on behalf of .pros actual growth compared with other extensions. The fact is we are growing and with the price drop is most likely going to make it increasingly difficult to get premium keywords.

I'd say prior to January is the time to dig in to scoop up whats left of the best domains. My 2 cents.

 

[JoeBiz]

A month ago I was picking up a premium name every few days. Now it's down to a trickle at best.

 

[webdomain]

Glad we got some new PR to overshadow the namejet fizzle. Still time for a better headline..however 23-34 minutes to go and yet to see an actual bid that has hit the reserve. ssl.pro is ahead and $2,600 but apparantly not high enough for the registry. ask.pro at $2,300. Tea.pro at $1,601. I decided to forget the auction and picked up:

Biking.pro | Trailer.pro & RSVP.pro off the drop list along with Consolidation.pro that I batch hunted for. _\|/_

______________________________________

(23+/- minutes later). Auction closing results.

ssl.pro 2,700
ask.pro 2,400
tea.pro 1,701
dui.pro 1,100

reserve not met:
ear.pro (not sold)
dog.pro (not sold)
ale.pro (not sold)
eco.pro (not sold)
eye.pro (not sold)
run.pro (not sold)
run.pro (not sold)


So this is where we are at guys...?

 

[JoeBiz]

No matter what problems we see with the Pro Registry we're only a few people that between us aren't going to draw a lot of attention. But can we try to bring together some of the owners of the high-value Pro's (power in numbers). If you personally controlled 50,000 or 500,000 high-value Pro's, would you have any more ability to approach the registry and have them listen to you than you do now with 100 or 1000 domains?

That's just a thought, one that even I don't think will work. The way to make Pro work, IMO, is with money and advertising.

Or, just time. My God, people are actually spending good money on ME's that you could barely give away a year ago.

I'd like some feedback if anyone has time.

Thanks
Charles

---------------

One more thing about Pro ... there is only one sale listed on Namebio for 2010. That's a bit of a hindrance.

 

[webdomain]

I was hoping we would see sexo.pro sale on dnjournal this week. But maybe it was a private sale. That would have been nice.