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.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

France.pro has been sold for 1,650 USD

Bought by well-known domainer as I see.

 

[terol]

Carbon.pro has been sold for 1,900 USD

 

[MasterGuru]

Guys, whould you be so kind to advice me how to write a COMPLAIN to ICANN on .Pro Registry?

And what to do better in the follwing case?
.Pro Registry with their new rules are going crazy. They initiated a verification for one of my .Pro domain. Since they are not communicating with .Pro registrants directly, they wrote a e-mail letter to my Registrar and my Registrar sent a letter from .Pro Registry to me that I required to send a copy of my diploma, but I got this letter on a SPAM folder and checked it after 30 days was gone...

And after I provided all neccessary information to .Pro registry I received an answer that timeframe for sending a copy of my diploma was gone and domain permanently set to Server UpdateProhibited Status and domain management for this domain is impossible and only a delete action is possible...

That's a complete crazy situation.

Every person is not insured that he able to check e-mail's all the time. Always there is a risk that you can a miss e-mail. And if you missed a verification from .Pro Registry within allocated timeframe you are guaranteed to lose your domain since you cannot do any actions with domain in this case.

I also have had a verifications from .Pro Registry previously and always provide all neccessary information on the spot, but in this case I missed letter and read it with a big delay, and got a real "suprise" from .Pro Registry

I'm really frustrated with this situaiton, especially I bought this domain on auction, paid a big money...

I my opinion this approach will ruin .PRO completly as a reliable TLD for doing projects and domain investing, because now there is always risk that if your domain will go for professional status verification and you missed an inquiry from .Pro Registry to send a copy of your diploma within allocated timeframe (due to various reasons - you never know) - the .Pro Registry will block you domain permanently.

That's completely stupid rules from .Pro Registry.

 

[terol]

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registries-2013-06-28-en

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Also write your complain to Afilias.info

 

[webdomain]

.pro needs to get rid of the registration requirement altogether. It's completely outdated requirements when compared to new gtlds.

 

[terol]

HotelBook.pro has been sold for 800 EUR

 

[Kuli]

Hi Pro-domainers,

it has been quiet in this thread for some time, the same is the case with my Sedo account. Alas. I must admit, I've got no sale, not even a request, for about three months.

Obviously, this is the result of the many new TLDs that started in the last half of the year. At least that's what I'm thinking about.

Do you share this opinion? Are there (nearly) no more sales at all? Have you changed your strategy as a result?

From my side, I let some of my less usable domains expire, but this is something I'd done anyway. It's just the case that the current market situation is pushing me even more to that.

Greetings,
Kuli

 

[sky]

To hell with .PRO domains. The .PRO registry is full of it. It's hard to sell their domains because of their infantile BS restrictions that make no sense.

Why do I say they make no sense?

Because, for example, a professional software engineer, cannot be recognized as a professional by dot pro registry because SW engineers are not licensed by the state. The other thing is that a professional recognized by the registry can register any stupid name whether it has anything to do with their profession or not, like foobird.pro or jibbyjabbit.pro ad infinitum.

So a notary public can register any and all .PRO domains with impunity, but a Software Engineer, even a high profile one, let's say Bill Gates or Steve Jobs can't. It's just insanity. The .PRO registry should be put out of business and its badly managed misery and I will help by not renewing or registering any more stupid .PRO domains. Waste of time and money. The .PRO registry can shove it into their stupid hypocritical place where the sun don't shine.

I'm done.

 

[-EM-]

You did well. You saved yourself money and time
If you really want to register a .pro domain just go straight and register it. No one is going to ask you anything. I did register a country name .pro domain w/o any problem (I'm a pharmacist, but they didn't ask me anything).
If I'd be Bill Gates, I'd buy .pro as TLD and shut it down, just to make something good for the humanity lol.

 

[Kate]

.club now has more regs than .pro, a ten-year old extension...

 

[sky]

You did well. You saved yourself money and time
If you really want to register a .pro domain just go straight and register it. No one is going to ask you anything. I did register a country name .pro domain w/o any problem (I'm a pharmacist, but they didn't ask me anything).
If I'd be Bill Gates, I'd buy .pro as TLD and shut it down, just to make something good for the humanity lol.

I know. I reg'd my domains using my D/L as it's a state-issued license. No questions, no problems, but it's random, and a hassle. And it just confuses non-domainer would-be buyers. I have .pro domains and the question is whether or not I want to renew them, and I don't. I'm tired of the pro registry and their crap. If nothing else I just don't want to do business with and for idiots and in my opinion the PRO registry is by idiots for idiots run by idiots.

 

[cdboard]

Because, for example, a professional software engineer, cannot be recognized as a professional by dot pro registry because SW engineers are not licensed by the state.

they want a GOV license or registration. pretty simple. look on your state/county/city websites to see what sort of licenses they issue.

what sort of engineering degree did you get? any B.S. engineering will be sufficient to take your state's equivalent of the "engineer in training" (EIT) exam, which will get you a registration number that can be verified by the state. assuming you pass it, of course. fwiw, I sometimes see job ads for engineers that list "passed EIT" or similar wording.

 

[sky]

That's a pretty big hoop to jump through if one is a seasoned pro, employed at a large corporation. Might as well become a Notary Public, which is sufficient. I just don't like the .PRO registry's hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness and snobbery or the senseless approach to the whole TLD. They've definitely screwed over their investors except the ones who are profiting from the gullibility of their registrants. They sell once in a blue moon, and it's hit or miss. By the time you explain to potential buyers what they have to do to maintain validity with the registry most of them just head to another extension.

 

[sky]

That's a pretty big hoop to jump through if one is a seasoned pro, employed at a large corporation. Might as well become a Notary Public, which is sufficient. I just don't like the .PRO registry's hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness and snobbery or the senseless approach to the whole TLD. They've definitely screwed over their investors except the ones who are profiting from the gullibility of their registrants. They sell once in a blue moon, and it's hit or miss. By the time you explain to potential buyers what they have to do to maintain validity with the registry most of them just head to another extension.

 

[webdomain]

I think the thing you all need to focus on is whether you believe the .pro combined with your keyword is worth holding. I believe .pro is worth the wait and is better than many of the new extensions coming out. It's going to take a while till all the dust settles but believe .pro are some of the best domains available.

 

[sky]

I think the thing you all need to focus on is whether you believe the .pro combined with your keyword is worth holding. I believe .pro is worth the wait and is better than many of the new extensions coming out. It's going to take a while till all the dust settles but believe .pro are some of the best domains available.

I have a few somewhat strong keyword .PRO domains left. I was about to let them expire, but reading your post panicked me, as I've had them for years. So in spite of any clear rational justification for extending my suffering in vain I kept them.

So now that I have them, why would anyone think these are going to increase in value or salability and not get worse with the release of the new TLDs?

What makes .PRO domains valuable to anyone besides the insane policies and PITA registry.pro is?
They've hobbled .PRO and hassled people, and it still seems to be going nowhere.

I'd love to hear a good argument for why domineers shouldn't just dump pros. If I wanted lottery odds of selling one, I'd just buy a lottery ticket.

 

[inland]

I think the thing you all need to focus on is whether you believe the .pro combined with your keyword is worth holding. I believe .pro is worth the wait and is better than many of the new extensions coming out. It's going to take a while till all the dust settles but believe .pro are some of the best domains available.

Yes. Agreed. You are 100% correct!

I've never heard (from others) so much anti- .pro TLD noise in my life as on these domainer blogs. Or, anti- .xyz or this or that. It's amazing how much flack has been thrown at the .pro and .xyz folks.

Remember all the folks who disparaged .NET and .ORG and .BIZ and .INFO ?

Do you remember who described any domain that he didn't "bless" as being nothing more than "pigeon shit"?

It is ALL noise from domainers with big mouths and narrow agendas. Just keep making good KW choices and continue to register and develop.

Oh, wait. Remember all the hypen-haters...

The last time I checked GO.pro sold for $40,000, right? And, now coffee.club for over $100,000?

What matters is the keyword(s) or phrase and the business that one can establish on the domain.

Hey, I would rather register a great KW + .pro for $15/YEAR than pay $400/MONTH HOA fees on a condo with CC&Rs Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions.

I am HAPPY to pay $150 for TEN YEARS.

There are over 110,000 .pro domain names currently registered.

See Registrar Stats and TLD Domain Counts

So, out of nearly 600-ish TLDs, the .pro TLD is ranked #14.

Think about that! Even with the need to show a professional license, .the pro TLD has over 110,000 registered domains. I think that is very interesting.

 

[JB Lions]

There are over 110,000 .pro domain names currently registered.

See Registrar Stats and TLD Domain Counts

So, out of nearly 600-ish TLDs, the .pro TLD is ranked #14.

Think about that! Even with the need to show a professional license, .the pro TLD has over 110,000 registered domains. I think that is very interesting.

Earlier this year:

Looks like it's dropping and at 113,357

http://www.registrarstats.com/TLDDomainCounts.aspx

And it probably will continue to drop with all the new ones coming. It just makes sense.

The numbers are dropping. 10 more years? Part of it is knowing when to sell, dip out.

The 2 examples you used above. One of them is over 10 years at $10,000 a year. The other is parked, but we've all heard of the GoPro cameras. That sale was from 2 years ago by the way. Nothing recent for you to use.

So the plan is to hold on to them while the numbers drop? While more and more options come into play? This makes sense how exactly?

Look at the chart, it was 140,000 at 1 point - http://www.registrarstats.com/TLDHistoryChart.aspx?TLDName=PRO

It's 110,000 now, that's a drop of 30,000. Ok, what direction is that going?

How about Year To Date Non .Com gTLD Top 100 sales

Just 1 on the list at #71.

How about 2013 top 100 non .com gTLD sales - 0

Kenny, what do you think?

 

[inland]

The numbers that you are looking at really aren't relevant to my plans.

Besides, in my opinion, the financial risk for the new gTLD registry's is much greater than will be experienced by the .PRO registry.