opinion We are doomed. The end is nigh..Doomed Domainers

[News]

Since NamesCon 2018 the blogs and Namepros have been a washed with negative comments about the state of the industry. China crash, nGTLDs, poor auction results, Crypto coins sucking in dollars. A general malaise of depression. I am much more optimistic because the underlying values are stronger than ever.

In the confusion of gTLDs, dot coms cut through the noise. The generics and one or two word brands are only going to get more valuable...

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[Kuffy]

Bad news sells newspapers. That should mean that news and information domains should increase in value.

 

[AT Digital]

Great Post Keep it up......

 

[Willox Perez]

Bad news sells newspapers. That should mean that news and information domains should increase in value.

So true that is why in the news they tend to focus on all the craziness going on not the optimistic positive stuff. It is important to see through it and take advantage of the opportunity.

- Will

 

[bobbarato]

Downward market motion is part of the Darwinian process. The weak and unprepared are removed and the strong and prepared can pick the fruit of the rebound...if there is one...<DUN DUN DUN!!!>.

 

[johname]

Of course a kind of domaining is doomed.

But still property will always be bought and sold, and new innovations.

 

[DBurn]

I just didn't understand the article at all. With a title like "Doomed Domainers" I would have expected more information about what is going wrong with the industry. Instead, it's just a short commentary on the obvious growth areas - China, Crypto and .coms!

 

[Ategy]

I just didn't understand the article at all. With a title like "Doomed Domainers" I would have expected more information about what is going wrong with the industry. Instead, it's just a short commentary on the obvious growth areas - China, Crypto and .coms!

I'm pretty sure the title was meant sarcastically because the writer does not believe the end is actually near .. simply that on the surface it might appear like it is because of all the negative talk.

Kinda hard for me to say because 2017 was my first "full" year seriously domaining. But I do think it was a pretty unique year with indeed a portion of domainers getting out to focus on crypto (questionable if that changes or is permanent). And while it's normal for there to be a turnover in all industries .. last year was probably more than usual in domaining.

Which actually doesn't mean much of a change in terms of end user sales (usually*) .. but most certainly does mean quite a bit at the wholesale level. On one side it's great as you can snag better domains for cheaper because of reduced competition ... but on the other side .. it becomes significantly harder to quickly flip domains (precisely because of reduced competition).

I put a * next to usually .. because with 2017 I think also came the first year where the future of ngTLD's became clearer. Not that they are boom or bust .. but I think it's the first year where at the end .. most would agree they will never be boom or bust .. but something in between .. at least for the short/medium term. Great span-the-dots will actually start to get more traction .. while less premium ngTLD's will fall off a map (to be fair .. they were never really on the map in terms of end use).

Lots of other little things .. but for sure 2017 was a minor but significant enough turning point for the internal aspects of the industry. Same as how a year earlier the whole CHIP craze and eventual deflation caused different little shifts.

But none of these things have been particularly devastating to the industry in any significant way. CHIPs and short domains are softer than they were 18 months ago ... but at the same time take a further step back and compare to 4-5 years ago and the current market is significantly stronger. If anything I think the softening of CHIPs helped clarify the new base amount for short domains.


All that being said .. I think none of that is really relevant to 90% of domainers. Most of us don't operate in 3L or other premium domains. Most domainers I think fall into the 2-word .com category level ... which as I mentioned before .. has changed a bit at the wholesale level .. but I think the relatively good ones have seen slow but steady growth for quite some time now. Because the volume of 2-word .com's is vastly larger than the 3L or 1-word and other ultra premiums .. I don't think drastic change either way up or down would even be possible. But with 1-word domains drying up to end users .. solid 2-word domains really are going to have a hard time doing anything but go up from here. The real issue is whether your 2-word is a solid 2-word or a garbage 2-word .. lol .. but that's a completely separate discussion!