opinion What Does The Domain World Need? (That we don't have now)

[Bob Hawkes]

Looking for creative ideas. What service, product, etc. would you like to see that does not currently exist in the domain world?

I am thinking of doing an article that would be a compilation of several ideas. If I mention your idea, I would, of course, credit you for proposing it.

Looking forward to your ideas!

Thanks,
Bob

 

[td11]

Domain name marketplaces don't have an app. An app would be useful. In the app you can also chat with potential interested parties to close a deal faster.

 

[dncafe]

Not strictly domains but I would love to be able to sell websites as easily as domains.
Transferring the entire website to the buyer would be as simple and painless as pushing the domain name to the buyer's account and everything attached to the domain like code, files, hosting account would get transferred automatically.

"hosting account would get transferred automatically."

Most people will already have their own hosting account and wont want to switch to the existing sites hosting.

Personally I don't like any of the automated website transfer tools or export plugins you will find in Wordpress.

When I buy a website I want a ZIP file of all the files with the SQL database file in it. I don't want to use any kind of migration tool.

We do need another website marketplace though, as Flippa sucks

 

[Bean]

"hosting account would get transferred automatically."

Most people will already have their own hosting account and wont want to switch to the existing sites hosting.

Personally I don't like any of the automated website transfer tools or export plugins you will find in Wordpress.

When I buy a website I want a ZIP file of all the files with the SQL database file in it. I don't want to use any kind of migration tool.

We do need another website marketplace though, as Flippa sucks

Experienced webmasters will for sure have their own hosting accounts.
I should've mentioned I mostly sell low value websites (low to mid xxx) to be newbies who just want to experiment with having their own site. They generally have very little technical knowledge, most don't really know what hosting accounts are or how they work which can make the transfer process quite tricky.

 

[cooljub]

What service, product, etc. would you like to see that does not currently exist in the domain world?

A level playing field.

 

[DomainsGENERAL.com]

The paste in list is really helpful, and it will show which domains with those names are registered and listed, but does it show which ones are developed? Maybe I am just missing something. I mean I guess you could use some of the SEO parameters like links to probably detect which are developed, but I don't see a direct way to do it.

ExpiredDomains indeed seems to only show the number of TLDs registered, not developed. Maybe you can rely on the number of Archive.org crawls? ("ACR"). Obviously if archive.org crawls the domain, it means there is something to crawl. There is a question of what it means to be "developed" or not. Does a simple contact form, or a landing page, or a "under construction" page count as "developed"?

The problem with ACR is that it doesn't tell you if it's current or in the past (maybe the domains doesn't point anywhere since a while).

 

[NameFather]

I started WhatsApp "Domain Buyers Group".

If you like the idea, you can join and share the group.

 

[J.R.]

I'd like to see credit lines made available by largest registrars to high quality domain investors.

In-house credit line could be based on existing portfolio, past sales on platform, and purchases of domainer.
A registry like GoDaddy has the economies of scale to offer credit line based on the value of a domainers portfolio.

This valuation should be based on GD's "app appraisal" tool. They claim it is of the highest quality, of course you learn quickly even they don't value their own in-house appraisal tool as much as they claim.

Try to buying of their domain names based on their own appraisal tool, good luck

A credit line extension based on the value of your portfolio at their in-house appraisal would be innovative. Of course, this credit line would be secured by your portfolio.

*extension amount based on in-house appraisal value at a percentage
*avail to customers with proven track record of sales and paid for purchases
*limit credit line purchases to domains registered or sold on the platform
*portfolio is security against non-payment
* higher the credit line, the more manual the valuation needed

For example, say a domainer has 1,000 domains registered at GoDaddy, sold 20 domains over the course of time on the platform for a sum of $50K, made purchases from registrar of $25K over time, and GD extends an account credit line of $10K. As credit line is paid back, over time line is increased.

Just brain-storming.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Would want Afternic/Godaddy to allow listing of .in ccTLD.

As I understand it the reason is a requirement set by the .in registry that prohibits any company that is a registrar for .in domain names to also sell aftermarket .in domain names. That is why you can list them at Sedo or Dan (not sure if GD acquisition will change) but can't for example list them at a registrar marketplace. I don't understand the logic for the rule, but the resolution lies at the .in registry, not with Afternic/GoDaddy.
-Bob

 

[Cooldevil007]

I started WhatsApp "Domain Buyers Group".

If you like the idea, you can join and share the group.

Can you Please Share the Link of Whatsapp Group?

 

[NameFather]

I started WhatsApp "Domain Buyers Group".

If you like the idea, you can join and share the group.

Can you Please Share the Link of Whatsapp Group?

I think WhatsApp links are not allowed.
Twitter:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1578241461476364290

 

[Cooldevil007]

I think WhatsApp links are not allowed. Maybe Twitter:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1578241461476364290

Thanks

 

[Sam1234]

Stricter rules and penalties, but also lower costs across the board (to offset the added regulatory burden) for registrars. I don't know if this can happen in the current situation.

I think it needs to be much harder to ever remove a domain from anyone's account (both for the registrar and the account holder), and there should be proscribed penalties when a registrar messes up in any way that could negatively impact a customer in any situation. Those penalties should be paid to a governing body, to be disbursed by the governing body to the potentially-impacted party. The governing body should have the ability and obligation (whatever that means) to enforce these penalties and disbursements in a transparent and simple way.

I think it's important that registrars are held to a high standard with regard to technical accuracy. Domains are big money. I have come to expect that medium-to-serious problems are guaranteed and could crop up at any time with any registrar, and that is not really acceptable for any industry.

I also think there should be a rule that every atomic action taken by any registrar with regard to any account should be recorded on the user's account for review at any time, and also there should be an e-mail for each atomic action. If an action was composed of multiple atomic actions, then those could be summarized in a single, separate e-mail. In time, perhaps these things would be recorded on a blockchain for auditing purposes, so that the registrar could not change the record of what they did to avoid penalties.

I also think maybe there should be a standardized (proscribed by regulation) "set" and "order" of steps that should be performed by the registrar and user for any kind of action taken with regard to an account. Someone might then develop an API that all registrars could use to allow these actions/steps to be tracked, and then someone could build a reliable domain management app.

This is all probably a fantasy, and I may be a bit biased because I have domains missing from one of my accounts right now, but that's where my head is at these days.

 

[comRaid]

1. A common Metadata standard for recording domain name info : It would be great if all major registrars and marketplaces adopted and adhered to a common Metadata standard for recording domain name related information. With such a standard in place, price changes made in a software installed on your computer can be easily propagated to all other marketplaces in real-time. (eg: Digital Libraries worldwide have adopted such standard Metadata formats to facilitate the automated exchange of catalogue records).
Some domainers are probably already doing this, but a standard format will make it easier for everyone.

2. "Inform me if... " option at market places: I would like to have an "Inform me if...." option in our marketplaces where the potential buyers visiting the sales pages could leave their contact information (with "zero commitment"). It would be advantageous when a visitor is interested in the name but not desperate enough to proceed with the current BIN or Min Make offer price.
I imagine something along the line of ....
"Inform me at "buyer@gmail.com " if the price of this domain is reduced below 300 USD."
Whenever the seller wants to liquidate his assets, based on this data, he can reduce the price, and the marketplace can automatically inform all interested parties.

 

[henry93]

Domain Exchange - just like Nasdaq or any other crypto exchange. I would rather say regulated domain exchange where we could bid and sell in real-time. Liquidity makes any asset better.

Common domains API (or maybe a domain blockchain) where we can update the BIN, Parking, Owner, Advertising, Ownership, and Signature with domain (just like TXT record) and it gets propagated everywhere. This should be open source api and anyone can use it. No monopoly and fair competition among registrars.

Funny but another feature where AI should Nudge you - hey this domain looks ugly. are you sure you wanna buy it? It has no resell value. And you might lose money. Tick the box if you are buying it for personal use.

Domain portability - with soo many extensions - I want that pro.pics should allow me to move to pics.pro without much effort and both of them facilitate this just like telecom companies. As syntax/tld might be different but semantics is identical.

And yes I can bring more ideas to the table - if any organization sponsors that.

What do you think @Bob Hawkes

 

[Cannuck]

Looking for creative ideas. What service, product, etc. would you like to see that does not currently exist in the domain world?

A marketplace landing page that shows more than one domain listing at a time (under the same banner) for related domain names and extensions. For example, GoDaddy provides suggested alternatives if a domain is unavailable, but the Afternic lander does not. I've always felt the single domain listing lander was like divide and conquer. For example, list one domain, an acronym LLLL.com together with related domains/extensions (ie. ccTLD/nTLD) also shown, if available by the same owner, so as not to conflict or compete. It's possible to do with domain forwarding and/or masking, but not the same. I produced my own template some years ago when I carried a larger portfolio, pointed and sold a few dozen related domains in tandem that way, two for one. It helped.

 

[twiki]

I don’t think we need any more paid services. Too many of those allready. The only thing any of us is need is good names and more end users.

That's what paid services gonna be helping with.

 

[twiki]

FYI, I have been communicating with @twiki , and I believe this is something that will be implemented at https://dotible.com/ sometime in the future.

True, working on it.

 

[twiki]

What CS85 already said. I would call it a "domain search engine".

At the moment, potential domain buyers have two main approaches to finding a suitable domain name. Either think up a name themselves, then look around to see whether it's available for sale; or wade through vast lists of available domain names in the hope that one will spring out at them through all the dross. (And there's brokering, but that's human-in-the-loop, and too expensive below the top end of the market.)

There is very little between these two extremes. Some platforms enable sellers to add descriptions of their domains, but to my knowledge not with any serious way of searching the descriptions. Others allow searches to be narrowed by category (e.g. sport, medicine), but that's still only very general.

What would really shake up domain trading would be to link the descriptions that sellers can already add themselves on some platforms to a powerful search engine employing AI. Possibly even interactive: the potential buyer would enter keywords describing the business (nail studio chicago) or intended use of the domain, but could also add other characteristics (e.g. "trendy", "highbrow", "radical", "high recognition", "risqué", etc.). The search engine could spit out possible additions to the list of keywords that the searcher could either accept or reject, thereby iteratively refining the search. When the searcher got the feeling that the list was heading in the right direction, he could then prompt for a list of domain name suggestions. He could trawl through those, or if he felt they were on the wrong track, he could go back and refine the search further. Just like people do with Google. And just as Google does, the search engine would rank domains based on searchers' behaviour.

Why am I writing this? If it's such a good idea, why don't I do it myself? (That's my own usual reaction to other people's "great ideas".)

1. Because I'm too old.
2. Because life experience has taught me that if I think something's a great idea, the rest of the world won't, or if they do, not until long after I'm dead. If everyone thought the way I do, most of the world would now be using Linux, Ulster would be an independent state, we would excavate great pits and irrigation channels in the Sahara and fill them with all the melting ice that is threatening to raise sea levels, and Germans would be using the generic neuter (don't ask). Ain't gonna happen. (Swetha, prove me wrong and buy ex-why-zee.com. Then the next generation of domainers will mention my name in hushed tones: the guy who sold Swetha a .com.)
3. Because I think it will happen, but differently: the pace at which AI and SEO are developing will encourage domainers to develop their domains so that potential users will find them – through Google. And I'm already doing that (or trying).
4. CS85 already said it, just in fewer words.

This can only be done for free names. As in, a very good AI-based domain suggestion tool.

And it's not going to happen. Cost, time invested - not worth it. Such tools are generally free and monetize on the side.

For names listed for sale, again it's not going to happen. You would need access to Afternic and Sedo to get enough names + prices (the latter is the big problem). Which won't happen - these guys aren't interested. And you can't launch a gazillion bots at the landers as they will ban you.

 

[NamesMax]

A Geo Marketplace, or sub marketplace on a current platform. End users could search by city state. As everything, the success would depend on marketing to the public.

 

[comRaid]

A Geo Marketplace, or sub marketplace on a current platform. End users could search by city state. As everything, the success would depend on marketing to the public.

Squad Help has this option - https://www.squadhelp.com/geo-business-names/all
In a recent interview, its CEO Darpan Munjal told that this section was introduced on an experimental basis and the results are not that fruitful. So they may wind it up.

 

[-EM-]

1. No renewals, only one time ownership fee and ownership transfer fee can be charged.
2. facility to negotiate the equity + cash terms + legal contract.
3. facility to detect fake users or BIDs or enquires.
4. facility to detect and indicate TM/risk of a domain.
5. Better way of monetizing domains, MVP as a service.
6. Facility to pitch high net worth domains to Investor or VC circle.
7. Facility to reach startup circle.

1. Romania had that and it was just stupid. Companies were registering sentences at that point.
2-7. Wouldn't it be easier to say, someone should register and sell domains for us?

 

[eyedomainous]

Namespace Spectrum Auctions

Just as Gov's auction radio and TV airspace spectrum to end users, domainers should auction namespace spectrum to end users. Meaning, a spectrum of names is auctioned as a bundle.

Be it a large spectrum sale, like the best names in a market category, geo ip (broadcast layer) region, etc..
Or, more targeted like all the best names associated with an event, niche, cultural identity, etc..

Namespace Spectrum Auctions can get the best names into the best hands.
This would, in theory, produce the best outcomes.

Namespace is the new Airspace.
The last U.S. airspace spectrum auction made $81 Billion, last year.

With large, actively growing, niche domain threads, and auction forums. NamePros members could do this!

 

[Cannuck]

Looking for creative ideas. What service, product, etc. would you like to see that does not currently exist in the domain world?

A crystal ball (or time-machine), lol.

 

[equity78]

2. "Inform me if... " option at market places: I would like to have an "Inform me if...." option in our marketplaces where the potential buyers visiting the sales pages could leave their contact information (with "zero commitment"). It would be advantageous when a visitor is interested in the name but not desperate enough to proceed with the current BIN or Min Make offer price.
I imagine something along the line of ....
"Inform me at "buyer@gmail.com " if the price of this domain is reduced below 300 USD."
Whenever the seller wants to liquidate his assets, based on this data, he can reduce the price, and the marketplace can automatically inform all interested parties.

Interesting, I like the idea.

 

[biggie]

Interesting, I like the idea.

Hi

sedo sends notifications to previous bidders on your names, when/if you change price.

most folks ask for stuff they want, but really don't need it to sell quality domain names

imo....