Why I am bullish on .ORG: Plutocratic guilt!

A few folks have been asking about why I have recently become more bullish on .ORG. I thought the topic deserves a post, and perhaps some debate.

In short, the reason why I think .ORG will have a healthy after-market in the coming years is because of what some have called "Plutocratic Guilt". It is a term I learned from a fellow Seattleite named Nick Hanauer who probably has a bit of it -- he is really rich and he likes to talk about it, but then he also likes to philosophize about how rich people need to give back more to society. It started with his 2014 TED Talk:



The sad reality of the world is that the rich do keep getting richer and the poor are mostly staying poor and/or getting poorer, while much of the middle class gets obliterated. The GDP per capita data uses an average to mask this trend but the Gini coefficient of inequality clearly shows that income inequality is getting worse.


As for what to do about, it, my recipe is really simple: sell to rich people. We already do that at Epik, e.g. during October we sold 3 domains above $250K each. However, eventually rich people have enough stuff, and enough businesses. At some point, they start to care a lot more about their "legacy", which is one reason you see elaborate donor recognition walls in high visibility places. More examples here.



However, if you are really rich, you set up a Foundation e.g. the Gates Foundation, or more recently, the Chan Zuckerburg Initiative, etc. It is some mix of estate planning, philanthropy, tax shelter and (hidden) agenda. Most philanthropic funds are actually in the US and likely that pattern continues for the foreseeable future. Most US philanthropies choose .ORG as their extension.



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Nick is a very impressive guy, I recommend everyone here to read up on him, even with the domains he was involved with as he was an early investor in Amazon, and I believe he sold gear.com as a company to Overstock, along with another company aQuantative to his fellow neighbor Microsoft for $6B. He was involved with Marchex to a capacity as well, so he really understands domains, if he bought a domain from you it must be a really good one.

The Pacific Northwest doesn’t get enough credit to how much such a small region contributes to the world as a technology whole.

 

Bit off topic but... If it wasn't developed, would you run Epik on the .org?

I get the foundation part but haven't they always been keen on .orgs? Back in the day anybody who didn't remotely wanted to be associated with the corporate world got the .org even if the .com was freely available.

Don't get me wrong, I love .org and see a lot of companies moving that direction but isn't that caused for a substantial part because the .com is simply already taken/developed and there are great affordable names left in .org?

 

The .org extension is used heavily in the crypto/blockchain "decentralized" space. Additionally, trust is one of .org's largest attributes. I am bullish.

 

I have only one .org (healthconcepts)

I am not buying any two word .org anytime soon.

I will buy .org if it's one word or three letter.

Thanks

 

I haven't checked .org in awhile, saw 1 reported sale this year at Namebio for over $100K. Those 3 over $250K last month, are those .orgs or just other extensions? Also, I've seen sales at Epik from time to time posted here. Are those from the Epik Marketplace or Epik's own domains? Do you report to Namebio? I know GoDaddy is listed there, having sales show up could bring more business to your Marketplace.

 

.ORG is my second best performing extension, behind .COM.

Brad

 

I agree indeed. I believe personal websites will begin to take over / integrate better with current social media. The whole domaining space will explode as a result, think 7 billion people, half them will have a website or 2 or 3...5 billion registered domains is not out of the realm of possibility. nTLD are going to THRIVE in this case, and better yet...domains can FINALLY be recognized as a MAINSTREAM investment.

One major factor is ironically enough, cryptocurrency. Brave browser/BAT donation based browsing is going to help make this NEW DIGITAL ECONOMY.

 

We don't post sales anywhere, so NameBio is not going to be too helpful. Our clients seem to like it this way. However, we can talk in aggregates and we let trusted bloggers like Ray Hackney at TheDomains.com peak behind the curtain now and then to fact-check us if they like.

The 3 mentioned were customer domains and they were all .COM. However, let's face it, .COM is a very efficient market. The best inventory is secured and the dropping inventory gets auctions to the high bidder. There is not a lot of room for new guys other than in brandables and new categories.

I liked .CO earlier this year and I still like it a lot especially on promo. We have seen a lot of success stories there, and people are reporting them in this thread now and then:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/co-domain-registrations-at-epik.1143209/

The .ORG market seems pretty inefficient. I have trading ideas for that market which I will share in this thread as we compile lists that map to those categories and themes.

 

No, we would not run Epik registrar as .ORG.

We did however select eRise.org as our brand for the non-profit Digital Empowerment Foundation. See that contest here:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/poll-for-the-goodwill-of-domains-digital-empowerment-brand.1157478

 

I was involved in a venture capital deal with his younger brother Adrian, who ended up going all-in on the Seattle Sounders and I think has not been doing much venture stuff then. The Sounders worked out pretty well for him so he might have his own plutocratic guilt down the road. Free Sounders tickets is a start!

 

I like .org
Is undervalued but probably will continue to be so in the foreseeable future.
I think developing a strong .org can be worthwhile.

 

I can’t believe what you’re doing to newcomers s.c. Green domainers. This is what I call regbait + there’s a $250k example-bait. Only one word org and up to 3L are worth a try. PRI is busy collecting premium orgs from the drop-pool. Bye R.B

 

If you want to have a serious discussion about .ORG that is fine, but this blatantly crosses the self promotion line IMO.

Brad

 

I like the .org extension, but I only get them when I also have the .com

Here are some of the combos that I currently have:

ClimateChangeRights.org / .com

GreenWoke.org / .com

ThoughtPrivacy.org / .com

ThoughtPiracy.org / .com

RightOfThought.org / .com

All open to offers in case any of the Elites who feel guilty want to pay me a million dollars for any of them

 

Really? I am buying .ORG too.

As for name selection, I agree one should be selective. That applies to any registry so don't be a party-pooper. If you have advice on what to reg or not reg, then this is a suitable place to discuss it.

 

In my view terms have to be very strong in .ORG to have resale value.

Some examples would be -

- Great short branding words
- Good GEOs
- Competitive terms that fit well (health, education, etc.)

If you just register whatever in .ORG you are going to take major losses.

Brad

 

Many terms that fit well in .COM, would be virtually worthless in .ORG.

Something like DumpTrucks.com is a good domain, where it would be terrible in .ORG because of the fit.
Something like CureCancer.org is a great domain because of the fit.

Brad

 

I have sold a lot of domains, but I have yet to sale a .ORG. I will not loose hope. I will get my first .ORG sale one day.

 

I agree.

That was not a comprehensive list. I was just trying to make the point that the bar is a lot higher for .ORG than .COM when it comes to what has value.

Brad

 

Agreed here.

Product category names generally are not that great in any TLD. The SEO juice is not there.

Another category is CAUSES and INJUSTICES, i.e. issues and problems worth fighting for and where a coalition of the willing can make impact if they can attract sufficient funds.

A bootstrapper who is cause-centric, can start a cause, and market it with a good domain and then raise donations.

To note, cause marketers tend to use the word "STOP" a lot, e.g. StopAbuse.org, StopDWI.org.

Also most Secretary of States publish the list of all non-profits. Example for WA:

https://ccfs.sos.wa.gov/#/AdvancedSearch

Every state has these lists. Most non-profits don't have websites yet, but if they are serious they will need a domain for email, website, groupware, etc.

 

If the .com was already a website what would that mean for the .org , could it still be a viable choice for a non profit organization.

 

Interesting thread, i only have one org which is aufait, that mean to the point , well informed and socially competent.Dont know if thats good or not haha.

 

Also, one thing to keep in mind is ICANN gave .ORG their unlimited price caps despite the objections from 99.9% of the 3000+ comments.

Now they said at this point they have no plans to raise prices, but we will see how long that lasts.

They have the potential to really shoot themselves in the foot. I think there will be a major uproar if there are major price hikes because it is essentially taking money from other charities, groups, organizations, etc. and giving it to the .ORG registry itself.

Brad

 

Here is my formula:

- Buy 100 carefully selected .ORG for $7.49 each
- List all with make offer pricing
- Sell or lease at least one within year 1 for $749 or better to break even
- Shoot the moon with the rest

Low risk. Decent upside.