domains Why I have not given up on New gTLDs!

[Lox]

by Jeff Neuman

"Why even have more TLDs when most of the ones from 2012 were "failures"?

This is what we hear the most. But they are generally from domain name industry insiders that have an interest in protecting their existing assets or from those that benefit greatly from the artificial scarcity of top-level domains. We also hear this from some intellectual property specialists that bear the burden of protecting their clients' trademarks and have more of a burden with each launch of a new TLD.

To them I say.....Who are you to judge the success or failure of the new gTLD Program? We shouldn't judge the success or failure of TLDs in terms of numbers of registrations or what the resale value of second level domains are within a TLD. For even if there is one registrant that depends on a domain name registered on a new gTLD domain name extension for their business or livelihood, then who are we to ever described that gTLD as a failure. Who are we to tell that registrant that their whole life's work is on a "failed" domian space. At the end of the day, we launch new registries for them and if the gTLD is secure, works, and does what the end users expect it to do, then all other opinions are just that....opinions.

New gTLDs were created, and are created, to give consumers a choice. The new gTLD Program is about removing the artificial barriers that exist in the creation of new TLDs while at the same time protecting consumers and preserving the safety and security of the Internet. It was not put in place to appease the existing market or preserve ...

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[Mkt Sales Leads]

In fairness, when new extensions were created the operators expected much more.
They expected a paradigm shift, some said .COM is like "AM Radio" or ".COM is dead".

Almost a decade later none of that happened. It has not lived up to all the hype.

If anything .COM is stronger than ever, while .XYZ seems to be the only new gTLD with any real sales traction.

The "consumer choice" thing is a myth. If that was actually the case, the registries would not reserve the premium terms and charge premium prices and/or renewals for them.

It is about nothing more than making money.

There was never a demand for thousands of extensions. This was a solution looking for a problem.

Brad

Exactly. Especially if a small business was fortunate enough to register a good keyword .co / xyz name only to have it expire and see it has become 'registry premium'.

Where's the 'consumer choice' (or better still, end user choice) in that?

 

[Grego85]

You CAN make decent money selling new GTLDs if you focus on the right niches. I've been collecting nGTLD names for many years now, and only sold 1 or 2 per year until I started focusing on web3/blockchain related niches. Most next gen disruptive technology spaces are open to buying nGTLD names.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

You CAN make decent money selling new GTLDs if you focus on the right niches. I've been collecting nGTLD names for many years now, and only sold 1 or 2 per year until I started focusing on web3/blockchain related niches. Most next gen disruptive technology spaces are open to buying nGTLD names.

The history of domain sales show tech companies are as interested in single dictionary words as any other business sector - except all those desired words are mostly taken in many extensions. Unless you have thousands to spend on a top name, you won’t find these available for reg in a ngtld.

That leaves brandables and .com is the only viable extension that a tech business would consider acquiring a name in.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

You CAN make decent money selling new GTLDs if you focus on the right niches. I've been collecting nGTLD names for many years now, and only sold 1 or 2 per year until I started focusing on web3/blockchain related niches. Most next gen disruptive technology spaces are open to buying nGTLD names.

Greg.....i happen to believe you CAN make A LOT of money "if" you focus on the right niches. Earlier in this thread i said, "If it's to be, it's up to me"

Attempting to reach out to you via Sweet.domains I ran into Dreamhost As a result I ran into Michael Rodriquez and Christopher Ghazarian and I'll attempt to reach out to them via Linkedin.

I get your attraction to .xyz and your focus on web3/blockchain-related niches, but if you're interested in what I'm up to with names like American.link and Bicycle.link......we should talk. Thanks

 

[Grego85]

Greg.....i happen to believe you CAN make A LOT of money "if" you focus on the right niches. Earlier in this thread i said, "If it's to be, it's up to me"

Attempting to reach out to you via Sweet.domains I ran into Dreamhost As a result I ran into Michael Rodriquez and Christopher Ghazarian and I'll attempt to reach out to them via Linkedin.

I get your attraction to .xyz and your focus on web3/blockchain-related niches, but if you're interested in what I'm up to with names like American.link and Bicycle.link......we should talk. Thanks

Ummm... ok, well I was going more off my own actual experience in making money on domains.

Sorry you couldn't offer your .link names to me so easily via email, but as I said in my last post, your ngtld names should be related to crypto/web3 if you want any chance of selling regularly. Sorry for the other dudes who you shifted too after :/

I have Asset.Link and Venture.Link and have not been able to find much interest. I view the tld as overpriced and ohhhhh.. now I see you think the tld is worth more than .xyz? Lol, holy cow man, thanks for the laugh :D

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Ummm... ok, well I was going more off my own actual experience in making money on domains.

Sorry you couldn't offer your .link names to me so easily via email, but as I said in my last post, your ngtld names should be related to crypto/web3 if you want any chance of selling regularly. Sorry for the other dudes who you shifted too after :/

I have Asset.Link and Venture.Link and have not been able to find much interest. I view the tld as overpriced and ohhhhh.. now I see you think the tld is worth more than .xyz? Lol, holy cow man, thanks for the laugh :D

Quite a misread here (on your part).....i never said i wouldn't offer/show my .link names to you via email? Neither did i say the .link tld is worth more than the .xyz tld.......please quote me

That said however i see .xyz fading into the sunset..... few significant sales since last year according to Namebio.
Just 3 reported sales by Swetha in the last 60 days and hundreds of questionable sales less than $200 by SAV and Dynadot.....can you say CHURN

The domain industry is every bit as screwed up as the crypto industry, but therein lies OPPORTUNITY

 

[ThatNameGuy]

The history of domain sales show tech companies are as interested in single dictionary words as any other business sector - except all those desired words are mostly taken in many extensions. Unless you have thousands to spend on a top name, you won’t find these available for reg in a ngtld.

That leaves brandables and .com is the only viable extension that a tech business would consider acquiring a name in.

i don't know what percentage of new companies are tech startups but I do know there are just as many traditional companies in need of good single word domains. With most "brandables and .com" already taken, this only leaves ngtld's.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

i don't know what percentage of new companies are tech startups but I do know there are just as many traditional companies in need of good single word domains. With most "brandables and .com" already taken, this only leaves ngtld's.

And the best type of words for ngtlds are single dictionary words, which happen to be mostly taken. So if a tech business wants Plumtree dot xyz / digital / Pro etc, they'll find it's either in use by another business, or taken by another business but not in use, or for sale by a domainer who got in early.

 

[JB Lions]

And the best type of words for ngtlds are single dictionary words, which happen to be mostly taken. So if a tech business wants Plumtree dot xyz / digital / Pro etc, they'll find it's either in use by another business, or taken by another business but not in use, or for sale by a domainer who got in early.

Yep, it's a problem I was pointing out when these came out. One of the selling points of those selling new gtlds were all the good .coms were taken, so new businesses can just get good new gtlds. Well, nope. Because domainers snapped up all the good ones or registries held the good ones at high prices and some had crazy renewals, not normal $10 or so renewals for .coms.

"You run into the same problems as .com, the obvious ones are already taken by domainers. It's probably even worse with new gtlds, since the registries take them first, even @mad409 has agreed with that in the past. And they're not selling for cheap, most would probably start off at 4 figures as well. Maybe one of the reasons with the startups we take a look at here at Namepros, it's only around 2% of startups choosing new gtlds. You just can't go and hand reg an obvious one."

https://www.namepros.com/threads/th...ld-the-franchise-effect.1030884/#post-6264353

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Yep, it's a problem I was pointing out when these came out. One of the selling points of those selling new gtlds were all the good .coms were taken, so new businesses can just get good new gtlds. Well, nope. Because domainers snapped up all the good ones or registries held the good ones at high prices and some had crazy renewals, not normal $10 or so renewals for .coms.

"You run into the same problems as .com, the obvious ones are already taken by domainers. It's probably even worse with new gtlds, since the registries take them first, even @mad409 has agreed with that in the past. And they're not selling for cheap, most would probably start off at 4 figures as well. Maybe one of the reasons with the startups we take a look at here at Namepros, it's only around 2% of startups choosing new gtlds. You just can't go and hand reg an obvious one."

https://www.namepros.com/threads/th...ld-the-franchise-effect.1030884/#post-6264353

Just seen one of your posts in the link and it sums up the myth of ngtld availability and benevolence of registrars and registries:

Making my point. Part of the new gtld marketing is acting like good names are just there for end users to register, when domainers, and in the case of new gtlds, registries own them.

 

[NameGroove]

I tend to agree that most gTLDs are not worthy and many of the problems described herein are on point.

However, it is also true that some ccTLDs and one gTLD is worthy. These 4 have better STRs than .com (at least when calculated as sales/number of domains registered, which I understand isn't the best metric but it's what we've got).

.ai
.io
.tv
.global

Now, 3 of them are ccTLDs that have been repurposed by people to mean something different than the original intent. Only one is a true gTLD. Nevertheless, there is competition outside of .com and many companies now hang their shingle on gTLDs and repurposed ccTLDs. The amount of money it would take to garner a short dictionary word in .com is a non-starter for many businesses. Not all businesses are the next Tesla. There is a need for these gTLDs and unfortunately the extensive crapola hides many gTLDs that are serving a purpose.

There have been approx 100,000 reported sales on NameBio of gTLDs (including repurposed ccTLDs, but not including ccTLDs like .de, .cn, etc). Clearly there is a market here for them in totality. Investing in most is a losers game (but one could make the argument that's also the case for .coms). I think one of the things this board tends to do is look at everything from an investment standpoint. Understandable as most people here are investors. And therefore when you see .store with 1.5 million regs and only 35 reported sales it's easy to think of that gTLD as trash. On the other hand however, the small business who was able to garner a short concise .store name to promote his wares may be quite happy with his URL. And he'd never be able to play in the world of .com unless he wanted a long jumble of letters.

I think the smart small business is wise to play outside .com while the smart investor had better be quite careful before trying to find the next .ai, .io, .tv, or .global.