question Your opinion on .com equivalent of an .org

[aliweb]

Hi,

Guys what is your opinion on registering .com version of domains whose .net or .org version is already established and running. Do you think it is worth investing in those domains due to following two reasons:

1. A user is likely to enter .com in address bar when opening so it can serve as a "typo". I understand that such users will be few though as most of them will always write correct TLD
2. We can pitch this domain to .net/.org holder

For e.g. if you take a look at following domains, they both have established .org but no .com version

mamasdelrio.org
shahucollegepune.org

Thanks

 

[pinkdragon]

Yes, .com will be always better over .net or .org, BUT for business or brandable. In your 2 given examples, I think they can run very well under their .org domains. Why an NGO or a school will need a .com domain?

 

[aliweb]

Yes, .com will be always better over .net or .org, BUT for business or brandable. In your 2 given examples, I think they can run very well under their .org domains. Why an NGO or a school will need a .com domain?

This is what I noticed in majority of .org cases. But I found a few cases where .com would have been better. But this require careful planning and analysis of domain otherwise you will lose money.

 

[.X.]

The domain name must fit the .org extension IMO , To answer the question though, No. .org is not equal to .com , .com is the mothership, no matter what IMO

 

[Ategy]

The bigger problem you're going to have is that you're targeting non-generic names of existing businesses.

So even if the .com is available, who would want to actually buy a name that already has a business running on it?

Extremely few possible buyer .. while at the same time you're treading on very thin ice in terms of breaking trademark rights and opening yourself up to possible UDRP.

If it's a generic term or words then maybe go for it .. but judging by your examples above .. I'd say don't get the .com's .. they are effectively worthless.

 

[Kate]

There are many domains that are registered in .com and/or .net and unregistered in .com
But the domains are quite specific, and it's unlikely that you will a buyer. Of course there is one 'obvious' end user but that doesn't mean they will buy the .com, even if it was taken when they decided to fall back on the .net/.org.

In short: most of the time, it would be a waste of money + possible TM issues.

 

[Michael]

If the .com was never registered before, the owner of the lesser extension will not pay you a premium when they could have just hand-registered it themselves. In both of the examples you gave the .com was never registered in the history of the internet, so they chose the .org because they felt it was better for their use and it's extremely unlikely that they'd ever pay you even reg fee for the .com.

If the .com recently became available it is possible the owner of the lesser extension was just settling and you might have a potential buyer, but you should first check WHOIS history to make sure they weren't the previous owner of the .com and dropped it. It is rare that you'll find an example that is actually defensible to own and not squatting, and previously registered but not by the owner of the lesser extension. The examples you gave are not defensible to own in my opinion.

There is potential in the strategy, but it won't scale well and probably won't be worth your time.

 

[aliweb]

If the .com was never registered before, the owner of the lesser extension will not pay you a premium when they could have just hand-registered it themselves. In both of the examples you gave the .com was never registered in the history of the internet, so they chose the .org because they felt it was better for their use and it's extremely unlikely that they'd ever pay you even reg fee for the .com.

If the .com recently became available it is possible the owner of the lesser extension was just settling and you might have a potential buyer, but you should first check WHOIS history to make sure they weren't the previous owner of the .com and dropped it. It is rare that you'll find an example that is actually defensible to own and not squatting, and previously registered but not by the owner of the lesser extension. The examples you gave are not defensible to own in my opinion.

There is potential in the strategy, but it won't scale well and probably won't be worth your time.

This is a good point regarding .com already registered before or not. I thought somebody already owned .com version of these domains at some point but looks like that's not the case.