events It's bad. No worse. It's sad.

[betthelot]

OK imagine you run a domain business and you sell $7.9 million dollars a year worth of domains but it costs you $18 million dollars to operate the business.
What would you do?
Well MMX owners of such names as .work .beer .london .boston decided to pay the CEO $1.1 million and stop outbound sales.
Did you hear that guys, the main stream bloggers will not pick that up THEY STOPPED OUTBOUND SALES OF PREMIUM NAMES.
They had 13 sales people whose only job was selling premium names in 2015 and it didn't work. These sales people could negotiate the price given they own them and had millions to choose from, a big advantage but it was not financially viable; endusers were not interested.
So a $10million operating loss. They are one of the biggest pure play new gTLDs company and they are hurting like many of them. Will be sold for cents on the dollar within 2 years. Their only hope is .vip launches next month in China.
Invested? Strong sell.
Announced today by the CFO reporting 2015 audited accounts to the London Stock Exchange

 

[Kate]

Example...Today, for a project, I bought:
internet.gd - $29 p/yr

I could have chosen:
internet.build - $4,499 p/yr
internet.car - $2,590 p/yr
internet.cars - $2,590 p/yr
internet.courses - $2,999 p/yr
internet.degree - $2,999 p/yr
internet.desi - $6,999 p/yr
internet.family - $2,999 p/yr
internet.fashion - $1,249 p/yr
internet.film - $2,999 p/yr
internet.lgbt - $4,999 p/yr
internet.market - $2,999 p/yr
internet.ngo - $6,999 p/yr
internet.physio - $1,249 p/yr
internet.rodeo - $1,249 p/yr
internet.shiksha - $6,999 p/yr
internet.xyz - $12,999 p/yr

and so on..all very expensive.

These prices are ridiculous.

You are completely right, these prices are ridiculous. Put yourself in the shoes of an average person looking for a domain on Nodaddy and being presented a choice of vanity alternative extensions at those prices. What will they think ?
Does that lend the new extensions any credibility ? I don't think so. It reinforces the status of .com and other mainstream extensions as legitimate and suggests new extensions are ripoffs period. There is nothing to understand here.

The gTLD program is supposed to bring availability of good keywords to the masses but this is hardly happening. It's not because domainers snatched all of them (they can't since there are too many). It's because the registries aka the new domainers are hoarding them.
They are responsible for their own demise.

 

[betthelot]

being presented a choice of vanity alternative extensions at those prices. What will they think ?

What will they think? SCAM!

 

[Casey L]

When you buy a knockoff Burberry purse, it's always cheaper than the real thing. Off brand colas are $1.29 for 2 liters. If you want people to buy your product when it's of lesser quality and value, you can't charge 100x more than the real thing.

 

[dordomai]

.jobs, .travel, .mobi failed.

1000+ worse GTLDs will succeed?

Very risky bet.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

I have never visited a .io website
Like my landlord said the other day " you can always lead a .horse to water, but sometimes you have to shoot it"
The technological advantage is that .com is on my phone
.com is a word that everyone knows
so you picked a few extensions that go with tease, there is only about 15 taken outside of the chosen ones,
tease.me is the only one of value

Most phones these days have software keyboards. That can change.

tease.me is of no value to me, btw.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

.jobs, .travel, .mobi failed.

1000+ worse GTLDs will succeed?

Very risky bet.

.mobi failed because with good web design, the mobile site doesn't need a different url and maintenance is easier when you don't have a different url.

.travel probably failed because the market was too small with most travel companies already having a web presence. Travel also was significantly reduced, at least in the US, with the housing crash.

.jobs probably also failed because the market was too small.

Will some of the new gTLDs fail? Absolutely. They certainly won't all fail.

 

[Silentptnr]

Fact is, we will probably all be dead and gone before the new gTLDs become mainstream. I cannot think of one new gTLD, including club and xyz, that are worth much either retail or wholesale. And interest seems to be deteriorating.

Gen.xyz Alexa stats: Down 48,000 positions since January
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/gen.xyz

Nic.club Alext stats: Down 84,000 positions since January
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/nic.club

After an initial jump, even these new gTLD's that showed some potential are losing ground. Little marketing, no major sites using them, and little aftermarket sales.

I'm not downing the new gTLDs, just looking at them like an investor. I don't see any reason to believe they would be the best investment for my money. I could buy com, net, org, co, info, biz, ccTLDs and so on.

I do have a handful of new gTLD domains and I like them. I think they have potential mostly for development. But make no mistake, I will drop them like a hot potato if I don't sell or develop them.

 

[Recons.Com]

You are completely right, these prices are ridiculous. Put yourself in the shoes of an average person looking for a domain on Nodaddy and being presented a choice of vanity alternative extensions at those prices. What will they think ?
Does that lend the new extensions any credibility ? I don't think so. It reinforces the status of .com and other mainstream extensions as legitimate and suggests new extensions are ripoffs period. There is nothing to understand here.

The gTLD program is supposed to bring availability of good keywords to the masses but this is hardly happening. It's not because domainers snatched all of them (they can't since there are too many). It's because the registries aka the new domainers are hoarding them.
They are responsible for their own demise.

Hopefully they'll think "wow, and here I thought .com/.org/.net versions were expensive. Let me improve on my offer".

 

[dordomai]

.mobi failed because with good web design, the mobile site doesn't need a different url and maintenance is easier when you don't have a different url.

.travel probably failed because the market was too small with most travel companies already having a web presence. Travel also was significantly reduced, at least in the US, with the housing crash.

.jobs probably also failed because the market was too small.

Will some of the new gTLDs fail? Absolutely. They certainly won't all fail.

I don't know about .jobs but travel is one of the biggest markets online. If one of the biggest markets is not large enough all other markets won't be large enough either.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

I don't know about .jobs but travel is one of the biggest markets online. If one of the biggest markets is not large enough all other markets won't be large enough either.

And how many travel companies did not already have a website?

 

[dordomai]

And how many travel companies did not already have a website?

The same applies to any other string. :Jobs isn't the worst keyword either. .Tel isn't THAT bad compared to many of the new strings. .

The keyword was not the problem and should have had an above average chance of succeeding.

Compare that to weaker strings like .blackfriday, .rodeo or .hiv

 

[brandnow]

.travel seems to only be used by countries for promoting tourism.. and only two countries I know of use it.. both developing / 3rd world countries.. Indonesia and one of the countries in central Asia.

 

[Kate]

We have other examples of industry-specific TLDs that are shunned by the intended end users:
Examples other than .travel:

• .xxx
• .aero
• .museum
• .coop
• .jobs

There is no a single one that can be considered successful. And I am just talking about the 'older' extensions.
Clearly, there hasn't been a proper market analysis. Just wishful thinking.
Have the registries learned from the past ? Nope. Let them fail.

 

[Domain Galleria]

Domainers should wake up and face reality. I am of the opinion that both domainers and the registries are part of the problems .As long as registries keep hoarding good names in the name of premium and domainers registering junks/leftover thereby making the registries feel that their junks are acceptable to the public, the future remains bleak. I wanted to buy realty.online early this year and netfirms displayed it at $4 plus and godaddy confirm it to be available as well and I added it to my cart but because I wanted to add more domains, I didn't check out and was using the weekend to design the project I was going to use it for. I decided to check out the next Monday but couldn't believe what was happening as price changes with strong message attached that the domain was $7,000 plus and that will be the renewal fee as well. I went to whois.com and tried to check if my eyes were seeing right and same thing happened. That was the day I hated all ngtlds and see them as greedy and exploiters feeding fat on domainers. As long as they continue in their greed, failure is inevitable. Which small business is going to dole out $8000 to buy a domain name?

 

[brandnow]

Domainers should wake up and face reality. I am of the opinion that both domainers and the registries are part of the problems .As long as registries keep hoarding good names in the name of premium and domainers registering junks/leftover thereby making the registries feel that their junks are acceptable to the public, the future remains bleak. I wanted to buy realty.online early this year and netfirms displayed it at $4 plus and godaddy confirm it to be available as well and I added it to my cart but because I wanted to add more domains, I didn't check out and was using the weekend to design the project I was going to use it for. I decided to check out the next Monday but couldn't believe what was happening as price changes with strong message attached that the domain was $7,000 plus and that will be the renewal fee as well. I went to whois.com and tried to check if my eyes were seeing right and same thing happened. That was the day I hated all ngtlds and see them as greedy and exploiters feeding fat on domainers. As long as they continue in their greed, failure is inevitable. Which small business is going to dole out $8000 to buy a domain name?

Same thing here on several occasions. One day the price is reg fee.. the next day it's $10,000. ICANN SERIOUSLY NEEDS TO CRACK DOWN ON THIS ASAP.

 

[gemstar]

Same thing here on several occasions. One day the price is reg fee.. the next day it's $10,000. ICANN SERIOUSLY NEEDS TO CRACK DOWN ON THIS ASAP.

It's like telling the mob to clean up their act.

 

[Silentptnr]

It would be great if the registrars would consign our registered domain names at premium prices!

I bought many domains before they were premium. It would be great if I could consign them to GoDaddy, Namecheap, Dynadot, etc. Let them, with larger platforms, sell my registered domains as premium! I would gladly pay them a commission on 8k+ sales.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

Domainers need to face the reality that their trade is why there is demand for new gTLDs.

The hoarding by domainers has created a demand for additional supply, that is why we want new gTLDs.

I'm not supporting the premium names, I'm disgusted with how the registries are behaving.
I'm not supporting the sheer quantity that ICANN is approving - it is too many too fast.

But I am sick and tired of spending hours looking for domain names for a project just because the good ones on .com are all gone, with a very large chunk of them owned by domainers who haven't used them in years yet want insane prices for them.

And when I have contacted domainers to ask about buying them, I'm often met with high pressure sales tactics that make used car salesmen seem honest.

That's why I like the new gTLDs. Despite the fact that so many are premium, I can find good names without wasting hours of my time.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

Just to be clear I am not opposed to domainers existing, I just don't like how they hoard and thus I welcome market pressure (new gTLDs) that give the consumers more choice.

 

[garptrader]

New TLDs provide more choice for ow-budget developers or real students who want a domain for a project but cannot spend more than $25 on a domain name. So why should anyone buy domains in TLDs where the primary user is going to be low-budget?

On the other hand, end users need to wake up to the branding value of domains. They are marketing tools which can help promote a business' products and services. I am a financial professional so I see the thousands of dollars that even small businesses will spend on professional services, IT costs, marketing, travel, etc. Then they cannot fathom why they should spend more than $50 on a domain name. Yet they pay the pay attorneys $300/hour, their IT consultants $100/hour, will spend five figures to send a few execs to a meeting for a few days.

A friend of mine wanted to open a small restaurant here in West Palm Beach and inquired about a place that does not even have seating space - just kitchen space and a window to show items for sale, and interact with customers walking down the streets of downtown. They wanted $17,000/month for rent. Perhaps that price was negotiable but how many empanadas do you have to sell at $5 each to pay the rent when there are dozens of competing restaurants in the area? And the ingredients and staff are not free.

 

[Silentptnr]

Domainers need to face the reality that their trade is why there is demand for new gTLDs.

The hoarding by domainers has created a demand for additional supply, that is why we want new gTLDs.

I'm not supporting the premium names, I'm disgusted with how the registries are behaving.
I'm not supporting the sheer quantity that ICANN is approving - it is too many too fast.

But I am sick and tired of spending hours looking for domain names for a project just because the good ones on .com are all gone, with a very large chunk of them owned by domainers who haven't used them in years yet want insane prices for them.

And when I have contacted domainers to ask about buying them, I'm often met with high pressure sales tactics that make used car salesmen seem honest.

That's why I like the new gTLDs. Despite the fact that so many are premium, I can find good names without wasting hours of my time.

There is a difference between hoarding and collecting. Hoarding implies keeping with no intention of selling. Collecting is a better term. When there is value in a commodity such as domain names, investors, collectors, and enthusiasts register names they feel are unique, attractive, or valuable. Very much the same as fine art or stocks. If you wanted to buy a stock, you would pay todays market value. You wouldn't get the IPO price. If you wanted to buy a Picasso, you would pay much more than the cost of the canvas and paint.

You should understand the difference. There is nothing illegal, immoral or unfair with collecting domain names for investment. There are penny stocks and stocks that cost 100k per share. You start where you can afford to start.

Stop painting a picture that demonstrates a lack of understanding of how commodity markets work. Getting online isn't even free. Everything costs money and domainers don't set prices, the market does.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

On the other hand, end users need to wake up to the branding value of domains. They are marketing tools which can help promote a business' products and services.

I agree, I believe they can end up being easier to remember.

I'm not really personally fond of the really long ones, keyword.university for example is too much to type but keyword.band would be perfect for a band.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

There is a difference between hoarding and collecting. Hoarding implies keeping with no intention of selling. Collecting is a better term. When there is value in a commodity such as domain names, investors, collectors, and enthusiasts register names they feel are unique, attractive, or valuable. Very much the same as fine art or stocks. If you wanted to buy a stock, you would pay todays market value. You wouldn't get the IPO price. If you wanted to buy a Picasso, you would pay much more than the cost of the canvas and paint.

You should understand the difference. There is nothing illegal, immoral or unfair with collecting domain names for investment. There are penny stocks and stocks that cost 100k per share. You start where you can afford to start.

Stop painting a picture that demonstrates a lack of understanding of how commodity markets work. Getting online isn't even free. Everything costs money and domainers don't set prices, the market does.

To me the difference is only semantic because the result is the same - those who create content have to effectively pay a huge tax to someone else to get use of a decent name.

The problem is there isn't much incentive for domainers to reduce prices when they don't sell because a few good high value sales covers the continued registration for lots of domains they don't sell. So there's really not much incentive to let the market demand determine a fair price.

 

[garptrader]

Alice-True the domains that sell do have to pay for the many that don't but many buyers have this mistaken concept that every domain cost the owner $10 and was purchased in the last few weeks so offering $25 should be an adequate return? Most of my portfolio was acquired years ago sometimes in auctions or at least backorders of $69 and in the case of some TLDs like .TV where the renewals are $28-$30 each (times several years) and turnover is only 1%, I will lose money selling for low $XXX. Even then the value of my time has to be compensated. An attorney does not get paid for the paper and ink they use to express a legal opinion. They invested years in an education and professional experience. Those good domains that you really want also cost that domain investor because in the initial years they made a lot of mistakes and had to drop most of their portfolio - perhaps thousands of dollars of training costs. Considering the value of my time (research of search volume and potential end users, administration, auction participation, pricing/renewal decisions, outbound marketing, responding to inbound requests, domain consolidation transfers, etc) I easily have six figures invested in my portfolio. Will I ever see a return on that selling domains at $25 each? No way.

 

[Alice Wonder Miscreations]

I certainly empathize but I still don't like paying huge amounts for a good domain name because the supply has been artificially reduced by people who have six figures to buy up domain names they aren't using for actual websites.

The additional TLDs means I don't have to, which is why I like them. And probably is why domainers tend to not like them.