As a domain investor, and this article is geared to those who look to buy and sell domains only, other registrants will have different reasons and philosophies. For the domain investor focus on you first and foremost, what you think, what you see. Read to learn more, read the opinions of those you respect, but understand that just about every registry wants your money.
Some are going to be at the top of the class as far as marketing and hype, and some are going to be the student in college that wore the, “Who farted ?” tshirt. They may be lacking in the skills to promote their product effectively. That may cause some to go to the dark side.
I think some registry operators are increasingly fearful that one bad apple ( or two or three) can spoil the bunch. If one registry does some things that don’t have to be illegal but are perceived to trade in deception, well that can have negative consequences for them. There obviously was a big brouhaha over the last few weeks with the .xyz extension and their deal with Network Solutions.
As far as domain investors go, I had conversations with registrants who felt embarrassed they had regged names in the extension, I want to point out they did not think .xyz did anything illegal, they now felt they could not speak about their registrations on blogs and forums for fear of ridicule. One said to me that this scandal,(his word, not mine) would affect whatever chances he had to resell his domains.
On the registry front, Colin Campbell felt compelled to leave a comment on OnlineDomain.com
I always appreciate honest reporting, even when it comes to .CLUB. Kevin, Andrew, Ron, Rick, Michael B., and Michael G. (aussie) have all pointed things out about .CLUB that at times I wished they hadn’t. We are all human and we make all make mistakes. We all need to be accountable. Unfortunately the acts of 1 registry are tainting the entire industry. I have seen others raise suspicions about .CLUB, and other TLDs today because of XYZ’s unethical practices. I shouldn’t have to but in defense of Frank’s .LINK he has always been upfront from the very beginning with .LINK and the registrations he did. Lets not let one bad apple here spoil the crop.
Colin, CEO, .CLUB
Campbell then joined Namepros this week to get out there and show that his registry was transparent and to distance his product from other competing products.
I don’t know Colin Campbell, never had a conversation or email with the man, so this is just my opinion, I believe Mr.Campbell was smart to gauge the temperature of the domaining community and realized it was time to differentiate his registry and its policies from other registries that may be getting domain investors riled up.
Domain Investors also have to realize that their favorite registrar may have some great business deals made to promote certain extensions.
Go Daddy has a different opinion on .XYZ for example,than many domain investors. It is an extension to them, it is one of the fruits that is ripe in season so they are selling it on their digital fruit stand. Domain Investors are not getting money, they are being asked to spend their money on a piece of fruit they feel is contaminated or has been genetically modified to hide its short comings.
Registrars are not like say a brokerage firm, a brokerage firm is regulated, it has an obligation to ask customers, “Do you understand the risk of buying options ?” I see people sometimes in comments making these analogies for registrars, they are off base. The registrar is not regulated and has no responsibility to the customer from a “risk factor” Registrars don’t really use the term “investing” when it comes to domains anyway. To them they got a lot of different fruits for sale and what is in season, and in this case a season lasts a week or two, they are going to promote.
I have looked at a lot of new gtlds names and kept coming back to one question over and over, “Who am I going to sell this to ?” There are going to be some sales some people will do ok, a lot more people by the looks of some registration data are going to lose a lot of money. You need to pick the best of the best names and if they are taken or reserved, don’t register any. There is another fruit hitting the stand next week.
Well said. It’s a good investing practice to look at both sides of the arguments.
Precisely, selling even .COM domains for $xxxx is not easy. Doing so with an extension the general public doesn’t even know exists – good luck with that. Noone sells 100% of a portfolio so if you have to pay for pricey EAP registration plus premium renewals on a large number of new TLDs you are taking considerable risk.
I hear voices! My gut screams that gtlds are really stupid and will never be accepted by the mainstream. They will be collector novelty items at best. Even there, my gut tells me that the same collector will do better with .com
Bad idea, bad implementation, lack of interest and lack of demand.
To be honest, I picked up some one & two keyword.xyz domains I felt could warrant 4-6x reg price within a year or two.
Now, this fiasco of a launch has given the extension a double shiner, tarnishing its [inherently negative] reputation within the community & further compounding the odds against. Consequently, investments are now that much harder to recoup.
Negari, how could you be so pompous? You screwed the pooch on this one big dog – including the legitimate registrants / potential brand advocates. Smooth move.
Now I’ll pivot to Plan B, as I reckon it necessary to start developing the names instead of going for the flip. As a result, I hope to do my small part in attempting to build up the legitimacy of the extension through quality user experience / actual value on a handful of .xyz domains. How noble, I know.
I’m sure many will respond or muse to themselves: “You were screwed from the start, fool” – I’m well aware of the industry’s vocal malcontent for the gTLD program, which I must admit partly fuels my excitement. It is what it is.
Cheers.
P.S. This .XYZ Twitter post was just too much.
Gtld=Great To Lose Dinero
Gtld= Gut Tells Losing Domains
Gtld=Good Times, Loser Domains
My gut tells me that people will continue to type in .com no matter what. This will take place with urls and worse, in emails.
Gtlds seem silly and worthless to me.