Recent Posts
- ICANN name servers come under attack
- NamesCon will be virtual again this year, and more expensive
- Net4 nightmare almost over as court rules ICANN can shut down chaotic registrar
- IWF finds 3,401 “commercial” child porn domains
- Price caps on .org could return, panel rules
- DNS genius and ICANN key-holder Dan Kaminsky dies at 42
- .gov TLD quietly changes hands
- ICANN asks registries to freeze Net 4 India’s expired domains
- UNR cuts $5.2 million from price of new gTLD portfolio
- Formerly massive drop-catcher faces ICANN probe
- Verisign expects huge domain growth in 2021
- Decision on $135 million .web auction expected in weeks
- Net4’s “complete breakdown” is bringing India to a screeching halt, and ICANN could have prevented it
- Everything.sucks publishes transfer auth codes for thousands of domains in latest .sucks pimpage
- Kiwis finally making the switch to EPP with Canadian deal
- Squarespace files to go public in New York
- Facebook gunning for Web.com in latest $27 million-plus cybersquatting lawsuit
- Verisign says it needs .web because .com is running out of names
- Anger as Nominet rejects coup’s pick for chair
- Ahead of GoDaddy acquisition, MMX to scrap premium fees on 725,000 domains
- ICANN threatens to seize gTLD after Whois downtime
- China could block GoDaddy’s $120 million MMX swoop
- .CLUB CEO on selling to GoDaddy, Clubhouse, and .club’s “twerking moment”
- GoDaddy buys 30 new gTLDs for over $120 million
- Nominet members wail as ousted director made CEO
- XYZ adds .tickets to its gTLD stable
- EFF rages as Ethos closes Donuts buy
- Outrage at ICANN’s new “clown shoes” social distancing mandate
- ICANN refuses to say why it allowed Donuts to buy Afilias
- ShortDot bought another gTLD. Guess what .sbs stands for now?
- As Net4 goes dark, NIXI says customers won’t lose their expired domains
- .sucks mystery deepens. Who the hell is Pat Honeysalt?
- Universal Acceptance – making the internet work for everyone [Guest Post]
- ICANN rules out vaccine passports, kinda, but warns in-person meetings may be a long way off
- Motion to fire five Nominet directors passes in tight vote
- Nominet boss jumps before he is pushed
- Watch: the exact moment Nominet’s CEO sealed his fate
- Stick a fork in Nominet’s leadership. Tucows votes to fire half the board
- IP lobby demands halt to Whois reform
- Donuts adds another TLD to its stable as Richemont finally bows out of new gTLD program
- NamesCon Europe cancelled — “pandemics suck”
- As .gov changes hands, would Verisign run it for free?
- Nominet warns of government takeover as Namecheap backs fire-the-directors campaign
- ICANN 71 is online-only, because of course it is
- Correction: UNR’s trademark block service
- ICANN 70 has virtual schwag, other new stuff
- Everything.sucks, in losing UDRPs, puts the lie to the .sucks business model
- Domain industry shrank in Q4, but as usual there’s a big BUT
- Pirate Bay founder says ICANN won’t let him be a registrar
- ICANN finally cans Net 4 India
- Got beef with ICANN? Why you may not want to use the Ombudsman
- EU cancels .eu tender after Brexit cock-up
- More acquisitions? GoDaddy to raise $800 million
- Facebook lawsuit brings one country’s domain to a screeching halt
- CentralNic buys German monetization firm for up to $13 million
- .hotel battle lands ICANN in court over accountability dodges
- ICANN purges another dormant dot-brand
- Conspiracy nut ordered to pay thousands to “kingpins” as “cartel” lawsuit chucked out
- Three ICANN directors voted against Marby’s pay rise
- Former ICANN vice-chair Disspain joins Donuts
- Donuts acquires four more gTLDs, but allows one to be scrapped
- Rival wants the truth about the Afilias-Donuts deal amid “collusion” claims
- Coronavirus has made ICANN $11 million richer than predicted so far this year
- Lockdown bump sees GoDaddy double customer gains in 2020
- Brit .eu owners get another three-month stay of execution
- Verisign upgrades its cash-printing machine but warns post-pandemic “could go either way”
- Nominet declares member coup “invalid”
- Public comments open on new Whois policies
- ICANN CEO gets 5% pay rise
- Security firm sues Facebook to overturn UDRP loss of “good faith” typo domains
- Registrar giant created as Web.com merged with Endurance
- Nominet chair eats humble pie to stave off mass board cull
- ShortDot adds fourth gTLD to its stable, plans March launch
- Nominet boss has epiphany and calls for calm as his job hangs by a thread
- One year on, Namecheap still fighting aborted .org takeover and may target GoDaddy and Donuts next
- Defensive windfall on the cards for .spa? It’s not just for spas any more
- Two more dot-brands take the easy way out
- RobinHood.club showered with five-star reviews after .com confusion
- EURid reports 3% growth in final quarter before Brexit crunch
- Webcentral to change its branding yet again after tricky takeover
- Fire the board! Registrars attempt a coup at Nominet
- .club back over a million names as Clubhouse drives growth
- Eight years after asking, Israel to get its Hebrew ccTLD
- Time is running out for Net4 as ICANN questions Indian court ruling
- UNR getting out of the registry business with $17 million no-reserve auctions on 23 new gTLDs
- Amid .club boom, one AV vendor is blocking the whole damn TLD
- New rules could stop registries ripping off big brands
- MMX vows to refocus under new boss after crappy 2020
- Failed .org buyer Ethos Capital buys Donuts
- Crackdown looms for new gTLD auction gaming
- Would-be new country wants to share another country’s ccTLD
- 153 registrars fingered for ICANN security probe
- ICANN axes Cancun again. Apparently there’s a pandemic
- Gun nut site crashes at Epik after GoDaddy shoots it down
- It’s pandemic continuity versus gender diversity in ICANN’s board wish-list
- Free domains for .in registrants
- Here’s why two ICANN directors opposed extending Marby’s CEO contract
- Rules for the next new gTLD round near the final straight
- Island demands return of its “naked” ccTLD
- Donuts punter welcomes our new alien overlords in December premium sale
- Net 4 India gets unwelcome Christmas gift from ICANN
- Fuji Xerox kills off gTLD after rebrand
- EURid suspends 80,000 domains as Brexit transition ends
- GoDaddy’s female geeks make a bit more than men
- Donuts acquisition of Afilias closes, integration work begins
- GoDaddy pranks employees with “insensitive” phishing test
- US sneaks public Whois demands into pandemic relief bill
- Verisign drops half a mill on pandemic relief
- Mixed messages from ICANN on pandemic travel in 2021
- ICANN predicts rosy post-pandemic domain industry — time to start panicking?
- DI World Global International Headquarters is relocating
- ICANN throws the book at Net4 over dodgy transfer claims
- Fraud checks coming to .ch as SWITCH renews contract
- South African registry to be merged with film censor, broadband regulator
- There’s one obvious pick for next year’s ICANN Community Excellence Award
- ICANN could block Donuts from buying Afilias
- Westerdal offloads two more gTLDs to Donuts
- Whois privacy group finds its new chair
- Three more new gTLDs blink out of existence
- NamesCon Europe founder Dietmar Stefitz reportedly dies
- Credit union gTLD changes hands to perhaps surprising buyer
- After 20 years, DomainTools takes its first VC dough
- Gay charities get first taste of domain cash
- CIRA hits major .ca milestone on 20th anniversary
- .org made $97 million last year
Schilling: registries could wind-down unprofitable gTLDs
Kevin Murphy,
December 4, 2015, 16:59:00 (UTC),
Domain Registries
New gTLD portfolio registries may one day decide to wind down some of their gTLDs if they fail to reach profitability.
That’s according to Uniregistry CEO Frank Schilling, who told DI today that registries may “sunset” under-performing TLDs.
His comments came in response to our post earlier today about registries going out of business involuntarily due to lack of sales.
But he’s referring to registries managing large numbers of strings, winding down the unprofitable ones in a controlled manner.
“I can’t see Uniregistry doing that today, but if in round two we get 100 strings that all kill it and we have some round one stuff that sucks, yes,” he said in an email. “I would consider raising prices to get the string profitable or sunset the string.”
“That said,” he added, “that’s 5-8 years out [and] by then even the slowest should be profitable.”
This is a warning to the new registries to begin dropping their prices on premiums.
The only way for the new g’s to get their legs is for users to mass adopt them.
It’s just that simple.
Surely dropping premium prices is more likely to encourage speculation by domainers who will just mark up the resale price to somewhere in the region of what the registry was originally selling them for.
That’s true, but some registries could use the cash in hand early on to fund future operations.
I wouldn’t argue with that, but I don’t think that’s what Jen was getting at.
Domainers are the unpaid, outsourced sales representatives of the registries.
Even if the retail price remains the same, a large group of domainers might distribute domains to end users more successfully than the registry could on its own.
Jen , that is the last thing they should do .Individual TLDs need to maximise, skillfully manage their one off premium names list in the first couple of years , which can contribute towards the global marketing effort to achieve critical mass. The general market is already saturated with reg prices inevitably being driven down to a non viable $1 and then 80% + are parked.. ICANN should never have allowed a flooding of the market, but should have phased in TLDs gradually over years.
too late, Jen.
The die is cast.
People scalded by the pathetic adoption that already blew their wad will decide/have decided not to renew based on anemic secondary sale results.
.xyz probably is the exception to this buit .nyc, .london, guru, .garbage….etc….
its too late,..they blew it !
they will need to drop registration to .click, .link, .xyz levels [$5]…..and renewals at $8 before people dip their toes in again,….
and even than,..like I said,…
the die is cast.
$1 domains, .science etc… who is going to pay to renew these dogs. We own some premium GTLD’s in good extensions, we are seeing ZERO, ZILCH, 0 offers across the board.
This is not an investment
The reason the .com aftermarket works so well:
A buyer might be willing to pay a premium for a domain, but renewals will be cheap.
No one wants to pay X,XXX – XX,XXX every year.
The new registrars have yet to learn this.
A domainer certainly doesn’t want to pay a high renewal fee on a domain that has yet to make them any revenue.
A user would surely be much more likely to be comfortable with that arrangement.
I don’t see too many end users lining up for the new G’s.
Loads of people have set up web sites using new gTLDs.
I would go so far as to say outside of defensive reg’s the market is mostly individuals for new gTLDs.
Also, please note when I said above .xyz probalby is the exception I meant MAYBE. That is, there is a shot of a secondary market MAYBE developing.
Truth is, without a secondary market these new Gtld domains suck badly.
Could this possibly be an exit route for Franks Premeditated plans?
Frank Schilling is an extraordinary Carpetbagging Huckster !
Frank is a master at taking your money and convincing you that the loss was your fault. He has the little unsuspecting Newbie Domainers thinking he is a champion of the little guy. He portrays himself as a friend to small-time investors even as he picks their pockets clean. Beware the New GTLD scam, soon to be exposed. Frank cannot escape the coming realities that will effect his GTLDs. Just a friendly Warning JAS 12/4/15
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
Is this your personal opinion, Jeff? Or do you speak on behalf of all members of Contact Group and Metal Tiger?
Hello Kevin,
This is our Groups Opinion, and our groups opinions are all well documented over at RicsBlog.com in Historical Archives. Anyone who wants the truth can read our Contact Groups Strategic opinions, Warning if you cannot handle the truth dont go there.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
MISPELL ( should be http://www.RicksBlog.com )
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
Sadly, I can’t handle the truth, so I won’t be going there.
Suit yourself, just thought for your readerships sake you would like to be truly informative, and truthfull ??
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
Off your Meds again Jeff?
No one takes domain advice off a guy with the worlds worst website. Its like the html ramblings of a paranoid schizophrenic.
Everybody needs to understand that the regs behind the new GTLDs always knew that if their GTLDs failed they had the perfect out that this was all an ICANN legit opration. Mean while they scuury off into the bushes with all their ill begotton initial profits. Yes the perfect SCAM.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
Donuts will not sunset or shutter any of our TLDs, and are skeptical of speculation about this kind of “market.” From our perspective, a portfolio approach brings stability to this equation, thanks to efficiencies and lower relative costs.
Our company is highly profitable even though we have some TLDs with fewer names. Specific TLDs, such as “.bank”, for example can command higher prices than can generic TLDs, and perhaps are therefore more profitable per name than TLDs with larger volume. We speculate that some TLDs with high volume are losing money, while some with low volume are very profitable. At best there is no correlation between volume and profitability as the report supposes.
It’s important to point out that even if a TLD fails financially, ICANN has procedures in place to ensure it doesn’t go suddenly dark (e.g., the emergency back-end system, and cash / letters of credit on deposit with ICANN). There’s little to be concerned about on this front. In fact, ICANN has backup systems in place that are more extensive than what exists for registrars that go dark (which happens fairly frequently), and even those instances leave no damage to end users.
Regardless, we’re seeing accelerating growth in new gTLD registrations — now surging past 10 million.
The Google-Centric Ad companies are supporting the new GTLDs as the superior Marketing Strategy. This osolesced Google-Centric strategy will sink many new Net denizens new launch aspirations. The mere fact that the New GTLD operators have this cavalier attitude that fragile new Online business’s should not be alarmed if their businesses should go dark with a shallow assuring (Trust Us its a minor issue )??
The Brand Damage this would cause is not minor but a major Online Marketing Strategy Misfire that can be avoided by using an already established extensions credibility and employing a subdomain that incorporates the new GTLDs characteristics. This is what a really smart Marketing Strategist would choose.
Sorry Donuts your arguments are filled with holes. JAS 12/4/15
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
I would see risks associated with single registries trying to run it on their own, but as you said I would have a hard time seeing that model work in the long term, I think that the most profitable and stable future for nGTLDS is going to be in portfolio style business plans.
This is actually pretty humorous to me.
I had my ideas as to how this market would be created and play out in 1995 when I proposed .Web to Postel and crew. And then in the formation of ICANN, making all the rules, the round in 2000, the sTLD round, and now this round.
Anyone who cares to go read the transcripts will see that I was, for the most part, completely right. Go re-read our original proposal for .Web, the plans we had, and the possible pivots. Compare that to today. I say this not as an ego stroke, but as a nod that it was as obvious then as it is obvious now.
How this all is playing out, and how the next ten years will play out seems, to me, like a script I have on my desk. I’ve seen this movie and its ending.
The winners and losers have already been decided.
Or, as I like to say, nobody goes to see a Shakespeare play to find out how it ends.
Oh pray tell, Christopher Ambler give us a link like we did so we can check out your Efficacy, RicksBlog.com is quite different than anything you may show us all. RicksBlog.com is the Domaining Industry TIME STAMPED past information Gold Mine, we showed you our back up whats yours?
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
Jeff, if you don’t know the history, I’m not here to educate you. Please feel free to believe whatever you wish, and I wish you luck in your endeavors.
Hello Christopher Ambler,
We not only know domaining History, we also helped create a lot of it. The Contact Group) are all Legacy Domainers.
RicksBlog.com is the Domaining Industry TIME STAMPED past information Gold Mine. For those who are looking for the really smart money Knowledge, RicksBlog.com
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
The Google-Centric Ad companies are supporting the new GTLDs as the superior Marketing Strategy. This osolesced Google-Centric strategy will sink many new Net denizens new launch aspirations. The mere fact that the New GTLD operators have this cavalier attitude that fragile new Online business’s should not be alarmed if their businesses should ( GO DARK ) – or Offline with a shallow assuring (Trust Us its a minor issue )??
The Brand Damage this would cause is not minor but a major Online Marketing Strategy Misfire that can be avoided by using an already established extensions credibility (Prefferably the Dominant .COM Traffic Channel URLs, and employing a subdomain that incorporates the new GTLDs characteristics. This is what a really smart Marketing Strategist would choose. Sorry Donuts your arguments are filled with holes. JAS 12/4/15
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) http://www.UseBiz.com
!00s of New GTLD sites may ( GO DARK ) – or Offline Read this damaging Report Google hopes you never read. http://internetidentity.com/press-release/iid-predicts-massive-botnet-takeover-of-iot-devices-by-2017/