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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.”

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Comments (30)

  1. Jen says:
    December 4, 2015 at 5:31 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Kevin Murphy says:
      December 4, 2015 at 7:01 pm

      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.

      Reply
    • Phil Buckingham says:
      December 6, 2015 at 2:26 am

      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.

      Reply
  2. Spencer says:
    December 4, 2015 at 5:40 pm

    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.

    Reply
  3. Ryan says:
    December 4, 2015 at 5:47 pm

    $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

    Reply
  4. Jen says:
    December 4, 2015 at 7:05 pm

    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.

    Reply
  5. Spencer says:
    December 4, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    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.

    Reply
  6. Jeff Schneider says:
    December 4, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    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

    Reply
  7. Jeff Schneider says:
    December 4, 2015 at 10:20 pm

    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

    Reply
  8. Donuts Inc. says:
    December 5, 2015 at 2:45 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Jeff Schneider says:
      December 5, 2015 at 3:25 am

      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

      Reply
    • James Gannon says:
      December 6, 2015 at 10:45 am

      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.

      Reply
  9. Christopher Ambler says:
    December 5, 2015 at 7:14 pm

    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.

    Reply
  10. Jeff Schneider says:
    December 5, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Christopher Ambler says:
      December 8, 2015 at 5:26 pm

      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.

      Reply
      • Jeff Schneider says:
        December 10, 2015 at 12:10 am

        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

        Reply
  11. Jeff Schneider says:
    December 7, 2015 at 6:29 pm

    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/

    Reply

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