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Donuts to hike prices 50% on some TLDs

Kevin Murphy, June 2, 2016, Domain Registries

While some new gTLD registries are all about the giveaways and deep discounting, Donuts has taken the unprecedented decision to actually increase its prices.
The company announced today that it will add a whopping 50% to its wholesale fee for 10 of its TLDs.
The TLDs are: .camera, .camp, .cleaning, .dog, .glass, .kitchen, .plumbing, .shoes, .solar and .toys.
While Donuts does not disclose its wholesale fees, these domains typically retail for $25 to $40 for non-premiums.
We could be looking at a .dog at GoDaddy, for example, going up from $40 a year to $60 a year, if the increases are passed on proportionately.
None of the 10 TLDs in question have set the market alight, volume-wise. They’re all struggling around the 3,000 to 6,000 domains mark, according to zone file data.
Seven of the 10 zones have actually been shrinking in recent months.
All but one of them went to general availability in the first half of 2014, so have been on the market about two years.
The new prices will kick in October 1, Donuts said.
Renewal prices for domains registered before that date will renew at their original wholesale fee, the company added.

.photography beating .camera

Kevin Murphy, February 10, 2014, Domain Registries

Who said shorter domains are more popular?
Donuts’ new .photography and .camera gTLDs, which both come out of their Early Access Period premium pricing phases this week, have seen .photography get more than twice as many registrations so far.
During their EAP and sunrise periods, where retail prices can range from $150 to $13,000, .camera has racked up 146 names to .photography’s 383.
There’s a difference of meaning here of course, which is reflected in the types of domains being registered; .camera names tend to be hardware-related, while .photography is heavy with personal names.
Donuts’ strategy of picking strings that already feature heavily at the end of the second level of .com seems to be reflecting the reality of registration patterns in new gTLDs too.
The photography-related gTLD space is going to an interesting one to watch.
We’re also waiting for the launch of .photo and .photos (.photos in two weeks, .photo in April), which will crowd the space further. These two are also likely to be the first plural/singular competitors.

Nine Donuts gTLDs delegated

Kevin Murphy, November 6, 2013, Domain Registries

Donuts has had a batch of nine new gTLDs delegated to the DNS root today.
The nine strings are: .ventures, .camera, .clothing, .lighting, .singles, .voyage, .guru, .holdings and .equipment.
All belong to various Donuts subsidiaries that have signed Registry Agreements with ICANN over the last few months.
At this precise moment it does not seem that any have their basic “nic.” second-level domains active and resolving, but all are appearing in the DNS root zone.
Earlier today, Donuts announced the sunrise dates for the first seven gTLDs in its portfolio.
The company already has one gTLD delegated, the Chinese-script version of “.games”.

Donuts’ first gTLD sunrise slated for October 29

Kevin Murphy, October 11, 2013, Domain Registries

Donuts has reportedly become the first new gTLD registry to announce its first sunrise periods.
According to BrandShelter, part of the KeyDrive registrar group, nine of Donuts gTLDs will enter sunrise on October 29.
The nine are: .camera, .clothing, .equipment, .guru, .holdings, .lighting, .singles, .ventures and .voyage.
The sunrise periods will last 60 days, BrandShelter said.
I’m seeking confirmation and additional information from Donuts and will provide an update later.
UPDATE: Donuts’ Jon Nevett, in the comments, states that the dates are “estimates”.

Donuts signs 12 more new gTLD registry contracts

Kevin Murphy, August 30, 2013, Domain Registries

Donuts today announced that it has signed 12 more new gTLD Registry Agreements with ICANN.
The contracts, which have not yet been published, cover .bike, .camera, .clothing, .equipment, .estate, .guru, .holdings, .lighting, .singles, .ventures, .voyage and .企业, which is “.enterprise” in Chinese.
As of a week ago, the firm has also passed all of its Initial Evaluations, with no failures.
According to the DI PRO database, Donuts still has a total of 300 applications in play, of which 148 are contested.
Another 30 have objections, at least 103 have GAC Advice, and 96 are classified as “uncalculated risk”, all factors that could lead to delay and possibly rejection.
Today’s news mean ICANN has signed registry contracts with at least 16 new gTLDs.
It’s not much by the standards it had set itself — expecting to sign 20 a week by now — but it’s almost as many as it’s signed in the preceding 15 years.