Another 0-for-18 with fresh TLDs
I tried to register 18 fresh domains today. I failed once again.
Five more of Donuts’ fresh top level domain names revert to standard pricing today — .florist, .solar, .coffee, .house, and .international.
I came up with 18 domains that I thought might be worth registering in these fresh extensions. Regrettably, I went 0-for-18.
Perhaps I’m not being creative enough. I’m admittedly coming up with domain ideas that many others would think of, too. But the results suggest that it’s very difficult to get the best fresh TLDs at launch at regular registration fees.
Here’s the breakdown:
9 – Name collision list (NXD)
4 – registry reserved
4- registered in Early Access Program at premium
1- premium domain
The name collision list was, once again, the biggest culprit. It has simply destroyed the launch of .house with a whopping 107,365 strings blocked. These are domains that the registry would like to sell but can’t (yet).
Here are some of the .house domains I tried to register that are on the NXD: green.house, rental.house, beach.house, boat.house, fresh.house, buy.house, miami.house, austin.house.
One decent .house domain is actually available: vacation.house. I wavered on this one for a while since the more common usage I’ve heard is vacation.home. The final nail in the coffin was when I saw the premium pricing on this domain: $500 per year. If it were Vacation.home I’d consider it, but not Vacation.house. (.Home has been shelved indefinitely due to name collision concerns.)
The two .coffee domains I searched for, gourmet.coffee and black.coffee, are registry reserved. Ditto with usa.florist and nyc.florist. Another domain I searched for, local.florist, was snapped up at a premium in the last phase of the Early Access Program (EAP).
The same goes for Texas.solar and Austin.solar. Honestly, had I been on the ball, I may have paid the premium for Texas.solar assuming it was just the EAP premium and not a recurring one. I wouldn’t do it for others since I think the upside potential for resale is limited.
Florida.solar was registered in the fourth day of EAP at an even higher price.
Finally, California.solar is off-limits thanks to the NXD list.
