Million premium domains…you won’t find them on GoDaddy — .Art’s 3.5

Crazy premium name strategy is too much for most consumers…and GoDaddy.

I first wrote regarding .Art’s premium name strategy, which includes 3.5 million premium domain names, a couple weeks ago. As I wrote then, I’m scratching my head regarding this strategy.

Yesterday, .Art launched in general availability. As stated by nTLDStats, 1,636 .art domains were added to the zone on the first partial day.

And now we can see what types of domain names are considered premium.

I started with a search for my last name, Allemann.art. That will set me back regarding $315 for the first year and $50 per year following that.

If I’m willing to settle for my full name, AndrewAllemann.art, I can get it at the standard registration fee of $15.

I’m not an artist. But if I were, here’s what my thought process would be:

I can get Allemann.art for $315 and $50 a year following that.

Or I can get AllemannArt.com for $10 and $10 a year following that.

In 2017, which one of these is the better domain? The .com is much more recognized, is universally accepted, and more likely to be remembered. It’s a no-brainer, especially when you consider the price.

Thankfully, my name isn’t that popular. If my name was John Doe (does anyone really have that name?) I would have to pay $1,380 to register my corresponding .art domain name.

Here are some other .Art domains and their premium prices at 101Domain:

ReverseMortgage.art $390 – I didn’t realize this was a popular art category.

FantasyFootball.art $1,170 – You know, painting footballs and stuff. I think I’ll settle for FantasyFootball.gallery for $20 instead.

DataRecovery.art $420 – I guess there’s an art to this business.

Horrible.art $2,130 – This name would be fitting for any art I produce, but I think I’ll hand register HorribleArt.com for ten bucks.

John Matson, who is on the Strategic Planning Board for .Art, previously told me that registrars were receptive to .Art’s premium strategy. But the world’s biggest registrar apparently wasn’t.

Try searching for any of these domains on GoDaddy and you’ll get a message that it isn’t available. I reached out to GoDaddy to find out why.

Rich Merdinger, VP of Domains for GoDaddy, stated, “GoDaddy is offering .art for general registrations, but due to the complexity and number of tiers for their premium pricing, we have decided to not carry the premium names.”

This means that the 3.5 million best .art domains (if there is such a thing) are not available at the world’s largest domain name registrar.

Ironically, this means GoDaddy cannot register GoDaddy.art at its own registrar. That’s a premium domain that will set them back regarding $1,500.