To expired domain names — .Club’s approach

An example of how one fresh top level domain registry is releasing its expired domain names.

The prior week, .Club domain names that were registered at the beginning of general availability over a year ago started dropping.

The firm noted a 75% day one renewal rate. It hasn’t published rates post day one, but that’s certainly a good start.

.Club CEO Colin Campbell told Reglike that he told investors to expect a 60% renewal rate. He doesn’t think it will stick at 75% in the long run due to promotions, but it’s ahead of what he promised.

Instead of going through a traditional drop, .Club is sending fully expired inventory through SnapNames. The auctions are attracting a fair amount of attention so far.

Campbell explained the choice to auction domains off through SnapNames:

We strongly believe in the domain investor community who can support .CLUB by getting these names placed (albeit at higher prices) in the hands of prospective clients. We had the option to claim every name and put them into our registry reserved but decided to offer them up on the drop at SnapNames upon expiry as an alternative.

If you’re heading to THE Domain Conference next month, .Club is offering a free $69 SnapNames bid to each attendee.