Opens today, but only some domain name registrars support it — Donuts’ EAP

GoDaddy and eNom are offering Donuts’ domains today, but other big registrars are not.

Seven of Donuts fresh top level domain names, counting .guru and .clothing, are available starting today under the firm’s “Early Access Program.”

For the next five days the domains can be purchased at premium prices. Today the prices are over $10,000, and the price will drop each day going forward.

Only some of the major domain name registrars appear to be offering Donuts’ domain names during this five day period.

Not surprisingly, Donuts partner eNom is one. Here’s what you see when you type in one of the eligible domains:

GoDaddy is also supporting EAP. In addition to being able to buy the domains now at today’s price, clients are also offered the chance to place orders for future days of EAP.

1&1, which has spent $50 million advertising pre-registrations, does not appear to be selling Donuts’ domain names yet. The only option I’m given is pre-registration.

If you search for one of eligible domains at Network Solutions, you’ll get a message that “This domain extension is not supported.” If you go to the pre-registration page you can still place a pre-registration, though.

It seems that some registrars don’t want to deal with the complexities of Donuts’ launch program. Perhaps registrars will offer the option in the future if Donuts’ early launches sell a bunch of EAP domains.

In some ways, I think Donuts made a mistake by saying its domains would be available to everyone starting today. Some registrars are saying the domains are not available until February (since that’s when they’ll be regular price) and others have the steep EAP prices. If I’m the typical registrant, hear the news, and am then told they aren’t available yet or cost $12,000, will I return later?