This stretch in fresh TLDs: $150k/domain? Plus .black, .hiv, and .creditcard
Pull out your .creditcard.
This stretch will be an interesting one for fresh top level domain names: Afilias takes a different tact on .color domains, an EAP with a $150k price tag, Donuts raises the bar with .creditcard, and the first “social cause” TLD launches.
Tuesday
Following on the lackluster launches of .red, .pink and .blue, Afilias launches .black.
.Red is its most successful color domain so far, but it has received fewer than 2,500 registrations.
Afilias is taking a different approach with .black. Retail prices are regarding $50, significantly more than the $15-$20 on the first a number of colors. That will obviously keep registrations down. I have to think the idea is to get as much revenue as possible from those firms that feel like they “need” to register .black domains, since volume is sure to be light.
NetCologne GmbH starts the Early Access for .cologne and .koeln. Technically this is its landrush period, and you need to be prepared to pay big bucks. 101domain.com is quoting $150,000 for first day registrations! Prices don’t drop to four figures until the fifth day of the launch. Normal pricing looks cheap; 101domain.com is asking just $12.99 if you can wait until the end of next week to register.
Also on Tuesday, the first “social cause” TLD launches as .HIV opens up for registration. It donates money to HIV causes when people click on .hiv websites:
.HIV domains are rather expensive: I’m finding registration prices around $200/year. This is probably a good idea to limit registrations to people who care regarding the cause.
Wednesday
Wednesday belongs to Donuts.
Four Donuts TLDs exit EAP and revert to regular pricing: .furniture, .discount, .fitness and .schule.
Four enter EAP: .gratis, .claims, .credit and .creditcard.
You might expect .creditcard to be huge despite its length. Apparently Donuts’ thinks so; it appears to have slotted the domain in a fifth price tier above anything I’ve seen so far from the firm. GoDaddy is charging $200 for the domains, which suggests the wholesale price is $100.
The price ought to limit demand, but there are still some big opportunities with this domain name.
