I estimate traffic to be 1/1000th of the .com version, but that is just my estimate based on many many statistics out there. The best it can possibly be is 1/300th.
Anyway, a few things:
Rick Latona auctioned domains went much cheaper than I imagined. I thought it would be one of those .mobi/.eu hyped auctions, but apparently after the economy tanked for a bit, buyers now spend on things they know will be worthwhile. The auction results were pretty much on target with what is the top TOP price I'd pay as a buyer for these domains based on traffic estimates. And when I say TOP, I mean TOP TOP price.
I do not think there are many .CM domains registered. I think NETCOM is trying to figure out the traffic on these last minute or something crazy like that. Only top 1000 sites in the world would get decent traffic on .cm at these price levels. Everything else wouldn't be worthwhile at the current minimum registration fees.
If it were $7 per domain, things would be different. But minimum commitment is about $220-$250 per domain, and that's if it doesn't hit any auctions.
To be honest, whoever made the decision to stop wildcarding/parking all the .CM domains has made a very terrible mistake for themselves as a business person. But that's their problem.
I hope people get to register .CM domains at all. It may be something where they have figured out that perhaps registration isn't yielding them what they expected....
I was going to be one of these registrants on maybe just a few domains, but it doesn't seem like I will be one anymore. CM gave me strange feeling even before all these auctions and landrushes.
Let's face it, CM registry grossed 100k on some of its top generics. After Latona split, maybe 50k. After CoCCA and top registry fees, probably 40k. That is not much for some of the top generics for a TLD. I'd be thinking of a backup plan if I were .cm registry at this point. Because doesn't seem like user registrations are going to be their
#1 business.
