Completing the "triple crown" (or 5-bagger)

[GeorgeK]

Dot-com is king of domain extensions, of course. I was curious as to what other people's feelings are about completing the "triple crown", i.e. getting the .net and .org to go along with the .com version of a name. Now that there's .info and .biz, some people might even go for a "5-bagger", and get those extensions too.

On the one hand, it provides protection against cybersquatters, which might be of value to some companies if they're interested in the .com (can sell them all 3 in one package, as a complete set, to enhance the value of the transaction to them).

On the other hand, it can cost money to acquire the .net and .org, plus the ongoing renewal costs, which probably aren't compensated for on a traffic-basis. Also, it might affect demand for the name, as you no longer have the .net and .org holders spying on the .com, longing for it......

Personally, I think it's worth getting the .net/org if the .com is worth at least a certain amount (e.g. for a $100,000 dot-com, it should be a no-brainer; for a $100 dot-com, probably not worth it). I'd say, for a $5,000+ domain, I'd want the .net/org.

How do you feel?

 

[Whois-Search]

and the .co.uk

 

[Duke]

I would agree that it would depend entirely on how valuable the .com is.

 

[GeorgeK]

How much do you think it would need to be worth, Duke, to get you to buy the .net/org too?

It's probably a different number for a corporation, rather than a reseller, or a traffic-aggregator, etc.

I'd be curious to know how many .net/org UltSearch and BuyDomains go for, too. (they occasionally register .net and .org names, for those who follow the drops)

 

[fizz]

Originally posted by GeorgeK
Also, it might affect demand for the name, as you no longer have the .net and .org holders spying on the .com, longing for it......

To me this is the key point, ensuring you maintain .com envy.

If I had fantastic .com names I would be ecstatic if others owned great websites attached to the other lesser extensions. In fact the more the merrier as each will help to increase the value of the .com, much in the way that the value of the very best piece of land at the very heart of a city – even if bare – will continue to skyrocket as multimillion dollar buildings go up all around it.

I would never buy any other extension of a .com name I owned, even if my .com was worth over $1M.

This would let a prospective buyer know it’s a seller’s market in respect of this name, as the owners of the other extensions would also be potential buyers of the key .com.

And if a firm owns the .net/org/info/biz etc of a name and you own the .com, well they’ve just laid all their cards on the table and it’s just a matter of time before they will be forced to make a good offer for your .com.

 

[Duke]

How much do you think it would need to be worth, Duke, to get you to buy the .net/org too?

Actually I have never bought the .org (as it has such limited business value). I have bought some .com/.net combos. No hard and fast rule but maybe if I thought the .com would bring $1000 I would take the .net too. More often when I take both it is for a project I will develop on my own.

 

[David G]

This entire thread is overlooking the .us, which I feel may very well already be the 2nd most valuable ext., especially the future outlook for it.

I try to reg in this order if it's a 'good' real name - 1.com 2.us 3.org. Usually skip all the others.

Sometimes I only have the com and org combinations, other times the com and us combo, other names all 3. On recent registrations, often the com is taken so I may only reg the .us by itself, occasionally the org.

Surprisingly, once in a while see the com and us as reg'd but the org, net, info or biz still available. That means some others may be thinking like myself.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by fizz
And if a firm owns the .net/org/info/biz etc of a name and you own the .com, well they’ve just laid all their cards on the table and it’s just a matter of time before they will be forced to make a good offer for your .com.

hmmmm...

 

[fizz]

mole, I should have stressed that I'm talking about a generic word here, not a firm's TM.

 

[GeorgeK]

Being based in Canada, I'm not allowed to buy a .us name (unless I form a corporation in the US to do so). For that reason, I doubt that .us will matter on a global scale, compared to .com/net/org.

If one looks at the top traffic sites on Alexa, starting from:

http://www.alexa.com/data/ds/top_500?p=Dest_W_t_40_R1

some of the foreign sites, esp. from Korea, are .net names, interestingly. Korea is of course quite "wired". If someone wants a little "project", perhaps they can put all 500 names into a spreadsheet, and count the number of names in each TLD. There are a lot of ccTLD names on the list.

 

Originally posted by RealNames
This entire thread is overlooking the .us, which I feel may very well already be the 2nd most valuable ext

would be interested to hear what sales you base this on?

 

Originally posted by GeorgeK
Being based in Canada, I'm not allowed to buy a .us name (unless I form a corporation in the US to do so).

Not necessarily.

Eligibility for .us registration is fully described in (and still governed by) section B3.1 of Neustar's proposal to the Department of Commerce:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/usca/cafiles/SectionB_3.pdf

Aside from the requirement that a .us name be hosted on an ISP physically located in the United States, the registrant of the domain can legitmately hold the it if they have "a bona fide presence in the United States. "

"Bone fide," according to the Neustar proposal, can include many things, such as deriving "a material portion of its revenues or net income from sales to purchasers located in the United States."

Futhermore, the document states that "bone fide presence" will be determined on a case by case basis."

It looks like they've left the eligibility requirments pretty wide-open. Neustar would want to sell as many .us domains as possible, so it's no suprise they left this "window" open.

Miles

 

[GeorgeK]

Oh, I see. That's interesting, as I do regularly sell to Americans. The .ca requirements (for Canada) are much harsher.

 

[fizz]

Further to this thread of GeorgeK's and my comments above, I did a little experiment this week with a domain name that I owned the com/net/org of.

It was the last days of renewal time for the .org and I pondered whether a further investment of $10 would boost the overall value of my "triple crown" holdings by that same amount. I decided to let it drop to test the waters.

BuyDomains immediately scooped it up on Tuesday and typing in the name now takes you to their website and the typical request price blurb 'The minimum quoted price will be be (sic) at least $688, and could be as much as $10,000'.

While not agreeing or disagreeing with their figure, my NOT renewing the .org has in effect increased the PERCEIVED value of my remaining com/net duo far in excess of the situation I would have been in had I renewed it.

I now have a publicly advertised, independent benchmark upon which to negotiate a selling price for the com/net names.