The Rise of Alternative Domains (.io .ai .to .et ...)

[CrypTO]

Hi everyone,

I wrote a guest article for the Flippa.com blog published this week on alternative domains and how they are disrupting .com.

https://blog.flippa.com/the-rise-of-alternative-domains/

Your comments below.

 

[Biggie]

sorry, but I don't do flippo

imo...

 

[ukbackorder]

I see nothing in that article that is actually relevant to the title. People can *ask* whatever they want for a domain - it has no bearing on what it's worth.
What would be telling is a list of actual domain (not business) sales in alternative extensions. That is the angle I would take if I was trying to prove that point.
If the title is true there should be a HUGE list with high prices..... There will always be sales in most extensions but so far nothing at all to say that alternative domains are a 'threat' to .com.

 

[Castion]

Hi Max

I think its decent article. And contrary to what Rob posted I do not see any references to asking prices, only finalised sales. For sure end user adoption is growing, especially in .IO. .To has always been in some use as a hack. Mostly I think that the renewal fees keep them from being super attractive for investors, but really what matters is what the end users think and the more ngTLDs people are accustomed to, the easier they will have of recognising hacks as actual domain names. Which is pretty important if you want to use them as your main online presence.

In general I would recommend any domainer to find his niche and I am glad that you found one you can make work. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[ukbackorder]

And contrary to what Rob posted I do not see any references to asking prices, only finalised sales.

The cryp.to domain has been online for as far back as 1997(!) and was registered by a German cryptographer. It’s for sale for $1 million for those interested (I asked).

Don't get me wrong - the article is well written. However the values talked about come from the developments. I don't think it's wise for new entrants to be sinking a lot of money into the domains for speculation and I see these kind of articles as a way to attempt to hype things beyond reality. 'Hey Rick Schwartz paid $500k for flowers.mobi.... this will destroy .com....what's that? You went broke buying them all?....ah well'

Only .am really made it big from the .am / .fm duo with the sale of the single character domains 9.am for a record $169,000 seconded by 6.am for $45,000
This is not 'making it big' in my view and *could* cause people to wrongly believe it is worth spending their money on other am/fm domains which they are 99.99% guaranteed not to sell.

When it comes to development - sure use whatever extension you want. Ultimately it won't matter although you will be hindering yourself with mistaken urls and search engine presence.
IF however you want to buy and sell domains undeveloped, as most people here do, then investing lots in alternative extensions is not the way to go in my opinion... and to some extent that is borne out in the daily sales and market movement. I definitely don't see how alternative domains are 'disrupting' .com though and that's what the title of the article was.

 

[Castion]

Mate not sure we are reading the same article

The one I am reading was named "The rise of alternative domains" and contained no reference to disrupting .com nor being a threat to it.

Whether 169K is a big sale or not.. I guess thats subjective. I would not balk at it.

 

[ukbackorder]

I wrote a guest article for the Flippa.com blog published this week on alternative domains and how they are disrupting .com.

But yes you're right - that wasn't exactly the title but from the comment above by the article writer that is what he intended it to be.
$169k is not a small sale. As a percentage of sales though of *that extension* though it is a small sale.
Would you rather invest in something that has such a tiny chance of producing that one sale for that value or in an extension that has daily far more percentage of sales at a lower price?
I'll take the higher percentage at a lower price any day - that's how most long term sellers in domains work. Otherwise I'll just go out and buy a lottery ticket. I'm sure the seller didn't balk at it...the ONE seller.

 

[Castion]

Rob you know I agree with the broad strokes. I am a .com investor primarily. But on the other hand I also agree with some of the points OP is making. 10 years ago you would not have seen a 6 figure .IO sale. Maybe the disruption of .com mention is a bit much, but these extension do see more activity than they previously were and in comparison with many of the ngTLDs I actually like these ccTLD hack extension better.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

would .et be a typo for .net? like someone wants to type in everyone.net and ends up typing in everyonen.et?